# I burned myself using my new notebook

## MasterX

Let me say up front that this is the first I am using a notebook.

I just got my notebook. It has a Centrino at 2GHz and the 915 Intel Chipset. 

I know that the Centrino CPU consumes less energy than the P4 and thus it produces less heat. My first experience with the notebook was a burning sensation. I downloaded the Hmonitor to monitor the temperature of the CPU. I do not know if these values are correct, but the program reported CPU 60C and HDD 49C. The HDD is located next to the touchpad and its high temperature explains why my wrist is burned.  Moreover, the CPU fan is not working all the time! If the CPU temperature is 60C, what is it waiting for?

 Are these values correct? Is this normal? I have not installed Linux yet, because I am thinking of returning it back. 

Although, the notebook has an 8cell batter and it should run for about 5 hours, it seems to me that it will run  for about 2 hours on its battery. Can the use of the HDD, the use of the wireless card consume so much energy?

 Thank youLast edited by MasterX on Wed Mar 02, 2005 11:50 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## Codo

Sorry, but your description matches a DELL...  Is your laptop a DELL?

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## MasterX

 *Codo wrote:*   

> Sorry, but your description matches a DELL...  Is your laptop a DELL?

 

No, it is a Gateway. Does your question imply that this is a common problem with certain brands?

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## Codo

Well, I used to use a Dell at work, and they would get pretty hot for some strange reason -but not as hot as you are telling us.

All laptops have specs, and temperature as well.  I have a compaq prEvo P4-M and it gets hot, but doesn't "BURN".  On windows, download the intel utilities / speedstep.  That may help...

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## Jengu

Check the BIOS settings to see if there are options for "performance" vs. "cooling" mode or something like that. An updated BIOS might help too.

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## MasterX

 *Jengu wrote:*   

> Check the BIOS settings to see if there are options for "performance" vs. "cooling" mode or something like that. An updated BIOS might help too.

 

Well, it has Phoenix® NoteBIOS 6.0 BIOS. I do not know if it is good, but it does not have many options  :Mad: 

It supports, however, Battery Recalibrate / Battery Learning! No idea what this is?

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## MasterX

 *Codo wrote:*   

> Well, I used to use a Dell at work, and they would get pretty hot for some strange reason -but not as hot as you are telling us.
> 
> All laptops have specs, and temperature as well.  I have a compaq prEvo P4-M and it gets hot, but doesn't "BURN".  On windows, download the intel utilities / speedstep.  That may help...

 

Can you monitor the temperature? I really would like to know if this values are reasonable.

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## MasterX

Where can I find the speedstep utility?

I searched on Google but no luck

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## Rainmaker

there are several people on the forums here which don't have their cpu fan running due to some kind of configuration error (kernel option, something in /proc...) on their laptop. See if you get the same problem when booting a knoppix cd, or even try installing Windows

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## MasterX

 *Rainmaker wrote:*   

> there are several people on the forums here which don't have their cpu fan running due to some kind of configuration error (kernel option, something in /proc...) on their laptop. See if you get the same problem when booting a knoppix cd, or even try installing Windows

 

I have not installed Linux yet. I am in Windows

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## alkan

If temperature is reporting 60C and the cooling fan is still not kicked in, There is definetly something wrong with your notebook. I suggest call their service center and have them replace the notebook. 60C is not that high  if you are running something continously. But cpu fan should be working at that temperature range.

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## MasterX

I called the technical support and they told me that 60C is OK. There is a problem if it goes up to 76C. The other thing is that if the system is idle then it drops down to 50C.

What I would like to know is if these values are normal. I have a Centrino, it is configured for maximum battery and the CPU temperature is 50C, when the system is idle. Can this be normal?

Moreover, they told me that the 5+ hours battery life they claim the system has, is for an idle system. If the system is being used then it drops to 3+ hours. Again, is this normal? 

Can someone who has a notebook with a Centrino verify the above?

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## abcdefg

I have an asus centrino laptop

With the default bios it was pretty hot (60C) but the fan nearly never turned on.

Now I have the newest bios and the fan turns on when it gets hotter than 40C

So I think that your 50 degrees is possible without breaking it because I used this laptop pretty long at 60C without breaking but it might be better that is start cooling when it is 40 because they changed that in the new bios

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## bassvandijk

Also look at this topic:

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## msgyrd

I can't verify anything, but I can vouch for their battery life statement.  I own a powerbook, which is advertised at 4-5 hour battery life.  I get maybe 3.5 hours using minimal settings and almost no programs.   The notebook companies all tout their battery life like it's something you can expect, but it's not.  Their battery life claims are all based on display being at the lowest brightness, no optical or hard drives being used, and no programs that require signifigant cpu usage being ran, wireless and bluetooth and internal modems turned off, and processor stepping  turned on.  Essentially, you can get the claimed battery life out of your notebook, just as long as you don't use it.

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## dontremember

Work gave me a Dell Precision M60 (Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1700MHz), which is fairly happy running Gentoo.  Gkrellm shows the cpu temp around 54C when idling in KDE, jumping into the 70's when compiling stuff.  I think the highest I've seen is 79C.  In a quiet room, I can hear the fan kick on and off as it needs to, without any intervention from the OS, as far as I can tell.  I've got the cpu speed modifying stuff build into the kernel - that knocks the cpu speed down to 600MHz when on batteries.  I think it would probably run idle for 5 hours on batteries, and has definitely run for 3+ hours with a moderate load.

Dunno about temps when running the company-standard WinXP load.  The fan runs almost continuously though, and there are some serious hotspots.

I've had this thing for almost a year now - anyone think I ought to see about getting the techs to open it and blow dust out of the innards??

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## MasterX

Thank you all for your input. It is a great relief to know that these values are close to being normal.

I was so disappointed that I was thinking of returning it. But now I can go on and install Gentoo  :Smile: 

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## dontremember

 *MasterX wrote:*   

> Thank you all for your input. It is a great relief to know that these values are close to being normal.
> 
> I was so disappointed that I was thinking of returning it. But now I can go on and install Gentoo 

 

One thing - I almost cooked my M60 to death just after installing Linux.  I think I didn't have the kernel completely configured for ACPI, and when I shut it down to take it to work, it didn't actually power off properly.  They gave me a nice backpack to carry it around in, complete with a padded "laptop koozie".  It was really, really hot when I unpacked it in my cube...   :Embarassed:   Since then I've been very careful to make sure it powers off properly.

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## MasterX

Thanks for the warning. According to the manual, the BIOS has full ACPI support. I hope it will work under Linux.

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## Jessejames187

I was sitting on the crapper with my laptop on my lap (its where I get all my best work done), and I noticed that my legs were getting warm... then hot... then uncomfortable... then they started hurting... then it started to really burn, turns out my leg was blocking the holes where the heat exits from.  look at the bottom of the laptop, is it ventilated properly?

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## MasterX

I place the notebook  on my desk, so the bottom of it is completely covered. The CPU fan, however is on the side and this is the one that cools the system down

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