Ttgjyuk

I've installed Ubuntu 11.10 on a Dell Inspiron N5010. It gets too hot and is automatically shutdown. Can anybody suggest why this is happening and how to fix it?

The application is use the most often are:

1. Eclipse with android plugin


2. Banshee player


3. GIMP


4. Wine

The output of lsmod is:

Module Size Used by
bnep 17923 2 
rfcomm 38408 8 
pci_stub 12550 1 
vboxpci 22882 0 
vboxnetadp 13328 0 
vboxnetflt 27211 0 
vboxdrv 251814 3 vboxpci,vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt
parport_pc 32114 0 
ppdev 12849 0 
binfmt_misc 17292 1 
joydev 17393 0 
btusb 18160 2 
bluetooth 148839 23 bnep,rfcomm,btusb
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 31426 1 
snd_hda_codec_idt 60049 1 
arc4 12473 2 
dell_wmi 12601 0 
sparse_keymap 13658 1 dell_wmi
uvcvideo 67271 0 
dell_laptop 13519 0 
dcdbas 14098 1 dell_laptop
videodev 85626 1 uvcvideo
snd_hda_intel 28358 2 
snd_hda_codec 91754 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 13276 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 80468 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi 13132 0 
snd_rawmidi 25241 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 14475 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 51567 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 28932 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
intel_ips 17753 0 
snd_seq_device 14172 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
psmouse 63474 0 
serio_raw 12990 0 
iwlagn 273937 0 
mac80211 393459 1 iwlagn
snd 55902 14 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
cfg80211 172392 2 iwlagn,mac80211
i915 505143 8 
soundcore 12600 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 14108 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
wmi 18744 1 dell_wmi
mei 36466 0 
drm_kms_helper 32889 1 i915
drm 196322 4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit 13199 1 i915
video 18908 1 i915
lp 17455 0 
parport 40930 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
usbhid 41905 0 
hid 77367 1 usbhid
ums_realtek 13096 0 
usb_storage 44173 1 ums_realtek
uas 17699 0 
ahci 21634 4 
libahci 25761 1 ahci
r8169 47200 0 

Maybe if you reduce Kernel power consumption it will help you a little. When I've installed 11.10 I had big problems with that (processor in idle constantly on 85 degrees) and this workaround and the “Workaround by editing GRUB” part helped me quite a lot (now it's around 60 degrees). I found this article thanks to another Ask Ubuntu issue where it's also suggested to install Jupiter applet which also helped me to reduce the temperature even more...

Workaround using Sysfs (temporary, use for testing)

Note: It seems that in the most recent kernel revisions ASPM is
disabled on pre PCIe 1.1 devices and must be manually enabled using
pcie_aspm=force kernel parameter (the second method in this
article). So if it happens that when you try Sysfs method you receive
Operation not permitted error, then you can skip to the "Workaround by
editing GRUB" method.

Sysfs is a virtual file system used (amongst other things) to
configure Linux hardware options from userspace. You can control your
hardware options in real time by writing into what appear as text
files. First let's check the state of things:

cat /sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters/policy

The output of this command will probably be something like this:

[default] performance powersave

This means that the default PCIe ASPM (Active State Power Management)
profile is selected. This "default" is where the problem lies. To work
around Linux kernel 2.6.38 power regression we must force PCIe ASPM to
be enabled. For ASPM to be enabled we must make sure that it stays off
the "default" and "performance" profiles. This is how you can do it
using Sysfs on Ubuntu based Linux distributions:

echo powersave | sudo tee /sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters/policy

This setting remains until you change it again using sysfs or until
you reboot, so is useful for testing whether PCIe ASPM is working on
your configuration. This is necessary because there are reports of
PCIe ASPM causing lockups when enabled on systems with buggy ASMP BIOS
implementation. If this option isn't causing problems on your laptop
or desktop system you can proceed to configure ASPM by editing GRUB or
you can use sysfs to enable this option using an init script.

Workaround by editing GRUB (permanent)

After you've make sure that PCIe ASPM isn't causing problems on your
configuration you can apply this workaround for good by editing GRUB
configuration like this:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Now you find the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line that might look like
this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

You should edit this line to look like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash pcie_aspm=force"

This way you are passing pcie_aspm=force kernel argument to force
PCIe ASPM. This settings will be applied every time you boot your
laptop or desktop. To make changes effective after editing the file,
run:

sudo update-grub

The problem could be due to the use of a proprietary graphics driver (assuming you have the ATI/AMD graphics card) that is not updated with updates manager. All you have to do is go to Settings > Additional Drivers and click on ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver and click activate. The driver will be downloaded and restart your computer.

If you have an ati graphics card in your laptop then the default opensource driver causes the laptop to overheat. You can use the proprietary fglrx driver from amd.

If you have a Dell n5010 I assume it's really old.
Let me tell you my own experience:

I got an old n5010 from my gf and installed Ubuntu 16.04, it was overheating a lot and running slow, i5, 4gb of ram and Ubuntu, running slow.
Ok, so I tried a lighter OS, installed MATE... Still overheating. Installed a processor clock widget and tried to downclock the processor to 1.86 Ghz, 1.6 Ghz, still overheating and slow.

So the last thing to try was Hardware. Some upgrades I made, as didn't want to spend a lot of money on a pc that is going to die soon: just bought a SSD (that I can install in a newer pc if I need), some thermal paste, isopropyl alcohol, and some love.

Opened my pc to check the cooler, and boom, the dirt over there looked like a stuffed animal, I cleaned it all, changed the thermal paste, installed the SSD and it looks like NEW.

So, if you have tried a lot of softwares and nothing has worked, try to clean your hardware, and replace your thermal paste.

Just one more thing, I used to notice that the pc was overheating next to the on/off button, always though it was the processor, but actually was the hot air that couldn't escape. So, check where it overheats, can be the processor, the hard drive, the graphics chip or it might just need a little maintenance.

This link might help:
https://www.parts-people.com/blog/2012/04/18/dell-inspiron-15r-n5010-heat-sink-fan-removal-and-installation/