Bitcoin Forum

I think its safe to say that this model is unsustainable on consumer grade hardware. This is now the 10th time in 3 months ive had to complete resynch the chain. My computer doesn't have sufficient cooling to keep from overheating, and bitcoin happily overheats it in about 30 minutes. this only happens during syncing. any other time, bitcoin is fine if the wallet is already synced. also, i left it running overnight to resync after the crash. its been frozen on block 316268 since i got up, 2 hours ago. restarting the client does no good. still stuck.

Are you using boostrap files for initial sync ?

Hopefully not if 0.10.0 is being used.  r3wt, what version are you using? 

Are you using a laptop?

If not what computer are you using?  I have never had one overheat from the just downloading the BTC chain.

If you are using the latest version, 0.10, you shouldnt have any issue. Unless you are trying to mine with the bitcoin-core, i dont see a possible cause for overheating that relies on bitcoin as a cause, I would suggest that you look into other things that may be overheating your computer or at least give us more information about your issue.

yeah, i'm using 0.10.0


I am using a laptop. it has the i5-3230m which is designed to run at much higher temperatures, and offers decent performance and multitasking ability but for some reason bitcoin and skype really do a number on the machine, overheating it often. during syncing of bitcoin or videocall of skype it overheats and powers off. i've cleaned and reseated the heatsink twice to no avail.

Are you in any way overclocking it?
If not, this sounds like your machine is just broken. Shit happens :-\
Check whether your laptop has software to manage temp by reducing the clock speed when CPU gets too hot - I think that many Windows laptops have somethign like that preinstalled.

Onkel Paul

Sounds like it could be a graphics card issue; that's if it has a separate card? I had that with my desktop... The fan broke on the card and anything graphics intensive caused the card to overheat (105+ C) and within 10-20 minutes of turning on the computer would shut off.

its got the built in intel graphics as far as i'm aware. every so often the driver crashes and restarts. i think its just a poor cooling design and a myriad of other problems probably. ive got it propped up right now with a box fan on my desk blowing full blast and its syncing bitcoin and the laptop is not overheating now. after this syncs, i'm gonna send all my coins to electrum and be done with the reference client. atleast until i can get a new computer.


http://puu.sh/gP5Wv/dff4f01d85.png

buy the new computer on webhallen.com they accepts bitcoins. :P

How is Bitcoin at fault here? You have a shitty computer. Get some proper cooling or buy a new one. My laptop has never had any problems with Bitcoin and I have an Nvidia GPU, which are known to become way to hot.

You were much more blunt that I was :) but it is a valid question.

Unless he is mining I can't imagine laptop overheating for just running bitcoin core.

well it seems strange because it show only 59%, it shouldn't overheat at that % of usage, maybe there is some problem with your OS, could be software related

eh its a pretty bad ass computer, it just doesn't have sufficient cooling. the cpu is designed to run between 100-105 C the internal design doesn't allow enough airflow. it has only one small opening on the side to vent heat

What model computer are you using?  That is very very hot seems like possibly defective.

i5 3230m. i had a lenovo with the same processor. loved it. this one is an Acer, purchased it from the bitcoinstore back in the day

Has it always been this bad on heat?  It just seems like maybe it's dirty and needs dusted out, or fan's are not up to original spec.  I have had an asus gaming laptop (it as a while back) but never had it get heat so bad from CPU, it was GPU that really heated up.

no, not really. i remember about 6 months ago i was on a skype call for several hours and the pc just died. now it gets very hot for bitcoin syncing and skype calls. everything else it runs fine. my only guess is it either needs cleaning or has some hardcore malware i haven't been able to find

Assuming its out of warrenty I would open it up and check air pathways, most gaming laptops seem to have two pathawys.  I would use canned air to push the dust and dirt OUT don't spray it where dust comes in.  

After that I would really check fan's make sure they spin good.  If they have problems try to oil them, if oiling does not work then you might need to replace.

you should clean it. you will be surprised the performance after the cleaning.

