iMac G5 Thermal Fan Support

I have the same problem with Daper (Flight 5) in my Powermac G5 1.8 SP. I am going to add a separate bug for that processor as well.

There is an option for iMacG5 thermal control during the 2.6.15 kernal compile. This should be set by default in Ubuntu.

I also understand this support only applies to the iMac G5 revison a (and possibly b). Kernel 2.6.15 has full support for all iMac G5 models.

Yes, there is such an option, but it does not support the newer iMac G5's. This is directly from the mouth of the PMac kernel guy (BenH).

2.6.16 supports it, but it requires so much code to be backported (entire i2c layer rewrite) that it is not feasible for dapper).

I could confirm this Bug for Dapper Drake.

My Computer:
IMac G5, 1.6GHz /17''

Beta 2 of Dapper still lacks thermal control for iMac G5 (rev a). Both Fedora 5 and openSUSE 10.1 support this, so it's definitely easily doable.

Can we know if this is expected to be supported (at least in the older iMac G5s) once Dapper final arrives?

Flight 7 does not seem to have it...

Taking it off Ubuntu because it has been assigned to the kernel

I note that Edgy Knot 1 has still not resolved this. The kernel has been compiled with the "windfarm" parts as modules, rather than as part of the kernel. I currently have a kernel with the windfarm parts right inside the kernel and, as a result, I have thermal control.

Be nice if this could be fixed since it is so easy to do!

Edgy Knot 3 there is no thermal control on an PPC g5 Dual 2GHz

Hi!

I am using a iMac G5 (first version) 1.8 GHz, I have just tried edgy beta (6.10 beta) and it is not supported yet! And I just wanted to say one more "Why? It does not look very complex".

The kernel supports the fan control since version 2.6.15 or 2.6.16. The latest kernel used in ubuntu is 2.6.17!

Please, developers, the noise is quite annoying! ;)

Seriously, I will have to use Fedora Core 6 (*) as soon as it is released if it is not fixed in ubuntu... it's supported... I would prefer to use Ubuntu but I see no option... ok, compile the kernel... but nowadays I became lazy with these things... :)

(*) Fedora Core 5 already supports it but it has a problem with the sound

I am still experiencing this same issue on a G5 single (not iMac) PowerMac 9.1. I am using Ubuntu 6.10 'Edgy Eft' beta PPC64 with all of the latest upgrades as per today. I wish we would get a solution soon as this has been going on since Ubuntu 5.10 'Breezy Badger'.

Does anyone know who makes the Ubuntu PPC kernel images? What is their contact info?

Ubuntu 6.10 'Edgy Eft' has gone candidate and yet there still does not appear to be a solution to the thermal fan issue for my G5 single PowerMac 9.1. I still have fans that run like jet engines when I boot into Ubuntu. This will be the third version of Ubuntu that does not support lower-end PPC64 machines. I really don't like Fedora Core, but these issues with PPC64 machines and Debian based systems can not go on forever without some sort of solution. This has been going on for so long that I am tempted to try and change distros again. I can't run my box for more than five minutes at a time at this point without having to shutdown.

If anyone has solved the fan issue by compiling with "g5_defconfig", can you attach your "dmesg" output from bootup? From looking at the differences between the stock Ubuntu kernel config and the one generated with g5_defconfig, it's not obvious what the critical differences are.

Thanks!

Ah nevermind. On a stock Edgy install, this seems to have solved the problems:

# As root, type:
apt-get install powernowd
cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/macintosh
ls | cut -d. -f1 | xargs -n1 modprobe

Seems that what's missing in Edgy is the correct knowledge to load the right modules.

To make these module load on bootup, I also did this as root:

lsmod | cut -d" " -f1 | grep windfarm >> /etc/modules

A better fix is for udev or similiar to notice the hardware and take the right actions.

We had the installer manually adding these modules to /etc/modules. Not sure why it doesn't anymore.

The magic for the modules to be autoloaded by udev isn't going to be supported until feisty's kernel.

