Laptop computer, fan does not switch on properly
Forum: Laptops
Topic: Laptop computer, fan does not switch on properly
started by: john.martzouco
Posted by john.martzouco on Nov. 27 2007,00:11
When the fan runs on this machine, I know it! Sometimes, it will run before DSL starts up but then stops once the desktop gets fully displayed... then it never starts again.The fan works properly when I run the machine under Windows XP, so I'm confident there are no hardware issues involved.
I've tried erasing the noacpi and noapm bootup codes from GRUB, with no change in performance. I'm running 4.0 or 4.1Rc1, I don't remember which it is... is there a version stamp somewhere?
When DSL boots up, I see it mention that the motherboard is ACPI and then see battery, fan, thermal and a couple of other words display in yellow text.
I've gone looking into /proc/acpi/fan/ as Curaga suggested in another thread, but I do not find a subfolder named FAN0 so I cannot create 'state' file to manually turn on the fan. I've seen two folders there named CL01 and CL02 (iirc).
What can I do next?
Thanks,
John
Posted by roberts on Nov. 27 2007,00:33
Take a look in:ls -l /opt/acpi/actions/
These are scripts to be used with acpi.
Juanito is one of our resident experts in apci.
Hopefully he will see your post.
Also try the Search feature of the forums.
As for release info. It is displayed during boot up.
It is displayed on the first tab of System Stats.
And finally is a simple text file in /usr/share/doc/dsl/release.txt
Posted by Juanito on Nov. 27 2007,03:40
There was post about a similar problem a while ago in these forums. Maybe the acpid daemon is not running after your machine starts - try this:| Code Sample |
| $ sudo /etc/init.d/acpid start |
I have the cpu temperature displayed via torsmo on my machine and can see that the fan cuts in when the temperature increases above about 55degC (usually when compiling). There appear to be settings that control the temperature at which the fan starts, but I never tried to change these.
I'm using my laptop in w2k at the moment - I'll have a look at the fan settings next time I boot dsl.
Edit:
Here's what I have under /proc/acpi:
| Code Sample |
| $ ls /proc/acpi ac_adapter button event info sleep alarm dsdt fadt power_resource thermal_zone battery embedded_controller fan processor |
| Code Sample |
| $ ls /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM cooling_mode polling_frequency state temperature trip_points $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM/temperature temperature: 46 C $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM/trip_points critical (S5): 99 C $ sudo echo -n 45 > /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM/trip_points bash: /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM/trip_points: Permission denied |
Note that you can start acpid at boot using the boot code "acpid" and you can check it has started by:
| Code Sample |
| $ sudo cat /var/log/acpid [Tue Nov 27 09:59:23 2007] starting up [Tue Nov 27 09:59:23 2007] 4 rules loaded |
I'm guessing the bios controls the fan on my machine - if starting acpid does not help on your machine, you could always try apm instead of acpi.
Posted by john.martzouco on Nov. 27 2007,12:21
@Juanito,This helps, thank you.
1) I looked for the acpid log file in /var/log and it was not there on normal bootup.
2) I ran /etc/init.d/acpid start... and it created the log file, so now I know the dameon is started.
3) I changed the cheat code in /boot/grub/menu.lst to 'acpi' instead of noacpi. Rebooted and it looks like it might have had effect because acpid log file exists again.
4) My equivalent of /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THM is... /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/C106
5) it contains 5 files you mention:
temperature: 79 C
critical (S5): 95 C
6) I used 'more' to read above info... it looks like you executed temperature... but it doesn't at the same time... is it just the way your PS1 is set up?
I'll watch it later today as the temperature climbs.
Thanks a milion!
I'd *love* toget the battery monitor and temperature monitor scripts hooked up to my Torsmo. It's on my to-do list. I've read some entries about them and it doesn't sound too hard. Any chance you could send me your files and spare me some effort? I'm running 4.1RC3.
