Computer warmer in linux

Ipozya · 04-02-2011, 04:47 PM

Hi everyone,
I am running Arch Linux (64 bit) and have noticed that warm air is constantly produced from fans. When in windows, this is not the case. Acpi-t shows temp at both cores as 47 C. Is there something that can be done/what is the cause? Thank you

Mr. Bill · 04-02-2011, 06:40 PM

Linux is written to use system resources (i.e. RAM, CPU) for better performance, as opposed to persistent HDD swapping like Windows. This, in turn, will cause your CPU to run a little warmer. While you might be able to make adjustments in BIOS concerning fan control, 47C isn't detrimental to your system.

eldoran · 04-03-2011, 03:27 PM

A couple of ideas:

- Run 'top' to see what is using CPU and what might be keeping it constantly running... kill any process that is using a lot of cpu and see if it makes a difference.
- Check packages that do CPU scaling .. I run Ubuntu and it's built-in as an applet you can add.. you can throttle the CPU so that it keeps things 'cool'. But .. it shouldn't be running hot unless there is a process using CPU .. so I would suspect some process is running..

I've noticed similar behavior when various distros kickoff 'utility' commands.. for example -- running updatedb or similar things.. I often find a cron task like this running when I notice a sudden spike in CPU.

I look over the /etc/cron.hourly, daily, weekly directories and erase or hide (rename whatever to .whatever) things I don't think are necessary to be run regularly.

markush · 04-03-2011, 04:52 PM

Which Prozessor/Mainboard do you have? with most modern processors it is possible to control the CPU-frequency. For example I'm using the governor "conservative" and the system always tries to run with the lowest possible frequency. My output of the cpufreq-info command is:

Code:

markus@samsung:~$ cpufreq-info 
cpufrequtils 008: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: powernow-k8
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency: 8.0 us.
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 2.10 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.10 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 2.10 GHz.
                  The governor "conservative" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 800 MHz.
analyzing CPU 1:
  driver: powernow-k8
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 1
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 1
  maximum transition latency: 8.0 us.
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 2.10 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.10 GHz, 1.50 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: conservative, ondemand, userspace
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 2.10 GHz.
                  The governor "conservative" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 800 MHz.
markus@samsung:~$

I have an AMD processor. I'd recommend to read the Arch-documentation: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php...quency_Scaling
Since Arch has an excellent documentation this should help you. If it doesn't please provide additional information about your processor and please post the output of

Code:

lsmod | sort

If the CPU-frequency isn't the problem, you may have to look into the BIOS and check if there is a setting for the fan-control.

Markus

Ipozya · 04-04-2011, 01:43 AM

Thanks for the responses. Here is an image of top and acpi -t
http://img196.imageshack.us/i/201104...1600x900s.png/. Don't see anything out of the ordinary, very little cpu usage (I have Intel Centrino 2) and I have 6 GB ram. So it really shouldn't run this hot and constantly be working, should it? It seems like disk is spinning up quite often even though I have hdparm set to 254 when plugged in/128 on battery (using laptop-mode-tools).

With regards to cpu frequencing, I have installed laptop-mode-tools/cpufrequtils. I have configured the settings to use performance on AC and conservative governor on battery. I have acpid installed and in daemon array to monitor power events; when I have power source, cpufreq-info shows performance (both cores at 2 GHz), and correctly shifts to conservative (both cores 800 MHz) when I unplug. Nothing happens when I plug back in, however, and cpufreq-info still shows conservative. Any idea what could cause this? Here is cpufreq.conf and also the output of acpi_listen when I unplug (first part) and plug back in (second).

cpufreq.conf

Code:

DEBUG=0

CONTROL_CPU_FREQUENCY="auto"

BATT_CPU_MAXFREQ=fastest
BATT_CPU_MINFREQ=slowest
BATT_CPU_GOVERNOR=conservative
BATT_CPU_IGNORE_NICE_LOAD=1
LM_AC_CPU_MAXFREQ=fastest
LM_AC_CPU_MINFREQ=slowest
LM_AC_CPU_GOVERNOR=performance
LM_AC_CPU_IGNORE_NICE_LOAD=1
NOLM_AC_CPU_MAXFREQ=fastest
NOLM_AC_CPU_MINFREQ=slowest
NOLM_AC_CPU_GOVERNOR=performance
NOLM_AC_CPU_IGNORE_NICE_LOAD=0

