Member Avatar for tnvkrishna

I am having Acer 5920 (64bit ,intel mobile express 965 chipset family) laptop.
I have been using ubuntu 8.04 64bit on it for a while.Even internet browsing
makes the temprature of laptop to shoot to above 50C.I have tried configuring it a lot(using pwmconfig , gkrellm ...).
But they either fail installing successfully or fail to control my fan speed.
Now I am looking for a distro which probably can control my fan speed.
I am even ready to use a 32 bit version OS.
(Even though I am not able to control my fan speed while using windows xp I always get a feel that temperature of laptop get "attracted" to 40C while using XP)

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For (Acer 5920): this is almost always a firmware/ACPI/embedded‑controller issue, not a distro choice. Many Acer models do not expose PWM/EC fan controls to the kernel; instead a vendor utility or ACPI method (Windows-only) drives the fan. That is why tools like pwmconfig/fancontrol often report “no PWM” even though the hardware has fans. (wiki.archlinux.org)

Practical checklist to follow (non‑destructive first):

  • Use lm‑sensors (run the sensors probe and view the output) to see what the kernel actually exposes; if no hwmon/PWM entries appear, userland fan daemons cannot work. (github.com)
  • Try power/thermal mitigations to lower temperatures (so the fan threshold is reached less often): install TLP and/or thermald and tune CPU frequency/power policy. These reduce heat and are safe first steps. (github.com)

If sensors show no PWM controls and temperatures stay high:

  • Consider NoteBook FanControl (NBFC) or similar projects that talk to the embedded controller (EC). NBFC uses model‑specific configs and can work where hwmon/PWM are not exposed, but it requires a correct profile and careful testing. (github.com)
  • The acpi_call kernel module lets you invoke vendor ACPI methods (the same low‑level tricks Windows utilities use). It is powerful but model‑specific and potentially unsafe if used blindly. Test read‑only first and research any ACPI methods before writing. (packages.gentoo.org)

If nothing else helps: update the official BIOS/firmware from Acer first (official fixes can enable proper ACPI support). Community BIOS mods exist and have fixed fan/EC limits for some old models (see the later replies here), but flashing unofficial BIOS images is high risk (bricking, warranty loss) and should only be done with full backups and recovery plans. Start with the safe steps above, document what the kernel exposes, and post those outputs if asking for model‑specific help. (community.acer.com)

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All 16 Replies

Member Avatar for OlyComputers

I've never installed linux on a laptop (driver issues on the laptops I've had) but did you remember to install the "laptop" packages with ubuntu?

Member Avatar for Stefano Mtangoo

I have Ubuntu with HP Laptop with No Problem. Couldn't that be more hardware than software?

Member Avatar for tnvkrishna

olycomputer , I just went through the default installation setup that ubuntu gave.
After that i never installed any laptop packages . could you please tell me how do i do it now.

evstevemd,I am running my laptop at temp always below 50C if I use xp, so I thought that i should consider it a software issue.

acer 5920 ubuntu 64bit mobile intel 965 express chipset family.

Member Avatar for John A

Make sure that your kernel has the necessary modules to detect and control your fan speeds. When I'm running Linux on my MacBook, my fan settings appear in the virtual filesystem /sys:

localhost:~ $ ls /sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_*
/sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_input
/sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_label
/sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_manual
/sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_max
/sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_min
/sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_output
/sys/devices/platform/applesmc.768/fan1_safe

From there, I can write various numbers to these files to control my fan settings. You can probably get a program to help manage the settings, but it won't do any good if the fans aren't detected in the first place.

Member Avatar for tnvkrishna

I searched the directory /sys/devices/platform as you said but ....
you yourself have a look in the directory ... I could not find any fan1_ ... files

krishna@talupula:/sys/devices/platform$ ls
acer_acpi coretemp.0 i8042 pcspkr serial8250
bluetooth coretemp.1 iTCO_wdt power uevent

in the above output all were directories except uevent.

cat uevent gives no output.

and also

krishna@talupula:/sys/devices/platform/acer_acpi$ ls
backlight devices interface power threeg wireless
bluetooth driver modalias subsystem uevent

driver and subsystem were symbolic links;backlight and power were dir. and rest files.

