ThinkPad overheats

[Ondřej Michálek]

Binary package hint: acpi

Edgy on my ThinkPad Z60t doesn't manage its temperature very well. It is enough to leave the laptop alone just with inactive Firefox running and the temperature rises soon at dangerous 93°C (200°F). That causes the fan to speed up, however only to keep the temp at the same 93˚C. The average temperature is also higher than it should be, eg. when playing Wormux it rises above 72˚C.

I tried to fix the problem by using fan speed script ( http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ACPI_fan_control_script#Variable_speed_control_scripts )
from ThinkWiki but with no result, because ibm-acpi module ( http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ibm-acpi )
did not work correctly for me
   ($ sudo modprobe ibm_acpi experimental=1
    returns something like "access denied")

It also might be connected that the CPU frequency never drops bellow 800MHz.

I hope the bug is caused by acpi as I fillwd it, please let me know what files I might provide.

[Peter Whittaker (pwwnow)]

We'll start with the assumption that this is an ACPI problem, and seek the usual ACPI debugging information.

Please update the report with the output of the following commands:

uname -a

sudo lspci -vv

sudo lspci -vvn

sudo dmidecode

The output of uname can be include in-line. The output of the other commands should be attached to the report, one attachment per command (please do not include inline, and please do not compress the attachments). Please be sure to use sudo, root privileges are necessary to get the required information.

[Ondřej Michálek (bongissimo)]

uname -a:

Linux Peacemaker 2.6.17-11-generic #2 SMP Thu Feb 1 19:52:28 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

[Peter Whittaker (pwwnow)]

Confirmed and redirected based on supplied information.

[Erik Andrén (erik-andren)]

Are you using the latest available bios for your machine?

[Ondřej Michálek (bongissimo)]

I did not have the latest bios (and neither "embedded controller" as there are two programs saved on ThinkPad's flash) so I just updated it. However the problem did not disappear.

Should I provide updated lspci and dmidecode ouptuts?

[Erik Andrén (erik-andren)]

Would it be possible for you to to test out a Feisty Herd4 live cd (available here: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/feisty/herd-4/ ) and see if the problem goes away?

[Ondřej Michálek (bongissimo)]

I'll try it, just give me and my "fair user policy" connection (as they call it in Czech Rep.) some time to get the file :)

[Mark Reitblatt (mark-reitblatt)]

Peter: confirmed kernel bugs should have importance set, and be assigned to ubuntu-kernel-team. See https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies

[20after4 (twentyafterfour)]

I am experiencing lockups that appear to be heat related.

Distro:
 Feisty Beta

Hardware:
 IBM Thinkpad A30
 P3 1.13 GHZ

Kernel:
 both 2.6.20-12-generic
 and 2.6.20-13-generic

It seems that the fan is not running at all. I will post debug information if this is the correct place for it.

[Adam Greenhalgh (adam-hiddennet)]

I am experiencing temperature alarms and the fan is not running. The fan and cooling ducts are clear of dust. Manually setting the fan speed has helped. Trying a 2.6.15 kernel from an earlier ubuntu package didn't help the situation.

Distro:
  Feisty (upgraded from edgy), fully updaqted.

Hardware:
IBM Thinkpad X40

Kernel:
2.6.20-15-386

[20after4 (twentyafterfour)]

Setting the fan speed manually has helped here as well. I can set it to "auto" or a number in /proc/acpi/ibm/fan - the automatic setting doesn't seem to turn the fan on at all and the processor heats to unstable temperatures. The stability and overheating problems are almost completely gone when I manually set the fan to full speed.

My temporary solution was to put the following code in /etc/rc.local :

#!/bin/sh
echo "level 7" > /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

[20after4 (twentyafterfour)]

I found this information helpful:

 http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ACPI_fan_control_script

[Adam Greenhalgh (adam-hiddennet)]

On the x40 this is still an issue when the laptop is docked but not when it is undocked. I've updated the bios to the latest version.

[Adam Greenhalgh (adam-hiddennet)]

There seem to be significant changes being commited to the linux-acpi tree for the thinkpad acpi code and fan control

http://marc.info/?l=linux-acpi&r=1&b=200704&w=2

[Diego Iastrubni (elcuco)]

I can confirm this for Lenovo 3000 N100. On my system in 6.10 it worked pretty good, but after the update to 7.04, fans are not working at all. The machine gets very hot, and booting to windows I see that that the CPU temperature is high, and drops down after 10 minutes of usage.

root@pinky:/var/log# uname -a
Linux pinky 2.6.20-15-generic #2 SMP Sun Apr 15 07:36:31 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

[Markus Petersen (mafu)]

I can confirm this for a Lenovo Thinkpad Z60m as well, since the move to Feisty. My system occasionally crashes when doing CPU intensive stuff like compiling. When the CPU temp. hits around 95, everything shuts down. I don't know if this comment is useful at all, just thought I'd say something, as it's rather important for me to have this fixed very soon. 2.6.20-15-generic kernel.

[Diego Iastrubni (elcuco)]

mafu,

In bug 114312 (which I opened specially for my model, since it's not sure how similar are those computers), I can confirm that the older kernel from Edgy works. Can you give this a try?

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.20/+bug/114312

[Markus Petersen (mafu)]

Hey there,
I'm really sorry I didn't answer before now. Unfortunately, I don't
really know how to switch to another kernel in Ubuntu. I the meanwhile
I have a script for my TP that makes sure everything works.

