Fan speed control
Fan control can bring various benefits to your system, such as quieter working system and power saving by completely stopping fans on low CPU load.
Contents
Overview
There are multiple working solutions for fan control for both desktops and notebooks. Depending on your needs:
- Fancontrol (lm-sensors) - Script (written in Bash) to configure fan speeds. Most suitable for desktops and laptops with a single fan and without discrete graphics card.
- NoteBook Fan Control (NBFC) - Cross-platform solution for laptop fan control, written in C# and works under Mono runtime. Most suitable for latest, unsupported by Fancontrol laptops.
- Dell laptops - Alternative fan control daemon for some Dell laptops.
- ThinkPad laptops - Fan configuration for some ThinkPad laptops.
- Asus laptops - Configure some Asus laptops for Fancontrol or manual control.
Fancontrol (lm-sensors)
fancontrol
is a part of lm_sensors, which can be used to control the speed of CPU/case fans.
Support for newer motherboards may not yet be in the Linux kernel. Check the official lm-sensors devices table to see if experimental drivers are available for such motherboards.
It is recommended not to use lm_sensors.service
to load the needed modules for fancontrol. Instead, manually place them in /etc/modules-load.d/load_these.conf
since the order in which these modules are loaded dictate the order in which the needed symlinks for hwmon get created. In other words, using the lm_sensors.service
causes inconsistencies boot-to-boot which will render the configuration file for fan control worthless for a consistency point of view. To avoid this problem:
In /etc/conf.d/lm_sensors
you find the modules. If not there, run as root sensors-detect
accepting the defaults. In the modules-load.d
file place one module name per line. Specifying them like this will create a reproducible order. Another alternative is to use absolute device names in the configuration file.[1]
lm-sensors
Set up lm_sensors.
$ sensors
coretemp-isa-0000 Adapter: ISA adapter Core 0: +29.0°C (high = +76.0°C, crit = +100.0°C) [...] it8718-isa-0290 Adapter: ISA adapter Vcc: +1.14 V (min = +0.00 V, max = +4.08 V) VTT: +2.08 V (min = +0.00 V, max = +4.08 V) +3.3V: +3.33 V (min = +0.00 V, max = +4.08 V) NB Vcore: +0.03 V (min = +0.00 V, max = +4.08 V) VDRAM: +2.13 V (min = +0.00 V, max = +4.08 V) fan1: 690 RPM (min = 10 RPM) temp1: +37.5°C (low = +129.5°C, high = +129.5°C) sensor = thermistor temp2: +25.0°C (low = +127.0°C, high = +127.0°C) sensor = thermal diode
If the output does not display an RPM value for the CPU fan, one may need to increase the fan divisor. If fan speed is shown and higher than 0, skip the next step.
Increasing fan_div
The first line of the sensors output is the chipset used by the motherboard for readings of temperatures and voltages.
Create a file in /etc/sensors.d/
:
/etc/sensors.d/fan-speed-control.conf
chip "coretemp-isa-*" set fanX_div 4
Replacing coretemp-isa- with name of the chipset and X with the number of the CPU fan to change.
Save the file, and run as root:
# sensors -s
which will reload the configuration files.
Run sensors
again, and check if there is an RPM readout. If not, increase the divisor to 8, 16, or 32. YMMV!
Configuration
/etc/fancontrol
on their own, which also saves them from hearing all of the fans at full speed.Once sensors are properly configured, use pwmconfig
to test and configure fan speed control. The default configuration options should create /etc/fancontrol
configuration file:
# pwmconfig
Tweaking
Users wishing more control may need to tweak the generated configuration. Here is a sample configuration file:
INTERVAL=10 DEVPATH=hwmon0=devices/platform/coretemp.0 hwmon2=devices/platform/w83627ehf.656 DEVNAME=hwmon0=coretemp hwmon2=w83627dhg FCTEMPS=hwmon0/device/pwm1=hwmon0/device/temp1_input FCFANS= hwmon0/device/pwm1=hwmon0/device/fan1_input MINTEMP=hwmon0/device/pwm1=20 MAXTEMP=hwmon0/device/pwm1=55 MINSTART=hwmon0/device/pwm1=150 MINSTOP=hwmon0/device/pwm1=105
INTERVAL
: how often the daemon should poll CPU temps and adjust fan speeds. INTERVAL is in seconds.
