CentOS - Jun 2015 - CentOS 7 + Dell Latitude E6420 laptop = thermalshutdown

On 6/15/2015 2:04 PM, Jim Perrin wrote:
> I use a dell e6420 as my daily laptop/workstation. It stays docked and
> on 24/7 while at home, often running multiple vms or docker containers.
> I've not experienced what you have described. The laptop does get a
> little warm during certain video conference meetings, I do not have any
> thermal shutdown events. I would check for fan function and speed, then
> firmware for possible related updates.
> 
> If it helps, my specifics are (according to dmidecode):
> 
> BIOS Information
>         Vendor: Dell Inc.
>         Version: A19
>         Release Date: 06/24/2013
> System Information
>         Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
>         Product Name: Latitude E6420
>         Version: 01
> Base Board Information
>         Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
>         Product Name: 032T9K
>         Version: A01
Thanks for that. I have the laptop running now and am logged into a
virtual console.

dmidecode details for my laptop:

BIOS Information
    Vendor: Dell Inc.
    Version: A21
    Release Date: 11/14/2013

System Information
    Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
    Product Name: Latitude E6420
    Version: 01

Base Board Information
    Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
    Product Name: 032T9K
    Version: A02

I might try downgrading the BIOS version to see if that helps. I don't
know that I've tried doing that with Dell's utility before, but I'll
give it a shot.

I setup a short loop to append the output of /usr/bin/sensors to a log
file and then call 'sync' just after.

This is the last entry just before the system shut down:
> acpitz-virtual-0
> Adapter: Virtual device
> temp1:        +25.0?C  (crit = +107.0?C)
> 
> nouveau-pci-0100
> Adapter: PCI adapter
> temp1:            N/A  (high = +95.0?C, hyst =  +3.0?C)
>                        (crit = +105.0?C, hyst =  +5.0?C)
>                        (emerg = +135.0?C, hyst =  +5.0?C)
> 
> coretemp-isa-0000
> Adapter: ISA adapter
> Physical id 0:  +46.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
> Core 0:         +46.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
> Core 1:         +42.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
and this is the first entry just before I logged in:
> acpitz-virtual-0
> Adapter: Virtual device
> temp1:        +25.0?C  (crit = +107.0?C)
> 
> nouveau-pci-0100
> Adapter: PCI adapter
> temp1:            N/A  (high = +95.0?C, hyst =  +3.0?C)
>                        (crit = +105.0?C, hyst =  +5.0?C)
>                        (emerg = +135.0?C, hyst =  +5.0?C)
> 
> coretemp-isa-0000
> Adapter: ISA adapter
> Physical id 0:  +40.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
> Core 0:         +40.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
> Core 1:         +39.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)

Looks like the system is a bit warm, but not overly so? So far I've not
figured out how to check the fan speed. I'll keep looking.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: deoren
> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2015 9:26 PM
> 
> 
> On 6/15/2015 2:04 PM, Jim Perrin wrote:
> 
> > I use a dell e6420 as my daily laptop/workstation. It stays 
> docked and 
> > on 24/7 while at home, often running multiple vms or docker 
> containers.
> > I've not experienced what you have described. The laptop does get
a
> > little warm during certain video conference meetings, I do not have 
> > any thermal shutdown events. I would check for fan function 
The most common issue with E6 series laptops is dust/lint/hair in the fan
grill.

The bios fan control is based on an efficient extraction of heat, but a
small amount of lint will keep it heatsink warmer longer.

<snip/>
> I might try downgrading the BIOS version to see if that 
> helps. I don't know that I've tried doing that with Dell's 
> utility before, but I'll give it a shot.
> 
> I setup a short loop to append the output of /usr/bin/sensors 
> to a log file and then call 'sync' just after.
> 
> This is the last entry just before the system shut down:
> 
> > acpitz-virtual-0
> > Adapter: Virtual device
> > temp1:        +25.0?C  (crit = +107.0?C)
> > 
> > nouveau-pci-0100
> > Adapter: PCI adapter
> > temp1:            N/A  (high = +95.0?C, hyst =  +3.0?C)
> >                        (crit = +105.0?C, hyst =  +5.0?C)
> >                        (emerg = +135.0?C, hyst =  +5.0?C)
> > 
> > coretemp-isa-0000
> > Adapter: ISA adapter
> > Physical id 0:  +46.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
> > Core 0:         +46.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
> > Core 1:         +42.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
> 
> and this is the first entry just before I logged in:
> 
> > acpitz-virtual-0
> > Adapter: Virtual device
> > temp1:        +25.0?C  (crit = +107.0?C)
> > 
> > nouveau-pci-0100
> > Adapter: PCI adapter
> > temp1:            N/A  (high = +95.0?C, hyst =  +3.0?C)
> >                        (crit = +105.0?C, hyst =  +5.0?C)
> >                        (emerg = +135.0?C, hyst =  +5.0?C)
> > 
> > coretemp-isa-0000
> > Adapter: ISA adapter
> > Physical id 0:  +40.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
> > Core 0:         +40.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
> > Core 1:         +39.0?C  (high = +86.0?C, crit = +100.0?C)
> 
> 
> Looks like the system is a bit warm, but not overly so? So 
> far I've not figured out how to check the fan speed. I'll 
> keep looking.
That is the tell tail sign, as it is not cool when under low to no load.

Force the fan to high (dell diagnostic CD or other program) should be strong
(moves an empty paper coffee cup) cold air blowing.

-Jason 

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On 6/16/2015 8:40 PM, Jason Pyeron wrote:
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: deoren
>> Sent: Tuesday, June 16, 2015 9:26 PM
>>
>> Looks like the system is a bit warm, but not overly so? So 
>> far I've not figured out how to check the fan speed. I'll 
>> keep looking.
> 
> That is the tell tail sign, as it is not cool when under low to no load.
> 
> Force the fan to high (dell diagnostic CD or other program) should be
strong
> (moves an empty paper coffee cup) cold air blowing.
> 
> -Jason 
Good tip, thanks.

I tried using the onboard Dell diagnostics and it shows that the current
Processor Fan speed is about 2906 RPMs. It _did_ click loudly once and
then appeared to pick back up. Attempts to run the test aren't yielding
any high spin up/down noises like I'm used to hearing from other systems.

Current thermal readings (inside of the diagnostics screen):

CPU Thermistor: 65C
Ambient Thermistor: 27 C
SODIMM Thermistor: 39 C
Video Thermistor: 54 C

Back on the topic of the diagnostics, I'm running a CPU stress test and
the CPU Thermistor has grown to 69 C.

After some time the fan speed has finally increased to 3257 RPM and I
can finally clearly hear that it is spinning. Once the test completed
and the CPU temp started dropping, so did the fan speed, finally
settling back to about 2900 RPM.

I'm still puzzled why the laptop appears to lockup when attempting to
login to the desktop environment when using CentOS, but not Ubuntu
15.04. Any thoughts there?

Back on the topic of CentOS, I ran 'watch /usr/bin/sensors' for about 20
minutes and the temp only slightly fluctuated. It was only the login
attempt that shut down the system.