[ltp] Cooling/ACPI issues on Thinkpad a21m

[Dragos Vingarzan]

Check out http://ibm-acpi.sourceforge.net/ and get the latest version 
from there... I think the kernel includes version 0.8 which doesn't have 
the fan control capabilities. Anyway, it does not look promissing for 
A21m - not tested or something, but it migth work. In 0.11 I think you 
could turn on/off the fan and also adjust its speed.

To be sure that the laptop is ok, I would suggest to install/start 
windows with the ibm drivers and do a burn-in test. If it's the same, it 
is most likely a hardware problem.

Oh, and btw... forget about the dvd-burner for ultrabay - it costs 3-4x 
more than an USB much faster writting one...

pzalac wrote:

>The other day, I purchased this used laptop from a used laptop dealer.  
>Apparently it used to be used by some corporation and now they're using 
>dell's (the fools!).. anyways, I acquired it for a fair price and now am the 
>mostly happy owner of an IBM thinkpad a21m running arklinux.  
>
>EVERYTHING thats built into the laptop works.  The modem, the thinkpad buttons 
>took a little more work (didn't have kmilo installed) but now thats working, 
>suspend works, I simply have to plug in my ethernet plug and ethernet works 
>almost automagically, the speed is reasonably quick even with kde 3.4, 
>running quite a few apps and using kernel 2.6.11-1.  Sound works flawless, 
>it's just a wonderful laptop.  Aside from ACPI and the fact that the CPU 
>*will* heat up past 92 degrees celcius and automatically shut down, if im 
>compiling a kernel or using kynaptic to update packages (strangely, just 
>using apt-get doesn't heat the processor up as much)
>
>I'm using the stock kernel that comes with arklinux 2005.1 , which was just 
>released last week.  the /proc/acpi directory does not list anything 
>in /proc/acpi/fan, and /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM0/cooling_mode and 
>trip_points both list the cooling mode as passive, nothing I do can switch it 
>to active.   At this point, I had decided, hey, maybe the fan isn't working.  
>at which point I disassembled the laptop and, yes it is working.  and between 
>the fan and the cpu is some sort of thermal paste, as can be expected.
>
>At this point I thought I should send an email to the list, but I was still 
>unsatisfied with what I'd learned.  I figured I'd try to configure CPU 
>throttling , and see if that keeps the processor from overheating.  I had the 
>processor at around 650mhz and for the most part was able to compile and 
>configure... still, I'd rather have as much processing power as possible on 
>this laptop.  In any case, for some reason after rebooting, I can no longer 
>mess with the cpu throttling and its stuck in /proc/cpuinfo at 796.571mhz.  
>this I find peculiar as well.
>
>Should I take it back to the place where I got it and have them take a look at 
>the fan?  they did say they have a 60 day hardware warranty.  Should I try 
>using a different kernel or updating the acpi drivers?  the IBM Thinkpad ACPI 
>Extras driver is version 0.8.  I have to say if i can figure out this issue 
>this laptop will be a dream to work on.   (especially if they have dvd 
>burners that fit in the ultradrive bay.. i know they have the cd-rw's)  Any 
>help or input would be appreciated.  thanks for listening.   I've been using 
>linux for years and this is the first time I've ever felt forced to ask 
>something on a mailing list :)
>  
>

-- 
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Dipl. Eng. Dragos Vingarzan
FOKUS/NGNI
Kaiserin-Augusta-Allee 31
10589 Berlin,Germany
Phone +49 (0)30 - 3463 - 7385
Mobile +49 (0)162 - 153 - 0154
eMail vingarzan@fokus.fraunhofer.de
Web www.fokus.fraunhofer.de
We could change the world if God will give us the source code...
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