Overheating issues...

[Rudolph Pienaar]

Hi all -

I've been using my 64-bit R3000Z with Gentoo (mostly) happily now for just shy
of two years. I say "mostly" since the laptop has been overheating recently
and I was wondering if others have the same experiences.

Several things happened recently around the same time, so I'm not sure if any
one thing has led to this:

1. My original power supply "brick" unexpectedly died. I was desperate and
bought a Targus generic power supply (a shocking $100 at CompUSA). This power
supply was rated at 95W - somewhat worrying since the original power supply
seemed to pump out 120W max. The Targus nonetheless had the Presario 3000
listed as "guaranteed compatible with". I used the Targus for about two weeks
while I ordered a "proper" replacement (I think from ATBat or something - $79
- it was rated exactly as the original power supply; same size, too).

2. Around about this time I also upgraded to kernel 2.6.16 (I only mention
since perhaps, just perhaps, the 2.6.16 kernel has some power issues - pretty
unlikely, I know).

Anyway, the Targus would get much hotter than the original brick ever did. And
I mean *much* hotter - almost too hot to touch. I figured the laptop was
drawing more power than the Targus' rated 95W. Also, the laptop itself
suddenly seemed to run at a much higher temp. At full clip (2.4 GHz),
'gkrellm' would report temps in the range 72-78C. Both cooling fans would be
active at full. The laptop had rarely gone above 70C with the old power
supply. If I cycled the CPU down to 2.0 GHz, the temp would drop down about
10-15C.

I figured all would be well with the new power supply, but I've been using
this for a few weeks now, and the laptop is running just as hot. In fact, it
has happened twice now while crunching MatLAB that the temp hit 89C and then
the laptop promptly shut down. I've been using MatLAB on an almost daily
basis on this laptop, so it's not as though suddenly my usage patterns have
changed.

Does anyone have any insights? Is the running temp at 2.4 GHz somehow a
function of the power supply, too? Or are these completely unrelated and the
laptop is showing its age - first it's old power supply gave the ghost and
round the same time the fans themselves are losing their efficiency...

Cheers
-=R

[Vadim Garber]

Have you tried cleaning your heatsink? I clean mine out every month or
so by taking off the bottom cover and blowing the heatsink clean.

Post by Rudolph Pienaar
Hi all -
I've been using my 64-bit R3000Z with Gentoo (mostly) happily now for just shy
of two years. I say "mostly" since the laptop has been overheating recently
and I was wondering if others have the same experiences.
Several things happened recently around the same time, so I'm not sure if any
1. My original power supply "brick" unexpectedly died. I was desperate and
bought a Targus generic power supply (a shocking $100 at CompUSA). This power
supply was rated at 95W - somewhat worrying since the original power supply
seemed to pump out 120W max. The Targus nonetheless had the Presario 3000
listed as "guaranteed compatible with". I used the Targus for about two weeks
while I ordered a "proper" replacement (I think from ATBat or something - $79
- it was rated exactly as the original power supply; same size, too).
2. Around about this time I also upgraded to kernel 2.6.16 (I only mention
since perhaps, just perhaps, the 2.6.16 kernel has some power issues - pretty
unlikely, I know).
Anyway, the Targus would get much hotter than the original brick ever did. And
I mean *much* hotter - almost too hot to touch. I figured the laptop was
drawing more power than the Targus' rated 95W. Also, the laptop itself
suddenly seemed to run at a much higher temp. At full clip (2.4 GHz),
'gkrellm' would report temps in the range 72-78C. Both cooling fans would be
active at full. The laptop had rarely gone above 70C with the old power
supply. If I cycled the CPU down to 2.0 GHz, the temp would drop down about
10-15C.
I figured all would be well with the new power supply, but I've been using
this for a few weeks now, and the laptop is running just as hot. In fact, it
has happened twice now while crunching MatLAB that the temp hit 89C and then
the laptop promptly shut down. I've been using MatLAB on an almost daily
basis on this laptop, so it's not as though suddenly my usage patterns have
changed.
Does anyone have any insights? Is the running temp at 2.4 GHz somehow a
function of the power supply, too? Or are these completely unrelated and the
laptop is showing its age - first it's old power supply gave the ghost and
round the same time the fans themselves are losing their efficiency...
Cheers
-=R

[Rudolph Pienaar]

Post by Vadim Garber
Have you tried cleaning your heatsink? I clean mine out every month or
so by taking off the bottom cover and blowing the heatsink clean.

As simple as that? Just loosening the screws underneath - will that be enough
to remove the bottom cover or is there something else involved?

-=R