Ubuntu
acpi package

How does Ubuntu 11.04 influences fan control

Asked by Dirk Seifert

In conjunction with a noisy fan of a Lenovo T410 Notebook I need to know, if and how Ubuntu 11.04 is influencing the fan control, without any special tools installed. I assume that the BIOS is doing the fan control, but I don't have any evidence for that assumption.

Hence it would be great if anyone could explain how Ubuntu 11.04 - fan control interaction works with standard configuration, so that I can argue with a Lenovo technician, who puts the blame soleley on the operating system (running Ubuntu 11.04 and Windows 7!)

Thanks a lot in advance
Dirk Seifert

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Answered
For:
Ubuntu acpi Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
actionparsnip (andrew-woodhead666) said : 		#1

The fans are controlled by APCI. If there is a proprietary ACPI implementation in the system then it can cause issues. Windows gets a lot of love so the OS can talk to the ACPI effectively. Linux is rarely given such grace and is left to fend for itself. Sometimes it works well, sometimes its pretty dire.

I suggest you ensure you have the latest BIOS as well as try Oneiric (11.10) liveCD or even Precise LiveCD (12.04) as the newer kernels and ACPI implementations may gel better with your hardware.

Revision history for this message
Dirk Seifert (dirk-vonseifert) said : 		#2

Thanks for your quick reply. I'd like to dig a bit deeper:

Does that mean that Ubuntu (as well as Windows) is directly interacting with the fan control in the sense of regulating fan speed depending on system temperature and e.g. cpu load and not the BIOS? Or is it more in a sense of activating and deactivating energy saving modes etc. as described in the wikipedia article on ACPI? I thought that system temperature is such critical that it is independent on the operating system, except someone actively tries to overcome it. I just imagine a crash of the operating system.

My problem has to do with warranty, where lenovo says that the noisy fan is caused by the operating system, without any further proof. So I'd like to neutralise their statement. My fan is turning up to 3500 rpm at cpu (?) temperatures of ~42°C (108°F).

Thanks in advance
Dirk

Revision history for this message
mycae (mycae) said : 		#3

>Or is it more in a sense of activating and deactivating energy saving modes etc. as described in the wikipedia >article on ACPI?

http://www.lesswatts.org/projects/acpi/debug.php
"Does ACPI control the fan on this system?

Virtually no desktops or servers use ACPI fan control. Instead, they use an embedded controller or other hardware on the motherboard that is independent of ACPI.

Note that sometimes you can view and control this hardware with BIOS SETUP. Some systems, for example, run all fans at maximum speed by default and require you to enable fan speed control in SETUP.

... (click on link for more)
"

Revision history for this message
Sam_ (and-sam) said : 		#4

For example a known issue with ati cards. Bug #748080
Or filter newest on linux.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux?field.searchtext=fan&orderby=-datecreated&search=Search&field.status%3Alist=NEW&field.status%3Alist=INCOMPLETE_WITH_RESPONSE&field.status%3Alist=INCOMPLETE_WITHOUT_RESPONSE&field.status%3Alist=CONFIRMED&field.status%3Alist=TRIAGED&field.status%3Alist=INPROGRESS&field.status%3Alist=FIXCOMMITTED&field.assignee=&field.bug_reporter=&field.omit_dupes=on&field.has_patch=&field.has_no_package=

Can you help with this problem?

Provide an answer of your own, or ask Dirk Seifert for more information if necessary.

To post a message you must log in.