Should My Laptop Fan be on all the time?

[GlennB]

Hi Guys,

I'm new to Linux, have recently resurrected an old HP Pavilion DM1 that was formerly running Windows 10 by upgrading the RAM to the 5Gb maximum and installed a Crucial MX500, 500 Gb SSD drive. I have installed MX Linux 19.2 and the machine boots up really nice, no noticeable issues with the laptop other than performance from the low spec CPU.

Using MX Linux 64Bit, Xfce.

Only trouble is the fan seems to be always running even when the laptop is idle, about 1-2% on the two cores. Have looked into whether there's any way of controlling the speed of this but i don't think there is that i can see. Don't remember it being an issue when i was running Win10 though.

Anyone have any similar experiences?
Is there anything i can do to have the fan temperature controlled.

Hopefully, the attached file is what is required by the forum rules.

Looking forward to any suggestions you may have.

Glenn.

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Snaphot created on: 20200803_1650
System:    Host: glenn-hp Kernel: 4.19.0-10-amd64 x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.3.0 
           parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-4.19.0-10-amd64 
           root=UUID=54a896c7-a9df-4a69-8091-9c3af69e8013 ro quiet splash 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.14.2 tk: Gtk 3.24.5 info: xfce4-panel wm: xfwm4 dm: LightDM 1.26.0 
           Distro: MX-19.2_x64 patito feo May 31  2020 base: Debian GNU/Linux 10 (buster) 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Hewlett-Packard product: HP Pavilion dm1 Notebook PC 
           v: 048D110000241B10000120000 serial: <filter> Chassis: type: 10 serial: <filter> 
           Mobo: Hewlett-Packard model: 3663 v: 49.0D serial: <filter> BIOS: Hewlett-Packard 
           v: F.11 date: 11/13/2009 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT0 charge: 37.7 Wh condition: 43.9/55.1 Wh (80%) volts: 12.5/10.8 
           model: Hewlett-Packard Primary type: Li-ion serial: <filter> status: Charging 
CPU:       Topology: Dual Core model: Intel U2300 bits: 64 type: MCP arch: Penryn family: 6 
           model-id: 17 (23) stepping: A (10) microcode: A0B L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 4799 
           Speed: 1200 MHz min/max: N/A Core speeds (MHz): 1: 1200 2: 1200 
           Vulnerabilities: Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Vulnerable 
           Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion 
           Type: mds status: Vulnerable: Clear CPU buffers attempted, no microcode; SMT disabled 
           Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI 
           Type: spec_store_bypass status: Vulnerable 
           Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer sanitization 
           Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: Full generic retpoline, STIBP: disabled, RSB filling 
           Type: srbds status: Not affected 
           Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Mobile 4 Series Integrated Graphics vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
           driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 chip ID: 8086:2a42 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: intel resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Mobile Intel GM45 Express v: 2.1 Mesa 18.3.6 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel 82801I HD Audio vendor: Hewlett-Packard driver: snd_hda_intel 
           v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 chip ID: 8086:293e 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.0-10-amd64 
Network:   Device-1: Broadcom Limited BCM4312 802.11b/g LP-PHY vendor: Hewlett-Packard 
           driver: wl v: kernel port: 4000 bus ID: 02:00.0 chip ID: 14e4:4315 
           IF: wlan0 state: up mac: <filter> 
           Device-2: Realtek RTL8101/2/6E PCI Express Fast/Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Hewlett-Packard RTL810xE driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 2000 bus ID: 03:00.0 
           chip ID: 10ec:8136 
           IF: eth0 state: down mac: <filter> 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 465.76 GiB used: 6.26 GiB (1.3%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Crucial model: CT500MX500SSD1 size: 465.76 GiB block size: 
           physical: 4096 B logical: 512 B speed: 3.0 Gb/s serial: <filter> rev: 023 scheme: MBR 
Partition: ID-1: / raw size: 463.73 GiB size: 455.45 GiB (98.21%) used: 6.26 GiB (1.4%) fs: ext4 
           dev: /dev/sda1 
           ID-2: swap-1 size: 2.00 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) fs: swap swappiness: 15 (default 60) 
           cache pressure: 100 (default) dev: /dev/sda2 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 55.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Repos:     No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list 
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian-stable-updates.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster-updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/debian.list 
           1: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian buster main contrib non-free
           2: deb http://deb.debian.org/debian-security buster/updates main contrib non-free
           Active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mx.list 
           1: deb http://mxlinux.mirrors.uk2.net/packages/mx/repo/ buster main non-free
           No active apt repos in: /etc/apt/sources.list.d/various.list 
Info:      Processes: 179 Uptime: 1h 04m Memory: 4.74 GiB used: 831.9 MiB (17.1%) Init: SysVinit 
           v: 2.93 runlevel: 5 default: 5 Compilers: gcc: 8.3.0 alt: 8 Shell: quick-system-in 
           running in: quick-system-in inxi: 3.0.36 

