HP 8510p notebok overheating with ubuntu

Question

I've recently instaled ubuntu 12.10 on my notebook and noticed that it starts overheating after a few minutes of simple usage having only for example a browser opened or reading a pdf so nothing procesor intentsive.

I've tried also with xubuntu desctop thinking that it would be more lightweight, but with no success.

I have a core2duo intel porcesor and ati radeon 2600HD graphic card.

I've also tried to install the proprietary drivers for the graphic card but no success, when I install drivers and login the menu is gone in unity

Do I have any chanses to stop this overheating...any hints?

I'm pasting the sensors output :

Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +71.0°C  (crit = +105.0°C)
temp2:        +45.0°C  (crit = +105.0°C)
temp3:        +26.8°C  (crit = +105.0°C)
temp4:        +75.0°C  (crit = +110.0°C)
temp5:        +55.0°C  (crit = +256.0°C)
temp6:        +45.0°C  (crit = +105.0°C)

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Core 0:       +49.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:       +47.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)

radeon-pci-0100
Adapter: PCI adapter
temp1:        +51.0°C  

the temp1 and temp4 are problematic, temp4 sometimes goes as far as 100%

Anyway how can I find out what temp1 and tem4 are refered to? Is that a graphic card chip or something else?

Just hit the 100°C

acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1:        +75.0°C  (crit = +105.0°C)
temp2:        +46.0°C  (crit = +105.0°C)
temp3:        +27.0°C  (crit = +105.0°C)
temp4:       +100.0°C  (crit = +110.0°C)
temp5:        +55.0°C  (crit = +256.0°C)
temp6:        +45.0°C  (crit = +105.0°C)
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Core 0:       +49.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:       +47.0°C  (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
radeon-pci-0100
Adapter: PCI adapter
temp1:        +56.0°C  

Aditional info:

• the fan is working on 100% when overheating occures

• I've installed also WIN7 on the same notebook and there the problem is not occuring

• the CPU is 99% idle when overheating occures so it is not the CPU

• I've also updatet the BIOS to the latest image but does not help

Answer 1

The most likely reason for the overheat is that the CPU is being driven at or close to 100% utilisation.

Fire up a copy of system monitor and look to see what your CPU utilisation is, if it's high as I suspect, then use the system monitor to look at running processes etc, see if you can determine which of those processes is the one most using the CPU.

If there's a clear leader then if possible terminate that process and see if your CPU cools down.

One thing to always remember about laptops is that most of them are passively cooled and / or only have relatively small fans, it may not be any software that your running thats causing it, it may just be the way your using it or sitting it on your knee for example.

I used to have a thinkpad that had a very small cooling aperture, and it only needed to be on my knee for less that a minute before the cooling system kicked into high gear due to getting too hot.

I don't know where in the world you are, but here in the UK we have a chain of shops called "poundland" who just recently have been selling USB laptop stands, these are a perspex stand about 1 inch high with a perforated deck and a fan in the middle with a USB plug on. Plugging the USB plug into your laptop USB port powers the fan and blows cool air across the bottom giving it extra ability to keep cool. There cheep and cheerful, but at £1 uk you can't go wrong.

UPDATE

After a little bit of research, it's also come to light that some model's of HP laptops have a problem with the BIOS, this problem prevents the BIOS from switching on the fans correctly using the power management facilities on the device, the good news is that a patch can be obtained from HP to rectify the issue, and like all patches can be downloaded from the HP site.

UPDATE 2

http://h30499.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-HP-ProBook-EliteBook/8510p-overheating/td-p/1029105

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-compaq/368280-my-8510ps-temps-rising.html

http://forum.notebookreview.com/hp-compaq/185730-hp-8510p-weird-crashes.html

There also seems to be a general conscious that the copper piping inside this model is badly designed and not up-to the job of removing the amount of heat they need to.