LinuxQuestions.org
Review your favorite Linux distribution.
Go Back   LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Laptop and Netbook
User Name
Password
Linux - Laptop and Netbook Having a problem installing or configuring Linux on your laptop? Need help running Linux on your netbook? This forum is for you. This forum is for any topics relating to Linux and either traditional laptops or netbooks (such as the Asus EEE PC, Everex CloudBook or MSI Wind).

Notices


Reply
  Search this Thread
Old 03-12-2011, 01:35 PM   #1
revinary
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2011
Posts: 12

Rep: Reputation: 1
Unable controll fan on DELL Studio 1557


Hello everybody,

LQ.org has often provided me with valuable information and advise but lately I got stuck with a problem and it's time to start a thread myself. So here we go

I've got a DELL Studio 1557 laptop and I'd like to controll my system fan manually.
  • 'sensors' output does not list a fan (sensors-detect didn't help)
  • 'pwmconfig' says "There are no pwm-capable sensor modules installed"
  • /proc/acpi/ does not contain a fan item/folder
  • acpi fan support has been compiled into the kernel
  • dell laptop support has been compiled into the kernel
  • dellfand crashes my system

I'm running Linux Mint Debian Edition with a custom built kernel (2.6.37 64-bit).

When I run the unmodified Mint kernel I DO have a /proc/acpi/fan folder but sensors/pwmconfig produces the same output.

Maybe someone who has/had familiar issues can provide some advise.

Thanks,

rev
 
Old 03-12-2011, 05:20 PM   #2
corp769
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: /dev/null
Posts: 5,818

Rep: Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007
Have you tried using the i8k modules at all? I have a dell studio 1537, but to note I haven't tried messing with the fan speed yet.
 
1 members found this post helpful.
Old 03-13-2011, 03:14 AM   #3
revinary
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2011
Posts: 12

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 1
Hi and thanks for your reply,

my kernel has been compiled with CONFIG_I8K=y

i8kfan however says: can't open /proc/i8k: No such file or directory

Any ideas?

rev
 
Old 03-13-2011, 03:46 AM   #4
revinary
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2011
Posts: 12

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 1
Update:

When I compile i8k as module and try to load it I get

FATAL: Error inserting i8k (/lib/modules/2.6.37-ck113.03.11.1/kernel/drivers/char/i8k.ko): No such device

So I guess the module does not support the Studio 15 line of laptops

rev
 
Old 03-13-2011, 05:17 AM   #5
corp769
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: /dev/null
Posts: 5,818

Rep: Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007
Damn, that sucks. I guess the hardware isn't supported then.... And my next laptop will NOT be a Dell.....
 
Old 03-14-2011, 03:26 AM   #6
revinary
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2011
Posts: 12

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 1
That's possible - what I noticed however: when I boot up the fan would blow at almost max speed during the BIOS-part and would reduce speed as soon as the OS kernel is loaded. So i figure the kernel/acpi subsystem HAS controll over fan speed.


In fact, the fan works and adjusts it's speed automatically.
I just noticed that it often wouldn't switch to minimum speed alltough the cores are all quite cool (50 C +- 2) and CPU utilization is minimal.

All in all the Dell runs Linux like a charm -

rev

Last edited by revinary; 03-14-2011 at 03:31 AM.
 
Old 03-14-2011, 04:29 AM   #7
corp769
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: /dev/null
Posts: 5,818

Rep: Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007
Yes it does. I'm going to research more about this later on once I get home from work. Hopefully I (or we) can pinpoint this and get manual control over the fan. Out for now...

Josh
 
Old 03-14-2011, 05:33 AM   #8
revinary
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2011
Posts: 12

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 1
Thanks for your help/interest Josh!

Another (promising?) lead I found:

Code:
$ dmesg |grep cooling
[    0.959447] acpi device:03: registered as cooling_device2
So I looked around in /sys/class/thermal/

I identified two fans:
Code:
$cat cooling_device0/device/path 
\_TZ_.FAN0
$cat cooling_device1/device/path 
\_TZ_.FAN1
There are a several files/subdirs/links inside the cooling_device# folders but nothing promising except maybe:
Code:
 $ cat cooling_device0/device/power/control 
auto
control is read-only, though.

I also found that /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone1/ deals with CPU package temperature.
There are 4 trip_points:
(http://acpi.sourceforge.net/documentation/thermal.html)

1: Type: critical, Temp: 85
2: Type: passive, Temp: 95 (that's when throttling kicks in, I guess)
3: Type: active, Temp: 71
4: Type: active, Temp: 55

Don't know the significance of 55 and 71.

rev

Last edited by revinary; 03-14-2011 at 05:36 AM.
 
