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Fan problems
Posted: 25. Mar 2010, 14:38
by nda
Hi,
I use Salix on my old Toshiba Satellite Pro laptop (PIII, 320MB, S3 Savage VGA). After less than an hour's use the fan comes on and stays on, and the system slows down.
If I reboot the machine it runs without the fan until a similar time has elapsed, when the problem recurs.
The fact the machine will reboot immediately without the fan coming on suggests that the fan is running, or more accurately not switching off, not because of over-heating but for some other reason.
Is there software I can use to control the fan, or a command I don't know of to switch the fan off? I searched for fan in Gslapt but there was nothing there that looked useful.
Nda
Re: Fan problems
Posted: 25. Mar 2010, 16:06
by thenktor
There is a tool called fancontrol, which is part of the lm_sensors package. But I'm sure you won't solve your slow down problem with this tool.
Re: Fan problems
Posted: 25. Mar 2010, 16:23
by nda
Hi Thenktor,
I've been busy since I posted earlier. I installed lm_sensors, ran sensor-detect but it made no mention of fancontrol:
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root[nda]# sensors-detect
# sensors-detect revision 5729 (2009-06-02 15:51:29 +0200)
# System: TOSHIBA SP4340 (laptop)
# Board: TOSHIBA Portable PC
This program will help you determine which kernel modules you need
to load to use lm_sensors most effectively. It is generally safe
and recommended to accept the default answers to all questions,
unless you know what you're doing.
Some south bridges, CPUs or memory controllers contain embedded sensors.
Do you want to scan for them? This is totally safe. (YES/no): y
Silicon Integrated Systems SIS5595... No
VIA VT82C686 Integrated Sensors... No
VIA VT8231 Integrated Sensors... No
AMD K8 thermal sensors... No
AMD K10 thermal sensors... No
Intel Core family thermal sensor... No
Intel AMB FB-DIMM thermal sensor... No
VIA C7 thermal and voltage sensors... No
Some Super I/O chips contain embedded sensors. We have to write to
standard I/O ports to probe them. This is usually safe.
Do you want to scan for Super I/O sensors? (YES/no): y
Probing for Super-I/O at 0x2e/0x2f
Trying family `National Semiconductor'... No
Trying family `SMSC'... No
Trying family `VIA/Winbond/Fintek'... No
Trying family `ITE'... No
Probing for Super-I/O at 0x4e/0x4f
Trying family `National Semiconductor'... No
Trying family `SMSC'... No
Trying family `VIA/Winbond/Fintek'... No
Trying family `ITE'... No
Some hardware monitoring chips are accessible through the ISA I/O ports.
We have to write to arbitrary I/O ports to probe them. This is usually
safe though. Yes, you do have ISA I/O ports even if you do not have any
ISA slots! Do you want to scan the ISA I/O ports? (YES/no): y
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM78' at 0x290... No
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM79' at 0x290... No
Probing for `Winbond W83781D' at 0x290... No
Probing for `Winbond W83782D' at 0x290... No
Lastly, we can probe the I2C/SMBus adapters for connected hardware
monitoring devices. This is the most risky part, and while it works
reasonably well on most systems, it has been reported to cause trouble
on some systems.
Do you want to probe the I2C/SMBus adapters now? (YES/no): y
Using driver `i2c-piix4' for device 0000:00:05.3: Intel 82371AB PIIX4 ACPI
Next adapter: SMBus PIIX4 adapter at fe70 (i2c-0)
Do you want to scan it? (YES/no/selectively): y
Client found at address 0x4e
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM75'... No
Probing for `Dallas Semiconductor DS75'... No
Probing for `Dallas Semiconductor DS1621/DS1631'... No
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1021'... Success!
(confidence 7, driver `adm1021')
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1021A/ADM1023'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX1617'... Success!
