Fan runs unnecessary

[T J Schemkes]

My 2½ year old laptop works with an Intel (R) Core (TM) 2 Duo CPU T6600@2.20GHz.
In Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Psensor let me see an average core temperature of 43°C. Most of the time the fan is not running.
When temperature goes up at 46°C the fan starts running with low speed (barely be heard), when the temperature drops to 42°C, the fan stops.
In Ubuntu 12.10 core temperatures vary between 38°C and 52°C and the fan is almost running always at high speed (lots of noise).
The core temperature is not constant around 43°C. I'm afraid for hardware damage and proceed with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
The HDD temperature is in both distro's 43°C.
---
ApportVersion: 2.6.1-0ubuntu6
Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.10
InstallationDate: Installed on 2012-11-10 (4 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" - Release amd64 (20121017.5)
MarkForUpload: True
Package: lm-sensors 1:3.3.1-2ubuntu2
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 XDG_RUNTIME_DIR=<set>
 LANG=nl_NL.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-18.29-generic 3.5.7
Tags: quantal running-unity
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-18-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo

[Ubuntu Foundations Team Bug Bot (crichton)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. It seems that your bug report is not filed about a specific source package though, rather it is just filed against Ubuntu in general. It is important that bug reports be filed about source packages so that people interested in the package can find the bugs about it. You can find some hints about determining what package your bug might be about at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/FindRightPackage. You might also ask for help in the #ubuntu-bugs irc channel on Freenode.

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[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This bug is missing log files that will aid in diagnosing the problem. From a terminal window please run:

apport-collect 1078922

and then change the status of the bug to 'Confirmed'.

If, due to the nature of the issue you have encountered, you are unable to run this command, please add a comment stating that fact and change the bug status to 'Confirmed'.

This change has been made by an automated script, maintained by the Ubuntu Kernel Team.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Have you installed lm-sensors and configured fancontrol?

[T J Schemkes (tj-schemkes)]

apport information

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Please test the latest v3.7 kernel[0] (Not a kernel in the daily directory) and install both the linux-image and linux-image-extra .deb packages.

If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tag 'kernel-fixed-upstream'.

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the tag: 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

If you are unable to test the mainline kernel, for example it will not boot, please add the tag: 'kernel-unable-to-test-upstream'.
Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug as "Confirmed".

Thanks in advance.

[0] http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.7-rc5-raring/

[T J Schemkes (tj-schemkes)]

Dear Phillip Susi,

Indeed, I have lm-sensors installed.
This was necessary in order to be able to see Pensor.
After a few days I installed fancontrol.
Run pwmconfig and concluded that this really is something for specialists.
I have not changed the settings and fancontrol removed.
Then reported the bug in launchpad and just added data by running apport-collect.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

If you aren't using fancontrol, then there's no bug here. Without that, the fans are controlled by the hardware in response to temperature rise. You have nothing to worry about as far as damage goes as processors are intended to handle 90-100 C, so even 52 is quite cool. Often times the system bios will have options to configure how aggressive the fans should work to keep temperature down, so you may want to try changing those to keep it quieter.

[T J Schemkes (tj-schemkes)]

Dear Joseph Salisbury,

I have tested with kernel 3.7.0-030700rc5-generic. 'kernel-bug-exists-upstream'.

Is it possible that the sensor 'CPU_TEMP_LOCAL' (new in Ubuntu 12.10) is the cause of the problem?

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Can you boot 12.10 using the kernel from 12.04 and see the lower temperature come back?

[T J Schemkes (tj-schemkes)]

Dear Phillip Susi,

I have run Ubuntu 12.10 with kernel linux-image-3.2.0-33.52-generic without headers.
It has not helped. The problem has remained.
I now notice that even with cold hardware the fan continues to run at full speed at 28°C because there just was a peak to 37°C.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Then I'm afraid I have to stand by what I said before: this isn't a bug. You will need to look into your motherboard manual to see if there are settings you can tune for the fan.

[T J Schemkes (tj-schemkes)]

What a pity.
I was hoping to find a solution for the remarkable difference in the behavior of the fan in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and Ubuntu 12.10.
Occasionally quietly running in 12.04 LTS and almost fully running in 12.10.
The BIOS has no setting for temperature or fan.
Maybe newer Intel microcode can help me.

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

Please stop changing the status.

[xkill (info-xkill)]

I basically have the same problem. After upgrading from 12.04 to 12.10 the fan of my laptop is running nearly always. In 12.04 the fan wasn't running most time. CPU temperature is fine:

> sensors
coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Core 0: +54.0°C (high = +80.0°C, crit = +90.0°C)
Core 2: +51.0°C (high = +80.0°C, crit = +90.0°C)

[T J Schemkes (tj-schemkes)]

Because of the fan problem in Ubuntu 12.10 I still work with 12.04 LTS. In itself there is nothing wrong with that.
Until February 4, 2014. On that day, an update arrived and I installed it as usual.
Later that day I started my laptop again and after a while began the fan unnecessarily run at top speed.
Now I have in 12.04 LTS the same problem as in 12.10. Now /var/log/apt/history.log was my friend.
The packages fglrx and fglrx-amdcccle (version 13.101-0ubuntu0.0.1) were the cause.
Both packages version 8.960-0ubuntu1.1 have I installed back and marked as hold.
In Ubuntu 12.04 LTS the fan now behaves as described in the manual for my Compal laptop motherboard type KHLB2.
Two pages of the manual are in the Appendix.
Now the update for 'fglrx*' does not work what can I expect when Ubuntu 14.04 LTS comes out?

[Phillip Susi (psusi)]

If the proprietary amd graphics driver is causing excessive heat, you will need to take that up with amd, or stop using the proprietary driver.

[T J Schemkes (tj-schemkes)]

In Ubuntu 14.04 fan behaves as it should according to the manual.