[tlinux-users:08298] Re: GPU Fan problems on P100/105 series laptops

On 1/10/07, Jiri Dvorak <[email protected]> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> this is interesting, is this the reason for the P100 being quite hot in
> the lower left corner of the keyboard?
>
> And did you try the acpi=off boot? with what version of the nvidia drivers?


Yes, that is the reason the laptop is very hot on the left side.
Booting with acpi=off causes the fans to be on at all times which
keeps the laptop very cool (Around 55/50C when running a 2D desktop
and around 60/60C when running compiz/beryl) but disables useful
things like battery monitoring, cpu control, and other acpi goodness.
I've tried all the drivers from the late 8xxx ones to the 9746 (which
I'm currently using).


> I have 1.0-9746, and when I boot with acpi=off, my X Server won't
> come up. Didn't investigate the error messages yet.
>
> The nvidia 1.0-9746 comes with a tool nvidia-settings, and that has
> a Thermal Monitor section. There, the Slowdown Threshold is preset
> at 115 degrees, and my current values of core and ambient temperature
> are at 105 and 90 degrees.

Right, that's what happens when the fans don't come on.  Although
those temperatures are below the Slowdown threshold, they seem
dangerously high to me and are probably hot enough to adversely affect
other nearby system components.  After playing full screen, graphics
intensive games for many hours, my laptop generally gets up to
70-75/70C with acpi=off as a comparison.  Very rarely I have seen the
GPU temp get as high as 80C after many hours of gaming if my apartment
is particularly hot.

Until a proper fix is issued, I'd really recommend figuring out what
your X problems are with acpi=off because, though your temperatures
aren't likely to cause the computer to catch fire or anything (more
likely to cause it to hang or shutoff), I can't imagine that 105/90C
idle temperatures are good for the longterm health of the machine.

    Shaun