Laptop overheating and stopping. Is Mageia a solution?

[pierpiotr]

Hi,
My laptop is overheating to the point it stops after 1H30mn as an average The fan is clean....
I read in Mandriva's forum that this pb occurs with its distro and I'm wondering if Mageia is better at CPU/GPU heat management ?
I'm considering switching for Mageia, but I would not like to run into the same pb.
I should add that I run Mandriva 2010.2 on a Toshiba Satellite L500 - Intel core i3 - 2.13MHz - RAM 4Go - SSD 80Go - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500

[swazi]

Does this happen with Windows 7? I would try Fedora 15 and see if the same problem occurs or even openSUSE before you fry your CPU on you brand new laptop.

[doktor5000]

Which model of the L500 do you got?
At first you should need to investigate the cause of the overheating.
Maybe take a look at this: http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe. ... adID=56568

[pierpiotr]

I answered you guys yesterday but the post does not show for some reason.
Here it is again :
doktor5000 : Toshiba Satellite L505-13X - Intel core i3 - 2.13MHz - RAM 4Go - 4Mo - SSD 80Go - ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500
swazi : Do you imply that these distro have some CPU / GPU management system ? I don't know about W7 since I took off the HD when I bought the laptop and replaced it with my SSD which was a few month old from a previous Tosh.
Actually, I remember that I had a dual boot Vista / Mandriva at the time and that it was warmer with Mandriva. But not to the point it turned off the computer abruptly.

Here, after some more reseach on the Tosh forum, it may be that my using Compiz and many 3D effects is causing the GPU some trouble. And I like to have many applications/windows opened at the same time.
But also there is this thread http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=60987&tstart=0 and this one http://forums.computers.toshiba-europe.com/forums/thread.jspa?threadID=60987&tstart=0 relating the issue to ACPI

I Wanted to follow the 1st suggestion but when I opend /boot/grub/menu.lst it was empty.
/boot/grub/menu.lst.example next to it had

timeout 10
color 2
splashimage (hd0,4)/grub/mdv-grub_splash.xpm.gz
default 0
viewport 3 2 77 22
shade 1

title 2611-8
kernel (hd0,4)/vmlinuz-2.6.11-8mdk root=/dev/hda6 resume=/dev/hda1
initrd (hd0,4)/initrd-2.6.11-8mdk.img

The question is : in which file do I add this

acpi_osi=Linux

as suggested in this 1st thread ?
Tx for your help.

[blas]

Hi,
What video driver are you using? The closed-source ones usually have better power management. Your problem could be also related to the recently discovered linux kernel power regressions: first discovery, second finding and the newest, with a possible cause. In the article the 3rd link points to, the author suggests adding "pcie_aspm=force" to the boot parameters. Note, that this works only with kernel version 2.6.37 and above. The other two possible causes need further investigation. One he mentions has to do something with the scheduler. You may also want to try TMB's laptop kernel flavor as it uses the bfs scheduler instead of the mainline one.
good luck

[swazi]

If an operating system does not work on my laptop out the box without adjustments, i don't use it. Your cpu temp should be between 45 and 55 degrees celcius, i am not going to risk my cpu or downgrade the life of my mobo because of overheating or in the case of a desktop due to over clocking.

I over clock my i5 desktop no problem with Mageia at acceptable temps.

That's why i suggested you try various operating systems to see if they all overheat as each linux os does it's own thing. Backup and try Mageia first if you like then the others.

[pierpiotr]

blas, Thank you for pointing to these articles (and to this website that I have bookmarked). It seems that there is a major Kernel bug affecting all (?) distros.
As per the link you mention, there is workaround but I need a little assistance please (being somewhat of a noob
I don't know where to
"
add "pcie_aspm=force" to their boot command line
"
Else, if does not work, I will turn to Debian. Squeeze stable is using 2.6.32 and the commits causing trouble have been traced to 2.6.35
Thanks to swazi for suggesting a distro switch.

[pierpiotr]

does anyone has an answer to this

I don't know where to add "pcie_aspm=force" to their boot command line

please ?

[wilcal]

I don't want to go into all the details here but
there is a reported issue concerning battery life
and laptop overheating starting with Linux Kernel
2.6.38.x One source of info is here:

http://www.webupd8.org/2011/06/linux-ke ... e-fix.html

Mageia uses Kernel 2.6.38.8 so potentially it is
effected by this issue. I recently purchased a
Dell Vostro 1015 and run Mandriva 2010.2 on that.
2010.2 uses Linux 2.6.33. One thing I did do with
my Laptop is replace the 1GB DRAM chip with a 4GB
DRAM chip and that will tend to reduce HD accesses
and thereby heat generation.

