Need Help Controlling Fan Speed on Zorin OS 17.2 Education (Lenovo Laptop)

Hardware Support
1

Hi everyone,

I’m currently running Zorin OS on my Lenovo laptop and trying to figure out how to control the fan speed. However, I’ve been running into issues at every step, and I’m hoping someone here can help me out.

Here’s what I’ve tried so far:

ThinkFan
I attempted to set up ThinkFan, as it seemed like a good option for Lenovo laptops. I followed the installation and configuration instructions carefully, but I couldn’t get it to work properly.

NBFC (Notebook Fan Control)
I also tried installing NBFC, which looked promising due to its support for Lenovo hardware and GUI interface. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to install or configure it successfully.

lm-sensors + fancontrol
I went through the process of installing lm-sensors, ran sensors-detect, and attempted to configure fancontrol. Despite following the instructions, I wasn’t able to get this solution working either.

I’ve followed the guides to the best of my ability but seem to keep running into obstacles. Has anyone successfully controlled fan speed on Zorin OS, especially with a Lenovo laptop? If so, what approach or tools worked for you?

Any advice or pointers would be greatly appreciated! Let me know if you need system details or anything else that could help troubleshoot.

Thanks in advance! :blush:

2

Welcome to the Forum!

I don't know if Your Machine offers that, but did You take a Look in Your BIOS if You can there set up the Fans?

3

What is the exact model of Lenovo you are using?

I would purge (sudo remove [name of package]) all of the applications you have installed and start again with thinkfan following this guide:

Lenovo Fan Control for Ubuntu

Based on the provided search results, here’s a comprehensive guide to control the fan speed on Lenovo ThinkPads running Ubuntu 22.04:

  1. Thinkfan: A popular, open-source fan control program specifically designed for Lenovo ThinkPads. You can install it using the following command:
sudo apt-get install thinkfan
  1. Configure thinkfan:
  • Edit the configuration file /etc/thinkfan.conf using a text editor (e.g., sudo nano /etc/thinkfan.conf).
  • Add the following lines to specify the fan control settings:
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon9/temp3_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon9/temp4_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon9/temp1_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon9/temp5_input

* Replace the `hwmon` paths with the ones detected by `sensors-detect` (see below).
* Save the changes and restart the thinkfan service:

sudo service thinkfan restart
  1. sensors-detect: Run this command to detect and list the available sensors on your system:
sudo sensors-detect

* Note the output, which should include the paths to the thermal sensors (e.g., `hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon9/temp3_input`).
  1. thinkfan-control-gui: An optional, graphical interface for thinkfan. You can install it using the following command:
sudo apt-get install thinkfan-control-gui

* Launch the GUI using `thinkfan-control-gui` and configure the fan settings as desired.

Additional Tips

  • Ensure the thinkpad-acpi kernel module is loaded by adding the following line to /etc/modprobe.d/options:
options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1
  • Reboot your system after making changes to the configuration files.
  • Monitor fan speed and temperatures using tools like sensors or lm-sensors.

Troubleshooting

  • If you encounter issues with fan control, check the system logs for errors and consult the thinkfan documentation or online forums for troubleshooting guidance.

Remember to replace the hwmon paths in the configuration file with the ones detected by sensors-detect to ensure accurate fan control. Happy tweaking!

4

I shortly heard about a Tool called LACT:

In Origin it was for controling AMD GPU's but with Version 0.6.0 You can adjust Nvidia GPU's, too. On the Releases Site take the Version for Ubuntu 22.04 (that is the Zorin 17 Base).

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