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A problem with overheating for HPnx9420

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Hello,

Simply, I think this laptop overheats when run under Linux, Windows is fine. I have read about this problem in various posts for other laptops accross the Net, but I couldn't find the right solution.
Firstly, laptop configuration:
HP nx9420, Centrino Duo T2400
Debian testing
2.6.18-686 kernel, debian packaged (after dist upgrade returned to 2.6.18 from 2.6.21 because of the ATI card problem)
acpi -t command gives 6 thermal zones
The first and the third thermal zone have active cooling (if I interpreted /proc/acpi/thermal_zones/TZ0/ and .../TZ2/ information correctly)
Usually, all the zones except the third (/proc/.../TZ2) have "ok status" (source: acpi -t output).
That third one is constantly active and "normally" over 70 C! Is this normal?
Trip-points for this zone were: critical: 110 C, 0: 100 C, 1: 88 C, 2: 75 C, 3: 60 C, etc. (source .../TZ2/trip_points)
Polling was disabled for all the zones (source .../TZ2/polling_frequency)

I have been able to lower the laptop temperature by lowering the trip-points temperatures (echo :...:my_new_values:...: > ...../TZ2/trip_points). I have also enabled polling (10s)
This is however not a real solution, since the fan is constantly working in the highest modes. Could it be that modules or whichever is the thing that controls the CPUs frequency doesn't do its job, so CPUs are constantly running at their maximum? I have seen that module "speedstep-centrino" is not loaded (error: No such device) during boot.

Does anybody has any advice on how to resolve this?

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One part of the solution

Submitted by 1 on Wed, 2007-10-17 16:17.

My BIOS was it seems a bit stale (F14). After changing it to F.1B, speedstep-centrino is loading without problem. The frequency is maintained between 1000 and 1300. I used to be faster :-(, but at least i hope this won't fry my laptop

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One part of the solution

Submitted by pinniped on Wed, 2007-10-17 16:27.

Don't worry about the lower clock speeds; you're not meant to get the highest speeds unless you really start doing a lot of processing (like compiling a kernel).

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Solution

Submitted by 1 on Thu, 2007-10-18 15:48.

Finally! I have found out what was overheating in there. It was ATI X1600 card. Processors were fine, and ACPI was doing its job.

I have just put the card in the lowest voltage mode with:
aticonfig --set-powerstate=1

List of modes an be obtained from:
aticonfig --list-powerstates

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A problem with overheating for HPnx9420

Submitted by rob on Sun, 2008-01-06 15:28.

Thanks for the info the tip aticonfig --list-powerstates
on my HP nc8430 it gave me this:
1: 209/135 MHz [low voltage]
* 2: 392/252 MHz [default state]
3: 425/378 MHz [performance mode]

After going aticonfig --set-powerstate=1
my readout is
* 1: 209/135 MHz [low voltage]
2: 392/252 MHz [default state]
3: 425/378 MHz [performance mode]

with the default on step 1. The temp lowered dramatically and the fans are spinning at more moderate level. Thanks for a cooler, quieter laptop.

Rob

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A problem with overheating for HPnx9420

Submitted by 1 on Mon, 2008-01-07 17:19.

You're welcome. Also, further research revealed that I can fry my bacon&egg with --set-powerstate=3. AMD should start advertising the card as an multifunction device.

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