Compiz causes Inspiron laptop to run very hot!

[xircon]

Dell Inspiron N5010 / ATI mobile Radeon HD5000 series / Core I5 processor.

Running Compiz pushes the temp up to high 60/low 70 deg C.  Becomes uncomfortable to use and could probably fry an egg.  Any ideas?

Running ATI drivers from the AMD site.  Problem occurs also in packages from repos.

Cheers

Steve

[coffeetime]

Hmm...i5

Well, what does cpufreq-info say? Konsole, copy/paste and post back:

Code:

cpufreq-info

Temperature

Code:

acpi -t

Kernel?

Code:

uname -r

Does the temp. drop when you disable Compiz?


Flavour? e17, Kde, lxde, Gnome, OpenBox....?

[xircon]

Running Gnome, currently running Metacity with compositing enabled:

Code:

cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
  maximum transition latency: 0.00 ms.
analyzing CPU 1:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
  maximum transition latency: 0.00 ms.
analyzing CPU 2:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
  maximum transition latency: 0.00 ms.
analyzing CPU 3:
  no or unknown cpufreq driver is active on this CPU
  maximum transition latency: 0.00 ms.

Code:

acpi -t
Thermal 0: ok, 61.5 degrees C

Code:

2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs

[T6]

cpufreq is not running on your machine so it always suns at max speed instead of limiting to half of power

you are using a very recent kernel, don't understand this problem

[xircon]

OK, been messing about with this most of the weekend:

1. This gets cpufreq working -

Code:

modprobe acpi-cpufreq

2.  New cpufreq info:

Code:

cpufreq-info
cpufrequtils 007: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
  hardware limits: 1.20 GHz - 2.26 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.26 GHz, 2.26 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.86 GHz, 1.73 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.46 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.20 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.20 GHz and 2.26 GHz.
                  The governor "userspace" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 2.26 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).
analyzing CPU 1:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 1
  maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
  hardware limits: 1.20 GHz - 2.26 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.26 GHz, 2.26 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.86 GHz, 1.73 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.46 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.20 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.20 GHz and 2.26 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 2.26 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).
analyzing CPU 2:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 2
  maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
  hardware limits: 1.20 GHz - 2.26 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.26 GHz, 2.26 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.86 GHz, 1.73 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.46 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.20 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.20 GHz and 2.26 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 2.26 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).
analyzing CPU 3:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1 2 3
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 3
  maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
  hardware limits: 1.20 GHz - 2.26 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.26 GHz, 2.26 GHz, 2.13 GHz, 2.00 GHz, 1.86 GHz, 1.73 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.46 GHz, 1.33 GHz, 1.20 GHz
  available cpufreq governors: userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 1.20 GHz and 2.26 GHz.
                  The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 2.26 GHz (asserted by call to hardware).

3.

Code:

acpi -t
Thermal 0: ok, 57.5 degrees C

4.  The Gnome panel applet now works.

Going to reboot and try Compiz again

Cheers

Steve

[menotu]

If you don't have success with that xircon this may possibly help - this cured a problem with high CPU usage.

http://www.pclinuxos.com/forum/index.php/topic,82987.msg688336.html#msg688336

[xircon]

That has definitely made a bit of a difference, running compiz:

Code:

acpi -t
Thermal 0: ok, 60.5 degrees C

Fan is running constantly, but quietly.  Any ideas how to make "modprobe acpi-cpufreq" permanent?  Have to run it from a terminal every time I boot.

Also, have a weird transparent bar around my AWN dock, only reference I can find to this is for OpenBox,  should I start a thread for this?

Cheers and thanks for all the help.

Steve