[ltp] Re: An "inverse" fan problem

[Michael Keyl]

On Friday 27 May 2005 05:05, Jared Warren wrote:
> I'm running Ubuntu/unstable on a X31 and my fan also never seems to
> turn on. My CPU temperature is regularly above 50 and I've seen it go
> over 70 (but I usually shut down manually if it hits 60) with similar
> GPU temps. Sending a speed command to /proc/acpi/ibm/fan doesn't seem
> to do anything. Nor does setting my trip_points which are, on bootup:
> critical: 91
> passive: 86

I think you can trust that these temperatures are sufficiently secure; cf. the 
two earlier postings.

http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2005-May/026663.html
http://mailman.linux-thinkpad.org/pipermail/linux-thinkpad/2005-May/026670.html

>
> It's almost always too hot to keep on my lap. How can I start
> diagnosing this problem?

Since I have recognized this problem, I always monitor temperatures and fan 
speed with a small shell script. This is a good way to figure out which apps 
heat your system up and how the fan is triggered. If you need an application 
to stress your cpu as much as possible try cpuburn 

http://pages.sbcglobal.net/redelm/

(but: _use at your own risk_ and read the README). Its the "hottest" program I 
have found up to now :-) 

In the meantime I have come to the conclusion that this is a design flaw of my 
machine. The  active cooling system is just too undepowered to drive the 
system at max cpu clock and max cpu load. Hence you have to reduce either the 
one or the other. 

Michael