[Eadwine Rose]

In this current weather we're in I would be amazed that it turned OFF

(for those not in the know.. we have a heat wave going on here, with temps up in the high 90s and over 100 yesterday).


Also.. you'd have to check in the bios.

[j2mcgreg]

That laptop is 11 years old. Before I did anything else I'd want to clean the exhaust fan, this video shows how to disassemble your laptop to do so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_anX6aYC8A

[GlennB]

Thanks for the YouTube link, unfortunately its the wrong model.
Mine is a 1101SA. I'll have a go at disassembly some time, but I fear its not straight forward as I don't think the back panel removes as easy as the video shows.

[Huckleberry Finn]

you'd have to check in the bios.

That's it. On my other Hp I entered Bios and changed it from "always on" to "when needed" ..

Also your machine will like the antiX 4.9 kernel so much, it's lighter: MX Package Installer (the initial tab: Popular Apps) => Kernels ..

[GlennB]

BIOS “always on” fan setting is set to disabled.
AntiX kernel seemed to increase CPU so have reverted to original.

[chrispop99]

Monitor the CPU temperatures to see if the fan is behaving appropriately.

You can either add the Sensor Plugin to the panel, then configure it as needed, or in a terminal:

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watch sensors

Personally I think the second way is better.

Chris

[Stevo]

How long has it been "dead" if you resurrected it?

Current comparisons with Live sessions of things like Manjaro or Xubuntu might also help--if they don't run the fan nonstop, maybe we can duplicate it?

Does the fan speed up if you stress the CPU, maybe with s-tui and stress?

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sudo apt install s-tui stress
s-tui

[m_pav]

If you haven't de-dusted the internal cooling system in that laptop, I'd put highest priority on doing it as soon as you practicably can. Those machines weren't known for running cool and its fairly likely that DM1 models that had discrete graphics are no longer in existence due to insufficient cooling burning causing GPU burnout. When de-dusting it, I'd recommending pining the fan so it can't spin and reverse blow from the exhaust with a can of compressed air to dislodge trapped debris. I've often had to clear out thick carpets worth of debris.

I believe it's fortuitous for you that yours came with only chipset graphics and that's probably the only reason it's still operational today.

When you're done, MX 19 comes with tlp preinstalled. tlp is a utility originally written for Thinkpads but many of its functions can be utulised on other brands. Install tlp-ui to give you a nice user interface that you can tweak one item at a time to see if it makes any difference. Remember write down your changes and undo the first action/s before making a second change if the first doesn't give you a result.

HP Laptop with discrete Graphics before cleaning

Laptop01-web.jpg

HP Laptop after cleaning

Laptop02-web.jpg

[GlennB]

@stevo haha no not dead but re-used.

Will try another distro, but I’ve a feeling it will be the same with the constant fan. I’ve tried many distros before settling on MX as my preferred choice. Will try it though cos MX has a great Snapshot utility to restore my build.

Will try the stress test you suggest, the CPU’s seem to run at about 51 degrees with the fan running.

@m_pav thanks for advice, will do. I’ll give tip-ui a go too. Not sure what I’ll see cos when I ran sensors all I could see was temperatures and nothing related to fan speed. Strange cos the dm1 manual mentions the fan may start and stop, so there must be some temperature monitoring sensor within the dm1.

I’ll keep you posted, thanks again.