2.6.4 on Vaio GRT170

kmleon · n00b Joined: 11 Apr 2004 Posts: 6

Since I've not found any info on installing gentoo on this model laptop, and only minimal on google, I thought it would be helpful to post here.
Also, I'm having SERIOUS heat issues during compile, hopefully someone can give some pointers.
System: Sony Vaio GRT170 with 768MB ram, 2.8Ghz P4 (512KB).
I've had this system since August 2003.
I was previously running the default XP Home (gack) and SuSE 8.2 (later replaced with SuSE 9.0). It was only a few weeks ago that Sony made it easier to get drivers to install other versions of Windoze on this system. I was able to get w2k to install, but most of the bundled software demanded XP. So I put XP Pro on instead of home and everything works.
I was unhappy with SuSE performance compared to other flavors (have installed it an run it on about a dozen systems), so wanted to try gentoo out for the first time. I've been running linux of one flavor or another since 1994/5 0.9x kernel days.
Base install went fine just following the great handbook.
The problem since installing the 2.6.4 kernel though is that I keep getting:
"CPU#0: Temperature above threshold"
"CPU#0: Running in modulated clock mode"
When I cat out /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/ATF0/temperature I get average temp around 80-90+ CELSIUS even with my sticking a giant Vornada fan by the laptop to cool it off considerably! whenever doing any compiling/emerge.
If I run on battery power it'll get down to the upper 70s celsius while compiling.
When idling or moderate use it drops to around 30-40 celsius.
The system never locks up or dumps, but I suspect the constant scrolling of the threshold errors across all consoles/screens is interrupting/slowing down the system considerably and that's why it's now working on day 2 just emerging/compiling kdebase.
Is there a problem with teh 2.6.4 kernel and p4's? I've found others on google.com and such having the same issues with the heat (though they just "feel" it's way to hot (to touch) under gentoo).
What's strange is that it doesn't FEEL to hot to me (especially with the VORNADO running), and the system isn't shutting down with or without the external fan.
Is it possible that acpi? is misreporting the temperature? How do I get it to quit throwing out the errors on every console if so? Is it basing the "threshold" on the cpu's errors? or is there a setting somewhere to set the warning threshold? I tried turning off acpi (since I did it as a module), but it doesn't seem to change anything.
Any guidance is appreciated.
Thanks.

TheRAt · Veteran Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Posts: 1580

Is that a P4-m with HT ??

I had similar weird issues, until I compiled it as SMP with SMT support. Now I get the machinegetting to the high 60's at the last big compile load I threw at it... (openoffice - a good few hours)...
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kmleon · n00b Joined: 11 Apr 2004 Posts: 6

How would I find out that granular information?
This is a Sony Vaio laptop p4 2.80hgz 512KB cache. is the "m" for mobility? I don't see anywhere indicatig if it is or not...

Here's what I get from /proc/cpuinfo:
cpu family: 15
model: 2
model name: Intel Pentium 4 2.80GHz
stepping: 7
....blah.....
ah ha...
flags: fpu vme de pse tsc.....ss ht tm pbe cid
So is the ht flag indicative of that cpu type?
So you're saying to add smp (Symmetric muti-processing support) to the kernel?
What is SMT support?
Thanks.

TheRAt · Veteran Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Posts: 1580

I have a P4-m (mobility P4) 3.2GHz

I get the same family and model as you have;

kmleon · n00b Joined: 11 Apr 2004 Posts: 6

Which kernel? I'm not seeing any SMT/Hyperthreading option in the 2.6.4 (gentoo-sources) kernel I'm using.

kmleon · n00b Joined: 11 Apr 2004 Posts: 6

excuse me, I mean 2.6.4 development-sources (gentoo) I meant.

TheRAt · Veteran Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Posts: 1580

I am using the mm sources... Just checked gentoo-dev-sources and this does not seem to be in that, so it seems to be a patch that is specifically applied in the mm-sources (unless it is specified somewhere else, which seems most unlikely).
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kmleon · n00b Joined: 11 Apr 2004 Posts: 6

how stable has 2.6.4 mm-sources been for you?

kmleon · n00b Joined: 11 Apr 2004 Posts: 6

or is that 2.6.5 for mm-sources?

TheRAt · Veteran Joined: 03 Jun 2002 Posts: 1580

I am still on 2.6.4-mm2... Been rock solid... Everything works thtaI have tried so far...

Planning on switching to 2.6.5-mm today...
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