Many thanks,
John
Posted by Juanito on Nov. 27 2007,13:17
| Quote |
| I'd *love* toget the battery monitor and temperature monitor scripts hooked up to my Torsmo. It's on my to-do list. I've read some entries about them and it doesn't sound too hard. Any chance you could send me your files and spare me some effort? I'm running 4.1RC3. |
torsmo should already show the battery time remaining, to see the cpu temp, change the end of the file /home/dsl/.torsmorc to look like this:
| Code Sample |
| ${color red}$hr ${color grey}Uptime: $color $uptime ${color #ddd}Battery: $color ${battery} ${color #ddd}CPU Temp: $color ${acpitemp} degC ${color green}$hr$color $sysname $kernel on $machine ${color grey}Host: $color$nodename ${execi 180 ~/.torsmo_ip} ${color red}$hr |
Then, to restart:
| Code Sample |
| $ killall torsmo $ torsmo |
Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 04 2007,03:02
| Quote (roberts @ Nov. 26 2007,19:33) |
| Take a look in: ls -l /opt/acpi/actions/ These are scripts to be used with acpi. |
Hi Robert and all,
I'm looking at these scripts on my virtualized RC3... will they look exactly the same as what exists on the laptop with a traditional HD install? Just wondering whether these are 'canned' or whether something in the system generates them at startup.
If they are consistent, I don't see any mention of the fan in any of them.
Does anybody run a laptop with DSL and know for sure that their ACPID is functioning and controlling the fan? I could use some help getting this running.
Is it easier to control APM?
Funny thing is DSL boots up and displays that it's found an ACPI enabled motherboard and then list the battery, fan, etc modules.
Thanks,
John
Posted by jpeters on Dec. 04 2007,03:45
| Quote (john.martzouco @ Dec. 03 2007,22:02) |
| Does anybody run a laptop with DSL and know for sure that their ACPID is functioning and controlling the fan? I could use some help getting this running. Is it easier to control APM? |
I run my Dell laptops with acpi=off, which seems to work much better, and don't recall ever having problems with the fan.
Posted by roberts on Dec. 04 2007,04:15
Some laptops may requireacpi=force
Posted by Juanito on Dec. 04 2007,04:34
If the acpi modules (battery, fan, etc) are loading OK then "acpi=force" probably isn't needed. As mentioned, there was a earlier thread on a similar topic (that I cannot find) where using "acpi=off apm" got the fan going.Flashing the bios to the latest version also might help
Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 04 2007,11:36
| Quote (Juanito @ Dec. 03 2007,23:34) |
| Flashing the bios to the latest version also might help |
I'm willing to try this. I know there are risks involved. Is there any way for me to back up the current BIOS before I attempt this? My machine is a P2-300MHz Compaq Armada 1750.
Much thanks,
John
Posted by curaga on Dec. 04 2007,17:02
The utility will usually let you back up the current bios; so if flashing fails, you can flash the previous bios back before rebooting.
Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 04 2007,17:05
ok, I`ll go searching for the latest one for my machine. This morning I found the one for the newer 400MHz model and it`s release date was 1999, so I don`t hold much hope for anything newer for the 300MHz I have.Does the BIOS setup page usually report what release is loaded on the machine? Would a BIOS from 1999 report this info?
I'll be loading this up tonight: < ARMADA 1750 6300/T/4000/D/M/1 ROMPaq >
Posted by curaga on Dec. 04 2007,17:29
My desktop compaq only reports the date; it was from -97 when I got it, and I flashed it to a bios from -99. The boot time nearly cut to half, amazing when they actually update something useful 
Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 06 2007,02:38
| Quote (Juanito @ Nov. 27 2007,08:17) |
| ${color #ddd}Battery: $color ${battery} ${color #ddd}CPU Temp: $color ${acpitemp} degC |
Finally got around to this. And I flashed the BIOS to the latest (nov 1999)
Trying a few things.
First, I disabled ACPI in the BIOS. Saw the Battery % for the first time ever. Showed steady 100% with the cord plugged in or not. Didn't see any fan, thermal, battery etc modules get loaded. Fan didn't spin. CPU temperature displayed 0 zero degrees C.
