okay, i asked earlier in the new to linux forum, but this probably belongs here. and since i've been able to hunt down alot more information related to the problem, i thought i would repost with hopes that someone might have more insight.

i'm quite fond of knoppix and i love how it works but the cpu fan (acpi) on my toshiba tecra 8100 laptop does not run correctly. while running knoppix, gkrellm shows my cpu temp hovering around 64 deg and spikes to 70 when the cd runs or when the system is crunching numbers. WAY too hot. this is because:
1) the fan does not turn on when it should.
2) the intel "speed step technology" does not step down the cpu when it starts to get hot.

i have the same exact issue in windows 2000. from what i've read here: http://www.buzzard.me.uk/toshiba/index.html , the problem is related to the fact that the bios doesn't know how to handle a 32 bit os.

according to the toshiba website (support document 98060139 "Tecra 8100 - Windows 2000 Clean Installation - General Information"), this is a known issue and requires special steps during the installation of windows in order to make the acpi work correctly. the sequence is as follows:
1. With the Windows 2000 CD in the CD-Rom drive power the computer on while holding down the "C" key which boots the Tecro[sic] 8100 to the Windows 2000 CD.
2. When you see the following message displayed at the bottom of the screen "Press F6 for SCSI drivers, etc," DO NOT press F6 Press the F5 key instead.
3. Use the arrow keys to scroll up to the choice:
Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) PC.
Note: This forces an ACPI install and the W2K Pre-Setup continues.
i have flashed my bios with the most recent release, and i still have this problem both in windows (due to the fact that i was not aware of the above stated installation steps) and in linux. i've found a utility to keep my cpu happy in windows, but i haven't been able to figure out how to solve the problem in linux.

my current set up is with knoppix dvd release 4.0 with kernel 2.6.12. i also have access to the cd version 3.8 with kernel 2.6.11. both versions have the same problem. i have written a persistent image to a usb flash drive, and i have installed klik.

there is a package written for linux to control the acpi, but i can't install it due to its gtk+ dependencies. the package and source code can be found here: http://www.buzzard.me.uk/toshiba/download.html

johnathan buzzard has written two good technical documents general to older toshiba laptops which are a bit beyond my understanding about cmm, sci, and hci but in case they might shed some light on the problem the documents can be found here: http://www.buzzard.me.uk/toshiba/docs.html

i'm not a coder, and i'm very new to linux so i'm not too sure how to address this issue in knoppix. anyone have any ideas?