Laptop overheating especially when compiling package
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Laptop overheating especially when compiling package
Hi all fellow slackers, I have a problem with my laptop. When idle, the temperature (I know it using tlp-stat -t command) is around 65 degree Celcius and when compiling my laptop it's around 85 degree and sometimes it just shutdown because it overheated. Probably the temperature is more than 100 degree.
Some information about my system:
My laptop is HP 431 with graphic card Radeon HD 6470M. I tried to use the newest propietary driver from AMD but I uninstalled it because it's kind of messy when I use it using dual monitor. I tried to config it using aticonfig --initial=dual-head --screen-layout=left
but still no luck.
Someone will probably suggest to clean dust and change the thermal paste if possible. As I had the same problem I ended up getting a cooler (Zalman ZM-NC1500B). Its not expensive (I paid 32€95 including 19.6% VAT in Paris) nor too noisy and does the job.
Someone will probably suggest to clean dust and change the thermal paste if possible. As I had the same problem I ended up getting a cooler (Zalman ZM-NC1500B). Its not expensive (I paid 32€95 including 19.6% VAT in Paris) nor too noisy and does the job.
What was the temperature of your laptop before and after using the cooler? I already cleaned the dust, not much effect there. About the thermal paste, the fan is quite new. About 5 or 6 months ago I got a replacement for the fan because there was a problem before with the fan and HP replaced it.
I don't know how Dell is...but I can say that Asus (that I like so much) is a little strange...I had overheating problem with my notebook, so I replace the thermal paste...I can say that even if the notebook was pretty new, the way how the thermal paste was applied was very sick and after the replacement the temperature was 10 degrees under...XD...the thermal paste is much more important than the dust inside...Check it and you'll be surprised...
This is a software problem. While replacing the thermal paste and cleaning out the cooling system isn't a bad thing, it will not fix the overheating.
The problem is that you use the Slackware kernel. The 3.10 kernel lacks dynamic power management for your videocard, so that it by default always runs on full power, heating up the system. Install a 3.13 kernel, which has dynamic power management enabled by default and you should immediately see much better temperatures.
What was the temperature of your laptop before and after using the cooler? I already cleaned the dust, not much effect there. About the thermal paste, the fan is quite new. About 5 or 6 months ago I got a replacement for the fan because there was a problem before with the fan and HP replaced it.
I didn't measure the temperature after using the cooler.
But what I know for sure is that I use the cooler whenever I use a VM or do demanding compilations and the laptop doesn't get hot anymore. I hope that'll extend its life several of several years.
Of course you can try a 3.13 kernel, as TobiSGD suggested (though it be fairly new so if that was me I would wait a few weeks till it has been more widely used so possibly some more bugs in it will be fixed).
Notwithstanding I think it's a shame that we can't use our laptops at their full potential without overheating, but that's another topic.
Last edited by Didier Spaier; 01-25-2014 at 04:31 AM.
Reason: Better wording (I hope :-)
Notwithstanding I think it's a shame that we can't use our laptops at their full potential without overheating, but that's another topic.
If I had such a laptop I would return it to vendor, since this clearly is a problem with its design. Regardless which OS or which applications you use, there is only a certain amount of heat a system can produce under load (thermal design power). If your cooling system is not able to transport that heat away reliably it is poorly designed.
Or poorly assembled. I have seen brand name laptops in which the heatsink did not make firm contact with the CPU. Others must resort to overly thick so-called thermal paste tabs with dbl-sided adhesive. Ridiculous. Even the best designed laptops rarely like to have holes, even as grillework, so airflow is not at a premium.... looks are. This is horrible too. Anything you can do to improve heat transfer is smart work. Even a copper shim between HS and CPU with proper thermal compound, can make your laptop more usable and for a lot longer, if poorly designed or assembled. Sadly, many consumer laptops are both.
Others must resort to overly thick so-called thermal paste tabs with dbl-sided adhesive. Ridiculous.
And it is a "pure coincidence" that these tabs are drying out so the notebook gets unusable shortly after the end of the warranty period.
That reminds me of the mobile desaster that NVIDIA had with their G84 or NVS135M graphic chips. The first bunch they produced failed when they reached 90 degrees or above, so NVIDIA had to produce a new one that could withstand the heat.
A better option would have been to just produce notebooks that don't behave like microwaves - but that would have been to easy.
I have an old Fujitsu notebook here with a chip from the first (faulty) series. It is never reaching these high temperatures and playing games is no problem on that device.
On the other hand, a Dell D630 with the same chip failed two times (the second time after two weeks).
At least there are still good notebooks out there with a good coolant system. You just have to look. The Thinkpad series from Lenovo is still one of the most reliable in my opinion.
Last edited by schmatzler; 01-25-2014 at 05:39 AM.
From what I have seen with my Dell D630 from 2007:
-overheating is caused by heavy graphics, desktop environment, cpu demanding programs.
-you use the nouveau video drivers and this is hotter by ~10°C , use the proprietary drivers instead. Find an older version if the newest is causing problems.
-try the 3.2.53 kernel
- and almost forgot but you can use the jfs file system and you will get lower cpu usage (lower temps) than ext4 .
-you can try to underclock the cpu a little and not letting it to go to max all the time by adding this to /etc/rc.d/rc.local :
All the right modules are modprobed, so I suspect a hardware issue. Probably the fans are clogged with dust, and you may want to use compressed air to clean all the air ports. As this is a laptop, I do NOT recommend taking it apart. If the problem persists I would ask the manufacturer about the issue.
<snip> As this is a laptop, I do NOT recommend taking it apart. <snip>
The above advice is generally wise since we can only guess at someone else's electro-mechanical experience and expertise. However there are a few situations when you should throw such advice out the window and just fix it yourself, or at least see how it's built and what could be wrong.
If it is out of warranty or you don't care about warranty.
If it is not your main or a production machine, or you have a backup machine.
If you're just sick of risking sterility everytime you actually place it on your lap and the manufacturer won't do anything about it.
Laptops are not rocket surgery. Like a PC all the components are keyed so they only go together one way. As long as you pay attention to the order that things disassemble and don't just yank on wires but grasp the connectors and activate any obvious locking mechanism disassembly is no big deal for anyone with even moderate mechanical skills. The only gotcha here is that sometimes manufacturers cover up the locations of bolts or screws with adhesive labels - not that big of a deal to discover and defeat.
Re-Assembly just requires not overtightening into plastic, brass or aluminum and it isn't a bad idea to use the crosshatch method of applying torque evenly. Do it in diagonals a step at a time and it's easy peasy.
The most important thing to remember and follow in both steps is to use the right tools. Don't try to use a Phillips Screwdriver that is too big or too small for a bolt head. I really don't have to say don't use a flat blade on a phillips do I? If your laptop uses Torx heads, stop, and do not continue until you have the proper tool. For most people as long as you don't rush, you will be just fine. Just think it through before you commit to an action. There is no shame in putting it back together and thinking about it for a few days while you re-evaluate your skills to go any further.
Obviously if you decide to do this the responsibility is all yours but there is a lot of help on the Net, including here. A big plus is de-mystifying your lil' lap buddy. It's just a machine and one that is built to be easily assembled on a line. Not magic.
Since you have a laptop, you might also want to search Slackbuilds for Laptop related tools to manage fan controls, power usage, and other laptop related factors.
laptop-mode-tools is a must have, as is ibam, and maybe wmpower, all of which are available from www.slackbuilds.org website.
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