Jordi Gutiérrez Hermoso wrote:
Here is what I did: with i8kutils installed, I ran make-kpkg kernel_image on two diff. kernels. Fans behaved as expected and I stayed relatively cooled. With cpufreq gov to performance the 2nd fan came on at 48C on slow, and went to full speed at about 68C.On 30/04/2008, Damon L. Chesser <damon@damtek.com> wrote:Sometime today I will turn off i8k and let you know of the behavior.Thanks, I'd like to know. I sorta trust the BIOS to shut off the computer should it ever get too hot, and I don't know if a CPU temperature of 70C is dangerous or not, so I would like to know if I have to worry about this issue or not. I do like my number crunching. - Jordi G. H.
I uninstalled i8kutils, rebooted and did the same thing in gnome (I needed the sensor applet to "see" the fans).
the 2nd fan showed speed of 0 until I got to 62C. The 2nd fan slowed down at about 59C. I killed the two make-kpkg running and watch it slow down. The 2nd fan went back to 0 at about 43C. At rest now with governer to powersave (800MHz) I am running 40C or about 104F.
I also kept my hand next to the 2nd fan exhaust port and my touch confirmed the sensor readings (they might not have been accurate, had that happen before).
My conclusion: you don't need i8kutils if you are running a Vostro 1500 and Ubuntu. Probably will not need it running Debian as as far as I can tell, the BIOS is running the fans, perhaps ACPI: I really don't know, I never had to be concerned with what turned the fans on or off. Anybody out there know?
So, all those articles about Dell fans where either appropriate for an earlier/different model laptop, or they needed not to be concerned about it at all.
Who would have guessed that that info was wrong, I mean I found it on the internet, and you can always trust the internet, right?
Anyway, HTH any of you out there. -- Damon L. Chesser damon@damtek.com http://www.linkedin.com/in/dchesser