i8kfan does not work with latest kernel in ubuntu 16.04

[zebul666]

i8kfan (from i8kutils 1.41) does not work anymore on ubuntu 16.04 (kernel 4.4.0-36-generic) on a dell laptop inspiron 3521.

See the bug report https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/i8kutils/+bug/1620360

i8k module is loaded and:
$ cat /proc/i8k
1.0 A12 -1 46 -22 0 -22 4800 -1 -22

i8kfan returns -1 -1 every time and does not stop the fan

[Kevin Roast (kevtoast)]

I also see this problem on my Dell laptop after upgrading from Ubuntu 14 (worked) -> Linux version 4.4.0-36-generic (buildd@lcy01-01) (gcc version 5.4.0 20160609 (Ubuntu 5.4.0-6ubuntu1~16.04.2) ) #55-Ubuntu SMP Thu Aug 11 18:01:55 UTC 2016

Fan control is erratic also - seem to be this same issue: http://askubuntu.com/questions/815007/dell-inspiron-580-erratic-cpu-fan-speed-after-version-advancement

[Kevin Roast (kevtoast)]

Also here: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2335769

[Kevin Roast (kevtoast)]

Also here i8kutils is suggested as the solution for Dell fan issue, but unfortunately does not currently work: http://askubuntu.com/questions/772951/dell-laptop-fan-very-noisy-in-ubuntu-16-04

[zebul666 (zebul666)]

this seems to work again with 4.4.0-38-generic ?

[Kevin Roast (kevtoast)]

I still get the same fan issues on 4.4.0-38

[Roshless (roshless)]

I have the same problem on inspiron 1470, gentoo (newest kernel stable). Resolved by running i8kfan/ctl command as root (didn't need to do that before for some reason).

[vitorafsr (vitorafsr)]

Lastest linux kernel has modified i8k kernel module so that it does not work with i8kutils by default.

The new name of old i8k kernel module is dell-smm-hwmon, and it has to be loaded with the parameter "restricted=0".

While linux on, does the below so that i8kutils can work.

$ sudo rmmod dell-smm-hwmon
$ sudo modprobe dell-smm-hwmon restricted=0

To linux always load the module with the parameters, creates the file /etc/modprobe.d/dell-smm-hwmon.conf with the content below.

options dell-smm-hwmon restricted=0

After that, i8kutils can work as before.