AMD Athalon64 (Turion) 2x overheats under 2.6.27.x kernel ...
 

Hello. Thanks for reading my post. hopefully someone will be able to figure out what i'm doing wrong.

As background, i am (trying to ) build a new kernel for a Gateway M1624. I've installed Slackware 12.1 ( which uses kernel 2.6.24.5 ), and most things run fine. This older kernel doesn't have working drivers for the Realtek RTL8187b, which is part of my motivation for trying to upgrade kernel's ... and new is better right ? *:) ...

so, i've configured a new kernel with the what i think are needed options and everything except heat/throttle control seems to work. i'm not sure whether it is a fan problem, cpu throttling problem, or something else. i know the problem is definitely within the newer kernel build/configuration though because running gkrellm under the 2.6.24.5 kernel the temperature stays steady between 46-48 degrees unless the CPU starts to work and then it slowly goes up to the low 70's. under the 2.6.27.x kernels, as soon as the computer is started the temperature is immediately in the high 60s and continues to climb until i can barely keep my hands on the keyboard long enough to type "halt."

so, i've tried a couple of options -- i read in a thread someone fixed a seemingly similar sounding problem by building the ACPI options as built-in rather than modules, but this didn't seem to fix my problem.

please let me know what information you would find helpful to be posted in trying to deduce a solution ...

go easy,

-daniel

Either you have a cooling problem or you don't. If you do, change the fan or heat sink or whatever the problem is. If not, then you probably want to consider what would happen if you didn't "know" you were having a cooling problem. If, as is probably the case, nothing would happen, then it's simply a matter of the machine lying to you. It's unreasonable to believe that there are execution loops which can damage a properly cooled computer. Check to see if there is a fixup or multiplier or whatever it's called for your motherboard/CPU combination that will give you the correct value for the temperature.

it's definitely a cooling problem ...
 

if i don't shut down the laptop, it will hard-lock for me after about 30 minutes or so. between that and the stark difference in behaviour between the two kernel versions, i'm pretty certain it is a software or configuration issue.

-daniel

Ah, sorry, there was nothing to indicate it was a laptop. And, yeah, they have cooling issues that desktops don't have. I've noticed a couple of posts lately where laptops have been acting up, some with fans running all the time, and some with the fan never coming on and overheating.

Have you checked to see if there is an installable driver for the rtl8187b for you old/good kernel?

So, this is a kernel you downloaded from kernel.org? What did you use for a .config file? Did you try to just manually put one together with the options you thought right, or did you copy the one from your "good" kernel and start with that?

I did some searching here on LQ. Have you seen this thread?

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...aptop+overheat

Someone recommends checking these:
/proc/acpi/thermal_zone/TZ1/trip_points and /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/TZ1/polling_frequency.

A success comment:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...0/#post2213803

i hadn't seen either of those. it's a bummer the "success" writer didn't list the 'extra feature' which he compiled the kernel with.

To answer, i've mostly been trying the 2.6.27.7 kernel, however today i downloaded the baseline 2.6.27 and then applied the 2.6.28-rc6 patch.

As for the config file, i've usually done defoldconfig from a config while generated via:
while running the 2.6.24.5 kernel. this seems like the safest option but perhaps not ?

-daniel

reading other posts got me to asking myself ...

Self, would having a different distrobution make a difference ? perhaps if Slackware 12.1 is having a problem, maybe Ubuntu [lastest-version-name] would work ?

any thoughts ?

-daniel

If your kernel has a config there, then sure, why not? I usually copy from /boot/config-`uname -r`. Whatever works.

I guess I'm out of ideas. If you've enabled the following, then I dunno.
You mentioned enabling them as fixed rather than as loadable modules. You might try that, or at least run lsmod and check to verify they're all loaded. I see a lot of options under CPU Frequency Scaling, but I've never used them.

thanks for the suggestions. i've been trying to troll on the chat channels to find an ACPI expert, but haven't yet. maybe after the holidays.

this link may prove interesting.

http://katherina.student.utwente.nl/.../BrandNew.html

it's dated, but the general idea might be valid still. i'm trying to find the compiler he mentions "iasl" and see if i can experiment with this a bit.

-daniel

iasl is the Intel Assembler. It's a standard package.

it doesn't seem to be installed with slackware 12.1 ... which i would have thought.

Is slackware a requirement or just a male-ego thing? ;) Have you considered Ubuntu?

this is a hardware issue that can be handled in bios. the generic drivers for the agp is not the problem. bios set to none os or none windows. then let the bios keep it cool instead of the bios waiting for some operating system to tell it that it is time to cool down. then it never comes and then bios at a critical point takes over to late you hot.

well, it's the distro i have at hand.
it'll take some time to make a partition and install Ubuntu ( and download it ) but i'll give that a try over the holiday weekend.

i haven't been able to find a link to download IASL. seems the intel.com download page which everyone links to has been removed.

hmm, that is worth a try. i'll experiment with changing the BIOS settings.
however, i would ask you why would one kernel build manage the cooling correctly and another not ? i don't change the BIOS between re-boots ...

update: i just looked into the BIOS. unfortuantely this verison of Phoenix doesn't have any options for power of any sort.