This is more of a query but I set up a HP Pavilion 15-p157sa laptop with Zorin OS 17 but running the Cinnamon DE for a friend. I believe it's always had an issue with getting hot and I thought it was just when it was running Windows 10. While doing some tests I noticed the CPU went up to 50% when moving the mouse around the screen and worst when moving the mouse over tabs in Waterfox. When running Freetube the temperature peaks between 65-70C as the CPU runs high.
I was curious if anyone has any suggestions on how to lower the laptops need to use a lot of CPU while not doing too much despite already being in power saver mode.
Some sellers... hoping to gain a reputation for Fast Computers overclock what they sell.
This happened to me. I was fighting high temps too often because of OverVolting and Overclocking.
Where things get interesting... Undervolting my machine not only cooled it significantly, it created a sharp increase in performance.
You can perform this within the BIOS advanced settings on Gigabyte motherboards.
This, of course, assumes you have cleaned the fans, tried thermald and the usual suspects.
Your CPU is an Intel I-5 4288U, which is a dual core chip using the Haswell architecture, which was released in 2013.
Movement of the mouse driving CPU usage up to 50%, was most certainly common back in the 1990's era chips, which was why benchmark software always said, "don't move the mouse." lol
I'm curious to know, if you are using the built in trackpad on the notebook, or if you are using a top end mouse with a high poling rate. Typically, high poling rate mice
(think 1000 hertz) can put substantial load on old chips.
Aint that the truth! Were seeing that a lot these days from secret shopper rounds. Buy a pre-built computer sight unseen, putting faith in the company to do it right. You get a computer delivered with lose screws, has a different GPU then you picked out, and is overclocked, it chokes on the heat it generates from its lack of adequate cooling.
@Aravisian I've heard of underclocking so I'll get I'll try my hand at it with the links. @StarTreker No, I was using the trackpad when testing the mouse.
You could clean up the Air Vents, the Fan and put on fresh Thermal Paste. On a Laptop not the nicest Work, I know. but it could help.
Another Thing would be to use Zorin Lite. Or do You already use it? In Your Profile isn't this Info. Or try another Distro like MX Linux with xfce for Example.
The vents have been cleaned and it recently got the CPU repasted. Actually I remember the guy who did it mentioned something about the CPU throttling itself when I asked if there was a reason it still got hot after repasting. It's running Zorin 17 Pro though a lot of the programs have been uninstalled as they weren't being used and to lighten the load.
I assume good thermal paste was used as another laptop was done at the same time and it cooled significantly. After on and off testing with underclocking, which is a little confusing to me, I don't think I saw too much improvement. Maybe a couple of degrees cooler. I might have to try Linux Mint Xfce version to see if that helps.
In my experience, a CPU has to be at least 55F to 60F in order for it to boot the PC. If a room indoors (guest room/utility/basement room) gets down into the 40's-F temperatures, the PC won't boot. If its a desktop with fans, enjoy the death sound as well.
A lot of machines are like that you know, the optimum running temperature. Even power plants operate at their most efficiency, within a certain heat range, when at criticality. Our machines are highly dependent on temperature ranges.
Some people think you need to chill a PC CPU to 32F with liquid nitrogen. What they don't tell you, is how much they reduced that CPU's life, overclocking it so hard, to get in leaderboards. It's a completely unnecessary waste of spending, & waste of time.
On the other side of the coin, if you are operating a PC in a desert, think temps well above 100F to 120F & beyond, in those cases, liquid cooling would be advisable at the very least. But keep liquid nitrogen away from your computer, don't try to be like the next Linus or Steve.
They can take chances like that cause they have millions of dollars, we don't!
I think I understand what you're saying but I don't think it applies to my situation. I'm just trying to get a laptop to not roast someone's lap when doing very little and especially when under any kind of mild load like playing a YouTube video. I primarily want it to stick to the 40-50c (104-122f) range.
A more lightweight desktop environment like XFCE might be beneficial for you with your older hardware. You could also try installing Zorin lite desktop on your current system (if you don't want to reinstall). For me, this brought significant improvements in terms of fan noise when watching videos.
sudo apt install zorin-os-lite-desktop.
Alternatively, you could install power management tools like tlp to see if that helps.
Trying this method seems to work but the changes don't stick after reboot. I have no idea what a boot stanza is or how to access it to edit the Intel specific issues.
The boot stanza is your grub menu entry. Edit your /boot/grub/grub.cfg, find the "linux..." line and add "intel_pstate=false" at the end. Then save, update grub and reboot.
Once rebooted, open terminal and run: "cpupower frequency-set --governor ondemand --min 1200000 --max 3500000". Adjust the min and max frequency to your cpu specs. Sample given is to set frequencies at min 1.2GHz and max 3.5GHz
Looking at the file I can't find "linux..." but many references to just "linux" in the file. I added to code to see if you can help me find where to put it.
