Arch Linux

theta

Member

From: India

Registered: 2010-01-16

Posts: 174

Laptop Fan Not Working

I use a Dell Inspiron. Since the last couple of days my laptop gets heated up to 60 at no load and 80-90 while listening to music. I can't feel the air coming out of the fan vent which I could earlier.
I tried using i8kutils but it didn't work.
fancontrols says: Error: Can't read configuration file

whatever utility I try to use I can't get a read on the fans speed or check its functionality.
Please suggest some means to check it.
Regards,
Apoorv

Last edited by theta (2010-06-18 17:35:18)

theta

Member

From: India

Registered: 2010-01-16

Posts: 174

Re: Laptop Fan Not Working

[theta@boolean-pc ~]$ sudo pwmconfig 
# pwmconfig revision 5770 (2009-09-16)
This program will search your sensors for pulse width modulation (pwm)
controls, and test each one to see if it controls a fan on
your motherboard. Note that many motherboards do not have pwm
circuitry installed, even if your sensor chip supports pwm.

We will attempt to briefly stop each fan using the pwm controls.
The program will attempt to restore each fan to full speed
after testing. However, it is ** very important ** that you
physically verify that the fans have been to full speed
after the program has completed.

/usr/sbin/pwmconfig: There are no pwm-capable sensor modules installed
[theta@boolean-pc ~]$

This means that the right module is not loaded. Which module should I load for my laptop?

brebs

Member

Registered: 2007-04-03

Posts: 3,742

Re: Laptop Fan Not Working

Were you using any software to control the fans, prior to "the last couple of days"? Sounds like a hardware problem, which you need to get fixed - heat is a serious issue for lots of components,

It might be just dust buildup - you can buy cans of compressed air, to blow the dust away.

theta

Member

From: India

Registered: 2010-01-16

Posts: 174

Re: Laptop Fan Not Working

No i wasn't using any fancontrol utils.
I will try to clean up the dust if thats what causing the problem.
But can u help to confirm that its nt working because i think that i can hear it but its very very slow.

theta

Member

From: India

Registered: 2010-01-16

Posts: 174

Re: Laptop Fan Not Working

I finally managed to use i8kfan in windows to increase its speed. I could feel the air coming but it still wasn't enough. The temp went down by about 10 deg (from 70 to 58). But I wan't this to be implemented on arch. Looks like it requires some kernel modules which I am not aware of. Someone please identify these.

petelewis

Package Maintainer (PM)

From: Birmingham, UK

Registered: 2008-08-14

Posts: 128

Website

Re: Laptop Fan Not Working

This seems very similar to my problem, which I just reported here:

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=782439

It seems that something must have changed, in the kernel perhaps.

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"Cared thou not, thou would have abstained." - Xyne