The rest of the configuration file is split into (at least) two values per configuration option. Each configuration option first points to a PWM device which is written to which sets the fan speed. The second "field" is the actual value to set. This allows monitoring and controlling multiple fans and temperatures.
FCTEMPS
: The temperature input device to read for CPU temperature. The above example corresponds to/sys/class/hwmon/hwmon0/device/temp1_input
.FCFANS
: The current fan speed, which can be read (like the temperature) in/sys/class/hwmon/hwmon0/device/fan1_input
MINTEMP
: The temperature (°C) at which to SHUT OFF the CPU fan. Efficient CPUs often will not need a fan while idling. Be sure to set this to a temperature that you know is safe. Setting this to 0 is not recommended and may ruin your hardware!MAXTEMP
: The temperature (°C) at which to spin the fan at its MAXIMUM speed. This should be probably be set to perhaps 10 or 20 degrees (°C) below your CPU's critical/shutdown temperature. Setting it closer to MINTEMP will result in higher fan speeds overall.MINSTOP
: The PWM value at which your fan stops spinning. Each fan is a little different. Power tweakers canecho
different values (between 0 and 255) to/sys/class/hwmon/hwmon0/device/pwm1
and then watch the CPU fan. When the CPU fan stops, use this value.MINSTART
: The PWM value at which your fan starts to spin again. This is often a higher value than MINSTOP as more voltage is required to overcome inertia.
There are also two settings fancontrol needs to verify the configuration file is still up to date. The lines start with the setting name and an equality sign, followed by groups of hwmon-class-device=setting, separated by spaces. You need to specify each setting for each hwmon class device you use anywhere in the config, or fancontrol will not work.
DEVPATH
: Sets the physical device. You can determine this by executing the command
readlink -f /sys/class/hwmon/[your-hwmon-device]/device | sed -e 's/^\/sys\///'
DEVNAME
: Sets the name of the device. Try:
$ sed -e 's/[[:space:]=]/_/g' /sys/class/hwmon/[your-hwmon-device]/device/name
MAXPWM
and MINPWM
options that limit fan speed range. See fancontrol manual page for details.DEVPATH
may change on reboot due to different timing of module loading, but also e.g. the temperature sensor paths (hwmon0/device/temp1_input becomes hwmon0/temp1_input). This usually happens on a kernel update. Check the system log to find out which is the troublemaker:
# systemctl status fancontrol.serviceand correct your config file accordingly.
fancontrol
fancontrol
may result in an error regarding changed device paths. This issue may be fixed by running sensors-detect
again and restarting the system.Try to run fancontrol:
# /usr/bin/fancontrol
A properly configured setup will not error out and will take control of system fans. Users should hear system fans slowing shortly after executing this command.
To enable starting fancontrol automatically on every boot, enable fancontrol.service
.
For an unofficial GUI install fancontrol-guiAUR or fancontrol-kcmAUR.
NBFC
NBFC is a cross-platform fan control solution for notebooks. It comes with a powerful configuration system, which allows to adjust it to many different notebook models, including some of the latest ones.
Installation
NBFC can be installed as nbfcAUR or nbfc-gitAUR. Also start and enable nbfc.service
.
Configuration
NBFC comes with pre-made profiles. You can find them in /opt/nbfc/Configs/
directory. When applying them, use exact profile name without extension (e.g. some profile.xml
becomes "some profile"
).