#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
set have_grubenv=true
load_env
fi
if [ "${initrdfail}" = 2 ]; then
set initrdfail=
elif [ "${initrdfail}" = 1 ]; then
set next_entry="${prev_entry}"
set prev_entry=
save_env prev_entry
if [ "${next_entry}" ]; then
set initrdfail=2
fi
fi
if [ "${next_entry}" ] ; then
set default="${next_entry}"
set next_entry=
save_env next_entry
set boot_once=true
else
set default="0"
fi
if [ x"${feature_menuentry_id}" = xy ]; then
menuentry_id_option="--id"
else
menuentry_id_option=""
fi
export menuentry_id_option
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
save_env saved_entry
set prev_saved_entry=
save_env prev_saved_entry
set boot_once=true
fi
function savedefault {
if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
saved_entry="${chosen}"
save_env saved_entry
fi
}
function initrdfail {
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -n "${partuuid}" ]; then
if [ -z "${initrdfail}" ]; then
set initrdfail=1
if [ -n "${boot_once}" ]; then
set prev_entry="${default}"
save_env prev_entry
fi
fi
save_env initrdfail
fi; fi
}
function recordfail {
set recordfail=1
if [ -n "${have_grubenv}" ]; then if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then save_env recordfail; fi; fi
}
function load_video {
if [ x$feature_all_video_module = xy ]; then
insmod all_video
else
insmod efi_gop
insmod efi_uga
insmod ieee1275_fb
insmod vbe
insmod vga
insmod video_bochs
insmod video_cirrus
fi
}
if [ x$feature_default_font_path = xy ] ; then
font=unicode
else
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos2 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
fi
font="/usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2"
fi
if loadfont $font ; then
set gfxmode=auto
load_video
insmod gfxterm
set locale_dir=$prefix/locale
set lang=en_GB
insmod gettext
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos2 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
fi
insmod gfxmenu
insmod png
set theme=($root)/usr/share/grub/themes/zorin/theme.txt
export theme
if [ "${recordfail}" = 1 ] ; then
set timeout=30
else
if [ x$feature_timeout_style = xy ] ; then
set timeout_style=hidden
set timeout=0
# Fallback hidden-timeout code in case the timeout_style feature is
# unavailable.
elif sleep --interruptible 0 ; then
set timeout=0
fi
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
set menu_color_normal=white/black
set menu_color_highlight=black/light-gray
if background_color 0,0,0; then
clear
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
function gfxmode {
set gfxpayload="${1}"
if [ "${1}" = "keep" ]; then
set vt_handoff=vt.handoff=7
else
set vt_handoff=
fi
}
if [ "${recordfail}" != 1 ]; then
if [ -e ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt ]; then
if [ ${grub_platform} != pc ]; then
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
elif hwmatch ${prefix}/gfxblacklist.txt 3; then
if [ ${match} = 0 ]; then
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=keep
fi
else
set linux_gfx_mode=text
fi
export linux_gfx_mode
menuentry 'Zorin' --class zorin --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-simple-12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a' {
recordfail
load_video
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos2 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
fi
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-60-generic root=UUID=12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-60-generic
}
submenu 'Advanced options for Zorin' $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-advanced-12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a' {
menuentry 'Zorin, with Linux 6.8.0-60-generic' --class zorin --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-6.8.0-60-generic-advanced-12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a' {
recordfail
load_video
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos2 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 6.8.0-60-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-60-generic root=UUID=12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-60-generic
}
menuentry 'Zorin, with Linux 6.8.0-60-generic (recovery mode)' --class zorin --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-6.8.0-60-generic-recovery-12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a' {
recordfail
load_video
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos2 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 6.8.0-60-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-60-generic root=UUID=12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a ro recovery nomodeset dis_ucode_ldr
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-60-generic
}
menuentry 'Zorin, with Linux 6.8.0-59-generic' --class zorin --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-6.8.0-59-generic-advanced-12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a' {
recordfail
load_video
gfxmode $linux_gfx_mode
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos2 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 6.8.0-59-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-59-generic root=UUID=12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a ro quiet splash $vt_handoff
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-59-generic
}
menuentry 'Zorin, with Linux 6.8.0-59-generic (recovery mode)' --class zorin --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os $menuentry_id_option 'gnulinux-6.8.0-59-generic-recovery-12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a' {
recordfail
load_video
insmod gzio
if [ x$grub_platform = xxen ]; then insmod xzio; insmod lzopio; fi
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='hd0,msdos2'
if [ x$feature_platform_search_hint = xy ]; then
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root --hint-bios=hd0,msdos2 --hint-efi=hd0,msdos2 --hint-baremetal=ahci0,msdos2 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
else
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a
fi
echo 'Loading Linux 6.8.0-59-generic ...'
linux /boot/vmlinuz-6.8.0-59-generic root=UUID=12abd850-d5df-4b26-8262-1f1572e31c0a ro recovery nomodeset dis_ucode_ldr
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /boot/initrd.img-6.8.0-59-generic
}
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux_zfs ###
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux_zfs ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
menuentry 'UEFI Firmware Settings' $menuentry_id_option 'uefi-firmware' {
fwsetup
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_uefi-firmware ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/35_fwupd ###
### END /etc/grub.d/35_fwupd ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries. Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment. Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f ${config_directory}/custom.cfg ]; then
source ${config_directory}/custom.cfg
elif [ -z "${config_directory}" -a -f $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
source $prefix/custom.cfg
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
