Overheating laptop, should I try a lighweight distro - which one?

Hello Penguins,

I’m looking for distro advice. For the last 4-5years I have rocked this laptop, MSI PS63 Modern RC. I have tried Debian, Garuda, Ubuntu, and now currently rocking Tumbleweed. Although I am statisfied with the current choice of distro, my laptop still overheats like crazy whenever its preasured even slightly, for example: doing updates, being on zoom for uni, or ofc low-end gaming.

I realise the laptop is old, but i really want it to last half a year longer before i start working for a company, which then will replace my need for having a personal laptop.

So, should I try a more lightweight distro or do you think the problem lies elsewhere? I’ve had the same issue across all other distros i’ve tried. I’ve looked at trying Alpine and MicroOS from openSUSE.

Appriciate any pointers!

furycd001,
@furycd001@lemmy.ml avatar

The operating system in use shouldn’t be a factor. Consider opening your laptop to perform a thorough cleaning, and also consider replacing the thermal paste as well. If you’re not comfortable doing this yourself, taking it to a repair shop is a viable option. Investing in a cooling stand for the laptop would also be beneficial…

LunchEnjoyer,
@LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world avatar

I’m alot on the go so don’t think there is a practical enough cooling stand for me, but thanks 🌻

buzziebee,

Replacing the thermal paste is essential. It dries out over time and stops conducting heat effectively. Cleaning the fans and radiator fins is important too. Takes an hour or so if you don’t know what you’re doing so shouldn’t take long. I’ve kept my laptop going for years by doing that every 2 years or so.

furycd001,
@furycd001@lemmy.ml avatar

There are some slim battery operated cooling stands listed on Amazon. Not sure how well they’d work, but they are always an option…

shalafi,

Lots of cleaning advice, but let me add this bit: If you crack it open and use a can of air on it, unplug the CPU fan first. Super easy if you’ve gone that far.

LunchEnjoyer,
@LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world avatar

Okidoki 👍

Dreadnaught,

And before using a can of fresh air, look into an electronics fan. Compressed air doesn’t actually play nice with electronics

mintycactus,
@mintycactus@lemmy.world avatar

deleted_by_author

    •
    dabaldeagul,
    @dabaldeagul@feddit.nl avatar

    What?

    LunchEnjoyer,
    @LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world avatar

    Uh thanks?

    wfh, (edited )

    I have almost the same laptop (PS63 8M, without any nVidia dGPU).

    One of the issues I had to solve was the touchpad spamming interrupts after waking up from sleep. It would keep one core at 100% indefinitely, keeping CPU frequency (and temps) quite high and burning through the battery.

    Here’s the fix: bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=1865745#p1865…

    This behavior seems fixed on modern kernels since I’ve installed Fedora recently and didn’t have to do this workaround, but you can still check if this still applies to you.

    You might also check if you can disable the dGPU in the BIOS (can’t check since I don’t have one), and/or play with power profiles either through Gnome or tlp (lower power profiles will make your laptop very sluggish though).

    Maybe check if both your fans are running. I had to replace one of mine that was starting to fail a year ago.

    Other than that, I’ve never had any overheating issues with this laptop.

    LunchEnjoyer,
    @LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world avatar

    I will definitely check this out, merci 🌼

    wfh,

    De rien ;)

    KISSmyOS,

    A lightweight distro won’t help you since gaming and zoom will still consume the same amount of resources.
    Whatever your distro/DE needs to run itself isn’t even a drop in the ocean compared to your browser for example.

    Irkiosan,

    I sounds like you have to apply new cooling paste. This might be a pain to do on a laptop but certainly worth it. Another distro probably won’t do the trick, whether it’s minimal or not.

    LunchEnjoyer,
    @LunchEnjoyer@lemmy.world avatar

    Yeah it seems so, will try to get it done soon 👌

    alonely0, (edited )

    What you need to do is clean the dust off of your fans and ventilation filters (check guides or figure it as you go, but make sure to disconnect the battery and the fans from the mobo as soon as you open it). Then, repaste it with good thermal paste or some liquid metal if you’re feeling confident. I have liquid metal (thermal grizzly condoctonaut) on both of my laptops, and one of them which had overheated since day one, doesn’t anymore.

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