Check if there is anything NBFC can recommend:
$ nbfc config -r
If there is at least one model, try to apply this profile and see how fan speeds are being handled. For example:
$ nbfc config -a "Asus Zenbook UX430UA"
If there are no recommended models, go to NBFC git repository or /opt/nbfc/Configs/
and check if there are any similar models available from the same manufacturer. For example, on Asus Zenbook UX430UQ, the configuration Asus Zenbook UX430UA did not work well (fans completelly stopped all the time), but Asus Zenbook UX410UQ worked fantastically.
Run nbfc
to see all options. More information about configuration is available at upstream wiki.
Dell laptops
i8kutils
is a daemon to configure fan speed according to CPU temperatures on some Dell Inspiron and Latitude laptops. It uses of the /proc/i8k
interface provided by the dell_smm_hwmon
driver (formerly i8k
). Results will vary depending on the exact model of laptop.
Installation
i8kutilsAUR is the main package to control fan speed. Additionally, you might want to install these:
- tcl - must be installed in order to run
i8kmon
as a background service (using the--daemon
option). - tk - must be installed together with tcl to run as X11 desktop applet.
Configuration
By default, i8kmon
only monitors the CPU temperature and fan speed passively. To enable its fan speed control, either run it with the --auto
option or enable the option permanently in /etc/i8kutils/i8kmon.conf
:
set config(auto) 1
The temperature points at which the fan changes speed can be adjusted in the same configuration file. Only three fans speeds are supported (high, low, and off). Look for a section similar to the following:
set config(0) {{0 0} -1 55 -1 55} set config(1) {{1 1} 45 75 45 75} set config(2) {{2 2} 65 128 65 128}
This example starts the fan at low speed when the CPU temperature reaches 55 °C, switching to high speed at 75 °C. The fan will switch back to low speed once the temperature drops to 65 °C, and turns off completely at 45 °C.
Installation as a service
i8kmon
can be started automatically as a systemd service using a unit file similar to the following:
/etc/systemd/system/i8kmon.service
[Unit] Description=i8kmon [Service] #ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/smm 30a3 # uncomment to disable BIOS fan control #ExecStopPost=/usr/bin/smm 31a3 # ... and re-enable it afterwards ExecStart=/usr/bin/i8kmon -d Restart=always RestartSec=5 [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
ThinkPad laptops
The embedded controller (EC) regulates fan speed. However, in order to take control over it, add fan_control=1
to your kernel parameters.
Current fan control daemons available in the AUR are simpfand-gitAUR and thinkfanAUR (recommended).
Installation
Install thinkfanAUR. Optionally but recommended, install lm_sensors. Then have a look at the files:
# pacman -Ql thinkfan
Note that the thinkfan package installs /usr/lib/modprobe.d/thinkpad_acpi.conf, which contains
options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1
So fan control is enabled by default. Alternatively, you can enabled fan control as follows:
$ echo "options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/thinkfan.conf
Now, load the module:
$ su # modprobe thinkpad_acpi # cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
You should see that the fan level is "auto" by default, but you can echo a level command to the same file to control the fan speed manually. The thinkfan daemon will do this automatically.
Set thinkfan to run at startup by editing /etc/default/thinkfan
and adding the following line:
START=yes
Finally, enable the thinkfan systemd service:
$ systemctl enable thinkfan
To configure the temperature thresholds, you will need to copy one of the example config files (e.g. /usr/share/doc/thinkfan/examples/thinkfan.conf.simple) to /etc/thinkfan.conf, and modify to taste. This file specifies which sensors to read, and which interface to use to control the fan. Some systems have /proc/acpi/ibm/fan available; on others, you will need to specify something like
hwmon /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp
to use generic hwmon sensors instead of thinkpad-specific ones.
Running
You can test your configuration first by running thinkfan manually (as root):
# thinkfan -n
and see how it reacts to the load level of whatever other programs you have running.