I was going to suggest this also. I have a laptop that overheats sometimes too - but usually only if I attempt mining or some other intensive actions. It happens sometimes while compiling large software from source. Summer time is the worst. I know this can be very annoying if you're in the middle of something. A cleaning really helps... but I've also become more choosey about what I'm running on this laptop. I have a desktop I can use for those intensive tasks.

.... computer issue.. indeed.  8)

Wow... your laptop craps out just from the CPU spooling up?  Have you tried other processor intensive tasks to see if it behaves the same way?  I mean, I know that Bitcoin Core can run up the CPU usage when it's synching up the blockchain... but the issue is definitely in your hardware.

he already cleaned it, so i assume that's not the problem

"i've cleaned and reseated the heatsink twice to no avail."

could be OS problem imho

I'm not at all suprised at the responses i'm getting. I guess many of you are unaware of just how resource intensive bitcoin is. I will also reiterate, if bitcoin is the only thing running, it doesn't overheat as bad. it gets warm but not overheating. its when i'm doing my normal multitasking (ssh, filezilla, dev-c, npp, skype, toggl) that it happens. the same thing happens during skype calls as well.

Yes, bitcoin core is CPU intensive (at least until it has caught up with the blockchain), that's no secret.
But there are several thousand users all over the world who are able to run it on hardware ranging from top-notch speed demons to computers salvaged from scratch heaps. Somehow, overheating does not seem to be a common problem for them, maybe because the hardware and operating systems they use are able to cope with CPU intensive stuff.
If your laptop isn't able to either transport the heat away from the CPU when it's under full load, or reduce CPU speed so that it does not create so much heat, it's a problem with your laptop and the operating system it runs. Bitcoin core can't fix that problem.
I already suggested to check for temperature management software - do you have anything like that? If not, you should definitely install it.

Onkel Paul

Any recommendations for temp management software? preferably open source

the best one are HWmonitor and real temp, but aren't open source

all the other display wrong temp, i don't recommend them

That's because you have a shitty computer.

Anyway, you can throttle your CPU so it doesn't overheat.

I'm sure a number of us are indeed quite well aware of the resources the core client consumes during initial blockchain synchronization.  What the majority of us are saying is that the problem is NOT the software, but rather the HARDWARE you have.  Your opening post states:


Your first statement is simply not true.  There are plenty of users with consumer grade hardware that do not have your problem.  By the way, you acknowledge the problem in the same post:


You then state later on that Skype causes the same overheating issue.

Your problem is your hardware - not the software.

I think were all in agreement something is wrong with the laptop.  It's hard to tell if bad airflow, bad heat sink.  There are lot's of options.   But when you can run a full client on a raspberry pi a high priced laptop should be able to do it.

And if Skype kills the computer that is only more evidence its hardware.  I would contact company if in warranty.  If not I would open it up and see what it looks like inside.

i've pretty much come to the conclusion that it is the laptop. its just out of warranty too. bah humbug

Time to get a Mac, r3wt!

ha, never!

its best to use v.high speed internet connection to download the blockchain as it may take days running u PC at full load on a slow network

nope, if your peers have a slow speed connection, no matter how fast your speed is, the syncing is still going to be slow. as far as i know, bitcoin syncing  doesn't use much bandwidth considering most places already have at least 1mb/s of internet. the main bottleneck will still be your cpu speed and your hard disk speed.

The initial sync process does clog up slower system pretty badly though. For me that's 24h+ of a pretty useless (home server) machine.

yep, its harddisk for me.

cpu shows a measily 6% utilization and disk stays at 100% network usage is less than 300kb. perhaps i should try a new harddrive and a good cleaning and reseating of my cpu

Make sure it's not under warranty still.   I would open and see if there is dust or if fan's work completely.  I have only had one laptop that had a overheating problem. After I oiled the fan in it worked great for another few months till it needed more oil again.