Bug #728733 “fan only works when my acer 5315 is booted then sto...” : Bugs : linux package : Ubuntu

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omondisingh (syans001) wrote on 2011-03-03:

#1

Dependencies.txt Edit (565 bytes, text/plain; charset="utf-8")

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Launchpad Janitor (janitor) wrote on 2015-06-29:

#2

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

Changed in acpi (Ubuntu):
status:	New → Confirmed

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Danny Edel (dannyedel) wrote on 2015-06-29:

#3

Hello everyone,

a friend brought me an Aspire 5315 with an Ubuntu installed, which shows the exact same symptoms as the original poster ("It just turns off after a while and gets really hot, but the fan doesnt work"), so I can confirm this bug still exists in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Since the bug has not been closed I post to this bug, I hope that's allright.

I have spent a lot of time hitting the words "aspire 5315 fan linux" into various search engines and have come up with the following information, which seem accurate:

(1) The Fan on this particular laptop is normally controlled by a (windows only) software called e-fan control.

(2) If the temperature rises too high, the mainboard/BIOS turns off power to save the system from heat death (this works even without the fan-control software running).

(3) A BIOS Update fixes this for some users, although BIOS updates can brick the system, so I have not tried one yet.

(4) There are other bug tickets on Launchpad, but they have been closed invalid:
#182929 #500090 #618209

(5) The bug ticket #579665 has been closed as fix released as of kernel 3.2.0-2-486.
Since the problem still occurs, this may be a regression. If someone can tell me how I should install that kernel version, I will try to verify that.

Now towards my own testing:

1. When you turn on the computer (BIOS splash screen or pressing buttons in BIOS), the fan starts running.
2. It stays on while you're in GRUB.
3. If you load memtest86 from grub, the fan stays on and turns itself up and down, the system ran multiple passes of memtest without issues.
4. While GRUB loads the linux kernel into memory, the fan stays on. (this can be most easily tested by booting from usb, since it only loads with usb1.1 speed and thus takes a loooong time)
5. When the linux kernel takes over, the fan turns off. (This is what makes me believe it is a linux-specific issue, while the board/BIOS might be allright). The system will continue working for a while, until it turns off (Mainboard's safety switch)

I was able to get through an ubuntu 14.04.2 amd64 installtion by not using an internet connection and clicking the default settings as fast as possible to get to the reboot before it went too hot.

With the system installed, I have done the following experiments:

If you boot with the parameter "acpi=off" the linux kernel panics within 1 second or so, but at least the fan stays on : )

If you boot with the parameters "acpi=off nolapic" or "acpi=off noapic" the system correctly boots up, fan works (!) and starts getting faster when a "stress --cpu 3" process gets the coretemp to 69°C.

Only downside of "acpi=off nolapic" is that wifi doesn't work at all when you boot the laptop like that (It works fine booted normally, so I suppose the card is allright)

It would be really nice if the computer could run its fan *and* the wifi card at the same time. If you can tell me anything I can try to help diagnose the problem, I'm happy to try it out. (although I'd like to avoid things that can brick it if it turns off at a bad time, like the bios update). Since the laptop has no user data on it yet, re-installing is no problem either.