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03-09-2021, 01:50 PM
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#1
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Member
Registered: Nov 2020
Posts: 30
Rep: 
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High CPU usage with fan activation for any process
Hei,
my laptop seems to have an issue with CPU usage.
Since this morning any process uses an insane amount of CPU, leading to a full power fan activating. To give an idea it takes me a full core to open my web browser, and nearly as much for opening nautilus or doing whatsoever else. Watching a youtube video uses 3 or 4 full cores. It seems that anything I do is super demanding for the computer, and I have therefore also a certain lag in everything I am doing.
I tried to look a bit at the CPU usage using top and htop, as well as the temperatures of the cores. Temps seem fairly stable, but as said, CPU usage spikes like insane for everything done. If I let the computer still, it seems to be OK, no spikes.
I tried to boot on the pop os dongle, but the problem is also there (it starts as soon as I reach the desktop).
I tried to enter the GRUB, and even there the fan gets crazy.
I tried to refresh my install of pop os, but the problem is still there.
I can mention that ca 3 weeks ago I had a similar issue, but then I could see that I had a kworker kacpid/kacpi_notify process pumping my CPU. It disappeared after some hours. This time I cannot see this process though.
I really don't know where to look now. I am surprised that refreshing the distribution install did not solve the issue. My laptop is from 2015, could it just be getting old?
I run pop os 20.10 on an ACER aspire V nitro. Intel® Core™ i7-6700HQ CPU @ 2.60GHz × 8.
Thanks for the help.
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03-09-2021, 02:12 PM
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#2
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LQ Guru
Registered: Apr 2010
Location: Continental USA
Distribution: Debian, Ubuntu, RedHat, DSL, Puppy, CentOS, Knoppix, Mint-DE, Sparky, VSIDO, tinycore, Q4OS, Manjaro
Posts: 6,085
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That is not a bad laptop, and the CPU has significant power. I have never owned on, but I like the stats. It is not a conservative CPU, it tends to fire up and fly. You can set some throttling factors to limit it and get SOME relief, but only a little. (Reference cpufreq)
You might look into fan controls, and see if you can top out the fans at half speed: that should provide significant noise reduction. (Reference fancontrol / pwmconfig)
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03-09-2021, 02:57 PM
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#3
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Senior Member
Registered: Aug 2016
Posts: 3,345
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Note that limiting the fans to half speed will increase the cpu temps under load.
How are you moitoring cpu usage and fan speeds? I use lm-sensors and gkrellm for a real time display.
Have you tried running uptime frequently to watch the actual load values? I wrote a simple script to select the load values from the uptime output and log it. I then created a crontab entry to run that script periodically so I could monitor what was happening over time and use the results to aid me when something was causing the system to be overloaded. Depending on your phone provider you might be able to even have that script send you a text message about high load conditions, I did on verizon.
Another thing to consider, and I would look at this first with your description of the issue, is that maybe the airflow path in the laptop has collected some dust/lint and the fan needs to run faster to maintain adequate air flow.
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03-09-2021, 03:58 PM
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#4
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Member
Registered: Nov 2020
Posts: 30
Original Poster
Rep: 
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@wpeckham
Yes, I agree that the specs are rather good (for a 6 yo computer), and I never had any issue in this regard before that.
I read that usually if the fan activates there is a good reason for it. ie the cores are getting hot. So by decreasing manually the fan power you actually damage your system. Also, I do see the CPU spikes, so isn't the fan activation rather the consequence of the problem rather than the cause?
@computersavvy Well, I did not really use anything to monitor the fan speed. I just hear it  And it feels like it is whether full power, or nothing. For the CPU usage I look at top and htop outputs, but I do it visually, nothing really rigorous.
Following your advice I tried to run uptime few times. At the beginning I had ca 1.2 on the 1 min and 5 min averages, but that went quickly down (even though I keep getting the fan spikes). I am now at ca 0.5 for all. So nothing problematic there if I understand well.
I know, and I tried to clean my laptop few weeks ago after the first CPU usage issue. It was really dirty, but not really around the fans, rather in the plastic corners of the shell. Cleaning did not change anything.
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03-10-2021, 06:39 PM
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#5
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LQ Guru
Registered: Apr 2010
Location: Continental USA
Distribution: Debian, Ubuntu, RedHat, DSL, Puppy, CentOS, Knoppix, Mint-DE, Sparky, VSIDO, tinycore, Q4OS, Manjaro
Posts: 6,085
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It is possible that airflow INSIDE the laptop is restricted. Use of some forced air MIGHT help. Are there covers or panels that you can open to examine the problem without major disassembly? (Som eof my older laptops were VERY maintainable. Of my newer ones only the Pinebook Pro is made to be easily maintained. It is worth a shot. ) If you can remove any dust bunnies hidden inside, it might help the internal cooling.
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03-10-2021, 08:26 PM
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#6
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LQ Veteran
Registered: Aug 2003
Location: Australia
Distribution: Lots ...
Posts: 21,340
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Try this to give us a bit more info - it's simply a display command.
Code:
grep . -r /sys/firmware/acpi/interrupts/ | sort -nr -k2 | head
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03-10-2021, 09:17 PM
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#7
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2008
Posts: 22,291
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"Since this morning any process uses an insane amount of CPU, leading to a full power fan activating. "
You said you booted I think to some live media correct? Try maybe a live dvd also of some other distro, modern distro.
Wonder if the cpu cooler got lifted off cpu slightly?
Usually when I see cpu going way high I think one or more of the cpu's have overheated and been shut down by bios. Not sure a laptop would do that.
The question may need to know more about what all you see for the processes.
You said it happens on desktop. Guess video could be part of your issue.
Last edited by jefro; 03-10-2021 at 09:20 PM.
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03-11-2021, 07:52 AM
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#8
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Member
Registered: Nov 2020
Posts: 30
Original Poster
Rep: 
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Well, I feel a bit stupid now, but I managed to fix it by an extra step of air-pressure cleaning. A bit weird though, as when I did it the first time, 3 weeks ago, a lot of dust went off but nothing really changed. However this time I could not really see any dust flying away, but obviously somehow it did something. I used a much more powerful air-pressure gun this time, so maybe there were just a little something stuck somewhere that needed to be blown away...
Thanks for the help.
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03-11-2021, 04:01 PM
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#9
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2008
Posts: 22,291
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Thanks for the update and solution.
Be careful on that air. Over spin fan and goodbye fan. Also all that is a safety hazard unless special precautions.
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03-12-2021, 02:00 AM
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#10
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Member
Registered: Nov 2020
Posts: 30
Original Poster
Rep: 
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OK, good to know. I was rather scared of moving some electronic piece with the air. Did not think the fan could get broken by over spinning.
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03-12-2021, 04:09 PM
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#11
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Moderator
Registered: Mar 2008
Posts: 22,291
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I usually stop the fan from spinning with finger to spudger or such. They are all fragile.
Flowing air is also an ESD issue. Usually high volume low pressure is used just to be overly technical.
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