AW 51m-R2 Almost Working!, No GPU fan, but pwmconfig can find it...

[buhochileno]

Hi guys,

Before anything, thank you very much to keep this tool available for us, I been using it for many years with my Dell/AW computers.

Now I have 51m-R2 and is almost working, meaning that is able to control the CPU fan but not the GPU one. The first parameter always return -1 as is not able to actuate over that fan and the second parameter do a proper control of the CPU fan on the left of the computer. So I notice that it was kind of flip according to what i8kutils is thinking is controlling and at what side of the computer...

So, looking around I start playing with the "pwmconfig" tool and I find out that is able to find both fan and control them, here is the info that returns:

Found the following PWM controls:
hwmon8/pwm1 current value: 128
hwmon8/pwm3 current value: 255

Giving the fans some time to reach full speed...
Found the following fan sensors:
hwmon8/fan1_input current speed: 2900 RPM
hwmon8/fan3_input current speed: 2800 RPM
...
Testing pwm control hwmon8/pwm1 ...
hwmon8/fan1_input ... speed was 2900 now 0
It appears that fan hwmon8/fan1_input
is controlled by pwm hwmon8/pwm1
....
Testing pwm control hwmon8/pwm3 ...
hwmon8/fan1_input ... speed was 2900 now 2900
no correlation
hwmon8/fan3_input ... speed was 2800 now 0
It appears that fan hwmon8/fan3_input
is controlled by pwm hwmon8/pwm3

Where I can confirm that pwm1 is the CPU fan and is located on the Left of the computer. Then pwm3 is the GPU fan located on the Right side of the computer.

ik8tutils retruns:

i8kctl fan 2 2
-1 2
Starting the Left CPU fan at level 2, ignoring the first "2" therefore the -1

No matter what, always the "first fan" (first parameter) always return -1 and the second parameter is actually controlling the CPU fan on the Left.

That's why I think i8kutils is confuse about the fans on this model but then I fall short because I don't know if I can use the config file to alter some behavior or some code need to be fix and then re-install, etc..

I use linux for many decades now, so I know how to compile up to kernel modules and so on, so I can help to test anything you need or to collect more info, etc..
I do not disable anything on BIOS to make pwmconfig tool to be able to control the GPU fan so I don't think is the problem..

My system is an Ubuntu 20.04 up to date with i8kutils 1.43

Let me know how can I help..

Thanks

Mauricio

[Wer-Wolf]

Well, let me explain:

The driver dell-smm-hwmon (used by i8kutils to set/get the fan speed) supports up to 3 fans.
As you can see with pwmconfig, fan 1 (pwm1) and fan 3 (pwm3) are supported on your device.
i8kctl however does not support the 3rd fan, it only can control fan 1 and fan 2. And since fan 2 (the "left" fan) is not there, it only can control fan 1, ignoring fan 3.
Since pwmconfig worked, you should try and use fancontrol, which does the same think as i8kctl, but supports the 3rd fan.
Install fancontrol with "sudo apt install fancontrol" and use pwmconfig to configure it.

Pls let me know if fancontrol works.

[buhochileno]

Well, let me explain:

The driver dell-smm-hwmon (used by i8kutils to set/get the fan speed) supports up to 3 fans.
As you can see with pwmconfig, fan 1 (pwm1) and fan 3 (pwm3) are supported on your device.
i8kctl however does not support the 3rd fan, it only can control fan 1 and fan 2. And since fan 2 (the "left" fan) is not there, it only can control fan 1, ignoring fan 3.
Since pwmconfig worked, you should try and use fancontrol, which does the same think as i8kctl, but supports the 3rd fan.
Install fancontrol with "sudo apt install fancontrol" and use pwmconfig to configure it.

Pls let me know if fancontrol works.

Thanks a lot for the clarification!...yes, I get it...I do have fancontrol I was just avoiding the use of it in case I made some wrong fan settings....I was preferring i8kutils since I have manual control of the fan speed , with fancontrol , as far as I understand, I have to setup the thresholds and then just trust they will trigger the fans at the right conditions...

..I will try it anyway soon and let you know..

Thanks again!!