Laptop is getting very, very hot

**matbehns** · 02-07-2005, 04:44 PM

Hey,

I installed Knoppix v3.7 on my hard drive and am using it as a office machine only. I am using an Acer Travelmate 292 LMI.

Now I realized that my laptop is getting very hot underneath. Though the cooler is running from time to time (not unusally often) it is still too hot for my taste. I couldnt reproduce this phenomen using windows. There it stays rather mid warm.

Now I am a bit worried about the health of my system if I keep using it like this. I wonder if anyone experienced the same, has a explaination, test or resolution for this matter!

Thank you very much!

Mat

**Cuddles** · 02-07-2005, 05:19 PM

matbehns,

No clue about laptops, never used one, never owned one, but, I do have some suggestions, possibly to "watch" your systems "health"

Install GKrellM as an "all around" monitoring program... Then install, or if the modules are already in the kernel ( I am not sure on this ), i2c to monitor "low-level" BIOS information, and then install lm-sensors - the combination of all three of these things, will allow you to monitor the fan RPM's of your CPU fan, and case fans, and even temps on your CPU and case...

Having a desktop computer, rather new motherboard, I have the above set up, and can not only "monitor" the CPU FAN RPM's, but, also the CASE TEMP and CPU TEMP, from within GKrellM. This program also lets you set "warning" temps and RPM's, so, if something starts getting to hot, or the fans start spinning to slowly, a warning can be set, to "hopefully" get your attention, and do something, BEFORE it gets too late.

If your laptop is rather new, you can always have Knoppix reboot, go into your BIOS, and check the temps and fan speeds within your BIOS - shutting down shouldnt cause temps to change that drastically in that amount of time... Another thought, does your CPU change speeds depending on what it needs to do? I have heard of laptops doing this. Maybe the OS is running your CPU at full-speed, even when it doesnt need to, thus something needs to be running that allerts the OS and CPU that it should "slow down" or "speed up" when it needs it to?

Just some ideas, hopefully, they help,
Ms. Cuddles

**matbehns** · 02-07-2005, 06:18 PM

Thanks for your very explicit reply.

I installed ksensors and GKrellM and configured the modules. All works fine, except I cant read CPU temperature. It seems that he cannot find any temp_sensors. So I tried to recompile the kernel as you said, but if I make in /usr/src/linux-2.4.27 - make menuconfig - he alsways quits stating somehting like "make: *** no rule, for »menuconfig« . Quitting.

Now I am really surprised - why cant I compile my kernel? I have done it once with a pure Debian and there it worked. Any ideas what is wrong?

Further on I looked in the BIOS - there are no figures for Core Temp? Strange - I mean this Laptop is really new. I bought it 4 month ago and it is one of these recent Centrinos, so it should have sensors on board?

Any ideas? Sorry for your time - but thanks for your help!

Mat

**Cuddles** · 02-07-2005, 07:05 PM

O U C H

Where do I start on this now

Appears we openned a can of worms now...

As for the modules in i2c, here is the summary, I have on i2c - I used to have a 2.4 kernel, which didnt have i2c in the kernel modules, and required manually installing them, but, as you will see, in kernel 2.6 or higher, the i2c modules already exist in the kernel - no extra compiling needed...

Code:

These are the installation instructions for the i2c package.
This package is ONLY for 2.4 kernels 2.4.9 or later !!!

FOR 2.5/2.6 KERNELS, do not attempt to compile this package.
    Use the drivers already in the 2.5/2.6 kernel tree.

so, the trick is, getting the "already" i2c modules "working" within a kernel 2.6 (easier said, than done...)

The biggest trick, is getting to be able to run "sensors-detect" - which will attempt to locate any, and all, driver modules you need to get i2c and lm-sensors running - which is what GKrellM is waiting for...

so, if we "assume" we have the i2c modules already, the next step is to look at the documentation for lm-sensors: ( the install doc says the following )

Code:

DETAILED INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
See QUICKSTART for the simple version.

The driver modules in this package are ONLY for 2.4 kernels 2.4.9 or later !!!

This package REQUIRES i2c-2.8.1 or later!!!

FOR 2.5/2.6 KERNELS, do not attempt to compile this package.
    Use the drivers already in the 2.5/2.6 kernel tree.
    If you are running a 2.5/2.6 kernel, the ONLY thing you need to
    do is 'make user' and 'make user_install'. Do NOT follow the rest
    of these instructions.

which leads us, again, to a dead end...

except, that following down that install file states the following:

Code:

There is a special scanning program installed called sensors-detect. It
will scan all available I2C and SMBus adapters for all known devices,
and give you a list of what modules you need to insert. It is written in
Perl, and you will need at least Perl 5.004 to run it succesfully.

You may want to check if sensors-detect is available, from a root konsole... if it isnt, try searching for lm-sensors on the web, I downloaded the lm-sensors and i2c files from somewhere, but, dont recall where...

-=-

Lastly, bout your BIOS....

Have you checked to see if you have any BIOS upgrades? Possibly, in the upgrades, they have the sensors information? Possibly, the sensor is not installed on the CPU, or motherboard? My best guess here, is, if it isnt in the BIOS, I dont think i2c or lm-sensors, will be able to get information either ( but dont quote me on this )

I read through one of the install docs for lm-sensors, which DID give a home page for current downloads, it "could" be a starting point...

-=-
The latest version of this package can always be found on our homepage:
http://secure.netroedge.com/~lm78
-=-

Not really sure if this has helped, but, I tried

**OErjan** · 02-07-2005, 07:17 PM

acpid or apm and, if supported by your laptop, frequency-scaling.
are imho what you need.

**OErjan** · 02-07-2005, 07:21 PM

sorry for the typo, fixed.

**matbehns** · 02-10-2005, 11:27 AM

thanks for your replies. will try this as soon as possible. for now the flue caught me, so its no real fun in front of computer.

**blackomegax** · 02-11-2005, 12:56 AM

amazed no one thought of the obvious

windows = scales CPU speed down to save power

i have a laptop MUCH like yours. acer TM290.

by default, knoppix is not set up to throttle CPU speed, this is the one and only thing causing your heat problem. by default, off cd, knoppix can not do this AT ALL with either kernel. HDinstall is needed to enable APM/ACPI/speedstep

search for "speedstep"

**matbehns** · 02-18-2005, 12:26 PM

Thanks, I will try this! I have my problems compiling the kernel so far, whenever I move to /usr/src/linux_whateverversion and do my make menuconfig he quits stating that make has no destination?

Any ideas? I compiled Debian this way and it worked - is there a "special way" for knoppix?

Mat