Thinkfan configuration

setup.md

Thinkfan setup

Note: I configured this thinkfan setup for my old Thinkpad w520 on Ubuntu 17.10.

1. Install necessary programs

Install lm-sensors and thinkfan.

sudo apt-get install lm-sensors thinkfan

2. Setup configuration

Find the temperature control devices with

find /sys/devices -type f -name "temp*_input"

Add them to /etc/thinkfan.conf, including (level, min_temperature, max_temperature):

hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp3_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp4_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp5_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp1_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp2_input

(0,	0,	60)
(1,	60,	65)
(2,	65,	70)
(3,	70,	75)
(4,	75,	80)
(5,	80,	85)
(7,	85,	32767)

3. Enable fan control

echo "options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/thinkfan.conf
modprobe thinkpad_acpi

• You can check with lsmod if thinkfan_acpi is running
• To reload a module you need to remove it with sudo modprobe -r <module>, but this is not always possible, so we might need a reboot here.

4. Testing and running

To test thinkfan, use:

thinkfan -n

And to run it, use:

sudo service thinkfan start

And to retrieve the status, use:

service thinkfan status

5. Running on startup

To make it run at startup, we need to edit /etc/modules and add the lines below, to make the modules thinkpad_acpi and coretemp load at boot time. The thinkpad_acpi has to be loaded before coretemp.

thinkpad_acpi
coretemp

Note that this may change the /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp*_input paths (hwmon3 can become hwmon2 or vice versa), probably because of the order in which the modules are loaded or something. So, in the /etc/thinkfan.conf config, you might need to update these lines.

Furthermore, we need to enable the thinkfan service via systemctl.

sudo systemctl enable thinkfan.service

thinkfan.conf

######################################################################
# thinkfan 0.7 example config file
# ================================
#
# ATTENTION: There is only very basic sanity checking on the configuration.
# That means you can set your temperature limits as insane as you like. You
# can do anything stupid, e.g. turn off your fan when your CPU reaches 70°C.
#
# That's why this program is called THINKfan: You gotta think for yourself.
#
######################################################################
#
# IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads (thinkpad_acpi, /proc/acpi/ibm)
# ====================================================
#
# IMPORTANT:
#
# To keep your HD from overheating, you have to specify a correction value for
# the sensor that has the HD's temperature. You need to do this because
# thinkfan uses only the highest temperature it can find in the system, and
# that'll most likely never be your HD, as most HDs are already out of spec
# when they reach 55 °C.
# Correction values are applied from left to right in the same order as the
# temperatures are read from the file.
#
# For example:
# tp_thermal /proc/acpi/ibm/thermal (0, 0, 10)
# will add a fixed value of 10 °C the 3rd value read from that file. Check out
# http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Thermal_Sensors to find out how much you may
# want to add to certain temperatures.

#  Syntax:
#  (LEVEL, LOW, HIGH)
#  LEVEL is the fan level to use (0-7 with thinkpad_acpi)
#  LOW is the temperature at which to step down to the previous level
#  HIGH is the temperature at which to step up to the next level
#  All numbers are integers.
#

# I use this on my T61p:
#tp_fan /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
#hwmon /proc/acpi/ibm/thermal (0, 10, 15, 2, 10, 5, 0, 3, 0, 3)
#hwmon /sys/devices/virtual/hwmon/hwmon0/temp1_input

hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp3_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp4_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp5_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp1_input
hwmon /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon3/temp2_input

(0,	0,	60)
(1,	60,	65)
(2,	65,	70)
(3,	70,	75)
(4,	75,	80)
(5,	80,	85)
(7,	85,	32767)

ThinkPad T490 Intel GPU:

sensors:
  - hwmon: /sys/class/hwmon/hwmon1/temp1_input
fans:
  - tpacpi: /proc/acpi/ibm/fan
levels:
  - [0, 0, 53]
  - [1, 52, 60]
  - [2, 59, 68]
  - [3, 65, 70]
  - [4, 69, 75]
  - [5, 74, 80]
  - [6, 79, 85]
  - [7, 84, 86]
  - ["level full-speed", 85, 32767]

ThinkPad T15g - Options

sensors:
  ######### Common CPU - Option 1 with GPU #########

  # GPU - [2] is a GPU - not used by me
  #- tpacpi: /proc/acpi/ibm/thermal
  #  name: GPU
  #  indices: [2]

  # CPU
  #- tpacpi: /proc/acpi/ibm/thermal
  #  name: CPU
  #  indices: [1]

  ######### Common CPU - Option 2 with GPU #########
  # CPU
  #- hwmon: /sys/devices/platform/thinkpad_hwmon/hwmon/hwmon9/temp1_input
  # GPU
  #- hwmon: /sys/devices/platform/thinkpad_hwmon/hwmon/hwmon9/temp2_input


  ######### Common CPU - Option 3 without GPU #########
  # Package id 0
  #- hwmon: /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon11/temp1_input

  # CPU per Core
  # Core 0
  - hwmon: /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon11/temp2_input
  # Core 1
  - hwmon: /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon11/temp3_input
  # Core 2
  - hwmon: /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon11/temp4_input
  # Core 3
  - hwmon: /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon11/temp5_input
  # Core 4
  - hwmon: /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon11/temp6_input
  # Core 5
  - hwmon: /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon11/temp7_input
    #name: coretemp
    #indices: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

  ######### GPU nouveau #########
  #- hwmon: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:01.0/0000:01:00.0/hwmon/hwmon7/temp1_input
    #name: nouveau
    #indices: [1]

