# Gentoo running hotter than XP? [SOLVED]

## crishchun

Hello all. I'm a new Gentoo user trying to migrate from Windows. I have a Dell Inspiron 8200 1.4GHz/P4/256RAM. My first Linux distro was Mepis and it was great, but I've heard only great things about Gentoo so I decided to give it a try. I did  a pentium4 stage3 install and everything went smooth. I followed the online Gnome tutorial and now have it up and running as my desktop of choice.

On Windows I use the i8kfan utility and it has worked flawlessly. Back in Mepis I ran KDE and recall installing a little fan utility called kfani8k which almost mirrored the Windows version. I'm trying to find an equivalent for Gnome to place in the panel. I googled some info and gi8k came up. I installed it but I can't even get it to to add to the panel. I usually run it from the command line but it always gets stuck on the top-left corner and I can't move it anywhere. And plus while it does have configuration for manual and auto settings, frankly.. the gui is lacking.

It sounds like my fans run all the time. I "cat /etc/i8k" and my temperature never dips below 50C and I'm starting to think if it's running a lot hotter than XP (I have the fans turn on @60C and turn off at 50C). Please help!

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## Sith_Happens

That is an interesting problem.  Are you sure that when you installed gentoo you didn't print out the manual and leave it covering a fan exaust or something  :Laughing:  .  What kind of programs are you running on a daily basis? I think it's either some program your running constantly maxing out your cpu, or there is some physical explanation (probably one less humorous than my first explanation).

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## thebigslide

use top to examine your CPU load.  if the load is not abnormal, please post the output of 

```
cat /usr/src/linux/.config
```

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## crishchun

Sorry for the delay of my reply.

 *Sith_Happens wrote:*   

> That is an interesting problem.  Are you sure that when you installed gentoo you didn't print out the manual and leave it covering a fan exaust or something  .  What kind of programs are you running on a daily basis? I think it's either some program your running constantly maxing out your cpu, or there is some physical explanation (probably one less humorous than my first explanation).

 

Hehe. Yeah, now that I look behind my laptop, I do believe I see a tiny piece of Step 7. Configuring the Kernel.  :Razz:  The programs I usually run are pretty much the same as the ones I run under Windows. Gaim, Firefox, XMMS, OOo, Nautilus, GIMP, gFTP, Samba.. and compiling, of course. I really don't understand why it's always hot and why the fans are consistently running.  :Shocked: 

 *thebigslide wrote:*   

> use top to examine your CPU load.  if the load is not abnormal, please post the output of 
> 
> ```
> cat /usr/src/linux/.config
> ```
> ...

 

top is not showing any abnormalities. The highest CPU usage is X at 6%-10%. Here's my /usr/src/linux/.config:

 *Quote:*   

> #
> 
> # Automatically generated make config: don't edit
> 
> # Linux kernel version: 2.6.11-rc2-nitro0
> ...

 

Thanks for all your help.  :Very Happy: 

----------

## thebigslide

Just some thoughts.  The chip won't be actually running hotter if there's no abnormal load, that's assuming you have the latest BIOS for your motherboard..  What is your total CPU usage: (100%-idle%) in top when the system is basically idle, running X, with 10-15 windows open(browsers, terms, gaim), not compiling, NOT running any P2P apps? If you use the 'd' command in top, you can set the update interval to 30 seconds or so to get a statistically better average reading.   It should be <10%.  If it isn't, something's wrong.  

check for errors in the X.org logs and dmesg

go over your USE flags and see if there's something in there that shouldn't be and vice-versa

Are you using ~x86 in ACCEPT_KEYWORDS in make.conf?  This would be a no-no

 Post your CFLAGS and  /proc/cpuinfo

Try disabling all ACPI in the kernel and see if it's still so high.  If it is, you're going to probably have to reinstall with different CFLAGS and CXXFLAGS.

If the CPU usage is normal:

You seem to have configured ACPI and throttling correctly.  You can see what temp ACPI thinks that your CPU is in /proc/acpi.  I believe the file is called 'thermalzone'  Please note these files are read only and attempting to write to them can mess up your system.

Sometimes the values are skewed depending on the bios and the kernel.  On my laptop it was out by about 10 degrees and I had to hack either the kernel source or the userspace sources to get a proper reading, I can't recall.    If the temp is off here, then the temp will be off in your gi8k tool's input and it will keep the fans on all the time. 

If /proc/acpi/fan doesn't exist, you might need to add the acpi modules to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6

----------

## BitJam

I've been running Gentoo on an i8200 for a couple of years now and I am mostly very happy with it all.

For fan control I *highly* recommend gkrellm2 (I even use it under KDE) with the i8k plugin.  It gives a visual indication of the state of the fans and allows me to set the temperature thresholds.  It also shows CPU usage and temperature in a chart format which is very useful.

