# FreeBSD 12, system temperature too high, shutting down soon



## balaji18 (Jul 31, 2019)

Hi,

I have a laptop(Thinkpad X201) in which I have dual boot both Windows and FreeBSD(12.0). The FreeBSD was upgraded to 12 from the original installation of 10. Only in FreeBSD I am getting the error "system temperature too high, shutting down soon" and the machine shuts down. I do not see this problem in Windows. I also tried booting a Linux (Puppy Linux) from USB and that too seems to have no issues. Narrowing down the cases, this happens only when I compile using make (gcc version is 8). There are no issues when other commands are tried like for ex., editing files in vi and saving them, commands like find, grep all work fine. I do not know why only with make command I get this error. Is it a hardware problem or something else.

Note: I also have an external cooling pad for the laptop.

--Thanks


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## sidetone (Jul 31, 2019)

I had a problem a week ago with my computer shutting down. Part of the reason was because of the temperature and humidity. It gets worse with CPU intensive tasks, and I lowered my CPU features in BIOS.

I checked the dust power supply fan, and it was fine, and I re-lubricated the fan. It usually voids the warranty, and the unplugged capacitors can electrocute you. But, voiding the warranty is better than the power supply making a popping sound and ruining your motherboard. Then it still kept shutting off.

I cleared out dust from the CPU fan, and it still shut off, but less often. Then it started shutting off more over the next few days. I bought thermal paste, and reseated the CPU fan, I switched the direction of the fan in the back to blow air out, and I put a small intake fan in the front. That fixed it, but if my room got humid and hot, the computer would still shut off, so I have to turn the AC on anyway. It hasn't been a problem since then.


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## k.jacker (Jul 31, 2019)

Usually compiling puts a constant high load on CPU and memory. While compiling, CPU runs on high frequency at a higher voltage compared to idle. Thus the CPU and memory subsystem consume much more energy and make the temperature rise. In contrary to grep or find, they can put high load on the CPU, too, but in most cases they finish within a few seconds. So temperature does not rise this high and immediately starts to 
decrease when those commands finnish.
Laptops in general have more or less bad cooling solutions and many hardly can cope with constant high CPU load and struggle even more on hot summer days.
If you run prime95 or IntelBurnTest on Windows or install stress on Linux and FreeBSD you‘ll most likely see the same high temperatures. In FreeBSD you can check Intel CPU temperature with `sysctl hw.cpu.0.temperature` after `kldload coretemp`and ceck current frequency with`sysctl hw.cpu.0.freq`.

As sidetone said, cleaning the fan usually helps and replacing CPU‘s termal grease with new high quality grease will likely drop CPU temperature noticable, though the latter is not for everyone.

I like to disable Intel TurboBoost in the BIOS on every laptop I own. That will cost you a tiny bit of performance for short tasks, but temperature will rise slower when compiling and similar tasks are executed.
If that is not enough, use powerd to limit your CPU‘s highest frequency to it‘s second or third highest (e.g. 2000Mz instead of 2200MHz).
For marketing purposes, there is usually applied a such high voltage to the CPU, just to squeeze the last 100MHz out of if that they run very hot and inefficient on full load.

If limiting the frequency helps, you may want to install powerd++, it can replace powerd and has a feature of configuring your operation temperature of choice. It will then reduce CPU frequency to stay within this range. Much better then Intels default Tmax of 100C or so.

Sorry, for no formatting, writing on tiny phone.


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## balaji18 (Jul 31, 2019)

Thanks sidetone and k.jacker , switching on the AC made the difference. WIth AC ON, no issues at all. I shall continue with AC ON as far as i can go. 

--Thanks.


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## Tracker (Jul 31, 2019)

balaji18 I had a similar issue - you might want to check whether your laptop fan is working or not. My system used to overheat - a workaround was to close the lid and put it in hibernate mode, then reopen it, magically the fan starts - thats what I still do to make it work fine.

Let me know if it helps.


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## sidetone (Aug 20, 2019)

I had the problem again, about month later. My computer kept shutting off, this time a few days after adding a second monitor. I used to have 2 monitors, but I haven't used this set up in over a year. Then later, my power supply fan started making noise, so that told me it was the power supply fan.

Last year, my computer was making a noise, and it popped. I assumed my motherboard, graphics card and everything else was fried. I realized that it was the power supply fan making that noise that caused that. Good thing I had another motherboard and other components.

Last month, when I relubricated the fan, I just used what I had, so that solution only lasted a month. The lubrication was still there, but it was sticky and it had to be replaced. Yesterday, I used what I had and something more pure, coconut oil. The lubrication is supposed to be something solid under room temperature. I'll buy a small packet of axle grease and try that. In the day time, my computer still shut off, but it happened when the AC turned on, perhaps under an electricity spike, and under higher surrounding humidity and temperatures.

