linux - Lenovo T400 fan running constantly in Kubuntu 12.04

I recently installed Kubuntu 12.04 on a partition of my hard drive and the CPU fan seems to be constantly running. I thought it might be because it was running hot but the temp is floating around 110 degrees F with a load of around 2-12%. I also though the CPU might not be scaling and running at full speed all the time, but that is not the case either. I have the cpufrequtils installed and set to ondemand.

As a test I logged into windows to see the differences, in W7 the temp and load is about the same, but the fan does not run constantly.

Answer

you could try:

1. 
   

   (source) Edit /boot/grub/grub.cfg, look for the line that loads your linux system. It should look something like this:

   
   

   
   

   linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-1-amd64 root=UUID=addaasa-abcd-1234-a51g-5g4uudh4vak ro quiet splash

   
   

   
   

   Add the option acpi_os="Linux" like so:

   
   

   
   

   linux /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-1-amd64 root=UUID=badedbe2-adbc-4638-a41b-4a03fe7432cb ro quiet splash acpi_osi="Linux"

   
   

   
   

   Then run sudo update-grub and reboot.

   
   


2. 
   

   For tips on controlling a lenovo's fan, have a look at this page. The thinkwiki webpage in general is always a great source of info for linux on lenovo machines.

   
   


3. 
   

   If you are on a Dell machine (I know you are not, but someone else may read this), use the i8k module: sudo apt-get install i8kutils sudo modprobe i8k sudo i8kfan 0 1

   
   


4. 
   

   If you are dual booting with windows, check the fan settings there. I had a similar problem and the power settings in windows were making changes in the BIOS which then would affect my linux system as well.