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World Community Grid Forums
Category: Support
Forum: Android Support Forum
Thread: Odroid blues |
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Thread Status: Active Total posts in this thread: 16
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AMuthig
Advanced Cruncher USA Joined: Nov 30, 2013 Post Count: 59 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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I run my Odroid XU4 (Android) headless. Recently I noticed that the cpu cores were throttling down and not performing as they had in the past. I thought that maybe it was a heat issue. Upon inspection, I saw that the fan was not spinning. The fan works, as I can manually set it to always run, but is not sensing when to turn on. That is the first issue... I am fine with manually turning the fan on (using the Odroid Utilities, but even if I Apply-Reboot under superuser, the setting will not persist. Thus, when it reboots, it switches back to fan on automatic, it does not turn on, the unit overheats, and the cores throttle down.
----------------------------------------Now, even with the fan on (and not in a very warm room) the cores all seem to throttle down to the point where it is no longer a very effective cruncher. Any ideas or suggestions? [Edit 1 times, last edit by AMuthig at May 29, 2016 2:29:13 AM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I upgraded my xu4 to this heatsink and this fan if you have access to amazon.
When I removed the original heatsink, I found that it had a thermal pad on the bottom. I carefully removed the pad (came off pretty easy) and attached it to the bottom of the new heatsink. Attached the new heatsink, and added the new fan. I'll point out that the screws (regular fan screws) that came with the fan did not work to attach the heatsink. Luckily, I had my trusty bag o' screws from years of previous computer builds. I found four screws that worked perfectly to attach the fan to the heatsink. I did notice though that if you cannot find screws to work with the fan, the fan sits pretty tightly on the top of the heatsink. So unless it is mobile or gets bumped around a lot, it should sit in place pretty securely. You have to cut off the old header from the original fan, and the new fan has splicers in it to attach it pretty easy. If you go this route and need help finding screws, let me know and I'll pull one and take pics of it with measurements and I'll try to find the thread pitch (not sure if my thread checker in the garage goes that small though) Once I fired it up and let it run a while, the fan stays on 100% and is much quieter. I didn't notice it running any cooler though. The max was 82C and the little processor was 1.4GHz (which is max for that chip I think) while the big was max'd out at 1.6GHz (out of 2.0) according to CPU-Z. Exact same as before I pulled the OEM cooler. Last weekend, I decided to try an experiment. When you take the heatsink off and look at the thermal pad, there is a clear indentation in the pad where the CPU meets the pad. I took a box cutter and cut that small section of thermal pad off. I then got a small amount of generic thermal grease, and re-attached the heatsink. Fired up the odriod again and let it cook for a half hour or so. Checked with CPU-Z again and the big processor had gained a couple hundred megahertz and was up to 1.8GHz. This surprised me, but when I navigated to the thermal tab, I was shocked. The system was now max'd at 62C. Just by removing that small piece of thermal pad and putting thermal grease instead, I had gained 200MHz (average) and lost ~20C while running at 100%. Off topic, but what OS are you running? I am running the odroid 4.4.4 kitkat build from their site. It works well except for I have it attached to a TV and the overscan I can't seem to figure out how to remove. I have yet to try attaching it to a regular monitor to see if I can correct it. |
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AMuthig
Advanced Cruncher USA Joined: Nov 30, 2013 Post Count: 59 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Thanks for the reply! My device seems to be having some major issues. What is strange is that it has run for 250+ days without an issue and then suddenly seemed to start throttling the cpu. I cannot think of any factors that changed (room is no warmer, etc.) but the fan seemed to stop working properly, so perhaps during a fan outage the device was damaged.
----------------------------------------Here is what I just posted on the Odroid forums: System: Odroid XU4, Android 4.4.4, latest Odroid updates Running NativeBoinc for World Community Grid – everything was running fine for 250+ days, with regular work output monitored through BoincStats. About a week ago I noted two cores running sub-optimal, throttling down to 49% (from the normal 95-98%) as related by BoincStats. After two days of this, all eight cores throttled down substantially. Boinc work units were now taking double the expected completion time. At this point I pulled the unit and started a review of the issue. Suspecting overheating to be the issue, I placed the unit near additional fans and started it in my test environment. I noted that the CpuTemp app reported 125 degrees Celsius. I also noted that the stock fan was not spinning. Using the Odroid Utilities, I switched the fan from “automatic” to "manual” at which point the fan engaged. The CPU temperature and throttling did not change. I ran Odroid Updates again (as a standard procedure) and reinstalled NativeBoinc. The temperature dropped to about 80 degrees Celsius and all cores began working at normal levels (reporting at 95-98%), with Boinc work units completed in an expected timeframe. After three days, the problem returned with the same symptoms as described above. Currently, CPU-Z and CpuTemp both report 125 degrees Celsius. CPU-Z is showing four cores (0-3) switching rapidly between 1000 MHz and 1400 MHz, and the other four cores (4-7) are listed as “stopped” even though NativeBoinc has eight tasks (work units) running, each assigned to a core. Any suggestions for getting the cores back to optimal performance is welcome, as at this point I am ready to give up on Odroids. Thank you! [Edit 1 times, last edit by AMuthig at May 29, 2016 5:05:12 PM] |
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KLiK
Master Cruncher Croatia Joined: Nov 13, 2006 Post Count: 3108 Status: Offline Project Badges: 
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As long as they "do the job on time", there's no worry...WCG is time based crunching for badges, as opposed RAC based SETi@home! ;)
----------------------------------------So just: 1. do a cleanup with vacuum cleaner 2. replace the fan 3. replace the heat-sink & thermal paste or just keep on crunching...science will be done! ;) |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
I am wondering if your big quad is damaged somehow. The little should be cores 0-3, and 1000-1400 is not too bad as far as throttling goes (still, mine stays at 1400 all the time). There is no reason it should ever reach 125C; I have read from odroid in the forums that the CPU auto throttles at 95C so I think maybe the heatsink isnt actually secured well to the processor(s).
