On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 7:18 AM, Fernando Cassia <fcassia@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > 2009/10/16 Christoph Höger <choeger@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>: >> Am Donnerstag, den 15.10.2009, 17:34 -0500 schrieb Mikkel: >>> Christoph Höger wrote: >>> > Hi, >>> > >>> > I just wondered why my fan always runs after a while. After closing >>> > firefox (which took 50% cpu along with X) I now have a load of roughly >>> > 0.06 - barely nothing computed at all. Both cores are in the lowest >>> > config and yet my cpu temperature goes from 42°C to 47°C in roughly 2 >>> > minutes (and back by fan activity). >>> > >>> > I would understand this if there was some load, but what causes my CPU >>> > to heat if it does nothing? Design failure? Has anybody seen such a >>> > thing? >>> > >>> > regards >>> > >>> > Christoph >>> > >>> When was the last time you cleaned the dust out? Also are the air >>> vents on the laptop clear when in use? >> >> I am aware of that dust thing (I am going to give a compressor a try), >> but the heat goes up when the notebook and the fan is idle. That should >> not have anything to do with dust, right? > > When computers are idle (but active, I mean NOT hibernating or > suspended) it doesn´t mean the CPU fan stops completely. Sometimes > those spin at very low rpm so you don´t "hear" it, but the fan IS > spinning, albeit at very slow speed. > > If there´s dust inside the heatsink system, the fan spins slowly, but > air doesn´t move inside, because of the dust. Hence temperature builds > up until it reaches a certain threshold, which is when the system-bios > increase fan speed to lower the temperature. > > Here´s what a totally clogged up notebook fan-heatsink looks like. > > http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/808/heatsinkuy8.jpg > > Obviously this is an extreme case. But that´s what it gets to > eventually if you never blow compressed air to clean the very thin > ducts inside. > FC By the way, when I say "air compressor" I mean one like these. http://toolmonger.com/2006/05/31/home-use-air-compressor-on-a-budget/ These are small, have wheels, and can be easily moved around your home/office and are small enough to be stored in a closet. Before someone mentions compressed air, let me tell you that you cannot match with a can of compressed air the cleaning power of the air coming out of an air compressor. That´s what llows you to completely clean a notebook cooler from the outside without ever opening up your notebook (and as I said, you must do it with the notebook powered up and functioning, otherwise the dust you remove won´t be expelled out by the notebook´s own fans and air flow, but you would be just moving dust inwards.. FC > -- Dream of the Daily Mail It is the Holy Grail And then the BBC Your life would be complete -Manic Street Preachers, "Royal Correspondent" -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines