# Laptop shuts off @ 70C

## Lord Kenneth

Is there any way I can set it so my laptop does NOT shut off at 70C?  Maybe change it to 80C or whatever?  

The only alternative I can see is not loading module "thermal", which doesn't seem like a good idea.

I've installed speedfreq and set up the battery and stuff, and it appears to slow my proccessor speed down to help cool, but that doesn't cut it.

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## Clue-less

70C is high for a processor -- I wouldn't bump it up to 80C.

Are there any BIOS updates for your laptop that adjusts the thermal settings for the laptop?

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## Lord Kenneth

 *Clue-less wrote:*   

> 70C is high for a processor -- I wouldn't bump it up to 80C.
> 
> Are there any BIOS updates for your laptop that adjusts the thermal settings for the laptop?

 

No.

Is there ANY way to change the temperature?

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## Clue-less

A notebook cooler may help.

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## Lord Kenneth

 *Clue-less wrote:*   

> A notebook cooler may help.

 

I don't have the money.

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## Lord Kenneth

Does anyone have a solution?

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## Travers

70C is 158F. That's quite hot. Its your processor that's heating up. It could be a buggy sensor/BIOS, or your processor really is that temp. Perhaps a fan is broken? 

You can keep it from running so hot by lowering the frequency, aka the multiplier. Read this: /usr/src/linux/Documentation/cpu-freq

You will be able to change the speed (and heat output) of your processor on the fly. Since its a laptop, I'm assuming is supports frequency scaling.

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## Codo

Have you checked that the fan is working properly?  What is the make of your laptop.  The Compaq EVO N610c had a broken acpi table and I remember the fan went bonkers and the cpu overheated and then the laptop turned itself off.

I wouldn't play in such a way with the temperature of the cpu, be careful...

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## Travers

Medical studies show that hot laptops, when placed on the lap, lower your sperm count. =)

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## NeddySeagoon

Lord Kenneth,

All  a notebook cooler does is allow the air to cirulate beneth it.

Prop it iup on a couple of paperbacks.

If it  gets hot enough to shut down, its faulty. The solution is not to raise the shut down temp, that will make it fail permanently. 

Fix the problem or improve the cooling.

The cooling system is probably choked with grot.

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## Hibbelharry

Hey guys,

reaching cpu temperatures around 70 C° ist quite normal for many kinds of notebooks. I personally user a Dell Pentium 4 Mobile Notebook which starts to cool itself just slightly at 60 C°, even at 70 C° fans don't run at full speed. Asus Notebooks, Acer and IBM operate at levels near mine, even the newer centrino/pentium m notebooks. This might be quite normal. Is your operating system or your notebook hardware/bios shutting down your notebook ? I also saw many kinds of sony vaio notebooks with choked by dust in the cooling. Maybe just take a look in it ? Or renew the the thermal paste between cpu/cooler ? 

Greetz

Hibbelharry

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## Travers

70C is normal... if you're running a Prescott. Bleh.

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## truekaiser

guys just let him kill his own comp. if he doesn't learn then nothing will. as for p4's normal temp a normal laptop with it should be about 39-40c idle and 55-60 at full load.

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## fishhead

You should have something in /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/trip_points that looks like

```
critical (S5):         70 *C

passive:                      (somenumber) *C : some other junk

```

If so, then you should do the following to set the trip points for the tempeture critical shutoff point and the point at which the OS will sacrifice performance to cool the machine down respectively. 

Disclamers (to you and future readers):

- IF YOUR FILE DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THIS, DON'T DO ANYTHING. POST IT INSTEAD. I am getting this from the kernel source assuming a similar format to my laptop's "trip_points" file. There are other significant values here.

- I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend looking on intel's website for thermal limits BEFORE you do this. You can screw up your machine if you exceed these.

- It's not my fault if you screw up your laptop.

That said, if you want it to shutdown at 80*C and go to passive mode at 75*C, you should be able to do it as follows:

```
echo '80:0:75:' > /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/trip_points   
```

If anyone wants me to, I can post the full input format along with what the   /proc file might look like.

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## echo6

This has started happening to my laptop also.

```
echo '80:0:75:' > /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/trip_points 
```

This makes no difference,  doesn't update the trip_points file.

Any one please,  I can't compile anything without the laptop switching off.

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## MdaG

My DELL Laitude D800 reaches 66C when I'm emerging big stuff. 70C shouldn't be THAT bad.