When you have it configured correctly, the thinkfan daemon can be started by running (as root):
# systemctl start thinkfan
or by automatically loading it on system startup:
# systemctl enable thinkfan
Old packages which have gone missing
tpfandAUR[broken link: archived in aur-mirror] and a version that does not require HAL tpfand-no-halAUR[broken link: archived in aur-mirror] are not actively developed anymore, and no longer available. An additional GTK+ frontend was provided in the tpfan-adminAUR[broken link: archived in aur-mirror] package in the AUR which enables the monitoring of temperatures as well as the graphical adjustment of trigger points.
Due to tpfand not beeing actively developed anymore, there was a fork called tpfanco (which in fact uses the same names for the executables as tpfand): tpfanco-svnAUR[broken link: archived in aur-mirror].
The configuration file for tpfand (same for tpfanco) was /etc/tpfand.conf
.
Additionally, the tpfand-profilesAUR[broken link: archived in aur-mirror] package in the AUR provided the latest fan profiles for various thinkpad models.
Asus laptops
This topic will cover drivers configuration on Asus laptops for Fancontrol (lm-sensors).
Kernel modules overview
- #asus-nb-wmi is a kernel module, which is included in mainstream Linux kernel and is loaded automatically in Asus laptops. It will only allow to control a single fan and if there is a second fan - you will not have any controls over it. Blacklisting this module will prevent keyboard backlight to work.
- #asus_fan is a kernel module, which allows to control both fans on some older Asus laptops. Does not work with the most recent models.
In configuration files, we are going to use full paths to sysfs files (e.g. /sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1
). This is because hwmon1 might change to any other number after reboot. Fancontrol (lm-sensors) is written in Bash, so using these paths in configuration file is completely acceptable. You can find complete /etc/fancontrol
configuration file examples at ASUS N550JV#Fan control.
asus-nb-wmi
Kernel module asus-nb-wmi
is already included in Linux kernel and should already be loaded to your kernel.
Below are the commands to control it. Check if you have any controls over your fan:
# echo 255 > /sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1 # Full fan speed (Value: 255) # echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1 # Fan is stopped (Value: 0) # echo 2 > /sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[[:print:]]*/pwm1_enable # Change fan mode to automatic # echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1_enable # Change fan mode to manual
If you were able to modify fan speed with above commands, then continue with #Generate config file with pmwconfig.
asus_fan
Install asus-fan-dkms-gitAUR. Load kernel module:
# modprobe asus_fan
Check if you have any control over both fans:
# echo 255 > /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1 # Full CPU fan speed (Value: 255) # echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1 # CPU fan is stopped (Value: 0) # echo 255 > /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1 # Full GFX fan speed (Value: 255) # echo 0 > /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1 # GFX fan is stopped (Value: 0) # echo 2 > /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1_enable # Change CPU fan mode to automatic # echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1_enable # Change CPU fan mode to manual # echo 2 > /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm2_enable # Change GFX fan mode to automatic # echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm2_enable # Change GFX fan mode to manual # cat /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/temp1_input # Display GFX temperature (will always be 0 when GFX is disabled/unused)
If everything works, you might want to load this kernel module on boot:
/etc/modules-load.d/asus_fan.conf
# Load asus_fan module on boot: asus_fan
Continue with #Generate config file with pmwconfig.
Generate config file with pmwconfig
If you get an error There are no working fan sensors, all readings are 0
while generating config file with pwmconfig
, open first console and execute:
# watch -n 1 "echo 2 > /sys/devices/platform/<kernel_module>/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1_enable"
If you use asus_fan
kernel module and have 2nd fan, in second console:
# watch -n 1 "echo 2 > /sys/devices/platform/<kernel_module>/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm2_enable"
And finally, in the third console:
# pwmconfig
Once you are done and the configuration file is generated, you should stop the first and second consoles. Continue with Fancontrol (lm-sensors). After config file is generated, you might need to manually replace PWM values with full sysfs paths as they are used in these steps, because hwmon number values might change after reboot.