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#1 2009-12-23 04:46:22
- cmays90
- Member
- Registered: 2009-12-18
- Posts: 31
X11 causes fan to spin fast
Howdy all!
I just finished my install of gnome (and arch) on my laptop and it seems any time I want to startx, my fan starts to spin exceedingly fast with no intent of slowing down, not even after killing X. My error logs are not showing anything of note either.
I have a feeling it has something to do with the GPU my laptop has, a nVidia 8400M GS.
Just curious if anyone else has had any similar problems and what they did to fix it. I have a feeling that I will need to go to a previous driver version. How do I check what version I currently have, (I think it is 190) and how do I install an older version? I am not entirely familar with Arch, and having access to the latest software is part of the reason I chose to move to Arch from Ubuntu. Any and all help would be greatly appreciated!
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#2 2009-12-23 05:52:06
- tavianator
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- From: Waterloo, ON, Canada
- Registered: 2007-08-21
- Posts: 858
- Website
Re: X11 causes fan to spin fast
It'd help to know if it's the GPU or CPU fan spinning. Is anything eating a lot of CPU when the fans spool up?
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#3 2009-12-23 09:00:40
- cmays90
- Member
- Registered: 2009-12-18
- Posts: 31
Re: X11 causes fan to spin fast
Seeing as my laptop does not have a GPU fan, it would be kinda hard for it to spin 
But top shows only 2% of my processor EVER being used with Arch even when I run startx, so I seriously doubt it is my processor running that hot.
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#4 2009-12-23 10:09:42
- mikesd
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- From: Australia
- Registered: 2008-02-01
- Posts: 788
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Re: X11 causes fan to spin fast
Run nvidia-settings and look on the Thermal Settings page. Should give you an idea what is happening regarding fan speeds and temps.
Run pacman -Qi nvidia to check your driver version. It is also listed in nvidia-settings.
Check the wiki regarding downgrading packages.
On my desktop system as soon as X starts and the nvidia module loads, my GPU fan actually slows down as the nVidia driver starts regulating fan speed. On my system this caused an awful whining sound so I disconnected my GPU fan from the card and hooked it up to a spare power adapter directly. This makes it run at 100% all the time but it is much quieter.
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