Member Avatar for John A

I'd suspect your fan control settings would be in /sys/devices/platform/acer_acpi.

Member Avatar for tnvkrishna

Now I thing mine is more of a question of fancontrolling than choosing a distro.
So, It's better for others who browse through the site , to see this thread in a different section of daniweb.

Here below I post the things in acer_acpi :

krishna@talupula:/sys/devices/platform/acer_acpi$ ls
backlight devices interface power threeg wireless
bluetooth driver modalias subsystem uevent

cat devices gives output : 23
cat interface :WMID
cat threeg : 0 (zero)
cat wireless :0 (zero)
cat bluetooth : 0(zero)
cat modalias : platform:acer_acpi
cat uevent : DRIVER=acer_acpi
MODALIAS=platform:acer_acpi

is this sufficient ?
backlight direc. has again some acer_acpi which has files related to brightness of screen etc.

But no where in the directory could I find files with word fan in their names.

Member Avatar for John A

Okay, I did some research on this, and turns out that this is kind of an Acer hardware bug, in which the fan speed is not controlled by the BIOS, but by the software that's supposed to be keeping track of the CPU temps. Thus, when you're running Linux, no fan control software is running, and your fans stay on low even though your laptop keeps getting hotter and hotter.

If you want to read more about it, see this thread:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=604158

In particular, this post, which explains things in more detail:

So, basically you need to try running that script that they mentioned. I've also attached it here for convenience.

acer5720-fancontrol.zip (5.87 KB)
Member Avatar for jbennet

I get a similar issue on a lenovo c200 laptop. Ive been reporting it since like 2007 and no one is listening

Member Avatar for tnvkrishna

I went through the second link that you have posted.
The author there said that he has attached the attachment in the post in http://www.mail-archive.com/acpi-bugzilla@lists.sourceforge.net/msg14582.html .
But the thing he has attached and the thing attached in the mail-archive.com think are not the same.(they are of different sizes ) .
And the one you have posted is of size 5.9kb.
I would go with your's and see. unfortunately I don't have my laptop with me right now.
I would post back as soon as I have finished the process.

Member Avatar for John A

They are the same, they just use different compression formats. The tarball from mail-archive.com uses a bzip2 compression, the one attached in ubuntu-forums has a gzip compression, and the archive I posted uses zip (I used zip because this forum won't let me upload gzip or bzip2 archives/tarballs).

Member Avatar for tnvkrishna

hehehe
thank you :-)

Since ubuntu 8.10 is out what I am thinking is that I do a complete reinstall of the "32bit" os.
can I still use the same patch?

Member Avatar for John A

>can I still use the same patch?
Nope. The mempat binary is compiled for x86-64, and oddly enough, I can't find the source for it anywhere.

Member Avatar for tnvkrishna

Thank you, I shall then install ubuntu 8.10 64 bit.

Member Avatar for d1zy

SOLUTION, BETTER EXPLAINED:
these acer models were sold with a 'vista bios' which was 'crippleware'.

A correct motherboard bios was provided by the BIOS mod comminity.
Search: acer [exact-model-num] bios rom mod

the motherboard rom should be put on a bootable usb stick. (create a drdos bootdisk. Then, add the bios flash program and rom file).
Search: acer usb bios flash howto

my acer had mxm graphics card (nvidia 8600m gt). This card got too hot so, i used windows software to flash it with alternative firmware.
Search: [videocard-exact-model-num] BIOS mod rom slic

to protect a graphics card, we try to 'underclock' and 'undervolt'. Look for a rom that does this.

These old computers work very well but first, they must be 'flashed'. Good luck!

Member Avatar for Assembly Guy

The Mages Guild is committed to rooting out Necromancy and all who practice it :-)

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