Downloading blockchain causes CPU to overheat

[chickenado]

I'm running Bitcoin on a Dell laptop with an Intel i7 CPU. OS is Ubuntu 64 bit.

I deleted the contents of .bitcoin and copied a new wallet.dat. After downloading about 50,000 blocks the computer shuts down and I get a bios message saying "warning: CPU temperature has exceeded 90 degrees".

The funny thing is that this only happens when downloading the blockchain. I can generate coins for days, even at 100% using all 8 CPU cores, and the computer doesn't overheat.

Seems like a peculiar behaviour. I have used a lot of computationally intensive software before, but I've never managed to fry the CPU like this. What might be going on?

What's the best way to avoid this? renice? It's quite an anxiety-inducing message and it could put some people off using Bitcoin. Shouldn't the client go a bit easier on the CPU by default?

[davout]

This is kind of surprising.

You should let it download the chain, then switch the generation on, and finally see if it still happens.

Maybe the part where it checks the blocks is the one that overheats...

[sturle]

I'm running Bitcoin on a Dell laptop with an Intel i7 CPU. OS is Ubuntu 64 bit.

I deleted the contents of .bitcoin and copied a new wallet.dat. After downloading about 50,000 blocks the computer shuts down and I get a bios message saying "warning: CPU temperature has exceeded 90 degrees".

The funny thing is that this only happens when downloading the blockchain. I can generate coins for days, even at 100% using all 8 CPU cores, and the computer doesn't overheat.

Seems like a peculiar behaviour. I have used a lot of computationally intensive software before, but I've never managed to fry the CPU like this. What might be going on?

Perhaps the airflow passes over the harddisk before it reaches the CPU, and the disk is getting hot due to lots of activity?  Hotter air for CPU cooling makes CPU cooling less effective, and it may overheat.  A lot of I/O may also make your chipset hotter than usual.  Do you have the latest BIOS firmware installed, btw?

[chickenado]

Perhaps the airflow passes over the harddisk before it reaches the CPU, and the disk is getting hot due to lots of activity?  Hotter air for CPU cooling makes CPU cooling less effective, and it may overheat.  A lot of I/O may also make your chipset hotter than usual.  Do you have the latest BIOS firmware installed, btw?

That makes sense. I suspect that might be the problem. The parts of the laptop where the HD and chipset are located also get super hot when I download the blockchain (so hot I have to take the laptop off my lap). Dell studio laptops seem to be known for overheating problems though...

I'll try updating the BIOS firmare. Thaks for the advice.