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PREVENT YOUR LAPTOP FROM OVERHEATING FIND US ON FACEBOOK & GOOGLE+

TIPS
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Prevent Your
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[UPDATED] 56,956 likes

Author: Andrew | Date: Tuesday, April 08, 2014

Overheating With
Thermald And
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Intel P-State Like Page Share

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7 in Ubuntu via
PPA Repository

10 Things To Do
After Installing
Ubuntu 14.04
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A Near Perfect Linux Thermal Daemon (thermald) is a tool developed by Intel's Open Source
Desktop Technology Center which monitors and controls the CPU temperature, preventing it from
overheating.
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Thermald tries to prevent the CPU from overheating without a significant impact on
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performance by using some specific Intel functions available in the Linux Kernel. According to
ocamlfuse
the Ubuntu wiki, thermald can control cooling using:
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the Running Average Power Limit (RAPL) driver (Sandybridge upwards)
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the Intel P-state CPU frequency driver (Sandybridge upwards)
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14.04 the CPU freq driver
+ 92.893
the Intel PowerClamp driver
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doesn't properly support Haswell.
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By default, thermald runs in zero configuration mode so after installing it, you don't need to Circular App Launcher `Gnome Pie` 0.6.7
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by adding more sensors and cooling devices, you can edit the thermald XML configuration file, Changes
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How to enable intel_pstate in Ubuntu 14.04 and JAyatana (Global Menu And HUD For Java
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This is for Ubuntu 14.04 and newer only! Don't use it in older Ubuntu versions or you may
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While it's not mandatory, thermald should work better if Intel P-state is enabled. Intel P-state is Ubuntu 15.10 Wily Werewolf Final Beta
not enabled by default in Ubuntu 14.04, but you can enable it easily (from what I've read, it's Available For Download
enabled by default in Fedora, Arch Linux and OpenSUSE for instance).
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intel_pstate is a new power scaling driver for modern Intel CPUs (it supports Intel
SandyBridge+ processors). According to Arjan van de Ven from Intel (for more info, see the
LATEST COMMENTS
comments he posted HERE), ondemand shouldn't be used any more and instead, modern Intel
processors should use Intel P-state.

In Ubuntu, pstate is disabled by default because it didn't work properly a while back. It looks
like the issues that resulted in intel_pstate being disabled by default in Ubuntu were fixed, but
pstate is still not enabled by default in Ubuntu 14.04.

Note that while I didn't encounter any issues on my laptop running Ubuntu 14.04 with
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 intel_pstate enabled and from what I've read, it works for others as well, it might not
work properly for you so use it at your own risk and only enable it if you know how to
disable it in case something goes wrong!

1. To enable intel_pstate in Ubuntu 14.04 (only enable it if your laptop is using Sandy Bridge or Minas Mina
Ivy Bridge CPUs), edit the /etc/default/grub configuration file with a text editor as root - I'll use
Package not found on Ubuntu 15.04...
Gedit below:

gksu gedit /etc/default/grub

And for "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=" (it's on line 11 on my system), add

"intel_pstate=enable", like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash intel_pstate=enable"

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unknown flag 'arch'

Make sure you've changed the /etc/default/grub file properly or else your system may fail to
boot! Once you're done, save the file and update Grub:

sudo update-grub

2. Restart your system and to check if intel_pstate is enabled, run the following command:

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cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_driver I know I'm waking this thread from the gr

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Client-Side Decorations The command above should return "intel_pstate". er access to a few themes, like the ambi
(Header Bars) ance/radiance flat themes from...
To be able to use the "cpupower" commands below, you'll need to install "linux-tools-common"
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sudo apt-get install linux-tools-common linux-tools-generic
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[Ubuntu PPA] Another way of checking if Intel P-State is enabled is by using the following command:
jo hu
Convert Audio / Video
Files With Selene Media cpupower frequency-info cool!!!! thanks you saved me!!!
Encoder

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analyzing CPU 0:
driver: intel_pstate
CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0
Junior Ronchi
CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
maximum transition latency: 0.97 ms.
Very good!!!
hardware limits: 800 MHz - 3.10 GHz
available cpufreq governors: performance, powersave

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current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 3.10 GHz. Circular App Launcher `Gnome Pie` 0.6.7 Gets N
The governor "performance" may decide which speed to use ew Clipboard Slice Group, Other Changes · 1 da
within this range. y ago
boost state support:
Supported: yes
Active: yes
25500 MHz max turbo 4 active cores
People online:
25500 MHz max turbo 3 active cores
25500 MHz max turbo 2 active cores
25500 MHz max turbo 1 active cores

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If Intel Pstate is not enabled after following the steps above, it most probably means that your
Dukto LAN File Transfer CPU doesn't support intel_pstate so you should disable it (simply remove "intel_pstate=enable"
Tool Is Easy To Use, from /etc/default/grub and run "sudo update-grub").
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3. With intel_pstate, there are only two cpufreq governors: performance and powersave (there's
no "ondemand"). In my test, the "powersave" governor offered significantly better results so
BLOG ARCHIVE that's what I recommend. So try the powersave mode firstly and only if you're not satisfied
with the results, switch to performance.
Blog Archive
You can switch between the "performance" and "powersave" intel_pstate governors manually
by using the following commands:

