Comment 73 for bug 751689

Revision history for this message
jesgenes (jesgenes) wrote : Re: ThinkPads overheat due to slow fans when on 'auto'

Even though this has been reported and fixed it seems the fix has not gotten propagated for other models of the IBM Thinkpads.
I have a IBM T60 and have been having the same issue for quite some time. First thought that it was something wrong with the hardware and then when I interrogated the logs I found the Critical temperature reached messages which took the system down.

/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:29:59 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 1824.712245] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:30:45 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 0.520844] Critical temperature reached (99 C), shutting down.
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:45:49 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 749.322262] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 98 39 N/A 39 N/A 48 64 70 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 959.138235] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 959.169196] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 959.169682] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 959.212381] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 22:24:10 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 3996.049384] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 87 47 41 90 45 N/A 45 N/A 45 57 62 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 22:33:46 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 4571.363315] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 87 48 42 91 47 N/A 47 N/A 46 57 63 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/kern.log:May 12 22:33:46 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 4571.363799] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:29:59 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 1824.712245] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:30:45 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 0.520844] Critical temperature reached (99 C), shutting down.
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:45:49 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 749.322262] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 98 39 N/A 39 N/A 48 64 70 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 959.138235] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 959.169196] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 959.169682] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.
/var/log/syslog:May 12 18:49:19 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 959.212381] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 86 47 46 97 39 N/A 39 N/A 49 64 69 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/syslog:May 12 22:24:10 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 3996.049384] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 87 47 41 90 45 N/A 45 N/A 45 57 62 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/syslog:May 12 22:33:46 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 4571.363315] thinkpad_acpi: temperatures (Celsius): 87 48 42 91 47 N/A 47 N/A 46 57 63 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
/var/log/syslog:May 12 22:33:46 MYCOMPUTER kernel: [ 4571.363799] Critical temperature reached (100 C), shutting down.

I have manually corrected for this by doing the following:
Created the file "/etc/modprobe.d/options" with the following line "options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1".
Then, after a reboot I was able to control the fan speed, setting it to automatic using "echo level full-speed > /proc/acpi/ibm/fan".

root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status: enabled
speed: 2908
level: disengaged
commands: level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands: enable, disable
commands: watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))
root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status: enabled
speed: 2908
level: disengaged
commands: level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands: enable, disable
commands: watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))
root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status: enabled
speed: 2908
level: disengaged
commands: level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands: enable, disable
commands: watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))
root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status: enabled
speed: 2908
level: disengaged
commands: level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands: enable, disable
commands: watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))

After a minute or so I heard the fan speed kick up and now it is running consistantly @:

root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status: enabled
speed: 4692
level: disengaged
commands: level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands: enable, disable
commands: watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))
root@mycomputer:~# cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
status: enabled
speed: 4693
level: disengaged
commands: level <level> (<level> is 0-7, auto, disengaged, full-speed)
commands: enable, disable
commands: watchdog <timeout> (<timeout> is 0 (off), 1-120 (seconds))

Things seem to be better for the moment.

Hope they can implement the fix for all IBM Thinkpad models soon.