(confidence 3, driver `adm1021')
Probing for `Maxim MAX1617A'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX1668'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX1805'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX1989'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX6655/MAX6656'... No
Probing for `TI THMC10'... No
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM84'... No
Probing for `Genesys Logic GL523SM'... No
Probing for `Onsemi MC1066'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX1618'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX1619'... No
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM82/LM83'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX6654/MAX6690'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX6659'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX6647'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX6680/MAX6681'... No
Probing for `Texas Instruments TMP411'... No
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM64'... No
Probing for `Maxim MAX6633/MAX6634/MAX6635'... No
Probing for `Fintek F75121R/F75122R/RG (VID+GPIO)'... No
Probing for `Fintek F75111R/RG/N (GPIO)'... No
Probing for `ITE IT8201R/IT8203R/IT8206R/IT8266R'... No
Client found at address 0x50
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1033'... No
Probing for `Analog Devices ADM1034'... No
Probing for `SPD EEPROM'... Yes
(confidence 8, not a hardware monitoring chip)
Probing for `EDID EEPROM'... No
Now follows a summary of the probes I have just done.
Just press ENTER to continue:
Driver `adm1021':
* Bus `SMBus PIIX4 adapter at fe70'
Busdriver `i2c_piix4', I2C address 0x4e
Chip `Analog Devices ADM1021' (confidence: 7)
Do you want to generate /etc/sysconfig/lm_sensors? (yes/NO): n
To load everything that is needed, add this to one of the system
initialization scripts (e.g. /etc/rc.d/rc.local):
#----cut here----
# Chip drivers
modprobe adm1021
/usr/bin/sensors -s
#----cut here----
If you have some drivers built into your kernel, the list above will
contain too many modules. Skip the appropriate ones! You really
should try these commands right now to make sure everything is
working properly. Monitoring programs won't work until the needed
modules are loaded.
root[nda]# mousepad /etc/rc.d/rc.local
root[nda]# modprobe adm1021
root[nda]# sensors
adm1021-i2c-0-4e
Adapter: SMBus PIIX4 adapter at fe70
temp1: +51.0°C (low = -55.0°C, high = +127.0°C)
temp2: +62.0°C (low = +61.0°C, high = +69.0°C) ALARM
root[nda]#
then:
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root[nda]# fancontrol
Loading configuration from /etc/fancontrol ...
Error: Can't read configuration file
root[nda]#
I had a look and there is no file
fancontrol in /etc.
I've been doing some research and it may be connected to the message I get when I start the machine:
Code: Select all
BIOS age (1999) fails cutoff (2001) acpi=force is required to enable ACPI
So I want to try entering acpi=force into /etc/lilo.conf but I've never used Lilo before, only GRUB. Could you tell me if I would be doing the right thing and if it matters much where I insert the instruction in lilo.conf?
Nda
Re: Fan problems
Posted: 25. Mar 2010, 16:36
by thenktor
fancontrol man page:
CONFIGURATION
For easy configuration, there's a script named pwmconfig(8) which lets you interactively write your configuration file for fancontrol. Alternatively you can write
this file yourself using the information from this manpage.
Before you add this boot option, try it at Lilo prompt: When the Lilo screen appears hit [TAB] and enter "Linux acpi=force". It is possible that your computer won't boot with this option.
If you want to permanently add it to /etc/lilo.conf: There is a line beginning with
append="quiet... You can add it there and run
lilo afterwards to apply changes.
Re: Fan problems
Posted: 25. Mar 2010, 17:06
by nda
I rebooted and used "Linux acpi=force" as you advised. I still got the message about the old BIOS but the machine booted ok.
The fan is now automatically cycling on and off so there must be some default configuration in lm_sensors that is doing that.
I will have a go with pwmconfig(8) later, but now I'm going to edit lilo.conf.
Thanks for your help.
Nda
Re: Fan problems
Posted: 26. Mar 2010, 18:39
by Shador
nda wrote:The fan is now automatically cycling on and off so there must be some default configuration in lm_sensors that is doing that.
No, acpi should be doing that.
nda wrote:temp2: +62.0°C (low = +61.0°C, high = +69.0°C) ALARM
I guess you don't get that alarm anymore either. Some device of your computer was overheating (probably your cpu), because the linux kernel decided not to enable acpi on such an old motherboard and your fan(s) don't work properly without. At some point your cpu probably got throttled (i.e.) slower to save power and thus reduce heat.