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- use the "powersave" intel_pstate cpufreq governor:

sudo cpupower frequency-set -g powersave

- use the "performance" cpufreq intel_pstate governor:

sudo cpupower frequency-set -g performance

You can see the currently active cpufreq governor by using the following command:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor

4. If you want to make the "powersave" governor default in Ubuntu (using the commands
above commands, the settings are lost after a reboot), firstly install cpufrequtils:

sudo apt-get install cpufrequtils

And then edit the /etc/init.d/cpufrequtils file and change GOVERNOR to "powersave"
(GOVERNOR="powersave"). You can do this automatically by using the following command:

sudo sed -i 's/^GOVERNOR=.*/GOVERNOR="powersave"/' /etc/init.d/cpufrequtils

To revert this change and set the governor back to default (which is "ondemand" and that's
not available for Intel P-State, but I'm adding this info in case you don't want to use Intel P-State
any more), use the command below:

sudo sed -i 's/^GOVERNOR=.*/GOVERNOR="ondemand"/' /etc/init.d/cpufrequtils

It's also worth mentioning that TLP supports Intel P-State.

Install thermald
Thermald is available in the official Ubuntu 14.04 and 14.10 repositories. To install it, use
the following command:

sudo apt-get install thermald

Thermald should then start automatically.

Update: for Ubuntu 14.04, you can install the latest Thermald backported from Ubuntu
14.10 by using the WebUpd8 Backports PPA. Or you can manually download the deb
from HERE.

Thermald is not available for older Ubuntu versions but you can compile it from source.

Arch Linux users can install thermald via AUR.

For other Linux distributions, search for Thermald in your distro's repositories or compile it from
source.

More info / references:

https://01.org/linux-thermal-daemon/documentation/introduction-thermal-daemon
https://wiki.debian.org/thermald
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/PowerManagement/ThermalIssues
https://github.com/01org/thermal_daemon

thanks to apater for the tip!

You might also like:

Advanced Power Management Tool `TLP` Sees New Release
Fix Brightness Getting Reset (To A Very Low Value Or Maximum) On Reboot In
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 Ubuntu
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Audacious 3.7 Beta 1 Available In PPA
Go For It!: A Simple Todo.txt-Based To-Do List Manager And Timer Productivity App

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Perdana Hadi • 2 years ago

is this package conflicted with TLP or any other power saver apps?
4 • Reply • Share ›

Andrew Admin > Perdana Hadi • 2 years ago

According to this: https://github.com/linrunner/T... , intel_pstate doesn't conflict
with TLP. I couldn't find anything about thermald itself and TLP but I don't think
there are any issues, I'm using both and I didn't notice anything wrong with
either of them. I may be wrong though. The Manjaro wiki, which has an article
on both TLP and thermald, doesn't mention anything about conflicts either:
https://wiki.manjaro.org/index...

The bug reporter (first link) mentions that intel_pstate conflicts with laptop
mode tools though but I don't know if that's correct since I didn't find other info
on it.
5 • Reply • Share ›

Perdana Hadi > Andrew • 2 years ago

I see no harm then, thanks for the explanation Andrew.
• Reply • Share ›

Renholder > Perdana Hadi • 2 years ago

I think it might conflict with the cpu scaling driver on TLP, if you are using it,
which is "acpi-cpufreq", because as the post says Intel P-state uses
"intel_pstate" instead.
• Reply • Share ›

Andrew Admin > Renholder • 2 years ago

Well, the TLP developer says they don't conflict: https://github.com
/linrunner/T...

pstate is also covered in the TLP configuration: http://linrunner.de/en/tlp

/doc...
4 • Reply • Share ›

Renholder > Andrew • 2 years ago

Ah thanks, sorry then, I was kind of insecure about installing it,
but you are right, its even mentioned here: http://linrunner.de
/en/tlp/doc...
• Reply • Share ›

fademind • 2 years ago

Thermald don't work propertly on some 4gen CPU's (Haswell): https://github.com
/01org/therm...

On some CPU's p-state overheating CPU = forced turbo mode only and it is recomend
disable p-state by GRUB flag:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="intel_pstate=disable" in the file /etc/default/grub

Regards
• Reply • Share ›

Andrew Admin > fademind • 2 years ago

I already wrote about Haswell not being properly supported yet. As for
disabling intel_pstate, it's already disabled in Ubuntu, that's why I wrote how to
enable it because it appears that there aren't any issues with it any more. But
of course, if you encounter issues, disable it.
3 • Reply • Share ›

fademind > Andrew • 2 years ago

P-State in Ubuntu is for safety disabled, in other Linux distros - it is not
disabled by default, that why I write about it.

All modern CPU (sandy/ivy/haswell) are supported instead issues with

some models of haswell only by p-state govenor AND lm_sensors -
coretemp module, if lm_sensors are not propertly configured, thermald
don't working.

In kernel 3.14 thermal sensors were changed and without re-configure

lm_sensors, thermald "don't know" sensor chip anymore.
• Reply • Share ›

Andrew Admin > fademind • 2 years ago

One more thing, you can work-around the turbo mode issue by forcing
intel_pstate to run in powersave mode with this command:
sudo cpupower frequency-set -g powersave
• Reply • Share ›
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