Anyone know an ingenious way to cool a laptop?

[Wally]

Hi,

I've got a Dell D420 - they run hot. Anywhere from about 53 to 61 celsius, after moderate use/load.

[EDIT: (9/1/2010) -- My Dell D420 is..."one helluva sexy slim box!!! This is the famous Dell latitude D420 notebook!!! It comes with a screaming fast 1.2 ghz Core Duo ULV..." (taken from an Ebay ad)

note: when I boot from a USB flash drive, completely without a hard disk drive installed at all, my D420 at its hottest got to 71 celsius, and that was when plugged into AC outlet and watching streaming video. This really isn't so bad at all. Also running with just the standard RAM (512 MB) and brightness set low seems to help matters.]

[EDIT: (9/4/2010) -- With brightness set low on a laptop, you want make sure your screen is tilted just right for a proper viewing angle. Then it is easier to see. The contrast is a bit nicer than on an overly bright screen.]

[EDIT: (9/6/2010) -- It all depends how you look at it. A hot laptop will keep your legs warm in the wintertime! (last edit, I promise)]


Does anybody know of an ingenious easy way to cool a laptop?

So far, I've lowered the brightness down (this works).
I've tried a flat piece of metal underneath it, it made it hotter, I believe.

I haven't tried compressed air to clean out dust, yet.

Otherwise, Puppy 4.3.1 runs like a dream. Fast and nearly flawless. From USB.
Thanks!

[rjbrewer]

Hi,

I've got a Dell D420 - they run hot. Anywhere from about 53 to 61 celsius, after moderate use/load.

Does anybody know of an ingenious easy way to cool a laptop?

So far, I've lowered the brightness down (this works).
I've tried a flat piece of metal underneath it, it made it hotter, I believe.

I haven't tried compressed air to clean out dust, yet.

Otherwise, Puppy 4.3.1 runs like a dream on it. Fast and nearly flawless. From USB.

Thanks!

Low 50s to 60s isn't hot at all for a Dell laptop.
On my 700m the fan doesn't even come on until about 60; using
4.1.2 or Fluppy003, which are the coolest running Puppies I've
found.

With my old Inspiron 4000, which is typical of many Dell laptops,
the fan comes on full blast at 85, and does so frequently.

There's a .pet for CPU scaling available that might let you run at
lower speed than max. That helps.

[Wally]

Well, that is reassuring.

Yeah, I googled around a bit and found that some Macs (blech) run usually at 90!

[stu90]

Try enabling CPU Frequency Scaling Tool and ensure good airflow around/under your laptop.

[looseSCREWorTWO]

This is the link to the download for the CPU Frequency Scaling Tool, created and made available by Forum member Trio. In Puppy 431 and 431 Retro it reduced my laptop's CPU Temp by 10 degrees Celsius. You D/L and install the Pet file, go to Menu > Utility to activate it (I find the default settings work best) then you re-boot to start using it. After that it works automatically every time you boot into Puppy. It's brilliant. Has brought another PC back from the dead.

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=45143

[Wally]

Thanks.

But I really dont want to scale or slow down my PC.

It is a smart way to cool, but I think I will live with 50-60 degs celsius.

[looseSCREWorTWO]

On my laptop there is no "slowing down", yet it runs 10 degrees cooler. I think the Tool prevents "over-clocking" so my 2 gHz CPU runs at a 2 gHZ maximum like it's supposed to.

Anything up to 60 degrees is normal for most laptops. My PC "over-clocks" without the Tool and the CPU Temp goes up to 80 degrees and higher (which is dangerous) so I need to use it. By the sounds of it you don't really have anything to worry about

[npierce]

I haven't tried compressed air to clean out dust, yet.

Don't wait too long. You might be surprised at how much dust can accumulate.

Although it doesn't sound like it is running too hot now, if it gets clogged with dust it will eventually start cooking. I've seen what happens when the graphics subsystem on a Dell laptop becomes fried. Believe me, you don't want to see that, nor do you want to try to fix it.

[stu90]

Thanks.

But I really dont want to scale or slow down my PC.

It is a smart way to cool, but I think I will live with 50-60 degs celsius.

CPU Frequency Scaling Tool is dynamic, full performance when you need it (say media encoding) but scales back when you don't (say reading a text file)

[Wally]

What processor do I select?

the Dell is a core 2 duo - u2500.

I tried it, it only worked on one core.
with the first default setting.

[musher0]

Hello, Wally.

Here's a physical way I used a while back for an old Presario: a meshed metal paper tray, such as in the attached pic. Costs only a few bucks. Remove the tray from the slider, put it upside down on your desk and put the laptop on it. The space underneath the tray helps the heat dissipate.

Good luck!

[rjbrewer]

What processor do I select?

the Dell is a core 2 duo - u2500.

I tried it, it only worked on one core.
with the first default setting.

Take a look at Fluppy003; designed for netbooks other than
eeepc. Easy to run from or install with usb-bootflash.

It has a simple to use acpi power switch, realtime readouts of
the percentage of power the cpu is using at each frequency.

Fluppy runs cooler than 4.3.1.

The graphics chip on the d420 uses up to 256mb shared memory,
so it may be possible to run in powersave mode and still have
decent heavy use performance (streaming video?)

Don't block the intake and exhaust vents; you"ll be okay.

[Wally]

can you explain about the d420's graphics?

[Wally]

Can I run powersave mode with 4.3.1?

[rjbrewer]

Can I run powersave mode with 4.3.1?

With "cpu frequency scaling" you can set it to run at any frequency
you want. (or range of frequencies)

Powersave mode is usually the frequency the laptop uses when running
just from battery power.
On my 700m that would be 800mhz; but cpu scaling will go down to
600mhz.
The high speed fan setting on the 700m is about 74c. This caused a
little confusion when Barry's Quirky started flashing high temp
warnings at 70c.
The only time I get to 70c is when running full screen flash video
streams. (like hulu) I'm not using any scaling or powersave stuff
with 4.1.2 or Fluppy..

edit:

The d420 uses gma950 intel graphics with up to 224mb shared
memory.
My 700m uses gme855 intel graphics with up to 64mb.
I usually have to use Vesa or Xvesa instead of Xorg in order to
get everything working to my satisfaction. No big deal.
The 950 chip should be better.
Check "Htop" in the 4.3.1 menu to see if both cores of your cpu
are running.

[Wally]

I don't see an 'Htop' in the menu.

There is a 'Topview running processes' - it only shows one cpu.

'Hardinfo' lists the processor as a core duo.

I tried the cpu scalar only for a few minutes.
How do i make sure that both cores are running?

thanks

[rjbrewer]

I don't see an 'Htop' in the menu.

There is a 'Topview running processes' - it only shows one cpu.

'Hardinfo' lists the processor as a core duo.

I tried the cpu scalar only for a few minutes.
How do i make sure that both cores are running?

thanks

Here's a .pet for Htop. Should show up in utilities when installed.

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 11&t=47712

Dual core uses "smp". I think that is included starting with the 4.3.1
Puppy's.
If you have an install that uses the grub menu.lst and it says "nosmp"
erase the "nosmp".

smp=symetrical multiprocessor

[npierce]

There is a 'Topview running processes' - it only shows one cpu.

Try again and press 'c'.

[Wally]

From topview, i toggle between both cores with the 'c' key.

In Htop, it still shows only one cpu.

I looked for menu.lst - not there.

I sure hope both cpus are working!

[rjbrewer]

From topview, i toggle between both cores with the 'c' key.

In Htop, it still shows only one cpu.

I looked for menu.lst - not there.

I sure hope both cpus are working!

What type of install are you using; usb, frugal, full?