loud fan pavilion ze2000

[ito]

Hello Ian,

At 50 through 62C the dev.cpu.0.freq: 1298

at 70C , 1135

back up to 1298


   dev.cpu.0.freq_levels: 1298/-1 1298/-1 973/-1 811/-1
649/-1 486/-1 324/-1 162/-1

              Also directly below that:

   dev.p4tcc.0.freq_settings: 10000/-1 8750/-1 7500/-1 6250/-1   5000/-1
3750/-1 2500/-1 1250/-1


I suppose that is the 8 (freq_levels) you where referring to.  Further I
infer that this -1 means that the BIOS has set them or does set them. 

I set hw.acpi.thermal.tz0._PSV: 70C

Trying "find / acpi" to see it work.

While doing the above (find) the fan is on but not full out.

I am reluctant to type anything like dd: anything: I'm not really that
confident with the command line.

After setting the PSV value it does not go above 71 when rendering
animation with blender.

I will try cleaning it again, but I think I remember that I thought
cleaning would fix it before.

I looked at acpi_thermal, have to digest it.

Found the source online for freebsd acpi.

So I guess that I could adjust the throttling, through the process that
the machine uses to save power??

As far as what the system does, so far the only thing that I noticed is,
in TOP;


acpi_cooling0     cooling 
acpi_thermal      tz0poll


intr              changing 
pagezero          pagezero

and system idle percentage change. 


Thanks,

eg



PS, is this the exact command?
"   dd if=/dev/random > of=/dev/null     "



On Sat, 2013-12-21 at 16:13 +1100, Ian Smith wrote:
> On Fri, 20 Dec 2013 10:00:35 -0500, ito wrote:
>  > Hi,
>  > 
>  > I posted a question to the freebsd forums (under mobile computing) in
>  > which I was seeking help with a old laptop (hp pavilion ze2000) because
>  > of fan noise.  The problem is not really that the fan is too loud,
>  > although that is part of it, it is that it cycles frequently (about
>  > every 21 sec, at average use).  I seems to me now that maybe here would
>  > be more appropriate.
>  > I am having trouble finding information about the acpi functions in
>  > particular.  So I thought maybe I could get help here.  For instance,
>  > according to the information below, is the passive cooling set to start
>  > at 85.0C (Celsius) which would be 185 Fahrenheit?  Is this very hot to
>  > start to cool down passively?  Why is active cooling set to -1?  Where
>  > do I find the definitions of these things... like the flags?
> 
> Starting at the end, see acpi_thermal(4) ie 'man acpi_thermal'.  Not 
> sure about the flags, you may need to consult the sources.
> 
> Apparently your BIOS is running the fan (ie active cooling) so there's 
> no control of it you can access here.  Both .active: -1 and .ACx: -1.. 
> indicate that, and the fact that your fan is cycling off and on.  The 
> usual advice about cleaning out the airways with compressed air (or 
> well-directed moderate vacuum) applies.  Old fans will sometimes need 
> replacing, though it's when they stop being noisy (ie stop running), or 
> are making grinding sounds (bearings) that you have to worry.
> 
> You might want to check sysctl hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature through a 
> few fan cycles to see what internal temperature setpoints it's using for 
> fan on and off, usually with some hysteresis either way.  60C is not 
> hot, though likely hot enough to be running the fan at some level.
> 
> 85C is pretty warm, when passive cooling kicks in (throttling or 
> otherwise slowing the CPU to reduce heat), and has nothing to do with 
> the fan, although it should also be running flat out at that time.  You 
> may need to monitor sysctl dev.cpu.0.freq to see that happening, if freq 
> is variable.  95C should initiate an emergency shutdown.
> 
> You should be able to set .user_override=1 then temporarily set ._PSV a 
> good deal lower (say 70C) and make it work hard ('dd if=/dev/random 
> of=/dev/null' works for me :) if you want to see what your system does 
> to implement passive cooling.  Old Celerons usually can be throttled to 
> at least half speed, if not the full range of 1/8 to 7/8 max CPU speed.
> 
> cheers, Ian
> 
>  > ----sysctl -a | grep thermal
>  > 
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.min.runtime: 0
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.polling_rate: 10
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.user_override: 0
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.temperature: 60.0C
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.active: -1
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.passive_cooling: 1
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0.thermal_flags: 0
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0._PSV: 85.0C
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0._HOT: -1
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0._CRT: 95.0C
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0._ACx: -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1 -1
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0._TC1: 2
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0._TC2: 3
>  > hw.acpi.thermal.tz0._TSP: 50
>  > 
>  > 
>  > Any insight would be appreciated,
>  > 
>  > -eg