[Dell Inspiron 5423] Fan running at full speed all the time

[Po-Hsu Lin]

CID: 201208-11458 Dell Inspiron 5423

The fan on this system is always running at full speed

Temperature from lm-sensors (idling):

acpitz-virtual-0
Adapter: Virtual device
temp1: +72.5°C (crit = +84.0°C)

coretemp-isa-0000
Adapter: ISA adapter
Physical id 0: +72.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 0: +72.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)
Core 1: +68.0°C (high = +87.0°C, crit = +105.0°C)

radeon-pci-0200
Adapter: PCI adapter
temp1: +71.0°C

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 12.04
Package: linux-image-3.5.0-34-generic 3.5.0-34.55~precise1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.5.0-34.55~precise1-generic 3.5.7.13
Uname: Linux 3.5.0-34-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.25.
ApportVersion: 2.0.1-0ubuntu17.3
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: STAC92xx Analog [STAC92xx Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 1688 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA:
 country TW:
  (2402 - 2472 @ 40), (3, 27)
  (5270 - 5330 @ 40), (3, 17), DFS
  (5735 - 5815 @ 40), (3, 30)
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xf7f10000 irq 47'
   Mixer name : 'Intel PantherPoint HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:111d76e0,1028057e,00100102 HDA:80862806,80860101,00100000'
   Controls : 23
   Simple ctrls : 10
Date: Fri Jul 5 01:14:14 2013
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=a3888129-9158-442f-af08-7534dbd6e725
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS "Precise Pangolin" - Release amd64 (20130213)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 5423
MarkForUpload: True
ProcEnviron:
 TERM=xterm
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcFB:
 0 radeondrmfb
 1 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.5.0-34-generic root=UUID=f35faa98-9e01-4f5e-b910-3b6d0a6dfd96 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.5.0-34-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.5.0-34-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.79.4
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: rts5139
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 11/26/2012
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A08
dmi.board.asset.tag: 02
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: A08
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: 02
dmi.chassis.type: 8
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: Not Specified
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA08:bd11/26/2012:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron5423:pvrNotSpecified:rvnDellInc.:rn:rvrA08:cvnDellInc.:ct8:cvrNotSpecified:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 5423
dmi.product.version: Not Specified
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

On the graphics side of things, your AMD/ATI Radeon 7500M/7600M "Thames" may be getting too hot. You can enable power management for it by using one of the methods described at http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/RadeonFeature/#index3h2

The first two methods are only rudimentary but are available now. The 3rd (dpm) method is much better and is available (for AMD/ATI Radeon R600 and newer hardware) in the upstream 3.11 linux kernel. The third release candidate (3.11-rc3) of the 3.11 kernel is available at http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/ and instructions on how to install and uninstall it are available at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/MainlineBuilds

To use this power management for the AMD/ATI Radeon you will need to select it at boot by adding radeon.dpm=1 to your GRUB kernel boot options as described at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Troubleshooting#Editing_the_GRUB_2_Menu_During_Boot

To use the new power management feature on R700 and newer hardware (other than APUs) requires installation of the latest AMD graphics microcode (ucode) files to /lib/firmware/radeon
These are available at http://people.freedesktop.org/~agd5f/radeon_ucode/
Get the version ending in "smc".

R700 basically means Radeon HD 4000 series and newer. However note that according to Wikipedia and http://xorg.freedesktop.org/wiki/RadeonFeature/#index5h2 the Mobility Radeon HD 4225/4250 is a RV620 chip, so anyone with one of those shouldn't need the updated firmware files.

See the blog post at http://www.botchco.com/agd5f/?p=57 for further information.

Unlike the older dynpm method, the new DPM method works with multiple monitors and there shouldn't be any flickering as the performance level changes are handled by dedicated hardware rather than the driver.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

Kernel 3.11.0-1.4 (based on the upstream 3.11-rc4 kernel) is now available in Ubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander". Also, kernel 3.11.0-2.5 is in Saucy-proposed, which is based on the upstream 3.11-rc5 kernel, which has some bugfixes for the new DPM method.

Does this help?

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Hello,
I've tested this system on 13.10 Saucy (v3.11 kernel)
Idle temperature is around 67 degrees Celsius
While running stress (for 10min) command, it goes up to 76 degrees

There is no difference with radeon.dpm=1 added to my GRUB kernel boot options.

[madbiologist (me-again)]

Did your 13.10 Saucy system have linux-firmware 1.113 at the time of testing?

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

Hello, yes

ubuntu@201208-11458:~$ dpkg -l | grep firm
ii linux-firmware 1.113
     all Firmware for Linux kernel drivers