SETI and laptops?

Dreamstalker · Nov 23, 2004

How well does SETI play with laptops? I have it running on a POS Dell Inspiron (feh) with thermal issues. My system temps shoot up near 70 (sometimes over, but I haven't crashed out yet) and my fan doesn't seem happy. What could I do to bring my temps back to something resembling normal (the way this laptop's been behaving, I like to keep my temps around or under 40)?

TC · Nov 23, 2004

Guess it depends on the type of processor. I've run seti on several laptops dating back to 1999. I never had an issue with any of them, but I know a couple of them ran hotter than I would have liked. My latest laptop is a thinkpad t42p with a 2GHz pentium M. It actually runs pretty cool. In fact the fan rarely comes on even while running seti 24/7. I know there are some pcmcia laptop card coolers you can buy. Might want to look into that.

Shabadoo · Nov 23, 2004

Have you cleaned the heat sink and fan?

I hate to state the obvious but laptop heat sinks get dirty just like desktop heat sinks. Pull the processor and put on some new thermal grease too.

Mictlan · Nov 23, 2004

Mine been crunching SETI for 1 year with no problems so far

But it's a PM 1.5

sir_LOIN · Nov 24, 2004

Been crunching with my 2 laptop with no problems whatsoever for awhile now. Toshiba Satellite P4 1.7 and Compaq presario with XP 1500

Daewood · Nov 24, 2004

well my laptop is not fast but it can stay on all the time and not get hot or be loud...

and it has been crunching boinc for about a year

Dreamstalker · Nov 24, 2004

I'll look into a cooling pad this weekend; have to go on the prowl for NAVI parts anyway. Will also try cracking the case and cleaning out the heatsink on this beast; just need to figure out how to do it correctly (Dell has a how-to in the manual for removing the keyboard, but of course they won't tell anyone how to really open it up and I don't want to ruin it before I get NAVI up and running).

LandShark · Nov 25, 2004

I've been crunching SETI on several laptop myself too. currently crunch on a PIII 1.0Ghz and a P-M 1.6 Ghz (Dothan) laptop. as TC mentioned, it depends on the brand and the cpu. some runs fairly cool while others get burning hot! also, beside of the heat and other reasons, wear & tear rate is much higher (faster) than on any typical desktop tho! (had replace hard drives on 2 laptops and another one's screen die)

Dreamstalker · Nov 29, 2004

Got a cooling pad, and it seems to be fine in screensaver mode (~10c lower than before I got the pad). Got a BSOD earlier that doesn't seem to have anything to do with it...haven't tried running it in the background, but I have it going fulltime on a desktop that seems OK with it.

Lancelot · Dec 2, 2004

Running BOINC/SETI on a hp Pentium-M 1.6 laptop whenever on AC power, often 24/7. Very cool, very silent, very fast, and the adapter is only 65Watts.

SETI and laptops?

Dreamstalker

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TC

Senior Seti Addict

Shabadoo

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Mictlan

Senior OC BOINC User

sir_LOIN

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Daewood

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Dreamstalker

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LandShark

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Dreamstalker

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Lancelot

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