[ltp] Re: tpfand configuration for an X200s

[Andrew Mason]

No this isn't a hardware issue. My X200 does this also. The problem
seems to be that without tpfand or something else the thinkpad ramps
up to around 3400 too quickly. It goes from being not on, to
3400-3600. It seems to skip the stages in between and doesn't do a
good job of returning once the unit is cool.

Basically the thinkpad can easily sit around 35 degrees which is
comfortable and not much warmer than after booting. With basic usage
(ie no games or compiling code ) it can do this without the fan on at
all. So ideally it should do something like

Not operate the fan at all until it gets to around 38? At this stage
it should ramp up the fan to 1800 (its next setting) _until_ it goes
back down to 35 , if it doesn't get cooler or increases in heat to 40
(which is still comfortable ) then it should bump up the fan to the
next setting.


I get the impression that this is what vista does (i don't have
windows installed so i can't verify ).
Having the fan speed up so heavily is probably also why most x200
users complain about battery life.

I don't know how / why this differs in Linux but it appears we are
stuck with it for the time being. It could also be that Linux is doing
nothing wrong , that vista is in fact doing some software fan
management.
I also get a reasonable amount more wake ups in powertop than other
previous revisions of thinkpads. My friend has a x40(1)? which is
fantastic and has on average < 30 wake-ups at idle. The least I can
get is around 80.

I must also confess i am running a kubuntu 2.6.27 kernel and i think
2.6.27.5 has some acpi changes so this could just be a particular
issue that has already been solved.


Andrew



On Thu, Dec 4, 2008 at 3:04 AM, John Li <jli@circularly.org> wrote:
> On Tue, Dec 02, 2008 at 01:14:03PM -0200, Henrique de Moraes Holschuh wrote:
>> On Tue, 02 Dec 2008, John Li wrote:
>> > Being stuck at a high speed seems to a bug somewhere, but the bottom
>> > of my X200 (around the ram) does /seem/ to get warmer, faster with
>> > Linux compared to Vista. Also on Vista, the fan only gets as loud when
>> > doing something pretty CPU intensive for a while, and quickly slows
>> > back down when idling. I don't have equipment to do empirical tests,
>> > unfortunately, but does it make sense for Linux to be doing something
>> > differently that causes a non-trivial temperature increase?
>>
>> Yes.  But I'd suggest you find out if the fan on a X200 is supposed to be
>> that loud at that RPM level, first.  Your fan might be a lemon.
>
> Right after booting up (on a cold morning), speed is 0.
>
> When it warms up a bit, speed is ~1940 and bordering on inaudible (in
> a completely quiet room) unless I put my ear next to the vent.
>
> Running "yes" for a few seconds, speed is ~3400 and on the loud side.
> In a room with people talking, it's hard to notice, but is bothersome
> in an otherwise quiet room.
>
> This is with the hard drive spun down. The hard drive in my X200 is
> actually relatively loud. When the fan gets to 3400, it's louder than
> the hard drive.
>
> Given that the fan is fine (close to inaudible) at lower speeds, I
> don't think it's a hardware problem.
>
>
> Thanks,
> -John
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