I have a Dell Latitude D520 laptop (ex-XP) now running Zorin 9 as a test rig. The lappy gets quite warm (well, quite hot, actually) even when placed on a hard surface, though it has never, so far, shut down due to overheating. The main fan has never spun, as far as I can remember, since I’ve had the lappy.
A search on the net came up with i8kutils (which I found in Synaptic and installed) but it doesn’t appear in the menu and searching brings up ‘no matches’. I then tried ‘sudo apt-get install i8kutils’ in terminal but it reports it is already the latest version. Where might I find the utility?
I did manage to get the fan spinning briefly by entering ‘sudo i8kfan 0 1’ in terminal so the fan is operable but it stops after just a few seconds.
i8k-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
Right Fan: 0 RPM
CPU: +33.0°C
richard@richard-Latitude-D520:~$
I still hear the fan running for a second or two only, then it shuts down and the temperature does seem to be a bit lower as I type this - though the critical temperature figures do seem a bit high to me! Is this what you would normally expect a lappy to operate at? If not, how can I change the figures to get the fan(s) to cut in earlier?
Yes - apparently there is just the one for ‘coretemp’ (if I’ve understood things correctly). I’m unsure as to whether the temperatures shown are normal (or not) and how to set the parameters to run the fan/fans at a lower figure.
at such low CPU temps the i8kmon daemon is probably not starting thee fans yet
and if i8kmon is running in daemon mode, it overrides manally starting the fans via the i8kfan or i8kctl commmands
So setting the speed with i8kfan is pointless since the daemon will override the speed with its own value on fly as per system temperature.
I’m wondering now if the heat may be coming from the memory module, rather than the cpu? (I had sight of an online service manual a while ago and thought I’d downloaded a copy but can’t find it at present). There is a cover on the back, centre-left, that has a memory stick beneath it and that area is definitely the hottest. Without seeing the manual, I can’t remember the position of the various internals. I’ll have a google and see if I can find it again.
If the laptop is getting warm, but the CPU is saying 35C, I’m thinking it’s either A) a discreet graphics card (not according to any sources I could find), B) the northbridge or some other MB component is getting toasty (unlikely, unless overclocked), or C) that 35C isn’t an absolute temp, it’s a delta from some fixed point. So, it’s not actually 35C, it’s 35+(for example)20 = 55C
to have the manual fan buttons, or automatic fan control ? … if automatic, at what temp would you like the fan to come on / go off ?
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Automatic eventually and coming in at a lower temperature than that set at ‘critical’, if possible. However, as I said, I don’t know if the temperature I can feel is normal for this type of laptop. It does ‘seem’ rather hot (in the centre/bottom of the case) so, as a trial, set up a manual control which I can operate as and when I feel the temp is getting too high? I don’t even know if the hot area would even be cooled by the fan (just to confuse matters!)
