Hi
I’m having a problem with opensuse 12.3 with overheating shutdowns - I’ve hit a similar problem before with Ubuntu which was down to the open source graphics driver, this was fixed by using the ati driver, but I can’t use the ati driver with the latest kernel but this doesn’t seem to be the problem, it seems to be related to the cpu being driven too hard. Does anyone have any solutions to this problem?
Which informations do you get with top?
First and foremost, you must make sure your Laptop heat sinks are clear of dust and it builds up over time. I suggest you get a can of duster spray and blast out the dust from all vents located around and back of the laptop. Buy two cans just in case and do not discount the effect of dust build up or just how bad it can get in a year or longer of use without taking this step.
Next, I have a couple of links for CPU speed you can look at that can be helpful: C.F.U. - CPU Frequency Utilitiy - For use with the cpufrequtils package - Blogs& YaST Power Management - Control Your CPU Energy Usage How To & FAQ - Blogs
Thank You,
I had this issue on an HP G60 while trying to install updates (updates ? - more like a re-install ! :’() after installing 12.3. I’ve followed the suggestions in your article:
YaST Power Management - Control Your CPU Energy Usage How To & FAQ
installed YaST2-power-management and adopted the Powersave setting, and it seems to have done the trick.
This laptop has never run cool, even when new and running Windoze, although it’s never actually overheated before. It took me a couple of minutes to work out what had happened. Anyway, no trouble getting the ‘updates’ installed last night.
Just wanted to say thanks for the really useful article.
Graham
Happy to hear that the the blog on YaST Power Settings was helpful to you and welcome to the openSUSE forums.
Thank You,
HP laptops have notoriously bad cooling, especially the ones which feature “powerful” graphics.
I think this is more due to a physical limitation than anything else, but power management software can never hurt.
Slightly off topic but there’s a known issue of HP laptops becoming so hot that they melt the solder on the graphics chip which causes it to cease functioning correctly. This happened to a mate of mine. Fortunately there’s a known fix which involves putting your laptop in a 200+ degrees oven. I’m not joking! Repairing laptop Video Card by baking in the oven (HP Pavilion dv9000) - YouTube
That aside, I’m not suggesting you put your laptop in the oven! On a more serious note you might want to take a look at this: https://en.opensuse.org/Powersaving
There’s a section on graphics card power saving.
I think this is more due to a physical limitation than anything else, but power management software can never hurt.
I’m sure you’re right. I also have a Lenovo Z570 which barely seems to get warm, and an ancient Fujitsu Siemens which just gets warm. Only the HP behaves like a cooker. 
Thanks for the link. The nVidia section is still a ‘to do’ I see.
Graham