GPU & HDD Overheating On AC Power (ubuntu)

candi198 · August 17, 2013, 8:07am

I’m kinda new to Linux still and a racking my brain in this issue myover-heating issue.

Here is my set up:

HPDV6000 Laptop
AMDTuron 64 bit processor
NvidiaGforceToGO 7200
3gbof memory
160gb hdd

CurrentVideo driver ver Linuxdriver ver 173.14.36
Itdual boots windows 7 and ubuntu lts 12.04 x64

I originally installed Ubuntu 12.04 and it worked for a while and then it started to get real hot and hang where the only thing that would work was my usb mouse. The only thing I could do with the usb mouse when that happened was move it around. The system did not respond to any clicks so I was forced to shut down. In this version of Ubuntu it defaulted to a proprietary video driver and would not let me swap it. I tried to do a kernel update and then it ceased to even boot.(Please see myprevious post when running ubuntu 12.04: “RandomFreezes and other errors”[ubuntu] Random Freezes and other errors)

I read about how Lubuntu was supposed to work better on older systemsand laptops so installed that. (I let it completely remove the oldubuntu 12.04)

Ilet it run all the updates and noticed it was still getting hot Iinstalled the Psensors and it showed my GPU was getting to 130c +barely doing any thing (watching a youtube vid)

I checked the drivers that lubuntu had auto installed. It was the opensource drivers so I then tried installing the proprietary nvidia drivers. That brought the temp down to any where from mid 60’s c to 100+c when i was on battery. I noticed that when im on battery it hovers around 65-80c(still way too hot) but when I plug in the ac power it sky rockets to 100+ on idol. This happens with or with out the battery if ac power is plugged in. I have read about this issue being something to do with the acpi drivers but have found no definitive way to fix it. If I leave it on ac power it over heats till the system freezes and Isee artifacts on my screen. The hard drive and the touch pad (under which is my memory and wi fi card) also gets smoking hot on ac power. Also if you look at the first pic below you will see the Nvidia panel. See how it reads battery. I was plugged into AC power at that time and no battery was present. When the the different power sources are plugged in it is reflected in the lubuntu battery but regardless of the power setup the Nvidia panel still says battery.

Is there a way to set this device to react in ac power the same way that it does on battery power?

Ive tried setting the acpi on boot in grub per the instructions here [SOLVED] How to set NOMODESET and other kernel boot options in grub2

GPU temp change Results with each setting were:

acpi=
On login temp was 101c
After 10 min it was 98c

acpi=Linux
On login temp 99c
after 10 min 94c

acpi=Windows 2006
On login temp 97c
after 10 min 97c

**These is just idol temps with nothing running but psensor

I also installed laptop-mode and set it to run on ac power as it does on battery (as suggested in a few other posts) and it did not help.

It seems like its a software issue. I don’t know where else to check. I cant seem to do much with my fan settings and nothing seems to be able to get to them.

The Bios is the latest version but HP has this bios so locked down the only thing I can change is boot options and time. I also cant see much at all about the fan unless I run the tools in linux.

Thelaptop fan was cleaned out 2 months ago prior to having Ubuntuinstalled. The fan is spinning nice and quietly.

Do you think re flowing the graphics chip and adding a thermal copper pad (Shim) would help at all?

Another thing I noticed is that my wall paper dosen’t show up any more the desk top stays black. Once or twice during all this the wall paper randomly showed up but I totally unsure what is causing that.

*****Please note that in the psensor graphic the temps are labeled Fahrenheit but after looking in the settings and then comparing them to what was in the nvidia panel setting psenspr to display Fahrenheit will still reflect the temperatures in Celsius but with an f to the side. This may be a bug in the tool.

leigh123linux · August 17, 2013, 2:38pm

You have a craptop, ever considered using a Laptop cooling pad?

vacaloca · August 17, 2013, 2:58pm

Besides the suggestion of a cooling pad, it sounds like the CPU/GPU might benefit from a re-pasting of the thermal compounds interface, and possibly a clearing of the air-vents from dust. That is the fundamental problem you have at this point. However, it is generally not an easy task, as it can involve the disassembly of most of the laptop in order to get to the GPU/CPU heatsink.

candi198 · August 18, 2013, 8:13am

I am no stranger to taking apart laptops. I’ve had to do it many times before. Its not as bad at taking apart and working on cell phones. lol. I just cleaned the fan and other innards completely 2 months ago (it was way worse then, the guy i got it from was fixing to scrap it because it wouldn’t even come on.) when i put it all back together i used arctic silver 5 on the cpu and gpu (it was what i had here) but per some reading it may not be the best thing to use on laptops. What compound do you recommend? I read Arctic Silver Ceramique is better at dealing with heat inside laptops. I also read that copper shims (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007PODQTQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1THAZDOWP300U) will help redirect heat much better than the cheap silicone ones that hp puts in by default. But still i think there is something else going on because on battery the gpu is dramatically lower (high 60’s to high 70’s) but once i plug the ac adapter in it jumps to 99++. It seems like its some power setting. but i am not sure.

candi198 · August 18, 2013, 9:56am

Oh i do have a cooling pad also. It has a giant fan in it and gets very cold. But it dosen’t seem to help the issue much.

vacaloca · August 20, 2013, 3:42pm

candi198:

I am no stranger to taking apart laptops. I’ve had to do it many times before. Its not as bad at taking apart and working on cell phones. lol. I just cleaned the fan and other innards completely 2 months ago (it was way worse then, the guy i got it from was fixing to scrap it because it wouldn’t even come on.) when i put it all back together i used arctic silver 5 on the cpu and gpu (it was what i had here) but per some reading it may not be the best thing to use on laptops. What compound do you recommend? I read Arctic Silver Ceramique is better at dealing with heat inside laptops. I also read that copper shims (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007PODQTQ) will help redirect heat much better than the cheap silicone ones that hp puts in by default. But still i think there is something else going on because on battery the gpu is dramatically lower (high 60’s to high 70’s) but once i plug the ac adapter in it jumps to 99++. It seems like its some power setting. but i am not sure.

You are correct, sometimes the laptop heatsinks use pads and thermal paste is not sufficient. Thin copper shims with pretty much any thermal paste would work, assuming the problem is contact related. I had to use this approach on an old Dell laptop, ended up buying some thermal interface material. The general rule is that if the heatsink includes pads, it needs them because of contact issues and they should be replaced with new ones.

Those shims on amazon look pretty handy… at one point I purchased a piece of copper from Home Depot made to hold pipes, so it had big round pipe size holes on the piece, but one could reasonably make similar copper heatsinks out of it. Ccutting it into a small square/rectangular shape was painful unless you had the proper tools to cut metal, though. They also had hobbyist copper sheets, which I believe were even thicker than the pipe material, but I could be wrong, I don’t recall.

The other thing to mention is that the shims have different thickness, so it might take some experimentation to get it right: http://www.amazon.com/s/url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=copper%20thermal