THM0, heat and testing

[ArfArf]

I am running Puppy on a Thinkpad laptop. It sees I only have one sensor via Gkrellm called THM0. I googled and cannot find out what THM0 is monitoring. I am hoping it is the CPU but I am not sure.

My plan is to run CPUBURN-In and try to get the CPU hot to make sure the fan icks on. Currently when using the laptop normally THM0 never gets above 33 Celsius. However, the fan does come on at a low speed and once on it never goes off regardless of them temp. I want to get the CPU hot and see if the fan will come on full blast.

In Windows XP 45 seconds of CPU Burn-in in ramps the fan right up. In Puppy 12 minutes raises the THM0 to about 40 but the fan stays on low.

Perhaps Puppy runs cooler or something? I do not know and am curious. I also want to make sure the fan works if the CPU does get hot.

So I guess my two questions are...

1) What is THM0 monitoring?
2) How do I ramp the temp up to 65 Celsius to see if the fan will kick on.

Config

Laptop IBM THinkpad R51
Puppy 2.13 off hard disk

[Bert]

1) What is THM0 monitoring?
2) How do I ramp the temp up to 65 Celsius to see if the fan will kick on.

Hi ArfArf,

1. No idea

2. A possible trick I have used several times: start the computer with no operating system installed ( or all disks unplugged), so that it runs in bios. That seems to be a real stress test and is used in the industry to test temperature behaviour. I cannot really explain it. All I know is that without an OS installed the machine has to work extra hard. Using this technique, I've seen frightening temperatures!

Just an idea, perhaps useful in your situation.

[GuestToo]

typing this in an rxvt condole will make the machine work hard ... not sure how much is the cpu and how much is the math coprocessor, though:

cat /dev/urandom > /dev/null

press ctrl+C to stop

when the cpu is not needed, Linux operating systems put the cpu in an idle state ... WinNT/Xp/Vista also does this ... Win9x does not ... 16 bit bios mode does not (it's like waiting at a red light with the engine racing at full speed)

the Memory Test in the Control Panel menu might make the cpu work hard

[ArfArf]

I have had it up to 80c today. I had no change in fan speed. I wonder how much further I can push it without damage.

Since the fan acts differently in XP I am assuming Puppy has an ON or Off setting for the fan. When on, it is low speed only.

I do not have any BIOS settings for the fan so I assume it is OS controlled. Am I wrong?

I would feel better if at 80c I heard the fan ramp up to high.

[GuestToo]

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_control_fan_speed

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Ibm-acpi

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ACPI_fan_control_script

[ArfArf]

Guesttoo,

Thanks. I saw that stuff but I could not figure out how to patch a kernel. Just the sound of patching a Kernel sounds complex. I am new to this. 3 weeks on Puppy.

My guess from reading these links is that Puppy does not control the fan without modification. I am wondering what is turning my fan on then?

Just Bios? One speed on or off?

[GuestToo]

i don't have an IBM laptop, but from a quick look at those wiki pages, i think that the ibm-acpi module lets you control fan speed ... i do not think you need to patch the kernel if you can load the module ... Puppy seems to have the ibm-acpi module (Puppy 213 anyway)

you can see if the module is loaded by typing lsmod ... if you don't have the module loaded, try typing this in an rxvt console:

modprobe ibm_acpi

then, i think you can set the fan speed by typing something like this:

echo level 6 > /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

ThinkPad R51 (level 0 = off, level 1-2 = about 3150 rpm, level 3-5 = ~3350, level 6 = ~3750, disengaged = ~5100) ... or you can set it to level auto ... typing this should tell you what it's set at:

cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

if it doesn't work, typing this might work:

modprobe ibm_acpi experimental=1

or maybe:

modprobe -r ibm_acpi
modprobe ibm_acpi experimental=1


if you can control the speed of the fan using those commands, there is a script that is supposed to let you configure the fan speed according to temperature ranges ... see: http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/ACPI_fan_control_script

[ArfArf]

Ok thanks. I will have to look at all this and let you know what happens. I appreciate the help.

Tonight I spent a bit of time trying to figure out what ranges Windows would use to kick the fan up and down. I know that The fans goes up and down using that OS so my plan is to use the same values.

[ArfArf]

echo level 6 > /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

ThinkPad R51 (level 0 = off, level 1-2 = about 3150 rpm, level 3-5 = ~3350, level 6 = ~3750, disengaged = ~5100) ... or you can set it to level auto ... typing this should tell you what it's set at:

cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

the commands above are not working. It seems like nothing is in the directories.

[GuestToo]

did you type:

modprobe ibm_acpi

first? ... are there any error messages if you do?

[ArfArf]

did you type:

modprobe ibm_acpi

first? ... are there any error messages if you do?

Sorry. What I mean is the ability to adjust the fan with the echo command does not do anything to the fan speed. Everything works and I get no errors the fan speed just never changes. I can see the speed is around 3100 using your commands but I canot change it and it never changes under auto.

3100 is about maxed though so I do not fear overheating now. However, it would be nice if it geared down. As said earlier once it is on it is on forever.