This is my first time asking a question here, so let me know if you need more information.
TL;DR:
- Why doesn't my fan show up in pwmconfig?
- Why is my computer overheating on specific programs?
- This is either a software issue or a ventilation issue, not a thermal paste issue, because it started suddenly a month ago.
A month ago, my Ubuntu laptop suddenly began randomly shutting down while I was doing various work. It took me a while to figure out why, but I'm 90% sure it's an overheating issue.
Usually it happens after I've been using it for a while, maybe 2 hours or so, but sometimes specific programs make it happen right away.
For example, the appimage I have for Arduino IDE causes an overheat within about ten seconds after launch. I've installed lm-sensors which tells me the temperature, and I've watched it go from 40C to 70C in a matter of seconds, at which point the whole system shuts down. The fan doesn't seem to speed up much while the temperature is spiking.
This wasn't happening before a month ago. I've been using that program for months with no issue, and suddenly it's completely inoperable.
I tried doing the following to check the fan:
sudo sensors-detect
(I went through the whole process
sudo service kmod start
sudo pwmconfig
- this returns the following error:
/usr/sbin/pwmconfig: There are no pwm-capable sensor modules installed
Which is weird, because I'm pretty sure the fan works. I can hear it running, just not very loud.
I'm running Ubuntu 22.04 on a Toshiba Satellite Radius, which was originally loaded with Windows 8.