Toshiba Satellite Pro L305 Series overheating solved

[Joel Roth <joelz@pobox.com>]

On Thu, Nov 12, 2009, I had written:
 
> I don't have proper fan control of my Toshiba L305 series
> laptop. The way I control the fan is by restarting the
> laptop immediately after an overheating shutdown. This
> somehow locks the fan on its maximum setting.
> 
> Toshiba has not been forthcoming with technical data that
> would help my better control my fan (and hotkeys, etc.)

I solved the overheating problems I had by using utilities
under Vista enabled to set the processor for Low Frequency
operation (as opposed to Dyamic Frequency Control), and to
select the power-saving mode.

One of the utilities was in a Toshiba folder under All
Programs, another was in the Vista utilities folder.  (Sorry
to be vague, I'm not keen to risk undoing my present success
to double-check. :-)

Vista reported that the OS would need to be rebooted
for the settings to take effect.

When I rebooted into Linux, I discovered that the
fan would speed up at temperatures of 80C.
Also, playing video no longer causes overheat
and shutdown.

Idle temperatures are way down in a reasonable range,
around 60C.

The laptop uses Insyde H2O BIOS, which provides
no facilities for setting power-related parameters.
Fan controls and other functions are reportedly 
available via the omnibook module. I have yet to test
this, and no immediate need, having dealt with the
biggest thorn.

Regards,

-- 
Joel Roth