[pierpiotr]

wilcal you say

Mandriva 2010.2 [...] uses Linux 2.6.33.

but when I run Smolt on my Mandriva 2010.2 I read Kernel : 2.6.36.2-desktop586-2mnb.
You may have the same pb than me.

[wilcal]

You may have the same pb than me.

Best is to stay away from 2.6.38.x and above
in laptops for now. 2.6.36 should be ok.

[doktor5000]

does anyone has an answer to this

I don't know where to add "pcie_aspm=force" to their boot command line

please ?

If you only want to test it for one boot, on Grub screen where you select which OS you want to boot,
press F3 for Kernel options, choose "Default" and just append that option to the appearing line.

When you want to add it permanently, just use the MCC (Mageia Control Center) under -> Boot ->
Setup Boot system, click Next, and for the linux entry click Modify and add the option on the Append line.

[pierpiotr]

doktor5000, as the title imply, and the 1st post in this thread, I am still running on Mandriva and I was wondering if Mageia was a solution when blas pointed to the cause of my prediacament. And I have no W or anything else.
So, would you be so kind as to tell me where I am supposed to place this boot command line if you can (I know there are differences between distros and I might have to jump to Mageia to benefit from your help).

[doktor5000]

Well, it's exactly the same on Mandriva, just exchange the words Mageia Control Center with Mandriva Control Center.
Maybe my translation is not exact as this is from german Mageia installation, but the process is exactly the same.

[pierpiotr]

Thank You doktor5000. I'm really a noob, I did the "change to the Kernel" (french translation) it looks like this now :
resume=UUID=a0379946-374e-41af-9a69-19eada6c41ec splash=silent pcie_aspm=force
The Linux entry has a * to it now (?)
I started over the computer. I will wait for the result and report here
Is there a tool to monitor heat (CPUor GPU) ?

[doktor5000]

Code: Select all

resume=UUID=a0379946-374e-41af-9a69-19eada6c41ec splash=silent pcie_aspm=force

The Linux entry has a * to it now (?)

The asterisk means that it is the default choice in boot menu.

What desktop environment do you use? Under KDE there are various plasmoids for system monitoring.

[wobo]

For system monitoring install gkrellm.
Start it via menue, then right-click on it for configuration - look at "Sensors", it will show the available sensors.
gkrellm is a multi-tool, it does not only monitor all kinds of system information (network, memory, etc.) but you can use it as well for starting reply of music and many other activities.

The best of all: it is small (not taking away much screen space) and you can make it be displayed on all virtual desktops.

[pierpiotr]

doktor5000 I use KDE the temp plasma monitors stays with an image of a processor and that's it , duh!!!

wobo : I installed GKrellM . Even though I selected temp CPU in the settings, it does not show up ...?

[wobo]

Sorry, forget gkrellm! I just discovered that it is useless for temperature control in Mageia 1

1. In Mandriva 2010.2 gkrellm showed the temperatures of each CPU core of my i7. In Mageia 1 gkrellm does not show any CPU temperature. (Only for GPU Core)
2. In Mandriva gkrellm showed only the temperatures of the available harddisks, in Mageia's gkrellm it shows the temperatures of 7 devices (I only have 1 harddisk and 1 internal dvd-drive!).

Yes, it is the same machine! Either gkrellm in Mageia is different or it has different dependencies than the same software in Mandriva so that something is missing.

[pierpiotr]

OK, I took it off

[pierpiotr]

Hi Is there a way to close this thread ?
Tx for your help

[doktor5000]

Has the problem been solved, and if yes, would you be so kind to post the solution?
That may help other users with the same problem ...

[pierpiotr]

For those who have a kernel version 2.6.37 and above, adding "pcie_aspm=force" to the boot parameters may solve the issue from what I read in other forums.
The solution for me would be to use a kernel before 2.6.35 (Mandriva 2010.2 that I uses has a 2.6.36 Kernel). This is when the commits to the Kernel releases started to incur heat management pb for some laptops. Is there a way to install Mageia with a Kernel before 2.6.35 ?

[doktor5000]

You could upgrade from Mandriva, you would keep your old mandriva kernel.
As for Mandriva 2010.2, there are kernels available back up to 2.6.33.
Just install an older kernel, that should work.

[pierpiotr]

You could upgrade from Mandriva, you would keep your old mandriva kernel.

Do you mean upgrading form mandriva to mageia ? In any case, I must change the Kernel

As for Mandriva 2010.2, there are kernels available back up to 2.6.33.
Just install an older kernel, that should work.

How do I do that ?
Instead, would it be possible to switch to Mageia with a "older than 2.6.35 kernel" ? If it is as simple as switching kernels on a Mandriva ?