My laptop seems to get very hot when running with Ubuntu. The vents aren't blocked and its got plenty of clear airflow when in use. It's noticeably hotter running Ubuntu than it is running Windows.
I haven't noticed any adverse hardware problems yet, but if it does get really hot it seems to become very slow.
- Is this likely to be due to Ubuntu or just coincidental?
- If it is Ubuntu is there anything I can do about it?
It's an Acer 5740g with an i3 2310m.
To add further detail, I'm running 11.10 x64 and the fans seem to run pretty much constantly.
64 Answers
It is quite possible that you have an ACPI (power saving) incompatibility. You do not mention which version of Ubuntu you have; try with the latest.
You can try FWTS, which is a firmware and powersaving (ACPI) tool, It should help you identify what exactly is not working well.
1You could try passing a boot parameter. You do this by editing the configuration file for GRUB, for example:
sudo -H gedit /etc/default/grubFind the line that says:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"change it to:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="**acpi_osi=Linux** quiet splash"then save and exit, and run
sudo update-grubto make the change effective. Then restart.
The overheating problem could happen due to the graphics card. Under Windows there is the so called Optimus technology, when you don't play games the laptop just uses the integrated Intel HD for the simple stuff.
I believe that Ubuntu doesn't have that kind of technology yet so it uses the graphics card all the time. What you could do to solve your problem is find a program that acts like Nvidia Pptimus technology.
A quick search lead me to the Bumblebee project.
I didnt try this yet, so I can't guarantee anything. If someone knows/tries if this method works or if the above info is true please confirm, thanks!
1If you have Nvidia optimus try installing the new beta version of Nvidia 319.12 with bumblebee.
sudo apt-get remove bumblebee-nvidia nvidia-current nvidia-settings
sudo apt-get install bumblebee-nvidia nvidia-319 nvidia-settings-319Source: HOWTO: nvidia 319-12 drivers in Ubuntu-based systems
