Dell Inspiron N5010 overheating

Maybe if you reduce Kernel power consumption it will help you a little. When I've installed 11.10 I had big problems with that (processor in idle constantly on 85 degrees) and this workaround and the “Workaround by editing GRUB” part helped me quite a lot (now it's around 60 degrees). I found this article thanks to another Ask Ubuntu issue where it's also suggested to install Jupiter applet which also helped me to reduce the temperature even more...

Workaround using Sysfs (temporary, use for testing)

Note: It seems that in the most recent kernel revisions ASPM is disabled on pre PCIe 1.1 devices and must be manually enabled using pcie_aspm=force kernel parameter (the second method in this article). So if it happens that when you try Sysfs method you receive Operation not permitted error, then you can skip to the "Workaround by editing GRUB" method.

Sysfs is a virtual file system used (amongst other things) to configure Linux hardware options from userspace. You can control your hardware options in real time by writing into what appear as text files. First let's check the state of things:

cat /sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters/policy

The output of this command will probably be something like this:

[default] performance powersave

This means that the default PCIe ASPM (Active State Power Management) profile is selected. This "default" is where the problem lies. To work around Linux kernel 2.6.38 power regression we must force PCIe ASPM to be enabled. For ASPM to be enabled we must make sure that it stays off the "default" and "performance" profiles. This is how you can do it using Sysfs on Ubuntu based Linux distributions:

echo powersave | sudo tee /sys/module/pcie_aspm/parameters/policy

This setting remains until you change it again using sysfs or until you reboot, so is useful for testing whether PCIe ASPM is working on your configuration. This is necessary because there are reports of PCIe ASPM causing lockups when enabled on systems with buggy ASMP BIOS implementation. If this option isn't causing problems on your laptop or desktop system you can proceed to configure ASPM by editing GRUB or you can use sysfs to enable this option using an init script.

Workaround by editing GRUB (permanent)

After you've make sure that PCIe ASPM isn't causing problems on your configuration you can apply this workaround for good by editing GRUB configuration like this:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

Now you find the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT line that might look like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"

You should edit this line to look like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash pcie_aspm=force"

This way you are passing pcie_aspm=force kernel argument to force PCIe ASPM. This settings will be applied every time you boot your laptop or desktop. To make changes effective after editing the file, run:

sudo update-grub

The problem could be due to the use of a proprietary graphics driver (assuming you have the ATI/AMD graphics card) that is not updated with updates manager. All you have to do is go to Settings > Additional Drivers and click on ATI/AMD proprietary FGLRX graphics driver and click activate. The driver will be downloaded and restart your computer.

If you have a Dell n5010 I assume it's really old. Let me tell you my own experience:

I got an old n5010 from my gf and installed Ubuntu 16.04, it was overheating a lot and running slow, i5, 4gb of ram and Ubuntu, running slow. Ok, so I tried a lighter OS, installed MATE... Still overheating. Installed a processor clock widget and tried to downclock the processor to 1.86 Ghz, 1.6 Ghz, still overheating and slow.

So the last thing to try was Hardware. Some upgrades I made, as didn't want to spend a lot of money on a pc that is going to die soon: just bought a SSD (that I can install in a newer pc if I need), some thermal paste, isopropyl alcohol, and some love.

Opened my pc to check the cooler, and boom, the dirt over there looked like a stuffed animal, I cleaned it all, changed the thermal paste, installed the SSD and it looks like NEW.

So, if you have tried a lot of softwares and nothing has worked, try to clean your hardware, and replace your thermal paste.

Just one more thing, I used to notice that the pc was overheating next to the on/off button, always though it was the processor, but actually was the hot air that couldn't escape. So, check where it overheats, can be the processor, the hard drive, the graphics chip or it might just need a little maintenance.

This link might help: https://www.parts-people.com/blog/2012/04/18/dell-inspiron-15r-n5010-heat-sink-fan-removal-and-installation/