HOW TO: Install and configure lm-sensors

[scotte]

I finally got my sensors working again in edgy, and hopefully this tip helps others who had sensors working fine in dapper, but are no longer working with edgy. This particular issue is not directly related to anything done in Ubuntu.

For the background, I've got an intel 801 based motherboard on this particular box, and everything was working just fine with my former Gentoo install. Likewise, all was good when I installed Ubuntu dapper. After the upgrade to edgy, sensors stopped working. I tried compiling the latest lm-sensors, but that didn't help either.

A key piece of information is that dapper was on kernel 2.6.15 and edgy uses 2.6.17. With some research and perusal of drivers/pci/quirks.c, there are a number of systems where the SMBus is hidden by default (see asus_hides_smbus in quirks.c).

At any rate, I discovered there was a patch applied to quirks.c in 2.6.16 which effectively disables unhiding the SMBus when ACPI_SLEEP is enabled.

My solution was to build a custom kernel without ACPI_SLEEP support. I'm now running 2.6.19, but this should work equally well for 2.6.17 or .18.

Here's the supporting documentation:
http://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=6449
http://www.kernel.org/git/?p=linux/k...s/pci/quirks.c
http://www.kernel.org/git/?p=linux/k...7a3b3221813932

Hope this helps!

[Sonic Reducer]

so i got an interesting error:

w83627ehf-isa-0290
Adapter: ISA adapter
Case Fan:    0 RPM  (min = 1318 RPM, div = 128)
CPU Fan:     0 RPM  (min =   76 RPM, div = 128)
fan3:     2393 RPM  (min = 2636 RPM, div = 4)
fan4:        0 RPM  (min = 7670 RPM, div = 8)
Sys Temp:    +27°C  (high =  -111°C, hyst =  -124°C)
CPU Temp:  +27.5°C  (high = +80.0°C, hyst = +75.0°C)
temp3:     +27.5°C  (high = +80.0°C, hyst = +75.0°C)

and when i turn down the CPU fanspeed with the Zalman FanMate potentiometer thingy that came with the CNPS7700:

w83627ehf-isa-0290
Adapter: ISA adapter
Case Fan:    0 RPM  (min = 1318 RPM, div = 128)
CPU Fan:     0 RPM  (min =   76 RPM, div = 128)
fan3:     1339 RPM  (min = 2636 RPM, div = 4)
fan4:        0 RPM  (min = 7670 RPM, div = 16)
Sys Temp:    +27°C  (high =  -111°C, hyst =  -124°C)
CPU Temp:  +28.0°C  (high = +80.0°C, hyst = +75.0°C)
temp3:     +28.0°C  (high = +80.0°C, hyst = +75.0°C)

my CPU fan comes up as "fan3" how can i fix this?

[Peepsalot]

my CPU fan comes up as "fan3" how can i fix this?

Your motherboard probably expects the CPU fan to be plugged into a different spot than the one you are using. Try another.

[froped]

I'm running edgy and followed the initial setup. I get the following error when I run sensors:


Can't access procfs/sysfs file
Unable to find i2c bus information;
For 2.6 kernels, make sure you have mounted sysfs and libsensors
was compiled with sysfs support!
For older kernels, make sure you have done 'modprobe i2c-proc'!


The sensors where discovered and the modules loaded. mount shows that sysfs is mounted and i have libsensors installed. Any ideas?

[Corbelius]

I'm running edgy and followed the initial setup. I get the following error when I run sensors:


Can't access procfs/sysfs file
Unable to find i2c bus information;
For 2.6 kernels, make sure you have mounted sysfs and libsensors
was compiled with sysfs support!
For older kernels, make sure you have done 'modprobe i2c-proc'!


The sensors where discovered and the modules loaded. mount shows that sysfs is mounted and i have libsensors installed. Any ideas?

What kernel linux you have?

[bluevoodoo1]

I'm running edgy and followed the initial setup. I get the following error when I run sensors:


Can't access procfs/sysfs file
Unable to find i2c bus information;
For 2.6 kernels, make sure you have mounted sysfs and libsensors
was compiled with sysfs support!
For older kernels, make sure you have done 'modprobe i2c-proc'!


The sensors where discovered and the modules loaded. mount shows that sysfs is mounted and i have libsensors installed. Any ideas?

I have the same problem.

[three_sixteen]

What kernel linux you have?

