Jeckyl and Hyde netbook - Acer Aspire One 532H with Linux Mint 9
 

I have two almost identical netbooks: a Gateway LT2115u and an Acer Aspire One 532H-2789. The Gateway is made by Acer and the hardware seems identical.

The problem I'm posting about is making the fans run properly and fixing touchpad edge scrolling. By accident I proved to myself that both problems can be resolved. I'm just not sure how to implement the solution. But here is how I realized they can be solved.

The Gateway netbook is like a reference point for what follows. I have Linux Mint 9 installed on the Gateway. Almost everything works out of the box. Touchpad edge scrolling was one thing that didn't, but the fix is easy. I had to add this line
to /etc/modprobe.d/psmouse.conf

The only bugs/annoyances that remain are:
1. fan runs too much and laptop seems to run hot.
2. battery status indicator is flaky (e.g., it sometimes reports that battery is critically low when in fact it is not).

I cloned this install to the Acer AO 532H. After doing so, I noticed that the Acer ran cooler and the fan hardly came on. This was a big improvement.
However, the touchpad edge scrolling didn't work.

To fix the touchpad I decided to install Linux Mint 9 fresh to see what would happen. After the install, the touchpad edge scrolling worked out of the box. I didn't even have to do the fix I did on the Gateway.

However, now the laptop runs hot and the fan runs all the time, exactly like the Gateway.

Are there any experts out there who would be interested in helping me get the best of both worlds? I'd like the cool, quiet operation I had previously, but with a fully functioning touchpad. The first "test" proves that the Acer will run quiet and cool. And the fresh install shows that touchpad edge scrolling works out of the box with a fresh install.

I have full system info recorded from both installs. Who wants to help me figure this out?

These may seem like very noob questions, but.....

Have you made sure the cooling fans are clean? For instance my HP dv9000 has a radiator thingy in it because it is liquid cooled. If I blow air through it the wrong way it just packs the dust and lint in it and prevents proper cooling, I have to blow air through it the right way, which is opposite the way the cooling fan blows.

CPU load? Are you sure that you don't have some errant app running and hogging cpu cycles therefore causing extra heat? For instance the flash plugin goes crazy on my laptop from time to time. Your case seems to be consistent from what you said though.

Just some thoughts

thanks for the thoughts, but you are right. Those are not applicable.

This is a brand new netbook. The whole behavior of the fans changed as soon as I did the fresh install of Linux Mint. That only took 15 minutes. The issue has nothing to do with dirt, dust or errant apps.

It is said that this is due to the kernel, but my experience shows that isn't always the case. Both installs had the same kernel. So something else made the fan/heat characteristics change.

You might want to have a look over there, at least for some interesting reading about the fan/cooling situation:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...-speed-822949/

At first I thought you two were the same poster, since the problems are so similar - though, he seems to be on a desktop machine, and I don't know if you have an AMD CPU. The cpu governor should work the same way with an Intel CPU, but the kernel module would be different.