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## echo6

I have a P4 2.66,  normal temp is about 70,  during compile times it climbs steadily.   It shuts down when reaching ~85.

I've ordered some thermal paste and a cooling mat.   It's also been suggested to me to let the battery run flat and recharge,  possibly corrupt BIOS!   Not so sure but I'm willing to give it a try.

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## fishhead

 *echo6 wrote:*   

> This has started happening to my laptop also.
> 
> ```
> echo '80:0:75:' > /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/trip_points 
> ```
> ...

 

Whoops, sorry, this line doesn't work on mine either. The one that does is

```
echo '80:0:75:0:0' > /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/trip_points 
```

If that doesn't work, might just want to try different numbes of ":0" on the end ... but this SHOULD work though it may vary depending on laptop.

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## Travers

Its generally coded into the BIOS to trip at certain points. You can usually tell a OS to go down on a cooler temp, but if the BIOS says 70 and you say 80, guess who wins? My advice for a cool laptop: don't get a prescott. (Prescott is the latest P4 core. The Dothan [P3] is a really nice processor but is really slow for compiling. See http://images.anandtech.com/graphs/linux%20pentium%20m_12220491256/5839.png It compiles much faster under Windows thanks to compile optimizations from Intel. It is kick-ass on the Intel C compiler, but not GCC =(. But anyone who is doing some serious compiling should know that AMD is the way to go. =)  Dothan + Gentoo = boredom induced insanity.

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## fatalglitch

by chance is this an HP pavilion laptop?

I own a HP Pavilion ze5570us, Pentium 4 2.66 (non Mobile chip)

And I hate how hot this thing gets. Since it's basically a desktop chip thrown into a laptop (from what I have gathered), it is going to be hot.

I was so annoyed with the heat, I simply read up and installed cpufreq, and set my governor to "ondemand". When I am compiling, it will still get hot, but normal usage, it stays are 57,60 degrees C.

Your best bet, is either contact the manufacturer, or install cpufreq, and when compiling just watch your temps. Also, try not to compile too many things at once, I limit it to one emerge at a time, this way I'm not grossly overloading the fans functionality

-Tom

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## Travers

Lol just don't get an intel if you're concerned about thermals and subsequently, your sperm count. My AMD 64 3700 generally runs at 39C unless I'm compiling.

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## dustfinger

Buy yourself a can of compressed air and blow the dust out of your fans.  It is a common problem with several laptop modles.  You should blow your fans out once every 2 weeks.  The first time I blew my fans out it dropped my average tmperature by about 10 degrees celcius.  If the dust has collected on your heat sink and the compressed air cannot blow it off then at worst you may have to take your heatsink out and whipe it off.  This can be very difficult depending on what model of laptop you own.

Also, don't use your laptop while it is sitting on anything that obstructs airflow to your fan.  For instance, don't use it in bed sitting on your covers.  You really should'nt actually use it on your lap either because the fan will be in the left or right hand corner right where your leg goes.  If at all possible add little blocks at the four corners of your laptop to raise it off the ground a bit.  This will increase airflow and help keep your system cool.  Make certain that the the blocks themselves do not abstruct the fan.  Lastly, make sure that there is nothing sitting close to your fan while your fan is on the desk.  Just having an object, like a framed photograph, sitting near your laptop can hinder airflow and increase your temperature by about a degree or two.

dustfinger.

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## Jerem

70°C is FAR too hot for a laptop.

Make sure that :

-the laptop is on a SOLID surface

-the fans are running at maximum when laptop is hot

A notebook cooler can be found for 10 to 50 . I have one and it decreases temperature very efficiently. When compiling(100% CPU usage) the notebook does not go above 45°C and in normal use it stays at 35°C forever.

You could alsao verify your fans are not dirty.

Do NOT run your computer above 65°C unless you want to buy a new one every year.

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## echo6

I've had this laptop for almost 2 years,  has worked fine up until the last couple of month.   I bought the laptop cooler,  oh! and I did try the compressed air,  the laptop cooler works well the compressed air didnt do much though.

My next step is to take everything apart clean the fans out of the case and recrease the cpu  :Rolling Eyes: 

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## Rainmaker

Many BIOSses have buggy sensors, which report higher temperatures then the processor actually has. There are 2 ways to control laptop operations in regards to temperature: trip_points (see post above) and the BIOS itself. There should be a BIOS setting to turn this off completely if you want.