Then I reset the BIOS to use ACPI. Battery % shows nothing just like usual. CPU temperature shows 75C at startup... watching it climb. 6 ACPI modules activated ac, battery, button, fan, processor, thermal.
hmmm... fan never kicked in (like usual).
I have no clue how to use APM instead of ACPI. What's the difference between ACPI and the APIC boot code?
Thanks so far, what can I try next? Remember, this machine runs fine under XP.
Here's what I found when I grepped ACPI dmesg:
| Code Sample |
<4> BIOS-e820: 0000000007ff8000 - 0000000008000000 (ACPI NVS) <6>ACPI: RSDP (v000 COMPAQ ) @ 0x000fb2a0 <6>ACPI: RSDT (v001 COMPAQ RSDTBL 0x00000001 CPQ 0x00000001) @ 0x07ff8000 <6>ACPI: FADT (v001 COMPAQ CPQB142 0x19991130 CPQ 0x00000001) @ 0x07ff8028 <6>ACPI: DSDT (v001 COMPAQ ARMADA17 0x00010000 MSFT 0x0100000a) @ 0x00000000 <4>ACPI: IRQ9 SCI: Edge set to Level Trigger. <6>ACPI: Subsystem revision 20040326 <6>ACPI: Interpreter enabled <6>ACPI: Using PIC for interrupt routing <6>ACPI: System [ACPI] (supports S0 S3 S4bios S4 S5) <6>ACPI: PCI Root Bridge [C000] (00:00) <7>ACPI: PCI Interrupt Routing Table [\_SB_.C000._PRT] <4>ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [C0F2] (IRQs *11) <4>ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [C0F6] (IRQs *11) <6>ACPI: Power Resource [C103] (on) <6>ACPI: Power Resource [C105] (on) <4>ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [C0F6] enabled at IRQ 11 <4>ACPI: PCI Interrupt Link [C0F2] enabled at IRQ 11 <6>PCI: Using ACPI for IRQ routing <6>ACPI: AC Adapter [C0CC] (off-line) <6>ACPI: Battery Slot [C0D6] (battery present) <6>ACPI: Battery Slot [C0D7] (battery absent) <6>ACPI: Lid Switch [C108] <6>ACPI: Sleep Button (CM) [C059] <6>ACPI: Power Button (CM) [C05A] <6>ACPI: Fan [C102] (on) <6>ACPI: Fan [C104] (on) <6>ACPI: Processor [C098] (supports C1 C2, 8 throttling states) <6>ACPI: Thermal Zone [C106] (64 C) <5>apm: overridden by ACPI. |
What do the <N> numbers signify?
And I finally found the 'state' files Curaga mentioned in the other post. My fans are labelled C102 and C104 (I saw it in dmesg above). When I more state in both folders, I see status: on but fans aren't spinning. I tried:
| Code Sample |
echo -n "1" > state to force it on. |
as suggested by Curaga... made no difference. Thought maybe I could cycle them off and back on, so I tried "0" instead and it also had no effect. hmmm... I didn't get any errors, and I was using shell as root, but it really seems to me that I cannot change the contents of this file - as if the daemon overrides my changes immediately.
Posted by Juanito on Dec. 06 2007,03:25
| Quote |
| I have no clue how to use APM instead of ACPI |
- apm is the power management system that came before acpi. As mentioned, to use it try "acpi=off apm"
Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 06 2007,14:03
| Quote (Juanito @ Dec. 05 2007,22:25) |
| try "acpi=off apm" |
Is this any different from using boot codes noacpi apm?
I've tried the above with no better results.
Posted by john.martzouco on Dec. 08 2007,09:41
Am trying apm acpi=offFirst, a good sign... for the very first time, I saw my Battery status in torsmo reported correctly. charging and 90% while plugged in, 90% now that I've unplugged.
How do I get the CPU Temp information into torsmo with apm?
I've tried the following in .torsmorc, but it didn't work:
| Code Sample |
${color #ddd}CPU Temp: $color ${apmtemp} degC |
Found the Conky man page and didn't find anything that could help monitor temperature udner apm.
Looking for apm man page to find equivalents to /proc/acpi/thermal etc.