MacBook Pro running hot on Linux?

Managed to get Linux dual booting on an old but high spec’ed MacBook Pro using rEFInd. This was the second time I had Linux on the same machine and i’m still puzzled why the laptop runs cool to touch in macOS but quite warm in Linux.

I had disabled the discrete AMD Radeon GPU which caused display problems in macOS, via nvram.

$ nvram fa4ce28d-b62f-4c99-9cc3-6815686e30f9:gpu-power-prefs=%01%00%00%00

I’ve also reloaded AMDRadeonX3000.kext on login via the following:

$ sudo kextload /System/Library/Extensions-off/AMDRadeonX3000.kext

High Sierra boots up perfectly with the laptop running relatively cool.

But this was not the same for Linux…

I’ve loaded lm-sensors which shows Linux regularly hitting 80+ Celsius while laptop fans spun at 2000 rpm (default speed). Something wrong there, don’t you think?

BTW, I’m monitoring the temperature of CPU cores and the fan speed using sensors

$ watch -n 1 sensors

I decided something needs to be done to bring up the internal fan speed – looking around found tlp.

tlp stands for TLP (duh!) and can be found in many distribution’s repositories. I used this to change the radeon power profile and dpm states by changing the states from default to low.

From /etc/default/tlp

RADEON_POWER_PROFILE_ON_AC=low

RADEON_POWER_PROFILE_ON_BAT=low

RADEON_DPM_STATE_ON_AC=low

RADEON_DPM_STATE_ON_BAT=low

RADEON_DPM_PERF_LEVEL_ON_AC=low

RADEON_DPM_PERF_LEVEL_ON_BAT=low

Followed by restarting tlp with

$ sudo systemctl restart tlp.service

No change to the internal fan speed of 2000 rpm. 🙁

After some googling, I loaded macfanctld.

Right off the bat, sensors started to show the correct fan speed. By pushing additional load (multiple Youtube and Vimeo channels) on the laptop, I can hear the fans working harder and sensors is showing higher internal fan speed.

But this still hadn’t brought the temperature of the MacBook Pro to macOS level of temperature. I’ll continue to update this once i find out why and how.

Interesting reads 1 May 2019

Gillette ProGlide Repair

I received a Gillette ProGlide which stopped functioning after couple years. Recently it resurfaced after a house clean-up. It had a leaking AAA battery which was removed and disposed off. With the gunky remainder, I squeezed out juice, from a lemon hiding in the fridge, onto a cotton bud then rigorously swabbed until the innards were clean.

It still didn’t power up. 🙁

Then i thought of disassembling the entire device. I found the two metal clips on the blue holder, seen only by removing the end cap. By pushing the two metal clips inwards, the entire motor and switch assembly can now be removed.

Pulled out the entire metal assembly to find the following:

Figure 1. Disassembled ProGlide

The blue pushdown switch in the centre of the PCB is the on-off switch. Sticking in a fresh AAA battery, the motor on top, spun continuously until the switch was depressed again.

So this works!

Reassembling was pretty easy. The ProGlide did not require the two metal clips to be put back into place, as the bulbous end cover held the entire assembly tight. I just made sure the motor and switch assembly could slide into the housing. Rather effortless.

Then tested the razor assembly one last time by pressing the blue switch before covering the hole with the silicone button.

Figure 2. Entire assembly

Razor assembly repaired! 🙂

Updating to Mojave 10.14.4 on an unsupported Apple hardware

I am running 10.14.3 on an unsupported Apple hardware. macOS 10.14.4 update showed up on the App Store Updates for quite a while now. I had the opportunity to update to 10.14.4 rather early this morning before skipping out for training. Popped by the mac couple times and before realising the mac hung after a reboot.

I relied on dosdude1’s Mojave Patcher as this mac hardware was no longer supported by Apple. I somehow skipped checking his page for the latest news on 10.14.4, and this turned around and hit me squarely in the face.

-> Dosdude1’s patcher page indicated the 1.30 patcher tool needs to be installed before updating to 10.14.4. <-

Drats! Training called and I had to leave. I was mulling over this problem and googling to no help – It is very no one tried updating to 10.14.4 WITHOUT dosdude1’s 1.30 patch.

Just not long ago, I bit the bullet and applied the 1.30 patch over the currently non-functioning partition. After 32 minutes and applying the dosdude1’s Post Install drivers, the mac booted up. [Hooray!]

I quickly ran a check and all seemed fine except 10.14.4 was not applied and the mac remained on 10.14.3.

I’ll keep the mac on 10.14.3 until this weekend.

Interesting reads 20 Sept 2018

  • https://www.techradar.com/reviews/lenovo-thinkpad-x1-extreme
  • http://jackterwilliger.com/biological-neural-networks-part-i-spiking-neurons/
  • https://medium.com/tensorflow/the-trinity-of-errors-in-financial-models-an-introductory-analysis-using-tensorflow-probability-9fdefb4d283d
  • https://www.darkreading.com/endpoint/nss-labs-files-antitrust-suit-against-symantec-crowdstrike-eset-amtso/d/d-id/1332851

Catching up on my reads.

Obike debacle never ends

As a disgruntled user of oBike, I am trying to get back my $49 deposit which I was then told it was used to purchase additional oBikes instead of being an deposit.

I came across the liquidators page (www.obikedepositholders.com) to process refunds and found it rather suspicious. Is it really coming from oBike’s liquidators?

Hosted off Google forms, I would have to provide:

  1. NRIC (I didn’t provide a NRIC/Identification Number when signing up. Why would you need this, FTI Con-sulting?)
  2. Upload Credit Card Statement / PayPal Statement / Proof of Cryptocurrency Transaction (What! Dont you even have this information?)
  3. Upload Telephone Bill (This is getting ridiculous)
  4. Upload Student Certification (if applicable) (I could skip this one but why does FTI Con-sulting need this information?)
  5. Postal Address (I didn’t provide Postal Address, why don’t you just send confirmation to the email address in your records?)

 

I could have built this page and gullible people would just send their personal particulars in hopes of collecting their deposits (quite frankly, it’s next to nil) If Singapore wants to enforce law and order, the authorities should extradite the founder (currently in China, and rumoured to have used the deposits to enter the cryptocurrency market) and make him pick up every road-clogging oBike as a CWO (Corrective Work Order). Alas, the chance of that happening would be one in a million.

Now, back to FTI Con-sulting. How is FTI Con-sulting managing my personal data? What processes they have in place to address the risk of loss and misuse? Likely zero.

Should I forgo my deposit? Perhaps.