Ubuntu : How To Fix Over Heating of Laptops with Switchable Graphics

Linux > Tips, Tricks and Hacks - by - on 23 comments

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Ubuntu in a Laptop

In the latest Ubuntu 12.04, they have fixed most of the over heating issues we faced with new laptops. Now, Ubuntu knows how to play nice with the new CPUs. But, what about the GPUs? If you have switchable graphics on your laptops, you’ll still face some over heating because Linux doesn’t have compatible drivers for some of these cards. So, the best thing to do is, turn off the high performance GPU and switch to the Intel HD graphics.

In Windows, it’s really easy… You just have to right-click and go to the VGA switching menu. But when it comes to Linux… No, it’s not that hard… Let me show you how to do it…

  • First, open the rc.local file as the root user :

  •  Now, copy and paste the following lines just before the line exit 0 :

The first line will make /sys/kernel/debug writable by the current user (who is executing the script, not you). The second line will turn off the high performance GPU.

Now, reboot your machine and you should be running on the Intel HD graphics. If you used the machine for a lot of time before doing the switch, it will take some time for it to cool off. Keep it turned off for at least half an hour and switch it back and you should feel the difference! If you encounter any problems, don’t forget to ask them in our forum and we’ll be happy to help!

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This awesome post was written by Pubudu Kodikara

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Currently, I'm preparing a delicious meal... I take ingredients from the tech world... I have already used 2 tea spoons of software, 3 table spoons of network, a cup of linux, a jug of web and many more tasty ingredients!
  • Mohamed El Egipcio

    thanks a lot but i still cant switch between ATI and Intel cards in my HP laptop
    can you please help me with this because i try to read a lot since 3 months but without any result
    thanks again for your help and support

    • http://techhamlet.com/ Pubudu Kodikara

      Did the above trick solve the heating issue?

  • Leo

    I have 2 ATI video cards, will this also work for that? Thanks

    • http://techhamlet.com/ Pubudu Kodikara

      2 ATI Cards? Whats the laptop model?

      • Leo

        Never mind i found a fix. I downloaded the AMD manager off their website and now I can manually switch between. thanks though.

        • http://techhamlet.com/ Pubudu Kodikara

          AMD manager? Can you please share the link? :)

          • Annoyed

            OH dog! I hate it when they find a solution and just post “ok phuck u found the answer” without actually saying the answer

  • Luis Larghi

    Well I don’t know if it work, but Unity 3D effects still not present =/ and battery life is the same…

    • http://techhamlet.com/ Pubudu Kodikara

      Is it ATI or Nvidia? Are you sure you are having switchable graphics? This can be a problem with the VGA drivers. But if you have switchable graphics, the restricted drivers might not work!

      • Luis Larghi

        I have an ASUS A53S with Intel i7 Sandy Bridge and Nvidia GT540m (Optimus). I haven’t install the restricted drivers yet, but it doesn’t matter anymore because I’ve install Bumblebee and it did help a lot. Now I have Unity 3D effects, I can run heavy graphics games, and battery life increased to almost 4h.

  • sid

    Thanks a lot!It works for me.

  • Sony Vaio

    Thank you so so so much, I has been searching for a solution of my Sony Vaio Kubuntu Linux based overheating problem, I have Intel with Radeon, now my radeon temperature dropped to zero according to Psensor, before it was over 70 celcius, thank you very very much. God bless you :)

  • DE_vil

    Well will this switch will affect in windows too or just the switch will happen in ubuntu only (in the case of dual booting).

  • kais58

    I’m having issues with my HP laptop aswell, runs very hot on fedora, this has 2 ATI cards though, an AT HD5470 and an ATI HD42XX, not sure what to, just want it to run as cool as possible. Currently using radeon driver.

  • Giovanni Sosa

    Thanks, is there any way to check if the Nvidia Card is disabled? i think there is less heat but i’m not sure if ti worked.

    • engid87

      run this command in a shell

      “sudo cat /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch”

      it will show you 3 values, IGD is the integrated GPU, DIS is the discrete (nvidia)

  • Paul Williams

    Hi, any ideas on how I switch back to the ATI card every now and again, a script or something? I appreciate this fix anyway. Thanks

    • http://techhamlet.com/ Pubudu Kodikara

      You can do it through the AMD control panel :)

      • Paul Williams

        Hey, sorry for the long time between posts, and thanks for your quick reply- I dont have the AMD control panel as the AMD drivers dont support my card 7470m, im on ubuntu 12.10 and want to switch back from sandybridge to xorg driver… ?

  • Hari

    Dude i have a Nvidia GT 525m graphic card..but i have not installed any driver for that…The graphics shows “Intel® Sandybridge Mobile x86/MMX/SSE2 ” in the “about the computer “option in Ubuntu 12.10…I am experiencing overheating even when i do word processing…as if i am playing 2 hrs of gaming on windows..please help me out..:)

    thanks in advance:)

    • http://techhamlet.com/ Pubudu Kodikara

      Try installing the latest additional drivers (current-updates). It might fix the issue… but you might nee to install “linux-source” and “linux-headers-3.5.0-17-generic” first

  • http://www.facebook.com/angelo.russo83 Angelo Russo

    Thank you, that worked: much cooler laptop and doubled battery life

    (ACER 4820TG with Radeon HD6550)