Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

NoMoreWindows · 2024-01-27 13:23

I’m using Linux/Q4OS now for a few weeks.

I observe my battery draining faster than under Windows, my CPU getting hotter and the fan blowing more often.

Any idea why this is and what can be done about it?

I've seen this with others distributions too.

Testyyy · 2024-01-27 15:45

Hello

What desktop environment are you using? Trinity or KDE?
On Trinity you can start by enabling powersave mode and setting the CPU frequency rules.
But have you tried installing Laptop-Mode-Tools? It's a set of scripts, which allows you to configure energy management for all the components of your machine. At first I had the same problem as you, and since I installed this package, my computer's battery life has increased considerably.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1O1VrGZ … sp=sharing

Rademes · 2024-01-27 19:33

That is interesting. In my DELL Latitude E5450 I had completely the opposite situation. When Windows 10 was installed, the CPU was constantly loaded at 35-40% and the fan were spinning very often. After the Q4OS Aquarius TDE installation, The CPU stays at 6-7% even with opened Browser (Firefox) on Q4OS Forum, the fan is spinning very rarely, and the battery holds much longer. Note, that I have completely removed TDE PowerSave. No power saving functions are active.
Also, the memory consumption is much less, than it was on Windows 10. Now it is 500-1000 Mb. With Windows 10 it was 2000-3500 Mb.

Last edited by Rademes (2024-01-27 19:34)

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crosscourt · 2024-01-27 20:55

What hardware are you using as that may give us an idea as to why this is happening.

q4osteam · 2024-01-27 21:16

Powertop may be useful https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-check-an … p-on-linux

and yes, post more about your hardware as @crosscourt suggests.

Last edited by q4osteam (2024-01-27 21:17)

NoMoreWindows · 2024-01-28 09:51

Thanks for everyone trying to help!

I never use the laptop where I don’t have power so I can live with it.

The issue is on an HP Envy 17-ch0011nb, i7, 16GB RAM.
Q4OS 5.4.1-n1 (Aquarius) Plasma 5.27.5.
I’m heavily using Virtualbox VM’s (Q4OS Plasma+Trinity, Whonix).
A while ago I noticed this for the first time on pure Debian 11, that was even worse than my current configuration.

Would be nice to get it fix for these reasons:

- have a silent PC
- beat Windows also in this area…
- promote Linux to friends and family (that wouldn’t accept this issue)

I’ll try the suggestions and let you know if something helps.

NoMoreWindows · 2024-01-29 20:07

This is a bummer. I messed up and I am left with a worse system than before.

Powertop showed me “Bad” for some “Tunables”.

After “sudo powertop –auto-tune” all tunables are “Good” but system becomes very slow (unworkable, mainly keyboard and mouse that need to wake up after a short pauze I think).

Tried “Laptop Mode Tools”, gives me an error “Couldn’t apply all requested settings”.
This turns all “Tunables” to “Bad” in Powertop.
But the system performs fast again, I have the impression even faster than before.

Probably not related, but it happened at the same moment...
I lost shared folder connections on my main VM, on others they are still OK.
I cannot get my BT earbuds connected anymore, all other BT devices still OK.

Energy usage has not changed, maybe even deteriorated.

I’ll probably do a reinstall of Q40S and live with it as it is, because the reason I like Q4OS is I don’t have to deal with problems like this (going down the Linux rabbit hole).

NoMoreWindows · 2024-01-31 20:23

OK this is somewhat lame because I just want to use the PC, not spend my time tuning it, but I’ll give an update anyway.

The system is running fine again.

- PowerTop shows 3 “bad’s” and everything works well and fast.
- Battery life seems on par with Windows.
- Fan is only blowing excessively when charging.
- BT problem was solved by trying a few more times.
- Shared folders were fixed by removing Q4OS Guest Additions and installing original Guest Additions.

Something has improved after “Laptop Mode Tools” and/or "PowerTOP", but I don’t know what.

Happy again, thanks everyone.

seb3773 · 2024-01-31 23:25

Did you try uninstalling tdepowersave & powertop and install instead xfce4-power-manager and TLP (+TLP gui if you want a nice gui to configure TLP).
It appears to be the best solution for my laptops. (note: I'm using Trinity, not plasma DE)
You can try my script "qlaptop.sh" who can do it automatically if you want. (you can found it here: https://github.com/seb3773/Q4OSseb )

Last edited by seb3773 (2024-02-01 08:58)

hchiper · 2024-02-01 06:31

The link contains the closing parenthesis and is not working.

seb3773 · 2024-02-01 08:58

Sorry for that, corrected

Rademes · 2024-02-03 16:54

NoMoreWindows wrote:

This is a bummer. I messed up and I am left with a worse system than before.

NoMoreWindows wrote:

I’ll probably do a reinstall of Q40S and live with it as it is, because the reason I like Q4OS is I don’t have to deal with problems like this (going down the Linux rabbit hole).

I would recommend you to install Timeshift from Q4OS Software Centre and make a system snapshot (backup) before you will install Powertop and reconfigure your system settings. This will allow you to restore your system in case you will mess up with the system settings. The full Q4OS reinstallation will not be necessary.

For more information about System Backups please read this topic: https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4754
I recommend you to learn, how to make System Backups.

Last edited by Rademes (2024-02-03 16:57)

vanquishedangel · 2024-02-06 01:20

Rademes wrote:

NoMoreWindows wrote:
This is a bummer. I messed up and I am left with a worse system than before.
NoMoreWindows wrote:
I’ll probably do a reinstall of Q40S and live with it as it is, because the reason I like Q4OS is I don’t have to deal with problems like this (going down the Linux rabbit hole).
I would recommend you to install Timeshift from Q4OS Software Centre and make a system snapshot (backup) before you will install Powertop and reconfigure your system settings. This will allow you to restore your system in case you will mess up with the system settings. The full Q4OS reinstallation will not be necessary.
For more information about System Backups please read this topic: https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4754
I recommend you to learn, how to make System Backups.

Yes I have this and it is amazing. I would also recommend a few other things since the laptop is older, I fixed up a dell d430 a while ago, here are the steps I used

https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4430

Q4OS Forum

#1 2024-01-27 13:23

Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#2 2024-01-27 15:45

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#3 2024-01-27 19:33

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#4 2024-01-27 20:55

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#5 2024-01-27 21:16

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#6 2024-01-28 09:51

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#7 2024-01-29 20:07

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#8 2024-01-31 20:23

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#9 2024-01-31 23:25

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#10 2024-02-01 06:31

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#11 2024-02-01 08:58

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#12 2024-02-03 16:54

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

#13 2024-02-06 01:20

Re: Why is Linux using more energy and what to do about it?

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