Toshiba Satellite L350d - overheating

[onraad]

Hi there

I was using different linux distro's on my desktop for some years now and all went fine. Recently, my desktop broke down and I'm not planning to replace it since I still got my laptop.

So I wanted to install a distro on my laptop but I just can't find one that seems to work with it.

The problem: overheating.

I've been trying Ubuntu (and other -flavours), Suse, Fedora and all of them get stuck on managing the CPU and fan speeds.

In Windows, eveything runs just fine. CPU scaling in many grades and fan speed going up and down according to the needs.

In Linux, CPU is only switching between 1,05 Ghz and 2,10 Ghz and fan speed is always the same: kinda slow.

Result: after some minutes, temps go up to critical point and computer shuts down.

Best I get right now is forcing CPU to stay at 1,05 Ghz and not running too many applications at once but this isn't ok for daily use.

Therefor: is there any distro known to be working properly with this laptop?

I can do some setting-up using terminal but keep in mind that I can only boot in linux for some minutes...

I found some tweaks on the internet changing graphics drivers, installing sensors etc but none of them worked...

Anybody can help?

Thanks in advance!

[yancek]

It's not realistic to expect other to search for information on your computer. You would be better served if you posted some hardware specifications here, the age of the computer, which version of windows you are using on it. The distributions you mention are probably not going to run well with less than 1GB of memory but I have no idea if their might be other problems without more info.

[onraad]

I'm sorry, you're right.

CPU: AMD Athlon X2 QL64 2,10Ghz, 64 bit
Ram: 4 GB DDR2
GPU: ATI radeon 3100
Laptop is 6y old I think.

I've been running Windows Vista, 7 and 8 without problems. All in 64 bit.

[devils casper]

Have you tried lm-sensors and pmwconfig?
Execute following code to install lm-sensors.

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors

Execute following code and follow instructions to configure it

sudo sensors-detect

Create fancontrol file and control fan speed.

sudo pwmconfig
sudo sensors -s

Execute sensors command to check temps.

[onraad]

Have you tried lm-sensors and pmwconfig?
Execute following code to install lm-sensors.

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors

Execute following code and follow instructions to configure it

sudo sensors-detect

arno@arno-Satellite-L350D ~ $ sudo sensors-detect
[sudo] password for arno:
# sensors-detect revision 5984 (2011-07-10 21:22:53 +0200)
# System: TOSHIBA Satellite L350D (laptop)
# Board: TOSHIBA Portable PC

This program will help you determine which kernel modules you need
to load to use lm_sensors most effectively. It is generally safe
and recommended to accept the default answers to all questions,
unless you know what you're doing.

Some south bridges, CPUs or memory controllers contain embedded sensors.
Do you want to scan for them? This is totally safe. (YES/no): Y
Module cpuid loaded successfully.
Silicon Integrated Systems SIS5595... No
VIA VT82C686 Integrated Sensors... No
VIA VT8231 Integrated Sensors... No
AMD K8 thermal sensors... No
AMD Family 10h thermal sensors... No
AMD Family 11h thermal sensors... Success!
(driver `k10temp')
AMD Family 12h and 14h thermal sensors... No
AMD Family 15h thermal sensors... No
AMD Family 15h power sensors... No
Intel digital thermal sensor... No
Intel AMB FB-DIMM thermal sensor... No
VIA C7 thermal sensor... No
VIA Nano thermal sensor... No

Some Super I/O chips contain embedded sensors. We have to write to
standard I/O ports to probe them. This is usually safe.
Do you want to scan for Super I/O sensors? (YES/no): y
Probing for Super-I/O at 0x2e/0x2f
Trying family `National Semiconductor/ITE'... Yes
Found unknown chip with ID 0xfc11
Probing for Super-I/O at 0x4e/0x4f
Trying family `National Semiconductor/ITE'... No
Trying family `SMSC'... No
Trying family `VIA/Winbond/Nuvoton/Fintek'... No
Trying family `ITE'... No

Some hardware monitoring chips are accessible through the ISA I/O ports.
We have to write to arbitrary I/O ports to probe them. This is usually
safe though. Yes, you do have ISA I/O ports even if you do not have any
ISA slots! Do you want to scan the ISA I/O ports? (YES/no): y
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM78' at 0x290... No
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM79' at 0x290... No
Probing for `Winbond W83781D' at 0x290... No
Probing for `Winbond W83782D' at 0x290... No

Lastly, we can probe the I2C/SMBus adapters for connected hardware
monitoring devices. This is the most risky part, and while it works
reasonably well on most systems, it has been reported to cause trouble
on some systems.
Do you want to probe the I2C/SMBus adapters now? (YES/no): y
Using driver `i2c-piix4' for device 0000:00:14.0: ATI Technologies Inc SB600/SB700/SB800 SMBus
Module i2c-dev loaded successfully.