CONTROL_CPU_THROTTLING=0

BATT_CPU_THROTTLING=medium
LM_AC_CPU_THROTTLING=medium
NOLM_AC_CPU_THROTTLING=minimum

Code:

$ acpi_listen
ac_adapter ADP1 00000081 00000000
battery BAT0 00000080 00000001
processor CPU0 00000081 00000000
processor CPU1 00000081 00000000
battery BAT0 00000080 00000001

ac_adapter ADP1 00000081 00000001
battery BAT0 00000080 00000001
processor CPU0 00000081 00000000
processor CPU1 00000081 00000000
battery BAT0 00000080 00000001

Here is lsmod | sort

Code:

ac                      3217  0 
acpi_cpufreq            5977  1 
ahci                   20465  7 
arc4                    1394  2 
battery                10279  0 
bluetooth              53970  1 btusb
btusb                  11721  0 
button                  4882  0 
cdrom                  36363  1 sr_mod
cfg80211              139317  3 iwlagn,iwlcore,mac80211
cpufreq_conservative     8692  2 
crc_itu_t               1313  1 firewire_core
drm                   173795  4 radeon,ttm,drm_kms_helper
drm_kms_helper         26587  1 radeon
ecb                     2057  2 
ehci_hcd               38878  0 
evdev                   9361  9 
ext3                  125159  5 
firewire_core          50038  1 firewire_ohci
firewire_ohci          26921  0 
freq_table              2339  1 acpi_cpufreq
hid                    78087  1 usbhid
i2c_algo_bit            4927  1 radeon
i2c_core               19217  6 videodev,radeon,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_algo_bit,i2c_i801
i2c_i801                8230  0 
intel_agp              10504  0 
intel_gtt              15215  1 intel_agp
ipv6                  280362  0 
iTCO_vendor_support     1817  1 iTCO_wdt
iTCO_wdt               10925  0 
iwlagn                358425  0 
iwlcore                92743  1 iwlagn
jbd                    46953  1 ext3
joydev                 10183  0 
libahci                17952  1 ahci
libata                169396  2 ahci,libahci
lp                      8992  0 
mac80211              199532  2 iwlagn,iwlcore
mbcache                 5802  1 ext3
mmc_core               62378  1 sdhci
Module                  Size  Used by
mperf                   1291  1 acpi_cpufreq
output                  1988  1 video
parport                30087  1 lp
pci_hotplug            24687  1 shpchp
processor              25265  3 acpi_cpufreq
psmouse                53237  0 
radeon                925145  2 
reiserfs              238308  1 
rfkill                 16122  3 bluetooth,cfg80211,sony_laptop
scsi_mod              125814  4 sg,sd_mod,sr_mod,libata
sdhci                  17174  1 sdhci_pci
sdhci_pci               7486  0 
sd_mod                 27120  8 
serio_raw               4566  0 
sg                     25972  0 
shpchp                 26725  0 
sky2                   46469  0 
snd                    58906  12 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
snd_hda_codec          74609  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     22857  1 
snd_hda_codec_realtek   295717  1 
snd_hda_intel          21837  0 
snd_hwdep               6222  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_mixer_oss          17730  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc          7361  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_pcm                72321  4 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss            39509  0 
snd_seq                50562  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          5281  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_seq_dummy           1479  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      5516  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq_oss            29240  0 
snd_timer              19537  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
sony_laptop            25855  0 
soundcore               6161  1 snd
sr_mod                 15402  0 
thermal                 7890  0 
ttm                    52821  1 radeon
uhci_hcd               22230  0 
usbcore               139496  6 btusb,usbhid,uvcvideo,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd
usbhid                 36375  0 
uvcvideo               61928  0 
v4l1_compat            16010  2 uvcvideo,videodev
v4l2_compat_ioctl32    10228  1 videodev
video                  11923  0 
videodev               65502  1 uvcvideo

Ipozya · 04-04-2011, 04:09 PM

Does anyone have any suggestions/ideas?

Ipozya · 04-05-2011, 11:32 PM