I will clean out the lubrication in the power supply fan, then try vaseline or axle grease, which is what I wanted to try. Or I will just go for a new and higher capacity power supply, if the issue was not only the fan. My guess is that the problems it had, shortened the power supply's expectancy.


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## George (Aug 20, 2019)

If you feel that the fan is not running at full speed, you might take a look at `bsdfan` (or google fan control on FreeBSD).









						GitHub - claudiozz/bsdfan: A simple FreeBSD fan control utility for thinkpads
					

A simple FreeBSD fan control utility for thinkpads - GitHub - claudiozz/bsdfan: A simple FreeBSD fan control utility for thinkpads




					github.com
				




Also, `powerd` can reduce a lot of heat by temporarily throttling down your cpu.


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## rowan194 (Aug 25, 2019)

sidetone said:


> Last month, when I relubricated the fan, I just used what I had, so that solution only lasted a month. The lubrication was still there, but it was sticky and it had to be replaced. Yesterday, I used what I had and something more pure, coconut oil. The lubrication is supposed to be something solid under room temperature. I'll buy a small packet of axle grease and try that. In the day time, my computer still shut off, but it happened when the AC turned on, perhaps under an electricity spike, and under higher surrounding humidity and temperatures.
> 
> I will clean out the lubrication in the power supply fan, then try vaseline or axle grease, which is what I wanted to try. Or I will just go for a new and higher capacity power supply, if the issue was not only the fan. My guess is that the problems it had, shortened the power supply's expectancy.



Lubricating a fan with coconut oil??! I'd be very wary of using something that is solid at room temp but will turn to liquid at a relatively low heat (the jar I have here says coconut oil will liquify above about 25 degrees C). Do you really want food oil dripping into your power supply or computer when things warm up a bit? If the oil or grease turns out to be electrically conductive you may end up damaging the fan's electronics, or possibly other parts of your computer. Replace the fan...


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## sidetone (Aug 25, 2019)

rowan194 said:


> Lubricating a fan with coconut oil??! I'd be very wary of using something that is solid at room temp but will turn to liquid at a relatively low heat (the jar I have here says coconut oil will liquify above about 25 degrees C). Do you really want food oil dripping into your power supply or computer when things warm up a bit?


I know that. It was a temporary solution that worked for a bit. Everything actually stayed inside the fan. I already got a new PSU.


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## nunotex (Feb 3, 2020)

Hello,

I use an 11 year's old Asus ROG laptop as a poudriere pkg builder 

This laptop always have heat problems even if fan is cleaned or new thermal paste.

The only way to get it working is to enable temperature based throttling with *powerdxx:*


/etc/rc.conf:
powerdxx_enable="YES"
powerdxx_flags="-a hiadaptive -b adaptive -H75:85"

*be sure* to load coretemp module, because powerdxx needs cpu core temperature.

It works fine.

Nuno Teixeira


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## balaji18 (Feb 5, 2020)

Thanks nunotex. I tried the options as specified in the post. No change. System still shuts down. One change i noticed is that earlier when the system gets too hot, i get a message on the screen saying that system temperature is too high and will shutdown in few minutes. Now with all the changes(rc.conf and loader.conf), i get no such message but the system shuts down without any messages or warnings. 

Note, the fan is replaced with a new one. As stated earlier, the issue is only when compiling using make command( 8 applications compiled from a common c++ code base), running for approx. 10 minutes. All user commands like vi, find, grep,.. all work fine. Windows is working flawlessly, including streaming videos.

--Thanks.


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## Ordoban (Feb 5, 2020)

sidetone said:


> Last month, when I relubricated the fan, I just used what I had, so that solution only lasted a month. The lubrication was still there, but it was sticky and it had to be replaced. Yesterday, I used what I had and something more pure, coconut oil.


Well that's an experience I made at age of (maybe) 8 years old. I lubed a electric toy motor with sunflower salad oil... It runs very well... For some days...

Note: there is a HUGE difference between Oil for eating and Oil for machine lubrication.
Oil for eating is going bad and loosing it's lube after some time.
Oil for machinig lasts for decades, and of coarse you should not eat.

There is also a thing you shold know about machine oil:
Usual motor oil creeps everywhere. After some time it is everywhere in the computer. Thats not what you want.
If you need to lube such things use clock oil. This does not creep, and stays in the fan.


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## nunotex (Feb 6, 2020)

Hi,

Don't forget:

- install *powerdxx *
- edit rc.conf
- load coretemp if amd64

`kldload coretemp`

- make sure that -H limits aren't higher then:

`sysctl -n hw.acpi.thermal.tz0._CRT` 
`sysctl -n dev.cpu.0.coretemp.tjmax`

Cheers,

Nuno


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