Arch Linux

pzero

Member

Registered: 2024-10-18

Posts: 10

Alienware fans not working

Hello,

When I first installed the system, I would hear the cpu fans accelerate when performing certain tasks. I was trying to setup fancontrol and was having trouble using pwmconfig since it was saying it couldn't find any hardware to configure.

when I ran the stress test, it would accelerate the fans.

I upgraded from linux-lts to the linux kernel. I added the option to ignore_dri for the dell_smm_hwmon and it is loading.

With the new kernel, pwmconfig is able to see some fans, but it is not able to control it. When I run a stress test, CPU temps reach 90*C but the fans stay idle. (I tried booting into the lts kernel and the fans are not working)

GPU fans have never worked. When I run a game, the laptop gets extremely hot. I have to quit the game.

system is a alienware with i9 intel cpu

I'm hoping someone here can help.

Here is an output from sensors-detect showing that it can't find some hardware. not sure if it is relevant

Some Super I/O chips contain embedded sensors. We have to write to
standard I/O ports to probe them. This is usually safe.
Do you want to scan for Super I/O sensors? (YES/no):
Probing for Super-I/O at 0x2e/0x2f
Trying family `National Semiconductor/ITE'...               No
Trying family `SMSC'...                                     No
Trying family `VIA/Winbond/Nuvoton/Fintek'...               No
Trying family `ITE'...                                      No
Probing for Super-I/O at 0x4e/0x4f
Trying family `National Semiconductor/ITE'...               Yes
Found unknown chip with ID 0x2011

Thanks again

Last edited by pzero (2024-10-25 21:17:06)

nik92

Member

Registered: 2019-10-31

Posts: 6

Re: Alienware fans not working

Laptop melts but the fans stay idle… pwmconfig doesn’t work… sensors show some fans but no control… fans rarely, if ever spin… Alienware with i9…

I ran into this exact issue on an Alienware m18 — and after getting nowhere on Arch, I gave up and switched to KDE. Spoiler: Dell's EC lockdown isn’t a distro issue. It’s firmware.

Dell/Alienware block direct fan control — pwmconfig, fancontrol, dell_smm_hwmon, i8k... none of it helps. The EC is locked down, and Dell doesn’t publish real interfaces. The only thing that worked for me was ACPI’s platform_profile:

• performance → fans go full throttle, CPU cools off, but sounds like a launch pad

• balanced → fans idle forever, system bakes under any load

My fix? Wrote a lightweight daemon that pulses the performance mode — just long enough to cool off, then drops back to balanced. Not perfect, but keeps temps under control without constant jet noise.

Link to git: Autofan

It’s tested and running on my KDE setup. I suspect it should work on Arch as well - as long as you can toggle the ACPI profiles. Let me know how you go

Last edited by nik92 (2025-06-15 01:13:34)