Heat management problems

Apollo2000 · n00b Joined: 29 Jun 2004 Posts: 2

Hi,
I keep getting this message while compiling or doing other heavy stuff using gentoo on my laptop. It says CPU#: Temperature above threshold
CPU#: Running in modulated clock mode.

Since I'm relatively new to gentoo (and linux) I was wondering what this means, and what I can do to fix it. Is it dangerous for my system? It doesn't turn off it just keep saying the same thing over and over again. If it's not dangerous it certainly is annoying

(# = CPU0 and CPU1 since I have hyperthreading on. If I turn hyperthreading off it says only CPU0 = in modulated clockmode etc.)

Can anybody help? All help is welcome!

_________________
Kevin

orionrobots · Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 10:49 am Post subject: Check the bios

Enter the laptop bios screen - check the temperatures, adn temperature thresholds. These are often set at around 50-70 degrees. If the CPU is going above 70 - then you may have a problem.

What would help is knowing any packages that can output the cpu core temperature - by reading in the bios values. Over to the community for that one.

In theory though it is not dangerous - as pentium 4's (during Toms Hardware tests) just clocked themselves down when the thermal threshold was reached, and back up when the temperature was stabilised again. Better cooling in this case would result in better performance.
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Apollo2000 · n00b Joined: 29 Jun 2004 Posts: 2

Hi. Thnx for replying.
The temp. is between 70 and 72. Highest temperature mesured is 74. Since it's a pentium 4 I have nothing to worry about. When it gets to 73/74 it slows down to temp 69/70 and then it just goes up again. Maybe I could change a setting in Linux putting the threshold temperature up to 78 - 82 or something? Than I wouldn't get that annoying message over and over again.

I've read more about this matter on the 'ACPI and CPU Temp - Intel Centrino' subject on page 3 of the forum. Is there anything I can do about the temperature? Like, putting certain options on or off in the kernel?

I realy don't wish to damage my hardware and/or fry something. I haven't leased it like the guy on page 3

but bought it instead. It would be a shame if I would blow my system like that ^^.

Furthermore.. I can't realy access the bios concerning threshold temperatures. I have an Acer Aspire 1700 and they don't really allow much about changing options in the BIOS.

Thnx again,
_________________
Kevin

Malak · n00b Joined: 17 Jun 2004 Posts: 59

I often worry that my CPU gets too hot.. But what temperature exactly is too hot? My athlon gets upto about 68 degrees.. will this lower the life of the hardware or anything?
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No signature for me thanks!

orionrobots · Posted: Tue Jun 29, 2004 8:00 pm Post subject:

I dont know how they do it now, but one of the reasons that overclocking was so common was that CPU's had been manufactured with a working lifetime of 15 years. Since most high performance users would replace them in three - overclocking them was a calculated and acceptable risk.
However - I do not know if tolerances are as high now.

If you are running above arond 50, it may shorten the life, and lower the performance of a machine. The hotter the core - the greater the chance of errors and data corruption(although pretty low in todays architechture). Anyway - I would still suggest extra cooling. Compiling the kernel to do less, or upping the threshold is really not the answer. Investing in better CPU cooling gear is your best option if performance is an issue.

Laptops are always a bit more of a risk with overheating as you have a great deal more in a smaller space, and plastic is an insulator, not conductor of heat.
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