It's a ThinkPad T60, and the distribution is Slackware 12.1 with new kernel.

It was always heated up and thus the cooling fan is always activated about every 30 seconds. By the way, I am not running huge programs, just serffing the internet, or such like.

What I have done:

1. loaded the modules such as:
thinkpad_acpi
acpi_cpufreq
cpufreq_ondemand
thermal
fan
...etc.

2. Used tp-fancontrol script to control the cooling fan, otherwise it would constantly run.

3. Turned the cpu frequency to lowest value of what allowed.

Did I miss something necessary?

Check the temperatures:
$ cat /proc/acpi/ibm/thermal
temperatures: 53 40 39 56 32 -128 29 -128 41 54 51 -128 -128 -128 -128 -128

This is the normal state since the fan is running. But if I turn the fan off, the first and fourth one will be soon about 60 and then higher.

So, what is heating up my computer? Thanks and sorry for my English.

I'm sorry if my first post is confusing. The simpler version of the question is:

What must one do, in Operating System, to keep the laptop cool? What I have done is:
1. Load modules about acpi and processor.
2. Turn the cpu frequency down manually.

Is it enough?

Thanks for reading.

place your laptop on the table not on the pillow or bed, places like bed and pillow does not let the air to come in.

So, you convey that what I have done in software is sufficient? And I should concentrate on physical cooling methods?

I did place my laptop on a table. And the room temperature is only about 24 Celsius.

But thanks anyway.

Why are you doing this manually? Are you running in a command-line environment? Because desktop environments have their own utilities to achieve this (not that the results are any better, though). Modern laptops tend to produce loads of heat, that's a fact. If you actually set them in your lap, you're in for some nice testicle burns, so they defeat their own purpose, in a way. If you're really into reducing heat to a minimum, I think there's an Intel utility for assessing just that: which applications/drivers burn the most of your CPU time and consequently produce the most heat, so you can disable them. There may be other FOSS utilities to do that, I don't know. And another way to further reduce power consumption/heat production is to disable in hardware all the devices you don't actually use (such as fingerprint readers, smart card readers, inbuilt webcams...) and pull out any attachments from your ports (USB, firewire, media cards... not-self-powered USB attachments are particularly nasty since they are powered via the USB bus). Other than that, you could try tweaking your graphics card to a lower performance, disabling any acceleration features, openGL and the like; and also dimming your display a bit, of course. As for the fans, I'd actually set them working all the time -- maybe at a lower speed, but continuously, pumping them up at the slightest increase in temperature. A power supply working slightly under the declared voltage may also help. And don't let your CPU operate "dynamically" (decreasing and increasing the frequency depending on the load) - a fixed low frequency will definitely produce less heat, if at the cost of a lower performance. Also, slightly older/obsolete distros should theoretically place lower power requirements on your hardware than the newest distros. If you're interested in this, you should google for "silent pc", sometimes also called "green PC" -- there are lots of online projects about making the ultimate fan-less PC and many are also concerned with producing as little heat as possible. Plenty of good ideas there.

powertop is what you're thinking of.

Thank you for answering.
1. Yes, I'm not use a modern Desktop Environment. I just use a window manager, FVWM2. So I need to do the job manually.
2. I checked CPU by command top, and it says less than 3% of CPU was used, as expected. So I think there are no programs keep the CPU busy.
3. About hardware, I think maybe it is the very problem, since I have two hard disks in the laptop. I will try remove the additional one when it's convenient.
4. About the graphic card, I am not sure, and will have a look.
5. It will be very nice to use a really silent computer, just like yours.
6. I have been thinking about buying a fanless laptop, like an obsolete one with a SSD hard disk.

Thanks again. And say thanks to pwc101.

I have removed the additional hard disk, leaving a open mouth on the side of my T60, and have turned the graphic card driver to lowest power state. It really works. But not as good as expected. The computer is still heating up, then consequently the fan is activated about every 2 minutes.

So, thanks, JosipBroz. Your tips really helped.

But is there anything else I can do, in software, to reduce the heat producing? I just want literally turn off the noisy cooling-fan.

Thanks every one.

My laptop, a Dell Inspiron 8000 was heating up, also, causing the fans to speed up. I went to Walmart and purchased a Rubbermaid adjustable metal mesh laptop stand for about $15 that did the trick. I very rarely hear the laptop fans any more.

could you have dust in the heat sink blocking the air flow ?

Thanks for answering.

I have also tested a laptop stand. It worked somewhat. But my one was foolishly designed, and not stable enough. So I finally threw it away.

Sometimes I use some hard block, such as a thick book, to prop up the rear bottom of the computer. A very simple way.

Regards.

Thanks.

That's another way I was thinking about. I have ordered some lubricating grease and thermal grease. When they arrive, I will open the computer, dust the heat sink, and maybe lubricate the fan (a disputed way).

Regards.

Does your laptop series have a issue with heating per se? One of the laptops I used to own - a Compaq Presarrio V3133AU - had heating problems.

The silly thing would become so hot - it started scorching my lap!


Linux Archive

My thinkpad gets very hot when compiling code so I installed gtk fan control which I can run and boost the fan a bit.

Generally speaking, ThinkPads are cooler than many others. But T60 series is a hot one among ThinkPads.

I was told that one unlucky guy had had his genital part scalded by a laptop on his legs. The saying were that his long-time-no-move legs got numbed, so he hadn't feel the pain at first. Although the story is not verified, it is still scaring.

I remember that some hot laptops smell like burning plastics!

Some are designed without a cooling fan. Definitely silent, but smell.

Sorry for my English.