#725704 xserver-xorg-video-radeon: driver overheats laptop, forces constant fan usage

Package:
xserver-xorg-video-radeon
Source:
xserver-xorg-video-ati
Description:
X.Org X server -- AMD/ATI Radeon display driver
Submitter:
Al Stone
Date:
2013-10-07 16:45:05 UTC
Severity:
important
#725704#5
Date:
2013-10-07 15:04:27 UTC
From:
To:
Yesterday I did normal sid maintenance on my laptop -- apt-get -f -u
dist-upgrade.  While it was very annoying to have the fglrx-legacy code
removed from my laptop, it was survivable.  In fact, it seemed a good
opportunity to get rid of the ATI binary-only driver.  However, on using
the radeon driver, my laptop now stays very warm constantly, and the
cooling fan never stops running (over 24 hours now).  On checking, it
appears to be running 5-10 degrees Centigrade warmer all the time, just
over the fan trip point.

The radeon device is:

02:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] RV710/M92 [Mobility Radeon HD 4530/4570/545v] [1002:9553]

The laptop itself is a System76 Pangolin Performance panp7 -- a bit
older, but only seems to have this heating problem with the radeon
driver.
#725704#10
Date:
2013-10-07 15:22:51 UTC
From:
To:
Can you try booting a 3.11 kernel with radeon.dpm=1 on the kernel
command line?
#725704#15
Date:
2013-10-07 15:39:08 UTC
From:
To:
Sure.  What's changed between 3.10 and 3.11 that would have an
affect?  Just DPM?
#725704#20
Date:
2013-10-07 15:56:50 UTC
From:
To:
Yes.
#725704#25
Date:
2013-10-07 16:43:29 UTC
From:
To:
Aha.  That is much, much better.  3.11 without radeon.dpm=1 behaves
the same as 3.10; 3.11 _with_ radeon.dpm=1 quiets everything down.  I
don't know why it had not occurred to me it could be the fan for the
radeon, not the CPUs :(.

That being said, it seems like radeon.dpm=1 should be the default
behavior.