# Cycling of computer, loud fan



## a59303 (Dec 17, 2013)

Hi, 

I have an old laptop running FreeBSD 9.2 and the computer cycles every minute or so which is evident by the fan starting to increase in volume.

I did some investigation and while logged in as root I get /var/log/cron


```
Dec 17  15:25:00 arhtur /usr/sbin/cron[1238]: (root) CMD (/usr/libexec/atrun)
Dec 17  15:30:00 arhtur /usr/sbin/cron[1246]: (root) CMD (/usr/libecec/atrun)
Dec 17  15:33:00 arhtur /usr/sbin/cron[1274]: (operator) CMD (/usr/libexec/save-e
ntropy)
```

I see that in /etc/crontab, atrun runs every five minutes and save-entropy runs every eleven minutes. I also see, in that file, mention of adjkertz which adjusts the clock to sync with the CMOS. According to adjkerntz() if the file wall_cmos_clock is there then the clock has to be adjusted.  Which it is. Is there something I can do about the noise? The fan is clean (relatively) and the time is set, the computer is not running  particularly hot. I just upgraded the computer from 9.0 to 9.2 and there was the came thing then (in FreeBSD 9.0).

Thanks,

a5'


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## wblock@ (Dec 17, 2013)

Is powerd(8) enabled and running?  What brand and model is the computer?


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## a59303 (Dec 17, 2013)

`ps -A | grep power` yields nothing. It doesn't appear in `top` but I think I am only looking at some of the processes.

I was going to add that `sysctl -a | grep adj` yields

```
kern.timecounter.smp_tsc_adjust: 0
machdep.adjkerntz: 18000
```

Thanks,

a5'

--edit--
in /etc/defaults/rc.conf


```
powerd_enable="NO"
```
is set

--


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## a59303 (Dec 17, 2013)

Oh sorry: HP Pavilion ze2000.

-a5'


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## a59303 (Dec 18, 2013)

so I set 
/etc/rc.conf

```
powerd_enable="YES"

powerd_flags="adp"
```

`powerd` is now running pid: 715
still the same behavior.

-a5'


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## wblock@ (Dec 18, 2013)

Setting the flags like that will not work.

Some modules may be needed for power management on a Sempron, or it may not be supported.


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## a59303 (Dec 18, 2013)

> Some modules may be needed for power management on a Sempron, or it may not be supported.



Thanks for the reply,

Sticker on machine says *celeron M*.  I looked around and found this:

http://www.intel.com/p/en_US/support/hi ... rs/celeron

http://ark.intel.com/products/27143/Int ... 00-MHz-FSB



It appears, after some investigation of cpufreq() that this machine, by default installation, does not have things that are required by cpufreq().

`sysctl -a | grep timecounter`
among other things includes

```
kern.timecounter.choice: TSC(800) ACPI-fast(900) i8254(0) dummy(-1000000)
kern.timecounter.hardware: ACPI-fast
```

Looked here because, on the man pages for sysctl(), and  cpufreq(), I saw indications that I could find info there.  


cpufreq manpage


> The frequency cannot be changed if TSC is in use as the timecounter.
> This is because the timecounter system needs to use a source that has a
> constant rate.  The timecounter source can be changed with the
> kern.timecounter.hardware sysctl.  Available modes are in
> kern.timecounter.choice sysctl entry.



      also



> The following device drivers offer absolute frequency control via the
> cpufreq interface.  Usually, only one of these can be active at a time.
> 
> 
> ...




Actually after looking at this I am not sure if this means that *TSC* is the "timecounter".  I looks more like *ACPI-fast* is.  I saw no mention of that though.


Thanks for the help,
a5'


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## a59303 (Dec 20, 2013)

wblock@ said:
			
		

> Setting the flags like that will not work.
> 
> Some modules may be needed for power management on a Sempron, or it may not be supported.




I found from looking at the powerd() man page and @vermaden's HOWTO (Thread 172) that I have to set the flags thus: 
	
	



```
powerd_flags="-a adp -b adp -i 100%"
```

Where 100 is a percentage that was an example and adp is the _Adaptive_ setting for AC power and Battery power.
I think this is correct.

This is the setting on the laptop as I write this and it does not seem to make any difference.  I experimented a bit with it.

Where would I discover what modules I would need?

Thank you,

a5'

Also, I posted to the freebsd-acpi mailing list and I will have to wait to see what happens there.


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## wblock@ (Dec 20, 2013)

The -i option should be just a number, no percent sign.

I don't know what power management is possible on that system, the ACPI mailing list will hopefully have answers.


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## a59303 (Dec 20, 2013)

Just for a positive note, I just got the suspend `acpiconf -s 3` to work on it and in general it is really remarkable how well it gets configured by default.

Thanks for the help.

a5'


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