I have a pretty old laptop running 11.10. As of late the fan is constantly going flat out and it is driving me nuts. Usually it will do this when I have few things open in Chrome, cause chrome is always up to something. I have rebooted and just let the machine idle and after a few minutes again it fires up the fan and runs hot. Clean out exhaust fans etc but still no joy. Is there another method to find out if something else is taking up processor time?
init─┬─NetworkManager─┬─dhclient
│ └─2*[{NetworkManager}]
├─VBoxSVC─┬─VirtualBox───21*[{VirtualBox}]
│ └─8*[{VBoxSVC}]
├─VBoxXPCOMIPCD
├─VirtualBox───4*[{VirtualBox}]
├─accounts-daemon───{accounts-daemo}
├─acpid
├─atd
├─avahi-daemon───avahi-daemon
├─bluetoothd
├─chrome─┬─chrome
│ ├─chrome-sandbox───chrome─┬─chrome─┬─10*[chrome───3*[{chrome}]]
│ │ │ └─chrome───5*[{chrome}]
│ │ └─nacl_helper_boo
│ └─74*[{chrome}]
├─colord───2*[{colord}]
├─console-kit-dae───64*[{console-kit-da}]
├─couchdb───couchdb───beam─┬─heart
│ └─4*[{beam}]
├─cron
├─cupsd
├─2*[dbus-daemon]
├─dbus-launch
├─dconf-service───2*[{dconf-service}]
├─desktopcouch-se───2*[desktopcouch-se]
├─gconfd-2
├─6*[getty]
├─gnome-keyring-d───5*[{gnome-keyring-}]
├─gnome-screensav───2*[{gnome-screensa}]
├─gnome-terminal─┬─bash───pstree
│ ├─gnome-pty-helpe
│ └─3*[{gnome-terminal}]
├─gsd-printer───{gsd-printer}
├─gvfs-afc-volume───{gvfs-afc-volum}
├─gvfs-fuse-daemo───3*[{gvfs-fuse-daem}]
├─gvfs-gdu-volume
├─gvfs-gphoto2-vo
├─gvfsd
├─gvfsd-burn
├─gvfsd-computer
├─gvfsd-metadata
├─gvfsd-trash
├─lightdm─┬─Xorg
│ ├─gnome-session─┬─applet.py
│ │ ├─bluetooth-apple───{bluetooth-appl}
│ │ ├─chrome───10*[{chrome}]
│ │ ├─deja-dup-monito───2*[{deja-dup-monit}]
│ │ ├─gdu-notificatio
│ │ ├─gnome-fallback-───2*[{gnome-fallback}]
│ │ ├─gnome-panel───2*[{gnome-panel}]
│ │ ├─gnome-settings-─┬─syndaemon
│ │ │ └─3*[{gnome-settings}]
│ │ ├─gnome-sound-app───{gnome-sound-ap}
│ │ ├─metacity
│ │ ├─nautilus───3*[{nautilus}]
│ │ ├─nm-applet───{nm-applet}
│ │ ├─polkit-gnome-au───{polkit-gnome-a}
│ │ ├─ssh-agent
│ │ ├─telepathy-indic───{telepathy-indi}
│ │ ├─update-notifier───2*[{update-notifie}]
│ │ ├─zeitgeist-datah───{zeitgeist-data}
│ │ └─3*[{gnome-session}]
│ └─2*[{lightdm}]
├─mission-control
├─modem-manager
├─mysqld───11*[{mysqld}]
├─nmbd
├─notify-osd───2*[{notify-osd}]
├─polkitd───{polkitd}
├─pulseaudio─┬─gconf-helper
│ └─2*[{pulseaudio}]
├─rsyslogd───3*[{rsyslogd}]
├─rtkit-daemon───2*[{rtkit-daemon}]
├─samba───9*[samba]
├─smbd───smbd
├─ubuntuone-syncd───3*[{ubuntuone-sync}]
├─udevd───2*[udevd]
├─udisks-daemon─┬─udisks-daemon
│ └─2*[{udisks-daemon}]
├─upowerd───2*[{upowerd}]
├─upstart-socket-
├─upstart-udev-br
├─vmware-authdlau
├─vmware-usbarbit
├─vmware-vmblock-───2*[{vmware-vmblock}]
├─wpa_supplicant
└─zeitgeist-daemo─┬─cat
└─{zeitgeist-daem}
pstree,ps,htopetc) but they will all show the same information astop. If you don't see anything taking up a lot of CPU in top, then you don't have anything taking up a lot of CPU. – terdon May 02 '14 at 13:08