  ######### SSD nvme0 #########
  #- hwmon: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/0000:02:00.0/nvme/nvme0/hwmon3/temp1_input
  #- hwmon: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/0000:02:00.0/nvme/nvme0/hwmon3/temp2_input
  #- hwmon: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1b.0/0000:02:00.0/nvme/nvme0/hwmon3/temp3_input
    #name: nvme
    #indices: [1, 2, 3]
    #correction: [-5, 0, 0]

  ######### SSD nvme1 #########
  #- hwmon: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/0000:55:00.0/nvme/nvme1/hwmon4/temp1_input
  #- hwmon: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1d.0/0000:55:00.0/nvme/nvme1/hwmon4/temp2_input
    #name: nvme
    #indices: [1, 2]

  ######### acpitz #########
  - hwmon: /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone0/hwmon1/temp1_input
    #name: acpitz
    #indices: [1]

  # cometlake
  - hwmon: /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone4/hwmon8/temp1_input
    #name: pch_cometlake
    #indices: [1]

  # iwlwifi
  - hwmon: /sys/devices/virtual/thermal/thermal_zone10/hwmon12/temp1_input
    #name: iwlwifi_1
    #indices: [1]

fans:
  - tpacpi: /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

levels:
  - [0, 0, 52]
  - [1, 52, 60]
  - [2, 60, 65]
  - ["level auto", 65, 75]
  - ["level disengaged", 75, 255]

Testing

Temperatures(bias): 55(0), 54(0), 53(0), 52(0), 51(0), 51(0), 51(0), 56(0), 59(0) -> Fans: level 1
Temperatures(bias): 58(-3), 67(-6), 58(-2), 59(-3), 57(-2), 57(-2), 56(-1), 55(0), 59(0) -> Fans: level 2
Temperatures(bias): 54(0), 56(0), 55(0), 54(0), 55(0), 54(0), 58(-1), 56(0), 59(0) -> Fans: level 1
Temperatures(bias): 53(0), 56(0), 54(0), 54(0), 53(0), 53(0), 55(0), 56(0), 60(0) -> Fans: level 2
Temperatures(bias): 53(0), 55(0), 54(0), 54(0), 54(0), 53(0), 56(0), 56(0), 59(0) -> Fans: level 1
Temperatures(bias): 55(0), 57(0), 55(0), 55(0), 55(0), 54(0), 56(0), 56(0), 60(0) -> Fans: level 2
Temperatures(bias): 53(0), 56(0), 55(0), 54(0), 54(0), 54(0), 56(0), 56(0), 59(0) -> Fans: level 1
Temperatures(bias): 53(0), 56(0), 55(0), 54(0), 54(0), 54(0), 56(0), 57(0), 60(0) -> Fans: level 2
Temperatures(bias): 54(0), 57(0), 56(0), 55(0), 55(0), 54(0), 57(0), 56(0), 59(0) -> Fans: level 1
Temperatures(bias): 54(0), 57(0), 56(0), 55(0), 55(0), 54(0), 57(0), 56(0), 60(0) -> Fans: level 2
Temperatures(bias): 54(0), 57(0), 56(0), 55(0), 54(0), 54(0), 57(0), 56(0), 59(0) -> Fans: level 1
Temperatures(bias): 55(0), 59(0), 57(0), 56(0), 57(-1), 56(0), 57(0), 57(0), 60(0) -> Fans: level 2
Temperatures(bias): 55(0), 58(0), 56(0), 56(0), 56(0), 56(0), 57(0), 56(0), 59(0) -> Fans: level 1
Temperatures(bias): 56(0), 58(0), 57(0), 57(0), 57(0), 55(0), 57(0), 56(0), 60(0) -> Fans: level 2

Just a note: on my X1YogaGen7 I was getting errors

ERROR: Module thinkpad_acpi doesn't seem to support fan_control
ERROR: ~TpFanDriver: Resetting fan control in /proc/acpi/ibm/fan: Invalid argument

To resolve them, use

echo "options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1 experimental=1" > /etc/modprobe.d/thinkfan.conf

instead of the original line without experimental=1. The issue may be related to the laptop having two fans instead of one (or maybe not).

And here is my config file, inspired by @managervcf. It works on thinkpad x1 yoga G7:

##
## This file shows how to use sensor-specific temperature limits.
## First of all, you need to specify temperature inputs. 
##
tp_thermal /proc/acpi/ibm/thermal  # provides 8 temperature inputs on x1 yoga G7, and only the first value is relevant

#
## Next we specify the fan we want to use. On a Thinkpad, this is:
#
tp_fan /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

#
## Then you need to specify the temperature limits for each of the sensors.
## A dot means that the corresponding sensor should be ignored. The length of the
## UPPER and LOWER limits must be the same as the number of temperatures. In this
## example, /proc/acpi/ibm/thermal contains 8 sensors, some of which are unused (hence the dots).
#

{ "level 0"   # the fan level
# ^-------^   This works for /proc/acpi/ibm/thermal.
#
#    Sensor count:
#    1  2  3  4  5  6  7  8
#    ======================
    (0  0  0  0  0  0  0  0)      # LOWER limit
    (53	.  .  .  .  .  .  .)      # UPPER limit
}


{ "level 1"
    (48 .  .  .  .  .  .  .)
    (60 .  .  .  .  .  .  .)
}

{ "level 2"
    (55 .  .  .  .  .  .  .)
    (65 .  .  .  .  .  .  .)
}

{ "level auto"
    (60 .  .  .  .  .  .  .)
    (99 .  .  .  .  .  .  .)
}

Probably there is no need for level 0, level 1, level 2, level auto separation,
and a simpler separation level 0, level auto will do just fine,
as my goal is to avoid the fan kicking in too early.