I'm having the same problem - kernel version 2.6.17-10-386

Trying to run it on a Dell XPS m1210

#----cut here----
# I2C adapter drivers
# modprobe unknown adapter NVIDIA I2C Device
# modprobe unknown adapter NVIDIA I2C Device
# modprobe unknown adapter NVIDIA I2C Device
# I2C chip drivers
eeprom
#----cut here----

[maschnitz]

Can't access procfs/sysfs file
Unable to find i2c bus information;
For 2.6 kernels, make sure you have mounted sysfs and libsensors was compiled with sysfs support!
For older kernels, make sure you have done 'modprobe i2c-proc'!

I am also receiving this error. I did a little research. Here's what I learned.

In my case, this is caused by my current kernel not supporting my I/O chip. For the record, I am running an Asus M2NPV-VM, which has an NForce 430 chipset (MCP 50). Apparently the I/O chip in question is the IT8716F. I'm running under a 2.6.18 kernel I compiled.

This comprehensive list shows what is and isn't supported in lm_sensors. But it is mapped by specific I/O chip name, not chipset name nor motherboard name. (In my case, it's the IT8716F). So you'll need to know that, too. Googling around is your best bet. It helps to do Google searches for your particular motherboard, or, better, your particular chipset, and "lm_sensors". Check your motherboard manual or motherboard box for the chipset. It lead me to this very relevant kernel developers' discussion on my motherboard's chipset. I imagine it's possible to learn this by reading the labels on the chips on your motherboard.

It's likely you'll have to do a kernel patch or reinstallation. I haven't done this yet, but I've done one in the past. This HOW TO was very helpful.

And, finally, I learned that sometimes, your chips simply aren't supported yet. Especially if your chipset is brand new.

[satandole666]

I have the same problem.

Add me to the list too.

Just made the cold-turkey switch from Windows to Ubuntu. Wiped my entire HD clean and installed last night.

Being an avid overclocker I'd kill for monitoring software right now.

Hardware is:

Opty165
DFI Lanparty nForce4 UT

After about 45 minutes of googling, reading guides, and tr ying solutions nothing has worked.

I did, however, discover that if I did modprobe on the other detected sensors I got these results:

To make the sensors modules behave correctly, add these lines to
/etc/modules:

#----cut here----
# I2C adapter drivers
i2c-nforce2
i2c-isa
# I2C chip drivers
eeprom
it87
#----cut here----

Do you want to add these lines to /etc/modules automatically? (yes/NO)y

sudo modprobe i2c-sensor
FATAL: Module i2c_sensor not found.
sudo modprobe i2c-nforce2
sudo modprobe i2c-isa
sudo modprobe eeprom
sudo modprobe it87
sudo depmod -a
sudo update-modules
sensors
it8712-isa-0290
Adapter: ISA adapter
VCore 1: +1.49 V (min = +0.00 V, max = +4.08 V)
VCore 2: +1.47 V (min = +1.28 V, max = +1.68 V)
+3.3V: +3.33 V (min = +2.78 V, max = +3.78 V)
+5V: +4.97 V (min = +4.49 V, max = +5.48 V)
+12V: +11.84 V (min = +9.98 V, max = +13.95 V)
-12V: -13.62 V (min = -22.94 V, max = -17.05 V) ALARM
-5V: -1.38 V (min = -9.14 V, max = -7.75 V) ALARM
Stdby: +5.05 V (min = +4.49 V, max = +5.48 V)
VBat: +3.09 V
fan1: 0 RPM (min = 811 RPM, div = 8)
fan2: 0 RPM (min = 811 RPM, div = 8)
fan3: 6490 RPM (min = 811 RPM, div = 8)
M/B Temp: +20°C (low = +127°C, high = +63°C) sensor = diode
CPU Temp: +25°C (low = +127°C, high = +63°C) sensor = thermistor
Temp3: +36°C (low = +127°C, high = +63°C) sensor = thermistor

Seems to be a success. All I did was ignore the error. I'm going to install a gui for this and see how it works. Anyway, I hope this helps someone.

P.S. And yes, I'm going to look into my -12V and -5V readings...if that's true it "might" be the reason I am limited to 2700mhz on my Opty165.

[SuperMike]

I had to look up what 'lm-sensors' did. For the uninformed like me, it's to look at fan, temperature, and things like that on your PC or server.