1

Problem

I installed Ubuntu 12.04 on a Dell Inspiron 15R. As soon as I boot, the fan starts at full speed and stays constantly on. I've seen similar posts, where installing fan control apps are recommended like

i8kmon  
jupiter
mesa-utils

but in general, these do not allow for automatic fan speed control and one has to manually set the fan speed, while keeping track of the processor's temperature. See: Similar post.

Technical specs

 - Processor: Intel® Core™ i5-3337U CPU @ 1.80GHz × 4
 - RAM: 6 GB
 - Disk: 500 GB
 - Graphics: Standard Intel drivers
 - OS type: Ubuntu 12.04 (64-bit)

lm-sensors

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0:  +45.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0:         +40.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1:         +45.0°C  (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)

Any hint on how to solve this ?

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  • Do you have a dedicated video card besides that Intel thingy?
    – OrangeTux
    Aug 6, 2013 at 19:14
  • I just realized that without the dual monitor display, the problem does not appear ... If I start Ubuntu without plugging in the external monitor (Dell 23"), the fan does not start running at full speed. The problem may rely in the Intel drivers ??
    – Nicolas
    Aug 7, 2013 at 15:30
  • @OrangeTux: No, the only Graphics card is the Intel one, so no external or Ubuntu drivers.
    – Nicolas
    Aug 7, 2013 at 15:31
  • @Nicolas what happens if you suspend? My Asus laptop sometimes does the same, and if I suspend and wakeup the fan stops.
    – Salem
    Aug 8, 2013 at 19:10
  • @Salem thanks for the suggestion, but as soon as I start it back, the fan starts running again.
    – Nicolas
    Aug 8, 2013 at 20:40

1 Answer 1

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I have the same notebook as yours, and the solution for me was 'i8kutils'. In this package the script 'i8kmon' is for automatic control.

Some tips are:

  • Put ENABLED=1 in /etc/default/i8kmon
  • Put set config(auto) 1 in /etc/i8kmon.conf

I hope it helps.

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  • It seems to be working ! I'll keep an eye on the temperatures and let you know if anything changes.
    – Nicolas
    Dec 10, 2013 at 21:29
  • i8kmon did stop the fan noise, but somehow the automatic adjustment of fan speed does not work. Even if the temperatures are higher than the thresholds defined in /etc/i8kmon, the fan does not start. Any suggestions ?
    – Nicolas
    Dec 16, 2013 at 19:31
  • With the log we can have a better understand. To do that, just issue '$ sudo service i8kmon stop', and execute the script '/usr/bin/i8kmon' manually with the parameter '--verbose'. I think 20 seconds of log is sufficient.
    – vitorafsr
    Dec 16, 2013 at 21:27
  • Found the problem. I was not setting the temperature thresholds in the proper script. Thanks again !
    – Nicolas
    Dec 16, 2013 at 23:44

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