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#1 2018-05-07 09:59:16

Pet0r
Member
Registered: 2016-05-03
Posts: 10

XPS 9370 Fans

Just got this laptop yesterday, Arch installed and working except for fans.  I was reading about the XPS 9360 and it seems like by default, the BIOS retains fan control and it's hard to override without using smm to change that.

I have the opposite problem, with Arch I have no fans at all, nothing.  Under stress, the CPU will go right up to the high 90s in celcius and then start throttling itself and the fans never spin up.  This has been like this since install and before any attempts to control the fans were made.

I've tried installing i8kutils-git and controlling the fans that way, they never spin up.

The fans *do* spin up under stress in Windows though.  I'm fairly new to working with these Dell laptop fan issues so any help on where to go next would be much appreciated.

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#2 2018-05-07 10:21:26

Pet0r
Member
Registered: 2016-05-03
Posts: 10

Re: XPS 9370 Fans

Okay so after further testing the fans do spin up in Arch, just not as quickly as in Windows and so I missed them.  In Windows they spin up quite fast and keep the CPU at ~3.6GHz or so until it's forced to step down to 2.4GHz, in Arch they don't spin up until after the CPU has stepped down to 2.4GHz and then they keep it there.  They also seem to spin up later on battery vs. AC power.  I was stressing the CPU with 8 threads for 60 seconds and although the temps went 90+, then stepped down to 2.4GHz and the temps dropped to 80+ this wasn't enough for the fans to kick in, they started after about 90 seconds.

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#3 2018-05-31 00:52:13

kang
Member
Registered: 2010-08-07
Posts: 83

Re: XPS 9370 Fans

I found that fans would always be on with AC connected until i updated the bios (which does indicate it fixes that)

i didnt look too much into it but in most workload of most of my laptops fans spin up earlier in windows than linu, which i generally assume is because it gets hot quicker on windows (though i've never actually verified that)

Another thing i do on these laptops as i dont like to be held back by thermal throttling too much is adding thermal pads between the cpu and the chassis, as this dissipates a lot more heat and helps with both performance and having less fan noise. On the other hand it can get quite hot on the laps smile

I realize none of these are exactly what you want, though it may help. I suspect you'd need to find the right msr or other bits to control the fans in order to set it to exactly what you want

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#4 2018-06-26 18:38:51

dumas
Member
From: Sydney
Registered: 2007-09-01
Posts: 103

Re: XPS 9370 Fans

Hey same thing here, I'm pretty satisfied with this computer, just ran Spark on it and the CPU went up to 94C or something and I totally freaked out...

Have you found any solution yet?

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#5 2018-06-26 22:17:28

dumas
Member
From: Sydney
Registered: 2007-09-01
Posts: 103

Re: XPS 9370 Fans

The problem is pretty bad. My work involves Spark, and when even if I limit the computation to one CPU the temperature shot up to 99C. I don't want to fry my new computer.

According to some quick internet research ultrabooks tend to have higher temperatures under load, around 80-90, but perhaps Dell messed up and offers to fix it.... perhaps only if we have warranty (installing Arch probably voids warranty).

I did find one solution: in the BIOS settings disable Intel Turbo or something. This limits CPU frequency to 1.8 GHz, and the top temperature to a healthy 67C. So, it's a solution, if I don't mind the low frequency, and if I don't mind that I paid extra for the highest CPU option (sigh).

*Perhaps* there are some more clever ways to limit CPU temperature?

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#6 2018-06-27 15:09:43

dumas
Member
From: Sydney
Registered: 2007-09-01
Posts: 103

Re: XPS 9370 Fans

Update: turns out Intel Turbo Boost is indeed the culprit. In fact, it is designed to give unsustainably high temperature under load, it is only meant for short bursts of load. At least that's how I understand it. Perhaps the top temperature is supposed to go up to around 85C, but somehow the hardware is nonideal and it goes to >90C.

One solution is to turn off Intel Turbo Boost in the BIOS, another is to turn it off via

echo 1 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/intel_pstate/no_turbo

Of course, turning it off means we lose potential CPU performance.

I'm exploring using thermald to limit CPU temperature to safe limits, but the default configurations don't seem to have any effects...

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#7 2018-06-27 18:57:36

dumas
Member
From: Sydney
Registered: 2007-09-01
Posts: 103

Re: XPS 9370 Fans

I found a thermald config that gives periodic bursts of temperature rises, and safe level temperature by throttling CPU frequency:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!-- https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Toshiba_Radius_12 -->
<ThermalConfiguration>
   <Platform>
      <Name>Dell XPS 9370</Name>
      <ProductName>XPS139370</ProductName>
      <Preference>QUIET</Preference>
      <ThermalZones>
         <ThermalZone>
            <Type>cpu</Type>
            <TripPoints>
               <TripPoint>
                  <SensorType>x86_pkg_temp</SensorType>
                  <Temperature>56000</Temperature>
                  <type>passive</type>
                  <ControlType>SEQUENTIAL</ControlType>
                  <CoolingDevice>
                     <index>1</index>
                     <type>intel_pstate</type>
                     <influence>100</influence>
                     <SamplingPeriod>1</SamplingPeriod>
                  </CoolingDevice>
               </TripPoint>
            </TripPoints>
         </ThermalZone>
      </ThermalZones>
   </Platform>
</ThermalConfiguration>

However, the temperature still goes >95C during the bursts, and the CPU frequency is too low during the safe periods. It's not an efficient algorithm.

Perhaps doing the reverse of https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Le … ing_issues with msr to set the throttling temperature?

Or set kernel parameters on the tripping points? http://redsymbol.net/linux-kernel-boot-parameters/

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#8 2018-11-15 11:32:36

gnumdk
Member
Registered: 2009-10-15
Posts: 175

Re: XPS 9370 Fans

Having this issue with ArchLinux (4.18.* and 4.19.*)

Booting to Fedora 29 with 4.18.17 and the fans only wake up on load.

So there is a solution but I'm unable to find what makes Fedora ok.

Last edited by gnumdk (2018-11-15 11:33:07)

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#9 2018-11-28 19:04:42

kang
Member
Registered: 2010-08-07
Posts: 83

Re: XPS 9370 Fans

you can use https://aur.archlinux.org/packages/leno … g-fix-git/ for this.
Modify /etc/lenovo_fix.conf `Trip_Temp_C` to whatever you want for battery and ac (for ex "75" would be 75C).
Defaults are 85C (battery) and 95C (AC).

Also, the throttling happen on that temperature, so if you set 95C for example, the CPU will go up to about 96/97C.

Mine goes to 3.6ghz no problem until temp goes up - though temp goes up very fast on these laptops obviously.

note: the CPU junction temp is 100C, so if you set this higher than 95C it's likely your computer will automatically turn off ;-)

Last edited by kang (2018-11-28 19:08:47)

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