I found that I need to manually set the fan thresholds because Gentoo with a Reiser FS will tend to run hotter than XP when doing a lot of emerging.  This caused mysterious failures when I was first installing Gentoo.  But if the CPU is not busy, it runs rather cool and the fans are off most of the time.  No throttling is needed.

I am still using an older 2.4 kernel with APM and not ACPI.  Some small modifications may be needed to get the gkrellm2 i8k plugin to work with ACPI but I would be suprised if they weren't already made.

Here is a link to a site that talks about running Gentoo on the i8200: http://linux.siprell.com/index.htm

He uses the 2.6 kernel but I don't think he has suspend working via ACPI.  I have it working with APM and have become dependent upon it.

----------

## crishchun

I watched "top -d 30" and everything seems ok:

```
top - 00:59:42 up 48 min,  3 users,  load average: 0.31, 0.66, 0.64

Tasks:  75 total,   2 running,  69 sleeping,   4 stopped,   0 zombie

Cpu(s):  7.0% us,  0.7% sy,  0.0% ni, 91.6% id,  0.2% wa,  0.4% hi,  0.1% si

Mem:    255172k total,   242096k used,    13076k free,    54248k buffers

Swap:   506008k total,    54232k used,   451776k free,    75060k cached
```

Here's my Xorg.0.log:

```
crishchun@christian ~ $ grep "WW" /var/log/Xorg.0.log

        (WW) warning, (EE) error, (NI) not implemented, (??) unknown.

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/Speedo/" does not exist.

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/CID/" does not exist.

(WW) `fonts.dir' not found (or not valid) in "/usr/share/fonts/encodings/".

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/sharefont/" does not exist.

(WW) The directory "/usr/share/fonts/lfp-fix/" does not exist.

(WW) Open APM failed (/dev/apm_bios) (No such file or directory)

(WW) (1400x1050,Monitor0) mode clock 122MHz exceeds DDC maximum 110MHz

(WW) NVIDIA(0): Not using mode "1152x768":

(WW) NVIDIA(0):   horizontal sync start (1178) not a multiple of 8

(WW) NVIDIA(0): Not using mode "576x384":

(WW) NVIDIA(0):   horizontal sync start (589) not a multiple of 8

```

I looked over dmesg and I didn't find any errors. Here's my make.conf:

```
crishchun@christian ~ $ cat /etc/make.conf

# These settings were set by the catalyst build script that automatically built this stage

# Please consult /etc/make.conf.example for a more detailed example

CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-O3 -march=pentium4 -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"

CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"

MAKEOPTS="-j2"

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.seren.com/gentoo/ ftp://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/pub/linux/gentoo/ http://csociety-ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/pub/gentoo/"

USE="-kde -qt alsa avi cdr cups dvd gnome gtk gtk2 mpeg nptl nptlonly oss quicktime samba"

PORTDIR_OVERLAY="/usr/local/portage"

AUTOCLEAN="yes"
```

Here's /proc/cpuinfo:

```
crishchun@christian ~ $ cat /proc/cpuinfo

processor       : 0

vendor_id       : GenuineIntel

cpu family      : 15

model           : 2

model name      : Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 Mobile CPU 1.40GHz

stepping        : 4

cpu MHz         : 1396.108

cache size      : 512 KB

fdiv_bug        : no

hlt_bug         : no

f00f_bug        : no

coma_bug        : no

fpu             : yes

fpu_exception   : yes

cpuid level     : 2

wp              : yes

flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm

bogomips        : 2752.51

```

It seems like my i8k module is reporting 1 degree cooler than acpi (or maybe vice-versa?) but at least it's not way off (temp in i8k is 4th number from left).

```
crishchun@christian ~ $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM/temperature

temperature:             58 C

crishchun@christian ~ $ cat /proc/i8k

1.0 A11 DVS1H11 57 1 1 5820 5760 -1 0

```

I have the fan module loaded. Here's lsmod:

```
crishchun@christian ~ $ lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

snd_intel8x0           28192  -

snd_ac97_codec         72152  -

snd_seq_oss            30976  -

snd_seq_midi_event      6016  -

snd_seq                47536  -

snd_seq_device          6476  -

snd_pcm_oss            48032  -

snd_pcm                81096  -

snd_timer              20548  -

snd_page_alloc          7140  -

snd_mixer_oss          16960  -

ndiswrapper           104088  -

3c59x                  36008  -

nvidia               3462588  -

i8k                     5200  -

battery                 7332  -

fan                     2948  -

button                  4688  -

ac                      3140  -

thermal                10248  -

processor              17428  -

intel_mch_agp           7792  -
```

I'll try to disable ACPI in the kernal and see if it's still high.

