Arch Linux

chipbuster

Member

Registered: 2012-02-22

Posts: 12

coretemp driver readings change wildly (seem to be reading CPU load)

Hey all. I've been using lm-sensors for a while now to get CPU temperatures, but I never had a monitor open to watch them (I would just pop open a terminal and run sensors).

I recently set up conky, and I'm noticing some very strange behavior with my CPU temps: they seem to be measuring load instead of actual temperature. The idle temp is 36C, and the second I start up an intensive calculation, it jumps to 60 and just stays there (no additional rise over 5 minutes). Then, when I stop the calculation, the temps instantly drop back to idle (this part makes me suspect it's not a heatsink issue).

The same behavior pops up in Windows as well, using both Coretemp and SpeedFan. Does anyone know if there's a place I could look to get the "correct" temperature, or what might be causing this? The internet is a flurry of suggestions, but most of the posts I could find were either hardware-related or bugs in drivers.

In case it's relevant, lm_sensors loaded the coretemp and it87 modules.

qinohe

Member

From: Netherlands

Registered: 2012-06-20

Posts: 1,596

Re: coretemp driver readings change wildly (seem to be reading CPU load)

Some 6 years back, I had an issue similar to yours. It was a laptop, and happened in both Windows and Fedora, eventually I opened the case and there was a dust ball sitting in the outlet. After removing the dust, the problem was gone, maybe this is what is happening.

chipbuster

Member

Registered: 2012-02-22

Posts: 12

Re: coretemp driver readings change wildly (seem to be reading CPU load)

Hmm. I'll check it again, but I don't think that's what happened. Just last night I opened the case up and dusted it with compressed air, then repasted the CPU and GPU. Ordinarily, I'd suspect that I didn't paste it correctly, but the temperature drops rapidly too, so I don't think that's it...

qinohe

Member

From: Netherlands

Registered: 2012-06-20

Posts: 1,596

Re: coretemp driver readings change wildly (seem to be reading CPU load)

Since you put new paste on the CPU, this normally has a 'burn in time', as far as I know..
So it could take a while for the paste to work perfect.
You know that if you check if the pasting was correct, you have to start over and do it again.. ;-)

emeres

Member

Registered: 2013-10-08

Posts: 1,570

Re: coretemp driver readings change wildly (seem to be reading CPU load)

 Try to figure out where exactly those sensors are located, I mean their position inside/near the case/chip/circuit. Maybe they are supposed to work that way/there is an interference near by like an em noisy fan/your hardware falls into category b. Try to confirm/rule out that behaviour on the same hardware with other users/owners.