Next adapter: SMBus PIIX4 adapter at 0b00 (i2c-0)
Do you want to scan it? (YES/no/selectively): y
Client found at address 0x50
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1033'... No
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1034'... No
Probing for `SPD EEPROM'... Yes
(confidence 8, not a hardware monitoring chip)
Probing for `EDID EEPROM'... No
Client found at address 0x52
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1033'... No
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1034'... No
Probing for `SPD EEPROM'... Yes
(confidence 8, not a hardware monitoring chip)

Now follows a summary of the probes I have just done.
Just press ENTER to continue:

Driver `k10temp' (autoloaded):
* Chip `AMD Family 11h thermal sensors' (confidence: 9)

No modules to load, skipping modules configuration.

Unloading i2c-dev... OK
Unloading cpuid... OK

Create fancontrol file and control fan speed.

sudo pwmconfig
sudo sensors -s

Execute sensors command to check temps.

arno@arno-Satellite-L350D ~ $ sudo pwmconfig
sudo: pwmconfig: command not found
arno@arno-Satellite-L350D ~ $ sudo sensors -s
arno@arno-Satellite-L350D ~ $ sudo sensors
acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1: +83.0°C (crit = +105.0°C)

k10temp-pci-00c3
Adapter: PCI adapter
temp1: +90.6°C (high = +70.0°C)

Now temp. rises untill it reaches about 105°C and then the computer shuts down.

[polypagan]

Is the BIOS up to date on your lappy? I'd also look through the BIOS setup. Keep note of any changes you make and avoid changing more than one setting per trial.

[Pacopag]

I've had this problem before and it was related to the radeon card. Which drivers have you tried? Try disabling the dedicated card altogether and use just the onboard GPU.

As for a distro that'll work great on an older laptop, try Antix. Easy install and pretty good hardware detection.

[onraad]

Is the BIOS up to date on your lappy? I'd also look through the BIOS setup. Keep note of any changes you make and avoid changing more than one setting per trial.

Bios is updated to the last version. The bios just give me some basic options but nothing more. I can force the CPU to always run at low speed but that's not an option offcourse.

@ Pacopag: at first I tried the drivers pre-installed in the distro's but the're no good. Than I tried to install the ATI drivers from their website leading but they don't seem to do it either.

Antix could be an option but I'd like a more 'complete and modern' distro like Linuxmint, Ubuntu, Fedora or ...

Since the laptop can handle whatever Windows OS at full speed without any problems, I think it should (hardware-wise) be able to run whatever linux distro smooth as well.


I think the main issue is the fan speed control. While running Windows, I hear the fan(s) changing speed from time to time, depending on the CPU/(GPU) load and in linux they just keep running at the same low speed.

Probably when I can get them to work probably, they will deal with the heat as intented.

[reginaldperrin]

If it's an older laptop, the vents and things can become clogged with dust.
Looking at the temps you posted, it really wouldn't hurt to undo the case and clear out any dust anbd crap.
I'd be willing to bet there's a heap in there.

Hope this helps

[eionmac]

1. With older laptops there is a need to do a 'clean of fans' and cooling system. Also maybe the 'compound' between the CPU and cooler (or GPU may need to be refreshed.
I buy second hand old laptop machines to load as Linux experimental units and most were abandoned due to heat shut down problems in Windows due to dust clogging exchangers /fans etc. Cleaning makes them useable. However old laptops due RAM limits do not like many services at once and especially graphics cards and the linux swop system seems to place more loads (read /write) that the windows page system.
2. Use a 'light' windows manager such as LPDE or XFCE or Enlightenment.
3. Use OpenSUSE with XFCE windows manager.