Keep my sister from overheating my laptop

suicidaleggroll · 07-09-2014, 05:42 PM

You already know how to grab the cpu temperature from "sensors", so I don't see what's stopping you from writing a simple daemon to monitor and take action if necessary?

I didn't like the fan controller on my laptop, so I wrote my own using the same idea. It's just a simple bash script that parses the output of sensors to grab the cpu temp, and then it sets the fan speed using my own algorithm. It keeps the cpu around 10-20C cooler than with the fan set to "auto". It starts up as root on boot using the "@reboot" directive in cron and runs forever on a 5 second loop. No reason you couldn't do something similar but just have it pop up a warning or kill minecraft if the temp is over some threshold.

maples · 07-09-2014, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suicidaleggroll

You already know how to grab the cpu temperature from "sensors", so I don't see what's stopping you from writing a simple daemon to monitor and take action if necessary?

I didn't like the fan controller on my laptop, so I wrote my own using the same idea. It's just a simple bash script that parses the output of sensors to grab the cpu temp, and then it sets the fan speed using my own algorithm. It keeps the cpu around 10-20C cooler than with the fan set to "auto". It starts up as root on boot using the "@reboot" directive in cron and runs forever on a 5 second loop. No reason you couldn't do something similar but just have it pop up a warning or kill minecraft if the temp is over some threshold.

So how does your setup work? Do you just do some "grep" and "cut" commands on the output of "sensors"? Or is there a file in /sys or /proc that has the current temp?

I've never messed with cron, but if I have trouble with that I think I should start another thread...

I think the script would probably just kill X, wait a few secs for it to stop, then "wall" a message saying that it's overheating, wait a few seconds for her to read it, save the date in a log somewhere, then shutdown. Maybe, if I'm feeling adventurous (and lucky) I'll have it check for if it's happened previously on that day...if it happens 3 or 4 times, then disable her account.

EDIT: Even if the Arch account gets disabled, there's still Windows... maybe the script could swap my grub.cfg with one without the Win7 boot option? Any thoughts if this is a good or bad idea?

jefro · 07-09-2014, 09:22 PM

Wonder if this is a motherboard versus cpu sensor deal?

Does bios have any health settings to adjust when standby or shutdown happens?

suicidaleggroll · 07-09-2014, 09:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maples

So how does your setup work? Do you just do some "grep" and "cut" commands on the output of "sensors"

Yep. REAL simple and works like a champ.

onebuck · 07-10-2014, 07:16 AM

Hi,

Most do! Look at the output of 'lspci -vv' & 'dmesg' for your GPU.

maples · 07-10-2014, 04:24 PM

From the output of 'lspci -vv' I don't think there's a separate graphics chip, but I'll post the relevant parts. I've never looked at dmesg before, so I have no idea what to look for...

Code:

[anthony@anthonyGoodLaptop ~]$ lspci -vv
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family DRAM Controller (rev 09)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 04d7
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort+ >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Capabilities: <access denied>

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Dell Device 04d7
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 48
	Region 0: Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4M]
	Region 2: Memory at c0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Region 4: I/O ports at 3000 [size=64]
	Expansion ROM at <unassigned> [disabled]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: i915
	Kernel modules: i915

00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 04d7
	Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx+
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 47
	Region 0: Memory at d0705000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: mei_me
	Kernel modules: mei_me

<snip>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM67 Express Chipset Family LPC Controller (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 04d7
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Latency: 0
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: lpc_ich
	Kernel modules: lpc_ich

<snip>

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 6 Series/C200 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 04d7
	Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr- Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
	Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort- <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
	Interrupt: pin C routed to IRQ 18
	Region 0: Memory at d0704000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Region 4: I/O ports at efa0 [size=32]
	Kernel modules: i2c_i801

<snip>

To me, it looks like there's not a separate chip, but I've been wrong before...

onebuck · 07-11-2014, 08:00 AM

Hi,

You are using;

Code:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])

Do a 'modinfo i915' for module information. Intel is your GPU on this system.

On my Dell XPS;

Code:

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 09) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Dell Device 0571

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation Device 124d (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
        Subsystem: Dell Device 0571

I must use 'bumblebeed' for Optimus to utilize the nVidia chipset. The Intel chipset provides decent graphics generally but the Optimus blows it away.