[ltp] ThinkPad T520 overheating

[Martin Steigerwald]

Am Samstag, 25. April 2015, 00:43:18 schrieb Martin Steigerwald:
> Hello!
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> What you are best advices for a 4 year old T520 overheating like this=
:
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> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145233.995957] CPU0: Package
> temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events =3D
> 3937756)
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145233.995959] CPU2: Package
> temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events =3D
> 3937733)
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145233.995961] CPU1: Package
> temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events =3D
> 3937760)
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145233.995964] CPU3: Package
> temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events =3D
> 3937753)
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145234.000962] CPU2: Package
> temperature/speed normal
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145234.000965] CPU0: Package
> temperature/speed normal
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145234.000966] CPU1: Package
> temperature/speed normal
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145234.000968] CPU3: Package
> temperature/speed normal
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145234.431470] CPU2: Core temperatur=
e
> above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events =3D 1247442)
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145234.431475] CPU3: Core temperatur=
e
> above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events =3D 1247461)
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145234.432440] CPU2: Core
> temperature/speed normal
> Apr 24 21:31:30 merkaba kernel: [145234.432441] CPU3: Core
> temperature/speed normal
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> on while playing PlaneShift or openmw, but also in other occurences o=
f
> higher load, such as Akonadi bursting the machine or kernel compile
> while apt-get upgrading and things like that.
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> With sensors I see it at 98 degrees then and 3500 to 3600 rpm fan spe=
ed
> .
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> The machine basically crawls to a halt.
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> On searching on the net I found various things:
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> 1) It seems to be a know problem with ThinkPads from that time.
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> 2)  Some say its a software issue with Linux thinkpad acpi not using
> maximum fan speeds, while Windows uses higher fan speeds. Some people=

> advice to set it to use higher fan levels, but when buying 3500-3600 =
rpm
> has been more than enough to allow it to turboboost two cores to 3,2
> GHz for more than half an hour.
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> 3) Someone suggested the thermal compound component used in these
> laptops was crap, and suggested cleaning fan and using a good thermal=

> compound component.
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> 4) Someone suggest cleaning the fan with a can of air.
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> Just to name a few suggestions.
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> What steps would you recommend?
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> Laptop may be replaced by a newer ThinkPad model as main laptop. The
> laptop doesn=C2=B4t shut down=E2=80=A6 so the throttling works, but=E2=
=80=A6 it crawls the
> machine to a halt.  So I would like to avoid any of the risky stuff t=
hat
> may brick the machine. Slow is still better than bricked.
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> BIOS is 8AET63WW (1.43 ) which was quite recent last time I looked.
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> My observation is that laptop generally runs hotter and fan is on mor=
e
> often, which is why I think that cleaning or even replacing the fan o=
r
> renewing the thermal compound might be best. Interim solution may be =
to
> set fan speeds higher, but I see this more as a work-around that may
> wear the fan out even more=E2=80=A6 cause I have never seen the fan h=
igher than
> 3600 or maybe 3800rpm.
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> I already set the BIOS "Adaptive Powermanagement on AC" from
> "Performance" to "Balanced" in the hope that it may help a bit. Read
> so. I also applied:
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> pcie_aspm=3Dforce i915.i915_enable_rc6=3D7

I tried something different.

I capped maximum frequency Intel P-State driver may tell CPU to use fro=
m=20
3,20 GHz to 2,50 GHz. This way with stress -c 4 it seems to go up to 86=
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degrees with 3580 rpm fan speed. When I let it go at turboboosting it g=
oes=20
to 96 to 97 degrees, next to the throttling point and then throttles. E=
ven=20
when I then go back to 2,50 GHz, it will just cool down a tiny bit. But=
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when I stop stress then, let the machine cool down and then start it ag=
ain=20
with cap at 2,50 GHz I now get still 94 to 95 degree, okay so I cap it =
to=20
2,0 GHz and this gets the machine back to 88 degrees while stress is st=
ill=20
running with -c 4.

I bet that may still be better than forced throttling and will see next=
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days how it works while running PS or openmw, as they utilize the gpu a=
s=20
well.

But it might be a work-around at all, cause 2 GHz consistently still se=
ems=20
better than forced throttling.

--=20
Martin 'Helios' Steigerwald - http://www.Lichtvoll.de
GPG: 03B0 0D6C 0040 0710 4AFA  B82F 991B EAAC A599 84C7