Maybe I'll figure out how to test an Edgy kernel and get back to you.
I just need a working system, so it's important nothing bad happens..

Cheers
Markus

On 5/16/07, Diego Iastrubni <email address hidden> wrote:
> mafu,
>
> In bug 114312 (which I opened specially for my model, since it's not
> sure how similar are those computers), I can confirm that the older
> kernel from Edgy works. Can you give this a try?
>
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-
> source-2.6.20/+bug/114312
>
> --
> ThinkPad overheats
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/85894
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Markus Petersen (mafu)]

I'm really sorry I didn't answer before now. Unfortunately, I don't
really know how to switch to another kernel in Ubuntu. I the meanwhile
I have a script for my TP that makes sure everything works.

Maybe I'll figure out how to test an Edgy kernel and get back.
I just need a working system, so it's important nothing bad happens..

[Markus Petersen (mafu)]

Great, email commenting works after all. :Þ Sorry for the double posting.

[Markus Petersen (mafu)]

I don't know what has happened with this bug, but I solved my problems by setting some BIOS options, specifically under Thermal Management in Power tab, both AC and battery to "balanced". Hope this helps someone out there with the same problems. :)

[humufr (humufr-deactivatedaccount)]

I have exactly the same problem with my thinkpad z60m. I saw that the fan are not working when the AC plug is connected and work fine when it's disconnected. So for now the solution I found is to remove sometime the AC plug...

It's a big problem. I had a hardware problem with my laptop because of this (CPU and graphic card burned) so I don't think that the priority must be high but critical.

[humufr (humufr-deactivatedaccount)]

I tried the solution gave by mafu and it's seems to work for the fan but now the performance of the laptop are bad...

And I'm convince that this is a very important problem. By default the bios is not on "balanced" mode and if regular user has to change something in the bios that will be a big problem. Especially because you don't need to do it with MS windows...

[Markus Petersen (mafu)]

Nicolas Gruel, actually, it was critical last time I looked. Don't know why it was set down since then. I would say it quite critical for the people (and machines) involved.

I haven't noticed any performance loss, but then again, I don't use my laptop for anything that needs performance at the moment. It still crashes with temperatures over 90 degrees Celsius when I play flash movies (youtube etc.) in fullscreen, though, even after the "BIOS fix".

[Mark Reitblatt (mark-reitblatt)]

According to the status log, the importance (when set) has always been "high". I believe that this is appropriate in accordance w/ the guidelines for importance:
...
Has a severe impact on a small portion of Ubuntu users (estimated)
...
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/Importance

I understand that this is an incredibly frustrating bug. I also find it interesting how spread across the Thinkpad spectrum this seems to be. I own a T43 and an X61, and I don't have this problem. Does Edgy/Dapper work for everyone experiencing trouble w/ Feisty? Has anyone tried Gutsy yet?

[Diego Iastrubni (elcuco)]

Just to mention:
my machine does not over head. I just don't hibernate it. This is lame, this
is a laptop, and I do miss that functionality...

IMHO this is grave, and affects everyone who has a 3000 N100 machine.

[Markus Petersen (mafu)]

That's weird, my memory doesn't usually fail me. But the logs must be right then. I see why the importance is set like this, too.

I don't recall having experienced this in Edgy, but again, I didn't know there was a bug like this, so I didn't do any testing and/or monitoring. I'm currently unable to downgrade, or upgrade to Gutsy (before the beta launch, anyway), as this is my main work machine. But as soon as the beta is out I'll consider it, if it solves my problems.

But the BIOS thing is still the best solution at hand right now. A "nice yes > /dev/null" doesn't crash my machine anymore, and the temperature is a steady 52 degrees Celsius after a short rise to somewhere in the sixties during the test.

[humufr (humufr-deactivatedaccount)]

One remark I have an IBM z60m with an ATI graphics card. When the harware problem appearded with feisty, the CPU, the mother board and the graphic card have been destroyed. I'm sorry to seems a little bit narcissic but, for my point of view, a destruction of this scale of the hardware is not "high" but "critical" even if touch only some people. It's not a problem where the software crash but a problem where the hardware can be totally destroy. I was lucky to have a 3 years warranty...

For gutsy I can't test it, this laptop is my main computer and so I can't install it for now.

[humufr (humufr-deactivatedaccount)]

I upgrade to Gutsy and the problem is still there. I don't have space now on my hard drive to test another distribution but as soon as I can I will do it.

[humufr (humufr-deactivatedaccount)]

I think that this bug is a duplicate of this one: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/22336
which has been classified as critical (like a lot of people are suggesting for this one) but without change in 2 years...

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

The Hardy Heron Alpha2 release will be coming out soon. It will have an updated version of the kernel. It would be great if you could test with this new release and verify if this issue still exists. I'll be sure to update this report when Alpha2 is available. Thanks!

[Markus Petersen (mafu)]

Leann, sounds great! I will certainly test when the Alpha is out (if it's a livecd, but I suppose it is). Thanks for paying attention to this bug.

Regards

[Leann Ogasawara (leannogasawara)]

Hardy Heron Alpha2 was recently released. It contains an updated version of the kernel. You can download and try the new Hardy Heron Alpha2 release from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/alpha-2/ . You should be able to then test the new kernel via the LiveCD. If you can, please verify if this bug still exists or not and report back your results. General information regarding the release can also be found here: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/alpha2 . Thanks!

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Ondřej Michálek, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Please do not test the daily folder, but the one all the way at the bottom. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.11

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.