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check out athcool


jerrytaff
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I bought my machine from Time in the UK with Mandrake 8.0 pre-installed. The processor (Athlon XP2000+ has always run very hot. I set the bios to alarm at 65 deg c , and at this time of year (30 deg or so in London) it runs close to that, even when idling. When running windows 98 se, it is even worse. If I leave it at the login screen for more than 15 minutes, the alarm goes off. However, once running I use a utility called coolerXP which brings the temperature down to a stable 58 deg c or so.

 

I recently came across Athcool. which installed under mdk 10.0 with no problems. It comes with all sorts of health warnings about messd up sound, instability etc. However it runs for me with no problem and its effect is dramatic. Over 10 minutes of web browsing etc, it brought the processor temperature down from 62 deg to 46.5 deg. This is only 2.5 deg warmer than indicated by the sensor on the motherboard!

 

Don't expect it to have any effect under heavy processor load - under UT2003 theprocessor still gets hot - but no more so than it used to when idling.

 

All I have to work out now, is how to run it automatically on boot. I tried adding it to my /etc/rc.local file but it didn't seem to have any effect there

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Hmmm. The RPM put a script called athcool for me in /etc/rc.d/init.d that looks like this:

#!/bin/bash
#
# athcool       This scripts runs athcool, enabling/disabling
#               powersaving mode for Athlon/Duron processors.
#
# chkconfig: 2345 10 90
# description:  This scripts runs athcool, enabling/disabling \
#               powersaving mode for Athlon/Duron processors.

# Source function library.
. /etc/init.d/functions

RETVAL=0

# See how we were called.

prog="/usr/sbin/athcool"

[ -f /usr/sbin/athcool ] || exit 0

start() {
       gprintf "Enabling Athlon powersaving mode..."
       $prog on > /dev/null
       RETVAL=$?
       echo
       [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && touch /var/lock/subsys/athcool
       return $RETVAL
}

stop() {
       gprintf "Disabling Athlon powersaving mode..."
       $prog off > /dev/null
       RETVAL=$?
       echo
       [ $RETVAL -eq 0 ] && rm -f /var/lock/subsys/athcool
       return $RETVAL
}

status() {
       gprintf "Query Athlon powersaving mode..."
       echo
       $prog stat
}

restart() {
       stop
       start
}

case "$1" in
 start)
       start
     ;;
 stop)
       stop
     ;;
 status)
       status
     ;;
 restart)
       restart
     ;;
 reload)
       restart
     ;;
 *)
       gprintf "Usage: %s {start|stop|status|restart|reload}\n" "$0"
       exit 1

esac

exit $?

 

and symlinks in /etc/rc1.d, rc2.d, rc3.d, etc that are prefixed the same as the network symlink. Example (/etc/rc3.d/):

S10athcool

S10network

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this still works? I thought some code was put in the 2.6 kernel that eliminated this?.....although it obviously didn't work because mandrake runs 10C hotter than anything else I put on this box. Maybe mandrake doesn't include it? My fedora is running at 38C right now and mandrake runs at 48C.

Edited by bvc
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I think rather than relying on a software like that to idle your processor, you should check on the heatsink itself. XP2000+ is not THAT hot of a processor, even if you are using AMD's own heatsink. I am running an overclocked 1700+ (overclocked to 1833 MHz, which is about 2200+ speed) with a cheapo 10 dollar heatsink. The temperature, even when running full blast, doesn't even get close to 50 degrees celcius, even in a tropical city such as Jakarta.

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For the first poster, I agree with DragonMage, check out your heatsink and make sure it is seated well. I have installed a lot of XP CPUs in that speed class and even with a cheap heatsink they idle in the 40s worst case.

 

bvc, I dunno' I run a Shuttle small form factor which almost always run warmer than full towers due to airflow restricitions. I compared my temps to those of other small form factor enthusiast and my temps are on par with XP users (who also benefit from Win XPs CPU idling code). I idle around 40 and load about 46 (loading usually only occuring during lenghty compiles or Quake sessions). So maybe the code works with some chipsets and not others? Of course, I could be wrong and perhaps there's a chance I could lower my temps even more, but I can't dwell on that because not knowing would drive me insane :wall::cheeky::wall:

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Guest jacke

I just apply this line to get my athlon cool:

setpci -s 00:00.0 D5=1e

 

It's an Athlon Thunderbird 1400mhz, and with this line the temp is about 39 - 45 idle. Without, the temp is about 60-70. And my system is Mandrake 10.0, and therefore linux 2.6.

 

About the heat issue on amd xp's:

And amd xp 2000+ can be of two types, palomino and thoroughbred, and there is a great difference betwen them in how much heat they generate. The first mentioned often runs really hot, but the newer type thoroughbred, runs way more cooler. And it looks like jerrytaff has got himself a palomino.

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About the heat issue on amd xp's:

And amd xp 2000+ can be of two types, palomino and thoroughbred, and there is a great difference betwen them in how much heat they generate. The first mentioned often runs really hot, but the newer type thoroughbred, runs way more cooler. And it looks like jerrytaff has got himself a palomino.

