[ubuntu] Ubuntu laptop running hot

[mdench]

I have a 3 month old Novatech core [email protected], 4gb ram, 500g hdd and dedicated nvidia mobile graphics. I previously had windows 7 running on it which ran nice and cool and had ubuntu running as a vm on virtual box. Had no problems with that however now i have installed ubuntu to the HDD i have noticed that the CPU is running hot (using lm-sensors its reading 68C) and i get about 2 hours battery life compared to the 6 or 7 from windows 7?

 

Currently running 11.10 (64bit) have also tried LTS (64bit) and noticed the same results...

 

Any ideas?

 

Cheers

Edited December 29, 2011 by mdench

[jinnantonnixx]

Are you using the proprietary graphics drivers?

 

Run the 'jockey' app to install these drivers.

[mdench]

have got nvidia accelerated graphics drivers installed currently running at 58c but still only getting about 2 hours battery life?

[featured_spectre]

Look for a program called juice saver. It turns off nonessential background programs and adds about 60% to the battery. It's on redhat so there may be a Ubuntu version

[mdench]

i couldnt find juice saver for ubuntu after a search of the software store or google.. Get any other ideas?

[featured_spectre]

Can't help in that case. The software is in the redhat repository so unlikely to find it elsewhere but it was a long shot.

[OB1]

Hi mdench.

 

This appears to be a known issue.

Depending on how comfortable with the command line you are, this fix may help.

This also appears on the Ubuntu forums, and the same thread has details of how to 'try it once' a bit further in. If it goes wrong, reboot and you're fine.

 

Both involve a tweak to Grub.

 

Speaking from bitter experience, fiddling with your bootloader can have catastrophic consequences if you get it wrong. I keep a live CD and connection to google on hand to recover.

[Sephiroth]

I personally think that Ubuntu has gone downhill since 11.04 and the introduction of unity killed it for me (I have a quad head machine and unity doesn't like using multiple cards). since then I've switched to Debian 6 and not looked back. It may be worth seeing what happens if you stick that on and run it for a few days.

 

It might also be worth installing Stress which will stress test the machine. that way you can find out what is causing the heat (CPU, RAM, HDD or a combination thereof).

 

If you plan on modifying the grub settings, it might be worth making a backup of the files that you're modifying. That way, if it does go wrong, you can boot into a live cd as OB1 suggests.

 

P.S. Sorry if I sound condescending... it isn't intentional

Edited January 4, 2012 by Sephiroth