Fossa64 9.5 screensaver overheating cpu

[wizard]

I've installed fossa64 9.5 on multiple laptops without any issues. Two of the laptops have overheated when the default screen saver initiates. Here are pertinent specs:

-Puppy fossa64 9.5 frugal install
-laptops have standard video chips, no nvidia or other enhanced video
-cpu cooling fans are clean and unobstructed
-normal idle tempertures=45-50C
-cpu cooling fans start to increase rpm within 30 seconds and overheating occurs within 3 minutes of screensaver activation

Laptops:
-Dell Latitude E6430, cpu=Intel I5-3320, overheats to 70C plus
-Lenovo X220, cpu=Intel I5-2410, overheats to 90C plus

Other information:
-running menu>setup>Screen/Graphics Wizard>Screensaver, checking, Enable screensaver, Blank the screen, Allow exposures also results in overheating. HOWEVER, when unchecking Blank the screen it does not overheat the cpu.
-neither laptop overheats when using Slacko 6.3 or Dpup Stretch 7.5 default screensavers (looks like the same script).

This is worth noting since the screensaver is enabled by default and the overheating, particularly on the x220, could damage the hardware.

I've solved the problem on these computers as follows:
-disable the default screen saver
-modify the file, autoshutdown_daemon, to do a suspend
-enabling autoshutdown by running: menu>system>puppy event manager>power, then setting
the inactivity interval

wizard

[williams2]

I set my monitors to turn off after 15 minutes of inactivity like this:

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xset dpms 900 0 0

The numbers are seconds to standby / suspend / turn-off the monitors.

For my machine, standby and suspend and off all do the same thing, turn off the monitors.

What happens if you do this in a text terminal (console)?

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xset dpms 0 0 5

This should turn off your monitors after 5 seconds of inactivity.
Does it cause overheating?

You can disable turning off the monitors,like this:

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xset dpms 0 0 0

My laptop typically runs at 50C to 65C. It's 55C now.

[wizard]

@williams2

thanks for your reply. The xset dpms 0 0 5 overheats just like the default screensaver. Still a mystery and just on the two laptops listed above

wizard

[williams2]

Maybe FossaPup's drivers don't support the older hardware as well as an older Puppy would?

What is the cpu scaling governor set to?

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cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_governors
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor

If the governor is set to performance it might overheat.

But it could be the video card overheating not the cpu.

On my machine, xset dpms turns my monitors completely off, it doesn't just darken all the pixels.

[wizard]

@williams2

governors are set on powersave and locked at the lowest mhz allowed. Also, xset dpms appears to turn of the screens completely. Experimenting with xset s I found that running this command from a terminal dims the screen to black (in 10 sec), but doesn't turn it off and it does not overheat. May suggest it's a video chip/driver issue.

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xset s noblank && xset s expose && xset s 10

wizard

[666philb]

try turning off the compositor and see if that's the problem

menu>>desktop>>jwmdesk>>window effects

[wizard]

@666philb

That was it, stopped the compositor, removed from startup, no more overheating in screensaver standy.

mystery solved, thanks

wizard

[wizard]

Turning off the compositor stops the overheating, but it also disables conky's transparent background. Turning the compositor on and choosing BackEnds>Xrender restores the transparent background AND stops the overheating.

wizard