Very high fan speed on Ubuntu 18.04

Question

I did a fresh install of Ubuntu 18.04, alongside Windows 10. On Ubuntu, one of my fans is extremely high, although the temperature is fine, and this is not happening on Windows. I've tried some of the solutions suggested in this forum, without success.

The one with the problem seems to be nct6775/fan2, at least it is the only one working at +1155 rpm, according to program HardInfo. My motherboard is an ASUS H81M-A.

Solution 1

The typical steps for fancontrol setup include:

• Running sensors-detect to ensure you have the correct modules and updates /etc/modules (/etc/sysconfig/lm_sensors on RH) to have the nct6775 entry.
• Running pwmconfig to test and configure each fan and creates the /etc/fancontrol file.

There are known issues where sometimes the hwmon ids change between boots, leaving your fans out of control. For that you would manually edit your /etc/fancontrol file to include the full path of each pwm and replace the id with [[:print:]]* like so: /sys/devices/platform/nct6775.656/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1

These are actual paths on the files system that you can browse to get an idea of what is available.

You may also need to edit /etc/sensors3.conf, I had to add some stuff for the ASUS Z97, I posted those details on this thread.

You may also need to add the following to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT variable in the /etc/default/grub file: acpi_enforce_resources=lax then rebuild the grub config grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Solution 2

I struggled with fan speed and thermal issues for a long time before I found tlp which has solved all my problems. You can learn more here:

TLP brings you the benefits of advanced power management for Linux without the need to understand every technical detail. TLP comes with a default configuration already optimized for battery life, so you may just install and forget it. Nevertheless TLP is highly customizable to fulfill your specific requirements.

Installation is the predictable

sudo apt install tlp

Configuration is automatic and I've never had to change it out of the box.

---

If tlp by itself doesn't solve all your thermal issues there are specific steps you can take for ASUS Laptops:

Kernel modules overview

• asus-nb-wmi is a kernel module, which is included in mainstream Linux kernel and is loaded automatically in Asus laptops. It will only allow to control a single fan and if there is a second fan - you will not have any controls over it. Blacklisting this module will prevent keyboard backlight to work.
• asus_fan is a kernel module, which allows to control both fans on some older Asus laptops. Does not work with the most recent models.

For myself after installing tlp I was able to remove a couple of fan control programs I had struggled to setup for my laptop. However I do not have an ASUS so you might need something more than just tlp.

Solution 3

I was having problems with Ubuntu 18.04 on my Asus laptop Q551L and high fan speed when coming out of sleep. My laptop had nvidia devices needing drivers including my video card GM108M GeForce 840M. Here's what fixed it for me as explained on this page.

$ ubuntu-drivers devices
$ sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall

Then reboot.

Solution 4

There can be two things at play here and for that there are two things you can do/try.

1. Check BIOS settings.

certain settings can be found/only be found in the BIOS, one of these settings that can be found in the BIOS are the fan settings, you can check here if there is something wrong there.

2. Sensor broke

It is possible that the sensor of the fan might have broken, i know there is away to check that with a GUI with Ubuntu and Windows so i will explain both.

Ubuntu

To check your sensor with Ubuntu you need to have hardinfo installed you do this by using the command sudo apt-get install hardinfo with this you can see if the sensor is okay or broken.

Windows

To check your sensor with Windows you will need to install Speedfan which can be found here. it will show you the temperatures your fansensors are reading and the speed of your fans

(side note: it has been a while since i used these programs so they might be different then i remember them)

i hope this will solve your problem cause it did for me

View more solutions

Comments

[rtaft]

What steps have you taken to address the fans specifically? Is fancontrol running? What does your /etc/fancontrol file look like?

[Claudio Taccogna]

If you have an Intel CPU, try this: askubuntu.com/questions/516067/…

[dat tutbrus]

Try plugging the fan in a SYS fan header instead of a CPU header. For some motherboards I found out that the fan will try running at a higher speed than normal, and some CPU fans when plugged into the SYS header runs at a lower speed. Worth the shot though

[Esteban Knöbl]

Hello, friend. I think yours is more a comment than an answer. Plus, it shows you did not read my question properly. Please, post it as a comment instead.

[delfiler]

@estebanknobl i would do so if i could since commenting is only available with a rep of 50, but i forgot about a third option which is highly doubt-able but possible and that is it is wrongly wired, should i add this to the answer as well?

[delfiler]

@estebanknobl secondly 'I've tried some of the solutions suggested in this forum' isn't very clear on what you have tried i mean you might have missed one of the two i mentioned (as i missed/blanked on the part of 'hardinfo' (yes i have memory problems))

[Esteban Knöbl]

Thank you for your answer. I'll check this out. I've already installed lm-sensors and fancontrol. In pwmconfig, during the tests, my fan doesn't stop at all. I'll go over it again.

[rtaft]

Did this work fine in Ubuntu 16? I don't have any control over my 3pin fans, only the 4pin ones. Most of my noise comes from the GPU fan. If you can see that it is fan2, you should be able to control it. Take a look at the filesystem, all fancontrol does is read/write the files in /sys/devices/platform/nct6775.656/hwmon/hwmon3/. Also lsmod and make sure nct6775 is loaded..and make sure your ASUS is using that chip (likely is).

[Esteban Knöbl]

I have not installed any other version of Ubuntu in that PC, so I can't tell. I'll check what you suggest. Thankx!

[Jus12]

And my laptop turns out to be Asus.

[pegu]

I think it is the reboot that works for this answer

[Zanna]

what hardware did this work on, please?

[Gearoid Murphy]

Suspending and then waking my laptop was enough to stop the fan noise