Thermal monitor

[alextulu]

I dindn't get to install Ubuntu yet because of a problem. I need to activate thermal monitor because my laptop overheats, but my BIOS doesn't have any options for thermal monitor and the only way I can enable it is by using RightMark CPU Clock wich only runs in Windows. If I don't enable it, my laptop shuts down when I play a game (it only activates for very short periods and doesn't affect the game performance very much). This is why I'm asking if thermal monitor can be enabled from Ubuntu or maybe if RightMark can run in Wine (although I don't think it can).I know I should do something about the cooling system, but even if I do, considering my laptop is a Acer, you never know when the cooling might fail again.

[Frogs Hair]

Hi and Welcome

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors

and to view CPU temp. run

sensors

in the terminal

[alextulu]

Does lm-sensors only enable me to view temperatures or does it also enable thermal monitor ?

[Frogs Hair]

After you install lm-sensors , at least on the desktop edition , You could install sensors-applet and right click your panel and add it to the panel to display hardware temps.

It has a a couple of display options in the preference settings , but it is only a display and controls nothing.

[alextulu]

I read the following post on the RightMark forum:

"Does anyone know of a similar program or linux version of this program that I can run in linux (ubuntu more specifically)?

Unfortunately, there's no Linux version of RMClock.
However, there seem to be some Linux kernel modules providing the way of managing CPU performance/power management."

Can anyone tell me what those modules are ?

[cchhrriiss121212]

You are talking about 2 separate things here:
A thermal monitor will tell you what temperature your CPU is but it won't solve your overheating issue
A frequency scaling app (like RMClock) will change the speed of your CPU, which causes it to draw less power and thereby runs cooler

To achieve the latter: Right click the top panel and add an applet, in the list you should see an option for CPU frequency scaling. Select this and set it to whatever level you need to keep the heat down.

[alextulu]

I'm not talking about a thermal monitoring application, I'm talking about the thermal monitor 1&2 in Intel CPU's. When the CPU reacheas about 2 degrees celsius below maximum temperature, thermal monitor inserts HALT instuctions and also decreases the frequency by half wich cools the CPU. Normally that option is found in the BIOS, but my Acer laptop doesn't have that option in it's BIOS and the only way i can activate it is by using RightMark wich doesn't have a linux version.

[cchhrriiss121212]

OK I see what you mean. In any case the solution I posted is still applicable. You could set up a script to throttle at certain temps, or just keep an eye on how hot it is and change when you need to.

But if your laptop is regularly reaching maximum temps, I would have it looked at, otherwise it won't last very long.

[alextulu]

In that case please tell me how to make that script.

[cchhrriiss121212]

I can show you the basics, but you will have to look up the specifics yourself. Here is what I would do:
First install lm-sensors and check your temps, using the method frogs hair explained
Check this guide for how to use cpufreq (which is already installed)
Open gedit and write want you want done:

#! /bin/bash
if your commands...

Save it with an sh extension and allow it to run as a program under properties tab
Add the script to your autostart menu

If you don't want to get into all that, just use the applet and set it at half speed permanently. This is probably better for your CPU anyway.