Disclaimer: While the information on this and related pages on this website has been experimentally verified, the author does not claim responsibility for any damage caused to your system by following the steps given here. Please read the page carefully and do everything at your own risk.
This notebook gets really hot sometimes, which can be a cause of worry for users. While it is preferable to use it in cool environments and avoid stretching the notebook too much, following the instructions that HP has issued about cleaning the vents etc to improve air circulation, the following steps may be useful for Windows users to reduce chances of overheating.
- Get the latest BIOS updates for your notebook. They are available [here] if you use Windows XP and [here] if you use Windows Vista. Please read and follow the on-screen instructions displayed by the WinFlash BIOS update installer.
- Set BIOS defaults: when the HP logo is displayed at bootup, press F10 to enter BIOS Setup. Then press F9 and select Yes to restore BIOS default settings. Then press F10 to save settings and exit BIOS.
- In Windows, go to Control Panel -> Performance and Maintenance -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager. Expand the devices listed under System Devices. Right click ACPI Fixed Feature Button and click on Uninstall. This will uninstall the ACPI Fixed Feature Button and will require a reboot. Windows will automatically reinstall this module during the next bootup.
If you use Linux, there seems to be no obvious counterpart of the last of these steps. Additionally, HP does not currently offer a solution to update the BIOS from within Linux. I have not encountered major heating issues while in Ubuntu, Fedora or Gentoo Linux. In fact, Ubuntu and Fedora have decent power management. However, I don't know yet whether Linux takes care of power management for the dv6137tx efficiently.
You can download a utility called Core Temp which displays the temperature of the two CPU cores. You can get it here: http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/. Please read the readme file that comes with the self-extracting archive.
