Score:0

Ubuntu

My laptop decreased in performances after installing Skype and Zoom

Siderius

4/27/24, 1:24 PM

Here is what I did with my machine:

I installed skype from the the Ubuntu Software.
I installed zoom-client again from the Ubuntu Software.
Since I got problems with screen sharing, I decided to disable Wayland.

After the restart, my laptop freezed as soon as Skype was launched. The only thing to do was to quit skype before the launching and disable it. However things are not the same: my laptop sometimes "lags" and, most important, now the fan is always on, even during the lock mode. I tried to install tlp but there is not improvement.

For this reason I also tried to re-enabled Wayland. I don't know to what extent the installation of Zoom is relevant for this issue, maybe it is just a spurious correlation.

How do I fix the fact that my laptop fan is always on? Does it interfere with the continuous freezing that the system has?

EDIT: if I unplug the power supply the fan is silent event though the cpu usage remains the same. Moreover the temperature values provided by the command sensors are below 34 C°.

EDIT: This is the output of executing the command sensors:

k10temp-pci-00c3
Adapter: PCI adapter
Tctl:         +35.0°C  

BAT1-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
in0:          17.29 V  

amdgpu-pci-0500
Adapter: PCI adapter
vddgfx:      443.00 mV 
vddnb:       687.00 mV 
edge:         +30.0°C  
PPT:           0.00 W  

nvme-pci-0400
Adapter: PCI adapter
Composite:    +21.9°C  (low  =  -0.1°C, high = +76.8°C)
                       (crit = +79.8°C)

acpitz-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
temp1:        +35.0°C  (crit = +125.0°C)

It was also suggested to have a look at the folder /etc/thermald/ which, in my case, contains the file thermal-cpu-cdev-order.xml. If I read this file I get:

<!--
Specifies the order of compensation to cool CPU only.
There is a default already implemented in the code, but
this file can be used to change order

The Following cooling device can present

-->

<CoolingDeviceOrder>
    <!-- Specify Cooling device order -->
    <CoolingDevice>rapl_controller</CoolingDevice>
    <CoolingDevice>intel_pstate</CoolingDevice>
    <CoolingDevice>intel_powerclamp</CoolingDevice>
    <CoolingDevice>cpufreq</CoolingDevice>
    <CoolingDevice>Processor</CoolingDevice>
</CoolingDeviceOrder>

EDIT: The temperatures values after a 3:30 mins stress test provided by s-tui are:

Temp       [C]
Acpitz,0   61.0
Edge,0     48.0
Tctl,0     61.5 
Composite  23.9

The frequency at the end of the test corresponds to the nominal frequency of the laptop.

Specs: Lenovo Ideapad Gaming with Ubuntu 22.04 .

0 + 15

fan

skype

freeze

fancontrol

20.04

Nmath

4/27/24, 1:33 PM

What are your temps? Could it be thermal throttling?

Siderius

4/27/24, 3:44 PM

@Nmath Could you please be more specific? What do you mean by "temps"? Moreover I had a similar behaviour before I reinstalled the os.

rtaft

4/27/24, 5:56 PM

start with cpu usage, you can use `top`, checking temps, you can use `sensors`.

Siderius

4/27/24, 6:55 PM

@Nmath thank you for clarifying. As for the problem per se, the issue is definitely software/OS oriented since everything appeared after those crashes due to the installation of skype. After the reinstallation of the OS the fan was fine and the laptop didn't experience those "freezing moments". Concerning the temperature monitoring, could you please follow my reply to the user rtaft?

Siderius

4/27/24, 7:02 PM

@rtaft we are talking about a web browsing usage, the fan is definitely more active than before skype installation. However the cpu(s) usage is always below 7%, all the temperatures values provided by the sensors command are below 34 C° . If I unplug the power supply everything goes silent even though the CPU usage is the same.

Nmath

4/27/24, 7:11 PM

Why did you only test this with the power unplugged? If running on battery, the laptop will use less power. Less power means less heat. So unplugging your laptop to test to determine if the issue is related to heat is not going to adequately test for a heat/cooling related problem. To test for heat/cooling problems, you should plug in your system and run a stress test on your system. Run something that takes 100% of your CPU for an extended period of time. At least a few minutes of sustained maximum CPU usage is needed. Keep open your sensors and resource monitor.

Siderius

4/27/24, 7:15 PM

@Nmath avoid making confusions based on an insufficient reasoning. A priori the installation of a software may disable/remove something. in addition the machine had several crashes that might have affected the system. In the body of the question I mentioned the word spurious correlation; in this respect I am attacking the problem from the temperature side not from the software side, also following your precious advices.

Siderius

4/27/24, 7:19 PM

@Nmath as I wrote in the original body of the question, the possibility of a spurious correlation was already taken into account. There is no need to underline that.

Nmath

4/27/24, 7:35 PM

All of the evidence so far supports a hypothesis of either a cooling issue or perhaps insufficient resources (like a memory leak). The only evidence supporting the problem having to do with Skype and zoom is that the problem was noticed after installing this software. So let's either confirm or eliminate the most likely explanations before we go into anything else (Ockham's razor)

Siderius

4/27/24, 7:38 PM

@Nmath I reinstalled the same version of Ubuntu. I tried to run a (parallel) code that takes 20 % of the CPU usage for more than 10 minutes with the power supply plugged. The fan is silent. I tried with a "heavier" code that takes 30 % of the CPU and the fan activity is approximately the same as before (this recent) OS reinstallation.

Siderius

4/27/24, 7:48 PM

@Nmath as I said I disabled skype and I was dealing with the problem not from the "software side". For this reason I have already eliminated skype as a present source of problem. The fact that the tile and the body contains it is called "give an idea of the phenomenology". I repeated the test procedure related to the previous comment and the fan is still working fine and the OS reinstallation seems to be successful.

Nmath

4/27/24, 8:07 PM

OK. To test for cooling issues you need to run your CPU at 100% for at least 3-5 minutes. You can use stress testing software or run something like Prime95

rtaft

4/27/24, 8:07 PM

34C says to me the fan is at full speed when it shouldn't be...only when plugged in. `/etc/thermald` config files might be the place to look for anything unusual if that is running and configured.

Siderius

4/27/24, 9:04 PM

@rtaft I added to the main body of the question the output of the command sensors. The output is the same as the pre-installation status. Moreover inside the folder `/etc/thermald` there is only the file `thermal-cpu-cdev-order.xml`. I have added the cat of it as well.

Siderius

4/27/24, 9:21 PM

@Nmath I used the s-tui test. I have added the temperatures at the end of the test to the edit of the main body of the question.

Elon Musk

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EN: My laptop decreased in performances after installing Skype and Zoom

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