I partially solved the problem using i8kutils. Here's a guide about it:
Keenformatics - How to solve Dell laptops fan issues in Ubuntu
and a discussion here on askubuntu:
Dell Inspiron 5521 i7-3317U Fan CPU too Noisy
Here are the main steps as written on Keenformatics site (my blog).
How To solve Dell laptops fan issues in Ubuntu
- First of all, let's download and install i8kutils. Open your terminal and write:
sudo apt-get install i8kutils
- Now you've got to add i8k to your modules. Open the modules file:
sudo gedit /etc/modules
and add the string "i8k" (without quotes) to the file. Save and exit.
Create an i8k.conf
file
sudo vim /etc/modprobe.d/i8k.conf
and fill it with this code:
options i8k force=1
Note: Some older guides will tell you to create a /modprobe.d/options file. The "options" file isn't used anymore on Ubuntu. What does matter is that you create a file with a .conf extension (the filename isn't important, but I decided to name it i8k.conf for clarity). So beware of older i8kmon configuration guides.
- Now restart your computer, or run this code to make i8k run:
sudo modprobe i8k force=1
- We will now create a i8kmon.conf file which will tell the i8kmon utility how to behave.
sudo gedit /etc/i8kmon.conf
Paste the following code in it:
# Run as daemon, override with --daemon option
set config(daemon) 0
# Automatic fan control, override with --auto option
set config(auto) 1
# Report status on stdout, override with --verbose option
set config(verbose) 1
# Status check timeout (seconds), override with --timeout option
set config(timeout) 20
# Temperature thresholds: {fan_speeds low_ac high_ac low_batt high_batt}
set config(0) {{-1 0} -1 40 -1 40}
set config(1) {{-1 1} 30 60 30 60}
set config(2) {{-1 2} 53 128 53 128}
# For computer with 2 fans, use a variant of this instead:
# Temperature thresholds: {fan_speeds low_ac high_ac low_batt high_batt}
# set config(0) {{-1 0} -1 52 -1 65}
# set config(1) {{-1 1} 41 66 55 75}
# set config(2) {{-1 1} 55 80 65 85}
# set config(3) {{-1 2} 70 128 75 128}
# end of file
This has been edited to match my Dell Inspiron 15r 5521 fan configuration (and I hope I did it well). If you want more informations take a look at the documentation on Ubuntu Manuals: http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/gutsy/man1/i8kmon.1.html
- Now you should be able to run i8kmon from your terminal and see if (and how) it's working. Simply run:
i8kmon
Finished!