The issue was caused by the graphics drivers probably. Switching to the
Nvidia proprietary drivers seems to have drastically reduced the fan
throttling but it is still not as silent as it should be. I'll try
disabling the card reader.
On 31-May-2013 5:21 PM, "Bernardo Reino" <email address hidden> wrote:

> I think it's the USB card reader (Realtek), and in particular the kernel
> module rts5139, which is still in staging.
>
> Try to do, as root, "modprobe -r rts5139" and see if that fixes it.
> (obviously your card reader will stop working).
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are subscribed to the bug
> report.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/1072730
>
> Title:
>   CPU fan constantly at high speed on Asus K53SM laptop
>
> Status in “linux” package in Ubuntu:
>   Confirmed
>
> Bug description:
>   I have Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS installed on my Asus K53SM alongside Windows
>   7. Ubuntu has been installed on a seperate partition and I am using
>   the GRUB loader for booting.
>
>   The CPU fan on my laptop is constantly at a very high speed
>   irrespective of whether I'm running any CPU intensive applications or
>   not. The CPU's reported temperature is 42 degrees centigrade (room
>   temp is 28 degrees). The air being ejected out of the system is cold
>   and not warm enough to warrant a high fan speed.
>
>   I have installed bumblebee to ensure that my Nvidia card is not
>   constantly running and I ensured that it is fully updated to the
>   latest version. All the reported updates have also been installed on
>   Ubuntu.
>
>   ProblemType: Bug
>   DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
>   Package: linux-image-3.2.0-32-generic-pae 3.2.0-32.51
>   ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.2.0-32.51-generic-pae 3.2.30
>   Uname: Linux 3.2.0-32-generic-pae i686
>   AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
>   ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu14
>   Architecture: i386
>   ArecordDevices:
>    **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
>    card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC269VB Analog [ALC269VB Analog]
>      Subdevices: 1/1
>      Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
>   AudioDevicesInUse:
>    USER        PID ACCESS COMMAND
>    /dev/snd/controlC0:  piyush     2031 F.... pulseaudio
>   Card0.Amixer.info:
>    Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xdf000000 irq 50'
>      Mixer name : 'Intel CougarPoint HDMI'
>      Components : 'HDA:10ec0269,10431ac3,00100100
> HDA:80862805,80860101,00100000'
>      Controls      : 24
>      Simple ctrls  : 11
>   Date: Mon Oct 29 19:18:15 2012
>   HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=c1fe8aa2-eadb-4d88-9a2a-a77346a7085e
>   InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release i386
> (20120817.3)
>   MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. K53SM
>   ProcEnviron:
>    LANGUAGE=en_IN:en
>    TERM=xterm
>    PATH=(custom, no user)
>    LANG=en_IN
>    SHELL=/bin/bash
>   ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
>   ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-32-generic-pae
> root=UUID=5e0353be-ffe5-4b71-8616-dbc6e0767248 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
>   RelatedPackageVersions:
>    linux-restricted-modules-3.2.0-32-generic-pae N/A
>    linux-backports-modules-3.2.0-32-generic-pae  N/A
>    linux-firmware                                1.79.1
>   SourcePackage: linux
>   StagingDrivers: rts5139 mei
>   UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
>   dmi.bios.date: 03/06/2012
>   dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
>   dmi.bios.version: K53SM.211
>   dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
>   dmi.board.name: K53SM
>   dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
>   dmi.board.version: 1.0
>   dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
>   dmi.chassis.type: 9
>   dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
>   dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
>   dmi.modalias:
> dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrK53SM.211:bd03/06/2012:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pnK53SM:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnK53SM:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:ct9:cvr1.0:
>   dmi.product.name: K53SM
>   dmi.product.version: 1.0
>   dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
>
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>