Re: [Libreboot] MacBook 2,1: reduce CPU temperature

[Albin]

Hi,

Den 2016-08-18 kl. 21:52, skrev Marcel Maci:
> 
> Hello Albin,
> I started like you, drilling only a few holes at the beginning because, of 
> course, you don't want to do damage to your computer. But I think that the 
> more holes you make the better the airflow is (as you can see on the photos I 
> ended up with about 25 holes ...)
> Don't understand why it got louder though (what kind of noise is it? 
> Vibration? Or do you hear the spinnig of the fan?)

The latter, especially when I lift the computer up in the air.

> Other factors that have an influence are:
> 1. Outlet for the air (towards the screen): make sure you clean any dust from 
> the "copper lamella" where the air passes through

The outlet, and the machine in general, was very clean both before and
after I drilled the holes.

> 2. Some space underneath the MacBook so that the air can circulate (normally 
> with the standard "feet" you have just 1-2 mm which is good, you can improve 
> the result by putting something underneath the MB at the back)

This seems to make no difference. If I start a few demanding
applications such as Gnome Maps plus Hedgewars, then the computer
quickly reaches 80 degrees and it makes no difference (other than in
terms of fan noise) if I lift it up from the floor. If I don't use the
machine much it's usually around 60--65 degrees, both now and before I
made the eight holes.

> If you install the sensors package you can monitor cpu temperature an fan 
> speed with:
> watch -n 1 "sensors | grep Core"
> watch -n 1 "sensors | grep RPM"

I knew about the sensors package but this is the first time I see that
command. Thanks!

> Hope this helps and greetings,
> Marcel

I think I will drill a few more holes.

Cheers

Albin

> 
> 
>> El 18 ago 2016, a las 20:04, Albin <address@hidden> escribió:
>>
>> Hi Marcel,
>>
>> I'm glad that this method worked out so well for you. I got inspired and
>> drilled a few holes in my own macbook2,1. As you can see from the
>> pictures below I made just eight holes in the shape of a ring.
>> Unfortunately, my results were not so good; there was no apparent
>> difference in temperature, but instead the computer just got a little
>> bit louder. I guess that more holes are needed...
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Albin
>>
>>
>>> Den 2016-08-18 kl. 12:16, skrev Marcel Maci:
>>>
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> Just in case somebody is interested in flashing Libreboot on a Macbook 2,1, 
>>> I'd like to share my experience here: 
>>> As you know, the MacBook gets quite hot (event hotter with Libreboot). You 
>>> can adjust the fan settings (as described here: 
>>> https://github.com/bibanon/Coreboot-ThinkPads/wiki/Macbook-2-1), but this 
>>> is not a good solution. The basic problem with the MacBook is that it has 
>>> no opening (air inlet) for the fan (it takes hot air from the inside which 
>>> is not effective at all). On the Trisquel forum 
>>> (https://github.com/bibanon/Coreboot-ThinkPads/wiki/Macbook-2-1) I read 
>>> about a guy who cut a hole in the bottom part of the MacBook (just where 
>>> the fan is). He reports that CPU temperatures can be 10-20 degrees lower. 
>>> So I decided to apply this solution myself by thrilling a series of smaller 
>>> holes (instead of one big hole) into the body of the MacBook. I can confirm 
>>> that this lowers the CPU temperatures in a very efficient way:
>>> - before the modification cpu temperatures were always around 65-70 degrees 
>>> even when I was working normally (i.e. without heavy cpu load) and the fan 
>>> was constantly on and turning on full speed (6200 rpm)
>>> - now the temperatures are constantly around 55-65 degres and the fan only 
>>> kicks in from time to time and doesn't get over 4500-5000 rpm normally 
>>> (only with HD videos the fan spins at max speed and cpu temperatures get up 
>>> to 75 or eventually 80 degrees).
>>> I'm really happy with this solution. Make sure to be careful when drilling 
>>> the holes (especially cleaning up the small metal pieces that the thrilling 
>>> produces) and smoothenig the interior with sand paper. Do it from the 
>>> inside and with the fan removed (see photos).
>>> Be sure to install a newer kernel (I'm using 4.2 - with 3.13 the touchpad 
>>> was just UNUSABLE!), reconfigure the keyboard and you will get one of the 
>>> best Libreboot-experiences in my opinion!
>>> Greetings,
>>> Marcel
>> <mb21-fan-holes2.jpg>
>> <mb21-fan-holes1.jpg>
>