Old 03-14-2011, 07:32 AM   #9
corp769
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: /dev/null
Posts: 5,818

Rep: Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007
Good findings... I'm still at work, and still stuck with windows for another few hours.... Got to love 12 hour shifts
 
Old 02-25-2012, 12:32 PM   #10
Crazyachmed
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Feb 2012
Posts: 6

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
Did you guys find out anything further? Would be nice to increase the fan speed, I have heat trouble even after installing copper shims on the GPU.

If I remember correctly the Dell Diag Utility can change the fan speed (at least between off/auto/full). So it is possible by software. Do you know how we could trace what the tool is doing?

On a side note: How would the fan react if we disconnect the PWM line (or pull it high/low). Thinking about installing a small switch on the side!
 
Old 02-25-2012, 02:50 PM   #11
AceofSpades19
Senior Member
 
Registered: Feb 2007
Location: Chilliwack,BC.Canada
Distribution: Slackware64 -current
Posts: 2,079

Rep: Reputation: 58
The dell 32 bit diagnostics is actually a linux based tool, theres a way to even get to a shell from it. So logically it is possible to control the fan speed from linux, just a matter of finding out how
 
Old 02-26-2012, 03:30 AM   #12
Crazyachmed
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Feb 2012
Posts: 6

Rep: Reputation: Disabled
Are you sure? It's talking about loading HIMEM and copies from DISK1, DISK2, DISK3 to RAMDRIVE. Also it loads some MDM (driver?) files after switching to GUI. That sounds a lot like plain DOS environment. I think I saw FreeDOS somewhere. I will try to take a look at whats inside of the boot image later. Anyhow, the calls it does should be portable.

For now I booted with "thermal.off=1" which seems to help fan control, but I need to compare that. I saw a FreeBSD thread talking about wrong values in the ACPI tables: Critical is at 85C vs. throttle at 95C, which does not make sense. At least on 3.0 kernel (and as far back I remember) I observe the same wrong values. Switching off the thermal module should let the BIOS take care of cooling, right?

So far the only thing that keeps this Laptop from overheating is to switch the radeon driver to the "low" power profile. When running anything that does not do that (e.g. Windows Setup or even the Dell Diag Util itself) the laptops overheats buts stays on and only gets real slow. When restarting it then refuses to boot up, beeping.


EDIT: Did anyone else notice that all power values are off by a factor of 10? Like battery capacity, power consumption. Windows has the same problems. So maybe the ACPI tables really are crap?

Last edited by Crazyachmed; 02-26-2012 at 03:32 AM.
 
Old 02-26-2012, 03:32 AM   #13
corp769
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: /dev/null
Posts: 5,818

Rep: Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007
Nope, not at all... And speaking of which, that computer sadly died a few months ago.... Look at my signature for my new one
 
Old 02-26-2012, 03:58 AM   #14
revinary
LQ Newbie
 
Registered: Mar 2011
Posts: 12

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 1
Thanks for the input!

I also shimed the graphics processor and RAM hoping it would reduce temperature and consequently fan speed.
However, it doesn't seem to make any noticeable difference.

You *could* regulate the fan manually by installing a potentiometer, I guess.
Then again, overriding the internal PWM regulation means you alone are now in control of the fan speed: if you accidentally set it too low you risk damaging your hardware (or at least an automatic shutdown).

About the Dell utility: sounds promising, I'll look into it! Hope it's available on their website since I deleted the OEM partition.

Cheers,

rev
 
Old 02-26-2012, 04:03 AM   #15
corp769
LQ Guru
 
Registered: Apr 2005
Location: /dev/null
Posts: 5,818

Rep: Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007Reputation: 1007
Just a thought... You could always head over to bios-mods.com and see if they have any unlocked BIOS's for your model? I'm able to control my fan via my hacked BIOS on my new laptop....
 
  


Reply


Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off



Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Sound not working in Dell Studio 1557 in Fedora 12 eyemole80 Linux - Laptop and Netbook 10 05-02-2010 11:34 AM
Dell Studio 1557 Core i7 with CentOS samohn Linux - Hardware 9 04-09-2010 03:29 PM
Dell Fan Trouble AChi Linux - Hardware 3 02-19-2008 03:51 PM
Compaq Ap550 fan controll KaYoS Slackware 0 08-16-2006 01:53 PM
how do i controll my fan speed ?? (it87) qwijibow Linux - Hardware 0 02-09-2005 02:22 PM

LinuxQuestions.org > Forums > Linux Forums > Linux - Laptop and Netbook

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 05:10 PM.

Main Menu
Advertisement
My LQ
Write for LQ
LinuxQuestions.org is looking for people interested in writing Editorials, Articles, Reviews, and more. If you'd like to contribute content, let us know.
Main Menu
Syndicate
RSS1  Latest Threads
RSS1  LQ News
Twitter: @linuxquestions
Open Source Consulting | Domain Registration