Overheating machine?

finferflu · 2008-03-12 16:08:30

It's been a long time now, but this issue is annoying me to death. The fans spin continuously when the machine is on, and apart from causing me headaches, I'm getting worried about what's going on.

So here are my specs:
Acer Travelmate 433LM
Intel Pentium 4 2.6GHz
512 MB RAM
ATi Radeon Mobility 7500 (using open source drivers)
Gnome + Compiz

Now, I have recently tried to install cpufreq, and it's running fine. It's set on the ondemand mode, and for example it's now using 650MHz, but the fans keep spinning no matter what. This is usually the moderate speed, at times they spin even faster. I have also raised the base of the laptop to facilitate ventilation.

I have tried to use lm_sensors but it can't find anything. But I don't think it's a problem of fans, it has rather to do with my setup I think. X alone at times uses 70-90% of the CPU when I'm only doing common tasks (checked through htop), i.e. right now, while writing this post on Firefox3b4 with 3 open tabs and a gnome-terminal.
The funny thing is that even if I don't login into X I still get the fans spinning quite often, even though less often than when using X.

So I really wonder what I am missing, can anyone help me please?

Thanks for your time

Last edited by finferflu (2008-03-12 16:15:11)

bender02 · 2008-03-12 16:34:03

If you're using anything which redraws a part of the screen often (like conky or such), be prepared to see X cpu usage go up.

finferflu · 2008-03-12 16:36:08

No, I'm not. I also had the fans spinning a lot using Ratpoison or Openbox. And as I said, I get high CPU usage even with no X. Something must be wrong either with my settings or with my hardware. Either way, I don't know how to find out.

Last edited by finferflu (2008-03-12 16:36:35)

bender02 · 2008-03-12 17:14:30

One thing you can try is to run either top or htop, both are capable of displaying also kernel threads, so that you can see which kernel module/thread is eating cpu cycles.

fwojciec · 2008-03-12 17:18:31

For software -- you can always use something like htop to check what processes are responsible for high CPU usage.

Having said that -- Pentium 4 based laptops are notorious for overheating, especially when they get a little old and dust/dirt accumulated inside the laptop makes the cooling less efficient. If the fan spins a lot then it is very likely that it is struggling to push the air through and cool the processor adequately. My old laptop kept deteriorating like this until, at some stage, it started to overheat and switch off automatically... I had to take it apart completely and clean it thoroughly -- there was a finger-sized tightly packed dust bunny in the vent that transports the air to the processor, I'm not exaggerating. If you don't want to take the laptop apart (which is never a fun thing to do) you could try getting a can of compressed air and trying to blow some dust out of the air vents that way.

finferflu · 2008-03-12 17:23:07

I'm using htop, and I've disabled the "hide kernel threads" option, but I can't see them...

finferflu · 2008-03-12 17:24:55

Thanks fwojciec, I didn't think about dust. As I said, through htop I can see that X is usually the huge hog for me.

fwojciec · 2008-03-12 17:33:43

Well -- if you turn the clock frequency down it usually means that the cpu use percentage goes up for tasks that don't register significantly when the cpu is running at full speed. Another thing -- compositing can be very tasking on the cpu. Finally, I've found that using "powersave" cpufreq governor is great in reducing fan activity. I usually just keep my computer on powersave (even when I don't care about battery life) -- precisely because I don't want to hear the fan start up at all.

finferflu · 2008-03-12 18:09:20

Well, I've just opened it and I also found some bunnies by the ventilation radiators (or whatever they're called). It's much quieter already, but I've just switched it on. We'll see how it goes in the long run. For the rest, as I said before, the fans kept spinning no matter what I was doing, there was no difference between a Ratpoison and a Gnome+Compiz session. And no matter how low I put the clock frequency, the fans were going on the same way.

Thanks for your help so far

mintcoffee · 2008-03-12 18:29:47

It maybe that your ATi video card has a power saving feature, which is enabled using the Windows drivers, but not the open source ones. The closed source fglrx drivers can control the PowerPlay settings (what ATI calls it), but I'm not sure if it supports your video card. It may be worth a trying it out, and using 'aticonfig --lsp' to see if you can control your power settings.

finferflu · 2008-03-12 19:43:14

Thanks mintcoffee, but unfortunately fglrx doesn't support my video card (the old drivers worked badly, the new ones just don't support it).

finferflu · 2008-03-14 09:57:15

You know, fwojciec, your suggestion was very appropriate. Even after a long uptime, the fan didn't spin anymore. So, dust was the issue. Anyway, my plug has been having problems for a looong time and I have fixed it so many times now. And yesterday night the laptop died. I have had no battery since 2005 I think, so there's no way I can revive it. Cool heh? In the afternoon I'll see if I can find any deal at the computer shop, so hopefully the issue of overheating shouldn't appear anytime soon

serrghi · 2008-03-14 11:29:20

R.i.p

finferflu · 2008-03-14 11:36:31

serrghi wrote:

R.i.p

Amen.

fwojciec · 2008-03-14 13:09:13

finferflu wrote:

You know, fwojciec, your suggestion was very appropriate. Even after a long uptime, the fan didn't spin anymore. So, dust was the issue. Anyway, my plug has been having problems for a looong time and I have fixed it so many times now. And yesterday night the laptop died. I have had no battery since 2005 I think, so there's no way I can revive it. Cool heh? In the afternoon I'll see if I can find any deal at the computer shop, so hopefully the issue of overheating shouldn't appear anytime soon

The "plug" issue, oftentimes, is actually a problem with the power brick -- and these can be usually bought cheaply on ebay. Just an idea.

finferflu · 2008-03-14 22:38:29

No I mean, the plug was broken on the motherboard, so I had a very temporary solution by a so-called tech: a cable welded on the motherboard. So it slowly got loose and it went short-circuit. It wasn't the first time, but I'm fed up of thinking the machine could abandon me any time. I'm typing from my brand new cheap laptop right now

Arch Linux

#1 2008-03-12 16:08:30

Overheating machine?

#2 2008-03-12 16:34:03

Re: Overheating machine?

#3 2008-03-12 16:36:08

Re: Overheating machine?

#4 2008-03-12 17:14:30

Re: Overheating machine?

#5 2008-03-12 17:18:31

Re: Overheating machine?

#6 2008-03-12 17:23:07

Re: Overheating machine?

#7 2008-03-12 17:24:55

Re: Overheating machine?

#8 2008-03-12 17:33:43

Re: Overheating machine?

#9 2008-03-12 18:09:20

Re: Overheating machine?

#10 2008-03-12 18:29:47

Re: Overheating machine?

#11 2008-03-12 19:43:14

Re: Overheating machine?

#12 2008-03-14 09:57:15

Re: Overheating machine?

#13 2008-03-14 11:29:20

Re: Overheating machine?

#14 2008-03-14 11:36:31

Re: Overheating machine?

#15 2008-03-14 13:09:13

Re: Overheating machine?

#16 2008-03-14 22:38:29

Re: Overheating machine?

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