L540 - Serious problem in Linux Mint 20.2, can't see my fan speed

[Insomniac1971]

Hi all,

Thinkpad L540 i5 4200m model 20aua0f4jp serial R9K1R2

What ever I tried the last couple of days, come back to fan speed = 0rpm

Even lm-sensors report fan speed as 0

I am worried that the fan is not running under Linux Mint 20.2, please help me find out it is running or not 🫤

I had Tpfancod on my previous ThinkPad x300 and it were working fine to keep the laptop cool(its hot here in the Philippines). In order to keep my files and Setup I cloned the SSD from the old ThinkPad x300 to a new SSD and inserted that into the L540, but Tpfancod doesn't register any sensors so I disabled it for now(I would like some help to completely uninstall it later).

I installed fancontrol but it didn't help with anything, I read articles on how to use lm-sensors, but no matter what I do, I can't seem to get fan speed to other than 0.

I also switched to the newest kernel 5.15.0-119, nothing changed.

Please help me, I love Linux Mint and don't want to change.

I opened the back panel and started thw laptop, the fan runs on startup all the way into Linux Mint 20.2, then stop., If I run youtube videos in Firefox and play video in VLC the fan run but still don't show up in any sensor software Xsensor, psensor, Sensor Monitor by Claudiux panel applet. sensors from terminal show fan1 0rpm

Thank you in advance

Jan

[dr_st]

I am worried that the fan is not running under Linux Mint 20.2, please help me find out it is running or not 🫤

A very simple test: run something that is CPU-intensive. Once it heats up, the fan should start running. 99% it is just that the sensor is unsupported by the software.

[RealBlackStuff]

Did you feel anything at the fan exhaust?
Have you opened up the laptop to check if the fan is working?

[Insomniac1971]

updated main post

[axur-delmeria]

Run

Code: Select all

sudo sensors-detect

to have it check other possible sensor devices/chips

[Insomniac1971]

Run

Code: Select all

sudo sensors-detect

to have it check other possible sensor devices/chips

Did this already, found a lot but fan 0.

Also sudo pwmconfig and came up with no sensors found, so I guess RealBlackStuff is correct that sensors are not recognized.

So how to get them recognized, if even possible?

[RealBlackStuff]

Loosen the screws of the cooler but leave it sitting loose on top of the CPU and plugged in.
That way the CPU will WANT a fan in a very short time!
Be prepared to immediately check fanspeed and switch off before it overheats.
If you still get 0 results, forget about a fan sensor.
(L540: the L stands for Limited...)

[Insomniac1971]

Loosen the screws of the cooler but leave it sitting loose on top of the CPU and plugged in.
That way the CPU will WANT a fan in a very short time!
Be prepared to immediately check fanspeed and switch off before it overheats.
If you still get 0 results, forget about a fan sensor.
(L540: the L stands for Limited...)

Normally I listen to what you say, but this time I won't I am not going to risc a "New" second hand laptop because Linux can't find the sensors

I will find a way through software somehow

Tpfancod served me well for many years, maybe it can be tweaked to actually find the fan.

L540 is not that limited, its actually upgradedable as the Cpu is not soldered but in socket, and ram is up to 16Gb, it has m.2 slot besides SATA SSD, Express card slot for 34/54 cards.

[Insomniac1971]

Hi guys,

So I swapped my SSD out for the Windows 10 HDD and installed Speedfan, HWinfo64, Argus monitor, Notebook Fan Control, CPUID.

None of them could see the fan, and some claimed that it could be that the fan had no known controller. But we know by now that it is Novuton NCPE985P that control the fan.

Then I thought to try Troubadix TPFanControl, as I used that in the past, so went to
https://thinkwiki.de/TPFanControl#:~:te ... %20silence

and downloaded :

tpfc_v062L.zip https://thinkwiki.de/tpfancontrol/tpfc_v062L.zipspecial version for TP L430 and TP L530 only

Since my model is L540 I tried a Hail Mary.

This one worked, well semi, because it could tell me CPU temp and set fan to bios mode, Smart mode (which didn't kick in until temp became 57 degrees celsius, then fan RPM were shown), and Manual mode where only all settings from 0 to 7 stayed on 5015 RPM, only 128 and 196 changed the RPM speed.

So since TPFC 062L can detect and Control the fan in Windows, it should be possible in Linux - at least we now know that the fan can be detected.

[RealBlackStuff]

Have you tried this Linux-clone: https://github.com/Arnavion/tpfancontrol-rs

[euless]

I am in Hong Kong and it is hot climate here too. I install Thinkfan on Linux, and set it up to always have the fan running. It is the only way to keep the keyboard and palmrest cool here in the summer.

Maybe give THinkfan a try.

[Insomniac1971]

I am in Hong Kong and it is hot climate here too. I install Thinkfan on Linux, and set it up to always have the fan running. It is the only way to keep the keyboard and palmrest cool here in the summer.

Maybe give THinkfan a try.

Problem is that Thinkfan rely on lm-sensors as far as I can tell, and lm-sensors is not detecting my fan.

The developer of lm-sensors, has to write a driver for my Novuton controller(that were what he did for someone else with a Novuton controller, but different from mine), then I can try to load the driver on boot and lm-sensors should find my fan, but so far the developer has ignored my many requests for help, so that might not get fixed any time soon.

I even provided him with all the information I found and all schematics, but Nada.

[Insomniac1971]

Have you tried this Linux-clone: https://github.com/Arnavion/tpfancontrol-rs

Thank you, I have not tried it yet, it seems though that it doesn't have its own detection like the real tpfc, it seems to rely on hwmon which is part of the lm-sensors problem.

But I will give it a try as soon as I have made a backup