Fan-rotation problem on HP laptop with SUSE10.1 installed.

casmac · 12-25-2006, 10:09 PM

Hi everyone:
I installed SUSE10.1 on my HP pavilion dv1650 laptop. It turns out the fan sometimes starts rotating as soon as I log in my account, eventhough the computer is *cold*, and it fails to turn off after running for awhile. This problem also happend to me when I had FC5 installed a few months ago (so i am not only blaming SUSE linux, but the issue is more severe on SUSE10).
I also have windowsxp installed, and I never ran across similar fan problem as i use Windows. Isn't it odd? The fan usually gets out-of-control when i use Linux, but stays rather quiet when running Windows(as a matter of fact, HP notebooks do not make that much noise like the Toshiba ones).
Does similar problem ever bother you on laptop? Any suggestions to solve this problem?
Thanks a lot. enjoy your holidays..

tony

jschiwal · 12-25-2006, 10:20 PM

Make sure you have kpowersave and any dependencies installed. Also the cpufrequtils package. You may need to modprobe a kernel module, such as powernow-k8 for an amd cpu.

One of the cpufrequtils programs is /usr/bin/cpufreq-info. This will tell you which frequency your processor is running at and the frequency steps you can set it as.

In kpowersave, ( a panel applet ) you can change the policy to Dynamic or Powersave.
You can also do this manually:

My laptop was already on the lowest freq, so for a demo, I'll set it manually to the middle frequency:

Code:

cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 0.4: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004
Report errors and bugs to linux@brodo.de, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: powernow-k8
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 2.20 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.20 GHz, 1.80 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 2.20 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 800 MHz.
jschiwal@hpamd64:~> sudo /usr/bin/cpufreq-set -f 1.8G
jschiwal@hpamd64:~> cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 0.4: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004
Report errors and bugs to linux@brodo.de, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: powernow-k8
  CPUs which need to switch frequency at the same time: 0
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 2.20 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.20 GHz, 1.80 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, userspace, powersave, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 2.20 GHz.
                  The governor "userspace" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 1.80 GHz.

This Intel webpage may provide more info for you:
http://www.intel.com/cd/ids/develope...5910.htm?prn=Y

casmac · 12-25-2006, 11:49 PM

Thanks for the help. I will try to fix the fan noise based on your instructions.
So, basically this is not a hardware faulty under warrantee of HP laptop, right? and I need to deal with it by myself. Do you think this fan-noise problem can be solved completely? because sometimes, i ran into a even worse, pulse-like situation.

jschiwal · 12-26-2006, 12:36 AM

The problem could be that the fans are faulty or clogged with dust. However, if they seem OK in windows, then it may be that you are constantly running at top speed even if you don't need to be, and the noise is normal when the fans run at top speed. It could also be that a fan is wearing out but you don't notice the noise unless they are running at the top speed.

The cpufreq-info command will allow you to tell what the speed is. If the cpu speed is max without running any programs, you need to enable the power saving features. It might also extend the life of the CPU.

I have read where a bug in a distro causes tight loops and the cpu runs hot, however, I am using SuSE 10.1 on an HP laptop (Amd64) without any such problem.