Precision 7730 Ubuntu Overheating

Question

Dell Laptop 7730 XCTO BASE Xeon E-2186M  Radeon Pro WX 7100 32 Gig Ram, 512 M.2 SSD, Ubuntu 16.04 (and later 18.01), BIOS, Thermald and intel-microcode up to date, using a USB powered dual fan coolerpad. 'Core temperature above threshold, cpu clock throttled (total events = 1)' Bought system new from Dell, noticed after a few days I was getting frequent throttling in dmesg. Began watching closely. Multiple calls and emails to tech support. Updating BIOS didn't help. Installed 18.01 same problem. After about a month tech arrived on site to replace MB. New (?) MB would not post, DOA. Put original MB back in. Another week of emails to tech support. Was sent a new system, same specs. Overheated and was throttling while Ubuntu was being set up! Updated BIOS. More calls to tech support. Installed Psensor and I'm now keeping constant watch of temps and fan speeds. It appears that when temps spike it can often take 5 seconds for fans to turn on. All this is happening with just Psensor, email and browser running (Evolution and Brave). The next tech got my problem mixed up with another and accidentally had me install Windows. After an entire day of trying to get the massive updates installed without a blue screen I gave up. Then when I restored the Dell 16.01 OS I had a Dell icon on the desktop, Dell was root and of course I didn't know the password! Gave up on that after two tries and installed 18.04 which seems stable. When TurboBoost is turned off in BIOS the temps usually run in the 50C range. With TurboBoost on it will often run up to 92C and at times I've seen 101. On occasion it will run most all day without heating then for no apparent reason begin running in the 80s and 90s again. Now they want this machine to test. My fear is that to 'test' they will have to let it cook itself. If I get these temps with what very little load I'm putting on it I'd hate to think what would happen if it was stressed!! I'm no expert by a long shot but have had many years of experience repairing, building, loading and some programming. Seems to me this HAS to be a BIOS issue. The only hardware fix might be re-pasting with something like liquid metal and even that shouldn't change things that much. I've been working on this every day for over a month and a half I could really use some additional help  :-O So my questions are: Fans are controlled by the BIOS, is that not correct? At what temps should the fans start and then begin to ramp? Are there any plans to address this problem with an updated BIOS? I hear rumors that Dell will soon officially roll out 18.04 since 16.01 is nearing end of life, is that right? Would an i7 system run cooler? (Sounds like the i9 runs quite hot as well). What is the Dell install password and how do I get around that restore problem if it happens again? Canonical could only suggest I look into installing i8kutils. Any thoughts? Seems quite complicated and possibly dangerous! I read that some are complaining that their systems are too loud, I REALLY wish this was loud at least the fans would be keeping things cool! BTW Why isn't there a Precision board in Dell Laptop Community and why can't I start one?

Reddy Kilowatt · Answer

This is the update to the 7730 overheating and throttling.

Well you will all be happy to know that after four months, hundreds of hours, and three different machines the problem has been resolved.

Turns out that 99C isn't hot! Imagine my surprise!

Here's the quote,

"I spoke with my technical lead, and as it turns out, 99C is not considered an overheat. The processor can handle around 110-120C in short bursts, and that very well may drive CPU temps to 99C or upwards in short bursts."

Kalceta · Answer

When I play a game that has no major graphical challenges, the notebook overheats too much. I am in a cool place and on a table. There's an update, but it doesn't say anything to fix the overheating problem. The Bios version I have is 1.11 and the update is 1.12.1.

DELL-Cares · Answer

Hi Kalceta, we would recommend you updating the BIOS along with the chipset drivers.

BIOS:https://dell.to/3cHCVMc

Intel Thermal frame work:https://dell.to/2xTFOuz

Intel Chipset:https://dell.to/2xS04wL.^PC

eidal · Answer

@Reddy Kilowatt @Kalceta

Actually I do not know if the problem is still relevant for you but using RHEL 7.9 I stumbled upon the same beahavior... with latest version of BIOS (1.14) at date of writing this post (10/01/2020).

It appears that fan profils are preempted by the DELL BIOS and... let's face it DELL support with Linux is just ... A CPU ramping to 90°C is indeed a problem and it is what I experienced with a Linux install. In order to solve the problem I had to create script and use packages (developped by the wonderful community without any help of DELL). Now it works and fan profiles are far better than the ones implemented by DELL for Windows... and you can tweak them by the way

I have not written an article to explain the process but if it is necessary I could do it for you and the others facing the same problem... it was a pain to make it work on RHEL frankly. Hope it is not too late

Reddy Kilowatt · Answer

Same problem. My 'fix' is leave turbo turned off in bios. (generally runs 50-60 with spikes to 80 on occasion) To be honest, with what I generally do on this machine I don't 'need' turbo. Would be great to have a solution however, any help appreciated. Thanks so much...

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