kernel module i8k.ko - laptop fan control - help needed!

[Vladimir Komendantsky]

Hi,

The module i8k.ko provides access to certain BIOS functions such as fan speed on certain Dell laptops including Inspirons and Lattitudes.

Does anyone know whether this module and the associated packages such as i8kutils are maintained at present?

I have a testing issue in Debian lenny amd64. I wanted the maintainer (Massimo Dal Zotto) to know about this. However, he hasn't responded to my email.

The issue is that i8k.ko doesn't seem to be able to control the fan on my Inspiron 1525 at all. Although, the module loads okay and is able to get some data from the BIOS, for example:

/proc/i8k:
1.0 A13 7P1R04J 43 0 0 0 0 -1 -22

Some time earlier I tried to use dellfand with a similar result: it read parameters from the BIOS but did not wrote to it.

I wonder whether there could be some dependencies, e.g. acpi modules, that prevent i8k.ko from writing to the BIOS.

Please tell me if you know about any exploits for the fan of Inspiron 1525.

Regards,
Vladimir

[Chris Bannister]

On Wed, Jan 07, 2009 at 08:21:11PM +0000, Vladimir Komendantsky wrote:
> /proc/i8k:
> 1.0 A13 7P1R04J 43 0 0 0 0 -1 -22

What does syslog say, i.e.
dmesg | grep i8k

> Some time earlier I tried to use dellfand with a similar result: it read
> parameters from the BIOS but did not wrote to it.
>
> I wonder whether there could be some dependencies, e.g. acpi modules, that
> prevent i8k.ko from writing to the BIOS.

Sorry, dont know.

> Please tell me if you know about any exploits for the fan of Inspiron 1525.

Sorry, I don't know. I have a Dell Latitude and:
dmesg | grep i8k
i8k: unable to get SMM BIOS version

Also there is:
Dell laptop SMM driver v1.14 21/02/2005 Massimo Dal Zotto (d...@debian.org)
which is old

Also have a look at
modinfo i8k

Although I haven't "played" with any of the options.

Sorry I can't be of any more help.

--
Chris.
======
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god
than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other
possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.
-- Stephen F Roberts

--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-us...@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listm...@lists.debian.org

[Vladimir Komendantsky]

Hi Chris,

Thanks for reply.

What does syslog say, i.e.
dmesg | grep i8k

I have a Dell Latitude and:
dmesg | grep i8k
i8k: unable to get SMM BIOS version

In my case the dmesg output is the same. But this doesn't stop i8k from loading even without "force=1".

Also have a look at
modinfo i8k

Although I haven't "played" with any of the options.

None of the options seems to be relevant. One can force loading without recognition of supported models but cannot force supporting unsupported ones :(

Best,
V