Fixing CPU fan on Lenovo Thinkpad T520

Issue: CPU fan on Lenovo Thinkpad T520 is always on.

OS: Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS Lucid Lynx with backported kernels from Oneiric.

Source used for solution: Ubuntu Forum , — thanks to user mejo

Solution:

1. install thinkfan package:

$ sudo apt-get install thinkfan

2. add kernel module ‘coretemp’ to /etc/modules

$ sudo sh -c ‘echo coretemp >> /etc/modules’

3. load kernel module ‘coretemp’

$ sudo modprobe coretemp

4. add the following three sensor entries to /etc/thinkfan.conf just before the temperature levels:

sensor /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp1_input
sensor /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp2_input
sensor /sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/temp3_input
sensor /sys/devices/virtual/hwmon/hwmon0/temp1_input

[ edit the file /etc/thinkfan.conf with your favourite editor, e.g. ‘sudo gedit /etc/thinkfan.conf‘ ]

5. add the following to /etc/modprobe.d/thinkfan.conf: ‘options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1’

$ sudo sh -c ‘echo “options thinkpad_acpi fan_control=1” >> /etc/modprobe.d/thinkfan.conf’

6. reload kernel module ‘thinkpad_acpi’

$ sudo modprobe -r thinkpad_acpi
$ sudo modprobe thinkpad_acpi

7. set START=”yes” in /etc/default/thinkfan

[ edit the file /etc/default/thinkfan with your favourite editor, e.g. ‘sudo gedit /etc/default/thinkfan‘ ]

8. start thinkfan:

$ sudo /etc/init.d/thinkfan start

9. check whether it works

$ sudo cat /proc/acpi/ibm/fan

if level has a value between 0 and 7, and changes by times, your thinkfan daemon works.

Improving power consumption on Ubuntu laptop with ‘Sandy Bridge’ processor

*Tested on: Lenovo ThinkPad T520 with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) and backported kernel 3.0.0-13

Recently I found interesting articles about increased power consumption on Sandy Bridge processors with new generations of Linux kernels.

According to article http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_i915_power&num=1 there is a solution for this issue.

So, with a help of uncle Google and this article: http://www.techytalk.info/linux-kernel-2-6-38-2-6-39-power-regression-workaround/#more-1972 I finally managed to test it. I was honestly surprised by result, since at beginning I was quite sceptic, primarily because I’m not experienced Linux user and I had reasonable doubts about my ability to do something like this. 🙂

I tested it step by step, and I done lot’s of measuring and rebooting, but I’ll describe only final steps.

Installing Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Lucid Lynx) on Lenovo ThinkPad T520

This process is tested with Ubuntu 10.04.3 LTS 64-bit.
(Sandy Bridge,  Intel i5-2410M processor, Intel HD 3000 graphic, Intel 82579LM eth card, Intel Advanced-N 6250 wifi card)

1. Download latest ISO at http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download

2. Download latest Intel e1000e driver at http://downloadcenter.intel.com/ and save downloaded file to USB drive.

3. Start your laptop and choose live session (“Try Ubuntu“).

You’ll notice that there is no any kind of network connection at the moment.
Mount your USB drive and go to the folder where your Intel e1000e driver is located.
Untar/unzip archive:

tar zxf e1000e-x.x.x.tar.gz

Change to the driver src directory:

cd e1000e-x.x.x/src/

Compile the driver module:

sudo make install

Load the module using either the insmod or modprobe command:

sudo modprobe e1000e

At this point your network adapter should start working. Detailed information about installing the driver can be found on http://downloadmirror.intel.com/15817/eng/README.txt

4. Now when you are able to connect to Internet you can install Ubuntu.

5. After restarting a computer, you have to repeat procedure for installing network card. (step 3)

6. Now you have to add next ppa’s:

apt-add-repository ppa:kernel-ppa/ppa
apt-add-repository ppa:glasen/intel-driver
apt-add-repository ppa:f-hackenberger/x220-intel-mesa
apt-get update

*If ppa:kernel-ppa/ppa doesnt work for you, you can try ppa:canonical-kernel-team/ppa

7. Install latest available backport kernel:

sudo apt-get install -y linux-image-generic-lts-backport-oneiric linux-headers-generic-lts-backport-oneiric

 

8. Update your packages:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade -y

 

9. Restart your computer.