----------

## BitJam

FYI, my i8200 currently idles around 58 to 60 C with one fan on low most of the time. 

I use the gkrellm i8k plugin (i8krellm) to control the fans.   It has 4 fan temperature thresholds (left, right) x (low, high).   The *lowest* setting is 60C with 3C of hysterisis.  I have both fans go on high at 68C.

It looks to me that your system is working properly.

Oh, one more thing.  I velcro'ed two pieces of wood to the bottom my my i8200.  Each one is about 1/2 inch (2 cm) wide and 3/8 inch (1 cm) thick.  This allows air to cirulate under the body of the laptop and it seems to help keep it cooler.

----------

## crishchun

 *BitJam wrote:*   

> FYI, my i8200 currently idles around 58 to 60 C with one fan on low most of the time. 
> 
> I use the gkrellm i8k plugin (i8krellm) to control the fans.   It has 4 fan temperature thresholds (left, right) x (low, high).   The *lowest* setting is 60C with 3C of hysterisis.  I have both fans go on high at 68C.
> 
> It looks to me that your system is working properly.
> ...

 

gkrellm with the i8krellm plugin works flawlessly! The fans started getting weird on me as it would shut off at 50C and turn back on at 51C only to turn back off at 50C. I just /etc/init.d/i8k stop and now it works. Why can't I find a little i8k applet that behaves the same way that I can add to my Gnome panel? I would prefer to use gdesklets as my system monitor but I'm having troubles getting it work. I tried torsmo but the window always flickers and so do my desktop icons. I'll live with gkrellm for now.  :Smile: 

----------

## mirko_3

Start the latest torsmo version with the -b flag (double-buffering) to stop the flickering...

----------

## crishchun

 *mirko_3 wrote:*   

> Start the latest torsmo version with the -b flag (double-buffering) to stop the flickering...

 

Hmm.. I really like Torsmo since it's so simple, easily customizable, and it integrates well with my desktop scheme. I tried torsmo -b but it still yields the same results. Torsmo is on the desktop but the icons are gone. If I click on the desktop, Torsmo disappears and the icons shows and repeats over again. Maybe because I have Gnome and nautilus?

 *Quote:*   

>  * Torsmo doesn't work with window managers that
> 
>  * take control over root window such as Gnome's nautilus.
> 
> 

 

I've been meaning to try out Fluxbox anyway.

----------

## BitJam

What is it that you don't like about gkrellm?  

It is extremely customizable.  I use a transparent theme and chose foreground colors that go well with my desktop backgrounds.

----------

## apmurray

For gnome you could use GNOME Sensors Applet to monitor the temp via i8k:

http://sensors-applet.sourceforge.net

----------

## crishchun

 *BitJam wrote:*   

> What is it that you don't like about gkrellm?  
> 
> It is extremely customizable.  I use a transparent theme and chose foreground colors that go well with my desktop backgrounds.

 

Is there a way to have gkrellm running without it occupying space on the taskbar? I'm running Gnome 2.8.

----------

## crishchun

 *apmurray wrote:*   

> For gnome you could use GNOME Sensors Applet to monitor the temp via i8k:
> 
> http://sensors-applet.sourceforge.net

 

I see there's an ebuild. Where do I specifically place the ebuild? My PORTAGE_OVERLAY is /usr/local/portage. I should put the ebuild within a subdirectory in here, right?

----------

## crishchun

 *crishchun wrote:*   

>  *BitJam wrote:*   What is it that you don't like about gkrellm?  
> 
> It is extremely customizable.  I use a transparent theme and chose foreground colors that go well with my desktop backgrounds. 
> 
> Is there a way to have gkrellm running without it occupying space on the taskbar? I'm running Gnome 2.8.

 

Duh. I should open my eyes before my mouth. I found the option in the configuration.  :Razz: 

----------

## apmurray

 *crishchun wrote:*   

>  *apmurray wrote:*   For gnome you could use GNOME Sensors Applet to monitor the temp via i8k:
> 
> http://sensors-applet.sourceforge.net 
> 
> I see there's an ebuild. Where do I specifically place the ebuild? My PORTAGE_OVERLAY is /usr/local/portage. I should put the ebuild within a subdirectory in here, right?

 

I suggest

/usr/local/portage/gnome-extra/sensors-applet

then you'll need to (once in the directory)

ebuild sensors-applet-0.6.0.ebuild digest

----------

## crishchun

 *apmurray wrote:*   

> I suggest
> 
> /usr/local/portage/gnome-extra/sensors-applet
> 
> then you'll need to (once in the directory)
> ...

 

Got it working, thanks!

----------

