On Toshiba U500-ST5305 running 11.3-64 bit, I need “acpi.power_nocheck=1” to get fan to run and cool unit. However, this is likely to work only after unit has been “warmed up” and rebooted.
When started cold, ie room temp, fan will not activate and unit continues to heat up. If I let it run a few minutes, reaching say 50C+, and then reboot, fan will come on immediately and soon cool cpus to 40-45C range and keep it there.
I usually do not let it heat much above 60C. On one occasion it got into the 70’s and fan came on high speed but only for a few seconds and temps stayed in the 70’s.
Message #17 has the most recent version in it. I saw a lot of online chatter about this fan problem, but never saw a clear example of a fix for it. One person wrote a kernel fix, but it was not for openSUSE, but the file is located here:
I did not try to determine if this fix could be applied to openSUSE, but SAKC would allow you to compile in a fix, if you determined where to place it first, but this is just a big guess on my part. SAKC expects all code in the tar ball, to be there already and you would need to do a manual compile yourself to use this code I think.
Actually took 52 minutes to compile.
Current state is confusing. Initially after rebooting with new kernel, system ran warm ,60+C, with fan on and after short time, 5 - 10 minutes, system would freeze.
Apparently not due to over heating and only way out was power button.
Today, with cold start, fan control seems to be working but funny results with nvidia driver.
Temp is staying in 43-45 C range.
“SystemInformation” indicates 2d nouveau driver but proprietary was installed using 1 click method and zypper.
zypper method reports nothing to update but “S I” still indicates 2d driver installed and Yast will not implement desktop special effects such as ‘wobbly windows’.
System Configuration shows ‘composting suspended’ and change to ‘openGL’ will not hold.
Apparently a problem with the driver install or a setting somewhere.
Then, take a look at the procedure I use to install the nVidia driver as I install openSUSE 11.3:
During the install, when you have the option to change your booting setup, I add nomodeset to the kernel load command for the normal load/start of openSUSE. This kernel startup option is already present for the Failsafe selection for openSUSE.
During the first start of openSUSE, I download the latest nVidia Video driver to the downloads folder.
I change/save the System/Kernel option NO_KMS_IN_INITRD from “No” to “Yes” in the /etc/sysconfig Editor in Yast.
I do an update of openSUSE on the first run of openSUSE and then a restart/reboot.
In grub OS selection I add the command line option “3” to the openSUSE start line so that I just go to the run level three terminal prompt.
I login in as root and change to the /home/user/Downloads folder.
I run/install the NVIDIA video driver using “sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-x86_64-260.19.29.run” and answer all questions as appropriate for my system.
Type in reboot at terminal prompt to restart the system with new video driver.
I wrote a script to load the nVidia driver the hard way. Look at message #12 for the most recent version of lnvhw.
I have found that by loading the nVidia driver and switching to the latest stable kernel (2.6.36.2) has provided many benefits to system operation. Also, you should consider your multimedia setup. It also a component in your over all operation. I have a script for that also call mmcheck. Message #47 has the most recent version of mmcheck:
I also normally use the latest driver from nvidia installing essentially as you described; however, just tried that and got a failure with fairly long log file which I cant really interpret.
‘lnvhw’ script generated 2 lines of output and then screen went breserk.
Can post log file if you want to see, but it is a bit lenghty.
Several things to use the nVidia Video driver, are first and foremost; you need to install the kernel development tools. Go into YaST / Software Management. Select the view button on the top left and select Patterns. Make sure that Base Development, C++ & Kernel Development are ALL selected and installed. If not, do so and let them install. Next, download the latest nVidia video driver to your downloads area. You must be in runlevel 3 to install the video driver. After you install the new Kernel, make sure the kernel load option nomodeset is set. When you restart openSUSE, but just before selecting your kernel to load, enter a 3. This forces runlevel 3 to be selected and the Desktop will not be started. For lnvhw to work, it must be placed in the folder /usr/local/bin, marked executable AND the one line that points to the downloads folder where you placed the nVidia driver must be correct.
The nVidia driver 260.19.60 works with all kernels versions out right now. The script file lnvhw also works just fine. Any errors you get are due to one or more steps listed above not being done properly. Please review the required steps and please try again.
I could not resolve issues so finally did a complete re-install and started over.
Finally got latest nvidia driver to install and appears to be functioning properly.
Unfortunately, no joy on the acpi issues. On 1st boot of the day, fan does not function and cpu continues to heat up.
I rebooted at 80+C and all is ok. System cools to mid 40s fairly quickly and stays in 40-50C range.
I could not resolve issues so finally did a complete re-install and started over.
Finally got latest nvidia driver to install and appears to be functioning properly.
Unfortunately, no joy on the acpi issues. On 1st boot of the day, fan does not function and cpu continues to heat up.
I rebooted at 80+C and all is ok. System cools to mid 40s fairly quickly and stays in 40-50C range.
Well I guess success is success, even if it takes more than one boot to get it. Not sure just what that means is going on, but hopefully you are better off right now than before. As a relative new user, I normally post some additional information about using the forums here so take a look and forgive me if you have already seen it:
As you reward another user for the help they have provided you using
the reputation icon is in the lower left of any message that you read
and looks like a star.
REPUTATION LEVELS:
User is infamous around these parts -99999
User can only hope to improve -50
User has a little shameless behavior in the past -10
User is an unknown quantity at this point 0-9 (new users start with this level)
User is on a distinguished road 10-19
User will become famous soon enough 20-149
User has a spectacular aura about 150-249
User is a jewel in the rough 250-349
User is just really nice 350-449
User is a glorious beacon of light 450-549
User is a name known to all 550-649
User is a splendid one to behold 650-999
User has much to be proud of 1000-1499
User has a brilliant future 1500-1999
User has a reputation beyond repute 2000
Thank You,
A final note: the combination of kernel upgrade and grub cheat codes does work “most” of the time. On rare occasions now, the unit will start without the fan working and continue to heat until I reboot. The great majority of time; however, it will start and run continuously with temps indicated in the 40’s - 50’s. which is quite acceptable. Wonder if the bios could be a bit unstable?
Really liking openSUSE 11.3 and anxious to install 11.4. I just downloaded the 11.4 Live CD and it seems to run fine.
A final note: the combination of kernel upgrade and grub cheat codes does work “most” of the time. On rare occasions now, the unit will start without the fan working and continue to heat until I reboot. The great majority of time; however, it will start and run continuously with temps indicated in the 40’s - 50’s. which is quite acceptable. Wonder if the bios could be a bit unstable?
Really liking openSUSE 11.3 and anxious to install 11.4. I just downloaded the 11.4 Live CD and it seems to run fine.
Thanks for the update zuser. It is kind of odd that you do not get the same results every time, more often than not it is working OK which is good to know. We have just 17 days to go before openSUSE 11.4 is released and we might even have a release of kernel 2.6.38 out by then as well. Of course openSUSE 11.4 will be using kernel 2.6.37 but its no problem to update it to 2.6.38 when the final comes out soon using S.A.K.C. - SUSE Automated Kernel Compiler - Version 2.00.