X40 Linux under-clocking, under-volting, and fan speed

[cobalt60]

I just recently obtained my first ThinkPad, an X40. CPU is 1.4GHz Dothan, RAM is 1GB. I installed a 32GB KingSpec SSD, and installed Debian Testing. Kernel is 3.2.0-4-486. My main priorities are to get this thing to run cooler, followed by increasing battery life.

What speeds in MHz can I use? Is 600MHz the slowest speed? Is "cpufreqd" a good program to use for controlling frequencies?

How do I under-volt? How do I control fan speeds?

Thanks for any info

-Chris P

[ajkula66]

Welcome to the forum!

I just recently obtained my first ThinkPad, an X40. CPU is 1.4GHz Dothan, RAM is 1GB.

Actually, that's a Banias CPU in there, only some of the X41s shipped with Dothans, but none of the X40s.

I installed a 32GB KingSpec SSD, and installed Debian Testing. Kernel is 3.2.0-4-486. My main priorities are to get this thing to run cooler, followed by increasing battery life.

Battery life on ThinkPads - generally speaking - is less than optimal in Linux when compared to Windows. Also, the fan will come on more often.

How do I control fan speeds?

Start at ThinkWiki...

http://www.thinkwiki.org/w/index.php?ti ... trol&go=Go

Happy ThinkPadding!

[cobalt60]

Actually, that's a Banias CPU in there, only some of the X41s shipped with Dothans, but none of the X40s.

I hope you're wrong, because I specifically chose the 1.4GHz model because I thought it was surely a Dothan. According to ThinkWiki, all X41s had Dothan, and all 1.4/1.5/1.6 X40s had Dothan. Im going to to verify which CPU I have thru Linux.

[Cigarguy]

If you are using Windows, CPUZ will provide that info and more.

edit - sorry, just read that you are running Linux.

[Tasurinchi]

Welcome to the forum!

How do I control fan speeds?

Check tpfanco: https://code.google.com/p/tpfanco/

I would also keep an eye on that SSD, Kingspec is famous for having high failure rates...

[cobalt60]

Im going to to verify which CPU I have thru Linux.

OK Im pretty sure I have a Dothan

Code: Select all

cpu family	: 6
model		: 13
model name	: Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.40GHz
stepping	: 6
microcode	: 0x17
cpu MHz		: 600.000
cache size	: 2048 KB

According to info I've found, model 13 means Dothan; if it were Banias modem would be 9. Also, if it were Banias, I would only have 1MB L2 cache.

All that said, the 1.4GHz Dothan has a TDP of 10W, while the 1.1GHz Dothan had a TDP of 5W. Id like to try to get my voltages down to the level of that CPU. I dont mind limiting my clock speed to 1.1GHz

[cobalt60]

I would also keep an eye on that SSD, Kingspec is famous for having high failure rates...

How would this manifest itself? I keep a system monitor visible at all times, and I can see I hardly have any disk writes at all. I specifically used Ext2 so as to not have journaling, and I also have no swap partition. My other netbook is Linux on an SSD as well, so I am fairly informed as to how to minimize write cycles.

[cobalt60]

Check tpfanco: https://code.google.com/p/tpfanco/

Wow! This is a great program. The GUI is really nice. OK Id say as far as fan speed Im set. Currently Ive got cpufreqd pretty much keeping me at 600MHz, with some tweaking that program may work out well. As for voltages, ThinkWiki says to use phc so thats what Ill try.