Does "apt-get install powernowd" also work on G5 single (PowerMac 9.1) boxes? Will this also work with Dapper as well? I am having problems with the new Edgy CDs failing validation.

"powernowd" is the cpu-frequency management tool, and probably isn't needed for the fan control, but it's handy especially for laptops. The windfarm modules are only available with the new Edgy kernel.

OK. I understand there can be problems with using "apt-get dist-upgrade" to upgrade from Dapper to Edgy. If I am only able to get a Dapper CD to validate, is there a way I can just upgrade the kernel to Edgy until the kinks in the "full" upgrade get ironed out?

On Thu, 2006-10-26 at 18:37 +0000, RoadTripDK wrote:
> OK. I understand there can be problems with using "apt-get dist-upgrade"
> to upgrade from Dapper to Edgy. If I am only able to get a Dapper CD to
> validate, is there a way I can just upgrade the kernel to Edgy until the
> kinks in the "full" upgrade get ironed out?

I don't know of any "kinks", but you can point /etc/apt/sources.list to
edgy, and do this:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install linux-powerpc64-smp

That should get you just the kernel and a few things to support it.

OK, I tried as was described above. I used "gksudo ls | cut -d. -f1 | xargs -n1 modprobe" and "gksudo lsmod | cut -d" " -f1 | grep windfarm >> /etc/modules", but got a lot of errors. Is there anywhere I can post the errors? I am a relative newbie, but I am sure that I ran the commands correctly (copy and paste). This was with an Edgy install.

Try the commands again after doing:

  sudo -s

That will get you logged in as root, and from there you'll have the permissions you need to update the /etc/modules file. (In your command line, only the "lsmod" is covered by the sudo.) :)

Thanks, but there is still something not right:

'sudo -s ls | cut -d. -f1 | xargs -n1 modprobe'

/bin/ls: /bin/ls: cannot execute binary file

A listing of modprobe usage comes afterwards. This is waaay beyond my limited knowledge. Any ideas?

Sorry for the confusing instructions, I meant to run "sudo -s" alone. So, in your terminal window type these 5 commands, one after another:

  sudo -s
  cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/macintosh
  ls | cut -d. -f1 | xargs -n1 modprobe
  lsmod | cut -d" " -f1 | grep windfarm >> /etc/modules
  exit

After the first "sudo" your prompt should change from ending with a '$' to ending with a '#' to show that you are in a root shell.

Cheers. I completed the commands exactly - all of them. I did get error messages when I ran 'ls | cut -d. -f1 | xargs -n1 modprobe':

"FATAL: Error inserting therm_pm72 (/lib/modules/2.6.17-10-powerpc64-smp/kernel/drivers/macintosh/therm_pm72.ko): No such device
FATAL: Error inserting windfarm_pm112 (/lib/modules/2.6.17-10-powerpc64-smp/kernel/drivers/macintosh/windfarm_pm112.ko): No such device
FATAL: Error inserting windfarm_pm81 (/lib/modules/2.6.17-10-powerpc64-smp/kernel/drivers/macintosh/windfarm_pm81.ko): No such device"

I am unsure if this is an issue to worry about and how it would influence my boot-up as I did also run the command 'lsmod | cut -d" " -f1 | grep windfarm >> /etc/modules'.

Those errors can be ingored. They just mean a few modules didn't match your hardware type. Since the list put into /etc/modules won't include them, you won't see those errors at boot time.

Now, the big question, did doing this solve the fan issue for you?

Looking good so far. I did a five hour test yesterday. First time I have been able to run a Debian based system that long since I got my computer (G5 single - PowerMac 9.1). The question is of course what will happen with the update/upgrade process. Will this have to be run everytime that there are any updates/upgrades to the kernel? What happens when the next Ubuntu version comes out in six months time with the module commands at boot time?

For this specific computer, you should be fine for future upgrades (since the modules will stay loaded each boot due to their being listed in /etc/modules).

