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Does running i8kmon, thermald, and sensors simultaneously have known resource contention issues that cause fans to start spinning at lower temperatures than the thresholds I've configured? Is getting Dell laptop fan speeds and noise under control a solved issue?

I'm running Ubuntu 20.04 on a Dell Precision M6600. I'm using i8kmon and still get fans spinning at higher RPMs triggered at lower temperatures than the thresholds I've configured. I've read these posts and others. All solutions are temporary, at best.

I've disabled BIOS fan control with smm,[dellfan][0], [dell-bios-fan-control][1]

Hardware Sensor Indicator, i8kctl and sensors output all show temperatures below what should trigger any fan activity.

i8kctl output: 1.0 A18 J59D4S1 53 1 1 3413 3034 -1 -1

sensors output:

dell_smm-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
Processor Fan: 3034 RPM
Video Fan:     3410 RPM
CPU:            +53.0°C  
Ambient:        +52.0°C  
SODIMM:         +47.0°C  
SODIMM:         +47.0°C  
SODIMM:         +47.0°C  
GPU:            +62.0°C

BAT0-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
in0:          12.68 V

curr1:       1000.00 uA


coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Package id 0:  +55.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 0:        +54.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 1:        +48.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 2:        +55.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
Core 3:        +50.0°C  (high = +86.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)


acpitz-acpi-0
Adapter: ACPI interface
temp1:        +25.0°C  (crit = +107.0°C)

"Hardware Sensor Indicator" output

smcnally
  • 396
  • sensors does not control the fans. Have you tried stopping thermald and see if the issue persists? – rtaft Oct 04 '21 at 14:19
  • With thermald stopped, BIOS control disabled, and i8kmon running, the fans spin up less frequently and at lower RPM. Fans spin up appropriately as system temperature rises, resource utilization spikes. They spin down appropriately and often back to 0 RPM which they had not been doing under BIOS control. I will keep thermald stopped and continue to monitor.

    I am seeing lag in UI response. I don't know how to measure / quantify this, but it's more typing, clicking, window focus lag than with BIOS control enabled.

    Thanks for your time and assistance here.

     – smcnally Oct 05 '21 at 23:13

0 Answers0