Greetings,

I'm relatively new to the wondrous world of Linux and I've been having a few issues with it recently. I have both Linux and Windows installed in a dual boot system and I've noticed the problem by comparing the fan noise and computer temperature while running them. To make sure this wasn't a distribution-specific problem I've tried quite a few. These are pretty much all of them: Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, Arch, Zenwalk, Salix and Absolute. I've noticed the problem in all of these. I could say that the noise the fan makes while running Linux in idle is close to the noise it would make on Windows while running any recent game. Same goes for the temperature. I've tried using the BIOS' fan control features (toggling the "Silent" mode in both the Chasis and CPU fans) which made the fan almost inaudible in Windows (while in idle) but in Linux it still made quite a little bit of noise. I guess the above comparison would remain valid. The specifications of my computer are as it follows:

CPU: AMD Athlon x2 5200+
Graphics: ATi HD4890 1Gb
RAM: 3Gb Kingston DDR2-800
PSU: Corsair Tx650 650W

If you need the output of any Linux command, please let me know and I'll post it. Right now I have Debian installed. I suspect it might have something to do with some kernel modules that aren't being loaded (or perhaps are loaded and shouldn't be), but since I don't know all that much about Linux's insides your help would be gladly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Deimoz

Double-check that CPU frequency scaling is enabled and set to OnDemand.

The following directories should exist:

/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/
/sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/

If they don't exist, enter modprobe powernow-k8 as root to enable CPU frequency scaling on your AMD CPU.

Then enter:

Each time, the output should be "ondemand." If it's not, enter:

Put the echo commands, and the modprobe command if needed, in your startup files.

First of all, thanks for your reply.

Ok, I've enabled CPU frequency scaling and it's set to OnDemand.

The frequency scaling is working: I've used which returns 1000 while in idle (my CPU's frequency is 2600MHz).
There is no more excessive heating but the fan noise remains the same. Could another kernel module be necessary to control the fan speed?

Try modprobe fan and modprobe thermal.

Another useful bodge is to run sensors-detect, which will arrange for whatever needed modules to be loaded on boot up.