[SOLVED] Core temperatures?

Unia · 2010-12-13 18:42:10

Hello,

I recently noticed my laptop's fans are blowing more than they used to, so I suspected the temperatures inside is getting higher. Indeed it's higher than it used to be. I tried getting some dust out of the way, but it's still blowing more than it normally was. Do note that it's not critical, but I certainly am worried and would like to know whether I have to watch out or not.

When I feel at the back of the laptop it's not extremely hot, but it could be that it is inside. That's why I installed lm_sensors. Upon running it, I get these temperatures:

[jente@lappy ~]$ sensors
acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:       +61.0°C  (crit = +102.0°C)                  
temp2:       +36.0°C  (crit = +96.0°C)                  

radeon-pci-0200
Adapter: PCI adapter
temp1:       +64.0°C                                    

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Core 0:      +63.0°C  (high = +95.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)  

coretemp-isa-0001
Adapter: ISA adapter
Core 2:      +56.0°C  (high = +95.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)

Are these temperatures normal for a laptop? It's only a couple of months old and I'm not running any resource-intensive tasks - just browsing and chatting.
Also, could anyone explain me why the temperature is higher now than it used to be?

Last edited by Unia (2010-12-15 16:11:18)

jollysnowman · 2010-12-13 18:44:27

Where are you putting the laptop? If it's on your lap or bed or maybe even a desk, I wouldn't worry. But if it's on top of something that provides airspace, then yes it seems a little high. My Dell Inspiron 1501 is usually around 35-40 at idle.

Unia · 2010-12-13 18:46:25

It's on my desk, which is made out of wood. But still, there's where it was before and it didn't get this warm then.

TigTex · 2010-12-13 19:19:40

Since your radeon and your cpu have almost the same temperature, I can say that your laptop only has 1 heatpipe, shared. So the extra heat may be caused by the radeon graphics (not downclocking for example) and / or your cpu running at fullspeed. Those temperatures are not high for a laptop. It can handle 90ºC without problems UNDER LOAD. Of course everyone likes to keep their cpu cool.
1st, try to see if everything is downclocking like it should. If it's not.. fix it. If it is...
Then, open your laptop, disassemble the cooling system, clean everything, replace the thermal paste and reassemble everything.

A laptop needs more maintenance than a desktop: every year you should open it and clean the dust from the fan and heatsink.

Unia · 2010-12-13 19:38:51

TigTex wrote:

1st, try to see if everything is downclocking like it should. If it's not.. fix it.

How would I check that?

TigTex wrote:

If it is...
Then, open your laptop, disassemble the cooling system, clean everything, replace the thermal paste and reassemble everything.
A laptop needs more maintenance than a desktop: every year you should open it and clean the dust from the fan and heatsink.

I'll only use this as a last resort, don't feel like messing up my warranty and maybe even my laptop.

Cape · 2010-12-13 20:05:54

TigTex wrote:

A laptop needs more maintenance than a desktop: every year you should open it and clean the dust from the fan and heatsink.

Yep, I usually stick the hose of the vacuum right under the fan and keep it going for 30 seconds at low power.
Works like a charm

TigTex · 2010-12-14 15:33:13

Cape wrote:

TigTex wrote:
A laptop needs more maintenance than a desktop: every year you should open it and clean the dust from the fan and heatsink.
Yep, I usually stick the hose of the vacuum right under the fan and keep it going for 30 seconds at low power.
Works like a charm

Works like a charm but if you don't stop the fan from spinning, it would spin at insane RPM's and destroy the fan (+10000rpm). Always use something sharp to stop the fan and then vacuum the bastard at full power!
That only makes sense if you can't access the cpu compartiment without disassembling all your laptop.

Unia · 2010-12-14 20:21:38

So on the Crunchbang forums they recommended me to install cpufreq and set the governor to ondemand.

According to the Wiki, if I want cpufreq to be run at boot, I'd have to add acpi-cpufreq to the MODULES array in /etc/rc.conf.
But the Wiki also shows something about running it as a daemon, by placing cpufreq in the DAEMONS array and then edit etc/conf.d/cpufreq and setting the correct governor.

Do I have to do both, or can I pick just one? If I can pick just one, which one would be the best to pick? (I want the governor to be set to ondemand at boot up for all of my four cores)

graysky · 2010-12-14 20:38:14

@Unia - Both, unless the daemon modprobes the module. Simply loading the module will not do anything for you.

Unia · 2010-12-14 20:43:52

Thanks. I'll try with just the daemon first and see if it modprobes the module. I'll report back

graysky · 2010-12-14 20:53:03

@Unia - You'll need the acpi_cpufreq module loaded. The one you select in the config file is autoloaded.

# grep modprobe /etc/rc.d/cpufreq
grep -qw "$governor" /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors || modprobe -q $mod

Last edited by graysky (2010-12-14 20:55:38)

Unia · 2010-12-14 20:55:46

So I have to add both?

Last edited by Unia (2010-12-14 20:56:57)

Unia · 2010-12-15 16:11:02

Solution was to add it to both the MODULES and the DAEMONS array. Thanks everyone, problem solved!

Arch Linux

#1 2010-12-13 18:42:10

[SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#2 2010-12-13 18:44:27

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#3 2010-12-13 18:46:25

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#4 2010-12-13 19:19:40

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#5 2010-12-13 19:38:51

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#6 2010-12-13 20:05:54

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#7 2010-12-14 15:33:13

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#8 2010-12-14 20:21:38

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#9 2010-12-14 20:38:14

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#10 2010-12-14 20:43:52

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#11 2010-12-14 20:53:03

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#12 2010-12-14 20:55:46

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

#13 2010-12-15 16:11:02

Re: [SOLVED] Core temperatures?

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