My computer is set to only produce a warning signal when it reaches 70 degrees...

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## echo6

There's no BIOS option to turn it off,  but having done some research I think you are quite correct.   It's a Lifebook N3010,  and it would appear from some posts I have seen that the BIOS has a fault when detecting temperature.   Unfortunately it is out of warranty  :Sad: 

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## gentoobaby

I too am having the same problem.  Woe is me.  Thinking of switching to another *NIX???  Ubuntu was working on it before...    :Sad: 

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## erikm

I just posted this in another thread, so I figure, why not let my ego loose here too.   :Wink: 

I use the following emerge wrapper script (and with trivial modifications, for genkernel too) to automatically throttle down my Pentium-M lappy when emerging stuff:

```
#! /bin/sh

# Path to CPU scaling directory

CPUFREQPATH='/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq'

# Check the present state

if [ "`cat $CPUFREQPATH/scaling_governor`" = "userspace" ]

        then SCALINGGOVERNOR="userspace" FREQ="`cat $CPUFREQPATH/cpuinfo_cur_freq`"

else    SCALINGGOVERNOR="`cat $CPUFREQPATH/scaling_governor`"

fi

# Throttle down the CPU. 800 MHz runs indefinitely on my machine at 47 C

# and full load, change to suit your needs.

echo -n userspace >> $CPUFREQPATH/scaling_governor

echo -n 800000 >> $CPUFREQPATH/scaling_setspeed

# Report the throttled down state

echo -e "\nCpu frequency set to" $((`cat $CPUFREQPATH/cpuinfo_cur_freq`/1000)) "MHz"

# Execute the emerge

emerge $@

# Preserve exitcode, important when scripting emerges

EXITCODE="$?"

# Reset the system to the state it was in before emerge was called

if [ "$SCALINGGOVERNOR" = "userspace" ]

        then echo -n $SCALINGGOVERNOR >> $CPUFREQPATH/scaling_governor

                echo -n $FREQ >> $CPUFREQPATH/scaling_setspeed

                echo -e "\nScaling governor reset to userspace, frequency" $(($FREQ/1000)) "MHz\n"

else echo -n $SCALINGGOVERNOR >> $CPUFREQPATH/scaling_governor

        echo -e "\nScaling governor reset to $SCALINGGOVERNOR, current frequency" $((`cat $CPUFREQPATH/cpuinfo_cur_freq`/1000)) "MHz\n"

fi

# Report the current temperature

echo -e "Reported" `cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature` "\n"

# Exit correctly

exit "$EXITCODE"
```

The script limits the CPU speed to 800 MHz when emerge is called, which on my laptop means ~ 48 C at full load on a hot day. Feel free to experiment with the settings and find what speed limit suits you best.When the emerge completes / fails, the script exits with the correct exit code and resets the cpu state to whatever it was before emerge was called.

Call it 'emerge', put it somewhere in your path before /usr/bin, and chmod +x. It's really ugly, but it works, and I'm too lazy to clean it up...   :Smile: 

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## gentoobaby

for the ultimate n00b question.

how do I get that to work before I even begin to install?  ANY help would be SO greatly appreciated.   :Very Happy: 

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## gentoobaby

Bah...nvm.  Think I got it.  Save your script as filename.  Run said filename along with the emerge.

Example...save your script as MYMERGE.  To emerge the gentoo-sources run:

MYMERGE gentoo-sources

That right?  Only problem, is that sometimes I don't even make it that far.  I bomb out while doing

tar -xvjpf /mnt/cdrom/stages/stage3-<subarch>-2005.1.tar.bz2

Again...any help.  Be eternally grateful.  :Very Happy: 

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## erikm

 *gentoobaby wrote:*   

> Bah...nvm.  Think I got it.  Save your script as filename.  Run said filename along with the emerge.
> 
> Example...save your script as MYMERGE.  To emerge the gentoo-sources run:
> 
> MYMERGE gentoo-sources
> ...

 

You're absolutely right. It's a wrapper. I call it 'emerge' on my machine, and just make sure that it is located before the actual emerge command in my path (i.e. set the root path with /usr/local/bin before /usr/bin, for example). And don't forget to set executable permission on it (chmod +x <scriptname>).

EDIT: I should mention that the folks in the other thread I posted this in did not seem to understand that the script requires the kernel to be configured with CPU scaling support, and 'Thermal zone' if you want the temperature warning at the end. I'll be happy to answer further questions.

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