 

Don't forget the Thornton, basically a Barton core at 266FSB with half the cache, what I own, also a cool runner. And the palomino shoudln't be idling that high with even a stock HSF, at least not in my experience (load, but not idle).

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I just apply this line to get my athlon cool:

CODE

setpci -s 00:00.0 D5=1e

 

 

It's an Athlon Thunderbird 1400mhz, and with this line the temp is about 39 - 45 idle. Without, the temp is about 60-70. And my system is Mandrake 10.0, and therefore linux 2.6.

 

About the heat issue on amd xp's:

And amd xp 2000+ can be of two types, palomino and thoroughbred, and there is a great difference betwen them in how much heat they generate. The first mentioned often runs really hot, but the newer type thoroughbred, runs way more cooler. And it looks like jerrytaff has got himself a palomino.

 

Yes, but how much slower does your computer run now?

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Guest jacke
Don't forget the Thornton, basically a Barton core at 266FSB with half the cache, what I own, also a cool runner. And the palomino shoudln't be idling that high with even a stock HSF, at least not in my experience (load, but not idle).

 

Well, I'm not that surprised about his temp, if it's a palomio. With a stock hsf, and maybe no case fan?, and a high room temp, 65 deg isn't that hard to reach.

I have seen other palomino systems with such temps. And my thunderbird easily reach those temps without any cooling application.

 

And yeah, forgot to mention Thornton. B)

 

SwiftDeath: Actually, not slower at all. But ofcource, in high load the coolbit doesn't help. But it doesn't run with a high load that often, mostly when I compile something but also when I'm playing games(which isn't that often). Without my coolbit settings, I would probably by myself a new CPU :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
I just apply this line to get my athlon cool:

setpci -s 00:00.0 D5=1e

 

It's an Athlon Thunderbird 1400mhz, and with this line the temp is about 39 - 45 idle. Without, the temp is about 60-70. And my system is Mandrake 10.0, and therefore linux 2.6.

 

About the heat issue on amd xp's:

And amd xp 2000+ can be of two types, palomino and thoroughbred, and there is a great difference betwen them in how much heat they generate. The first mentioned often runs really hot, but the newer type thoroughbred, runs way more cooler. And it looks like jerrytaff has got himself a palomino.

 

what does this do? why does it work? My linux machine is on 24/7 and idle most of the time so I would like to have a reliable solution that would keep it cooler while idle without slowing it down (or worrying about temps) when busy.

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In some way it limits unnecessary currents through the cpu, but this only works with via chipsets as far as I know. But as I wrote in my earlier post, it doesn't affect the temp under high load (well, at least not very much).

 

Just type the right line for your chipset as root, to activate the "coolbit".

You might want to put this line in some rc.local file to get it to activate at boot, but try first and see if if works. (Some people seem to get problems)

 

VIA KT133
setpci -H1 -s 0:0.0 52=EB >/dev/null 2>&1

 

VIA KT266
setpci -H1 -s 0:0.0 92=EB >/dev/null 2>&1

 

VIA KT333
setpci -H1 -s 0:0.0 70=86 >/dev/null 2>&1 && setpci -H1 -s 0:0.0 95=1E >/dev/null 2>&1

 

VIA KT400/600
setpci -s 00:00.0 D5=1e

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  • 2 weeks later...
VIA KT133
setpci -H1 -s 0:0.0 52=EB >/dev/null 2>&1

 

VIA KT266
setpci -H1 -s 0:0.0 92=EB >/dev/null 2>&1

 

VIA KT333
setpci -H1 -s 0:0.0 70=86 >/dev/null 2>&1 && setpci -H1 -s 0:0.0 95=1E >/dev/null 2>&1

 

VIA KT400/600
setpci -s 00:00.0 D5=1e

 

this seems legit, I found several references to it (although none of the articles are online right now). It seems to screw up PCI latency timing, whic in tun can have weird side effect for video and sound playback (like crackling).

 

Sounds like you can reboot the computer to make the problem go away if there is an issue?

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this seems legit, I found several references to it (although none of the articles are online right now). It seems to screw up PCI latency timing, whic in tun can have weird side effect for video and sound playback (like crackling).

 

Sounds like you can reboot the computer to make the problem go away if there is an issue?

 

Well, I haven't had any problems yet, and I have used these settings for almost a year. But I have heard of others who have got problems with it.

 

And yes of course, you can just reboot your computer if you run into any problems, and the settings will be gone. So it's at least worth trying, you have nothing to lose B)

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  • 3 weeks later...
Guest wmautner

Using Mandrake since version 9.1 with a MSI KT400/palomino XP2100+. Every time I have tried athcool (discovered it soon) it works for a few minutes, does indeed cool my CPU about 10 deg C, does NOT produce crackling sounds - but unfortunately I get spontanous reboots :(. Running another cooling program (forgot the name) under XP produced terrible sound effects when playing mp3s or others, and also caused random reboots. Now tried the setpci command with the same effects, Otherwise, my system runs stable for days (as long as I leave it on) for desktop use, compiling and whatever.

Would I do better with a thoroughbred (update to a XP000+)?

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