I would pull the heatsink and take a look at the thermal pad where it meets the big CPU. Take a set of needle nose pliers and pinch the plastic mounts underneath so they will pass through. The heatsink will (should) be stuck on pretty good since the thermal pad is sticky, but if you work slow and steady, pulling from different corners, it will pull off eventually. Maybe the thermal pad has worn down from the heat where it meets the big CPU? I made a box case for mine with a cheap box from a craft store. I cut holes in either side, and mounted 120mm fans in a push/pull design. Mounted the odroid in the middle, with tall standoffs, and it is basically sitting in the middle of a little wind tunnel. The 120s are way overkill, couldve gotten away with 80mm fans, but I had two extra 120s that were brand new. I got an external power supply to run them, so they are running independent of the odroid. I don't know of any troubleshooting software (CPU stress tests, etc) that runs on android, but maybe the odroid community might be able to offer some insight. Another option you may be able to try is loading Ubuntu onto an SD card, boot your odroid off of that, and run some stress tests in Linux to get some more diagnostic info on the CPUs. Good luck and let us know how it goes. |
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AMuthig
Advanced Cruncher USA Joined: Nov 30, 2013 Post Count: 59 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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I agree that the 125 degrees seems very strange. When I open the Cpu Usage overlay from the Developer Options menu, it lists the four problematic cores as "NS" under temperature. My guess is that either 1) the primary cpu is damaged, 2) the thermal sensors are damaged, or 3) there is an issue with the software that manages temperature/throttling.
Over the weekend I pulled the heatsink off and visually inspected the thermal pad and CPU. Everything looked fine. I also posted on the Odroid forums, where it was suggested that I perform a full Android rebuild in case it is an OS issue. I will try that this evening. |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Never would have thought to try a fresh Android build. I think the newest they have officially supported is 4.4.4 still. I know cyanogenmod has a 5.x version as well as a 6.x now too.
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AMuthig
Advanced Cruncher USA Joined: Nov 30, 2013 Post Count: 59 Status: Offline Project Badges:
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Fresh Android install is complete... problem persists. I am going to assume that the temperature sensors are malfunctioning and causing the shutdown of the primary cores. I would still use the board if I could 1) disable the temp sensors and add a better cooling solution, or 2) disable the four primary cores and only use the four slower cores (right now it still wants to start eight workunits). Sigh...
----------------------------------------EDIT: There may be hope yet. Using the CPU Tuner app I can adjust the cpu governor and get all 8 cores to work. While not yet an optimal solution, I may be on the right path... [Edit 2 times, last edit by AMuthig at Jun 1, 2016 4:03:22 AM] |
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Former Member
Cruncher Joined: May 22, 2018 Post Count: 0 Status: Offline |
Is the fan still stopping and staying stopped even with CPU load? One thing I was thinking of that you could try as a cheap solution. (disclaimer: I am not responsible if you blow anything up
 )-Take the fan off the heatsink and cut the connector off the end (leave some room in case you want to re-use in the future) -Take an old USB cable and cut the end off (the end with the A connector that would plug into the computer) -Pull back the insulation. You should find 4 wires if it is a USB 2.0. The red wire should be the +5V, and the black should be your ground. The other two are for data and would not be used. -Splice the red and black into the corresponding wires that power your fan, tape them off (or use heatshrink, wire nut, etc), and plug the USB end of the cable into the odroid. With this method, the fan would be getting constant +5V power from the USB port, which would theoretically fire the fan up as soon as the odroid gets power, and will stay on all the time regardless of temp. So if you do have a bad sensor, this might side step it. I have made several USB powered fans, and they work well. Even 12V fans work, but they spin slower since they are undervolted. Just an idea that popped into my head last night and I thought I would share. As another option, you could try purchasing the fan that I linked to earlier, and get something like this to power it direct from an AC outlet. That is what I use to power my two 120mm case fans and it works well. |
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SekeRob
Master Cruncher Joined: Jan 7, 2013 Post Count: 2741 Status: Offline |
Or you buy a cheap Arctic Breeze-Pro which comes with a potentiometer... tune speed as needed, fan on a flex neck for the best positioning, maintaining mobility... multipurpose.
----------------------------------------[Edit 1 times, last edit by SekeRob* at Jun 1, 2016 11:09:51 AM] |
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