Until this bug is fully closed, for other computers running Edgy, you will need to do the same series of operations as above, but only once per computer:

sudo -s
apt-get install powernowd
cd /lib/modules/$(uname -r)/kernel/drivers/macintosh
(ls | cut -d. -f1 | xargs -n1 modprobe) 2>/dev/null
lsmod | cut -d" " -f1 | grep windfarm >> /etc/modules
exit

I can confirm that thermal fan support in Edgy also doesn't work with my hardware,
Powermac G5 dual-core 2GHz.

I've tried the above fix, but this doesn't fix the problem on my iMac G5 1.9Ghz Rev C with Edgy....
...but it did when I was running Dapper...

I've tried compiling a new kernel from kernel.org (2.6.18.2) using g5_defconfig but that makes no difference.
(couldn't find the /lib/modules/2.6.18-2/kernel/drivers/macintosh folder to apply the fix on this kernel)

Has any one with a Ubuntu 6.10 got a quiet Rev C iMac?

hi, Here to confirm, that with the above fix, my iMac does't have any more crazy fans (it works)
iMac G5 2.0Ghz "Rev B" -- OK!

Kees Cook, you are awesome.

Salute. (As in italian(?) cheers).

Can someone test this under a Feisty build so we can see if this bug still exists?

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/feisty/herd-5/

Fans/thermal are under control and silent for me with the Feisty
herd-5 live-desktop CD. It works great.

Powermac G5 dual CPU 2Ghz
(Powermac 7,3)
Radeon 9600

It is clocking from 1800Mhz-2000Mhz automagically.

(Had to edit the xorg.conf file to say
Option "UseFBDev" "false"
to get X to start though on this live CD.)

On 3/22/07, Timothy Smith <email address hidden> wrote:
> Can someone test this under a Feisty build so we can see if this bug
> still exists?
>
> http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/feisty/herd-5/
>
> --
> iMac G5 Thermal Fan Support
> https://launchpad.net/bugs/34723
>

Fix released in Feisty

Hi,

iMac G5 rev C (aka iSight) does not have thermal driver. I implemented it with the mentoring of Benjamin Herrenschmidt. The patch against latest linux-2.6.git is available at http://bersace03.free.fr/pub/Linux/iMac%20G5/ . The driver is named windfarm_pm121. Please review it. Benjamin should get it for inclusion but i guess it's for 2.6.25.

Regards,
Étienne.

Updated patch (drop debugging, and few fixes)

Étienne.

Reassigning to ubuntu-powerpc team.

Hi,

I'm talking about iMac G5 **rev C** aka iMac G5 iSight based on PowerMac12,1 motherboard rather than PowerMac8,1. I wrote the driver windfarm_pm121 and send the patch to linuxppx-dev. http://ozlabs.org/pipermail/linuxppc-dev/2007-December/047641.html and following mails. I do own one of these machine and heared the fans loud for 2 years, until a few days ago.

Regards,
Étienne.

The 18 month support period for Edgy Eft 6.10 has reached it's end of life. As a result, we are closing the linux-source-2.6.17 Edgy Eft kernel task. However, please note that this report will remain open against the actively developed kernel. Thank you for your continued support and help as we debug this issue.

Hi,

The patch has been merged upstream in 2.6.26.

Étienne.

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

2.6.15 is a very old kernel.

This bug was reported a while ago but there hasn't been any recent comments or updates. Is this still an issue with the latest pre-release of Jaunty 9.04? Refer to http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/jaunty/beta . Please let us know.

Hi

Well, the patch is included upstream for a while now :
http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=80ff974dba8cc432ab81676fc09d3c357cb11276

Regards
Étienne
--
E Ultreïa !

> Well, the patch is included upstream for a while now :
> http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=80ff974dba8cc432ab81676fc09d3c357cb11276

In other words, your problem is fixed?

Hi,

> In other words, your problem is fixed?

Not tested.

Étienne.
--
E Ultreïa !

Fix the incorrect state of the bug.

Awaiting OP to report back on whether this works or not.

Marking invalid due to the length of time since we received a response from the original reporter and the fact that the fixes were in stable quite some time ago.

Should this issue remain, please open a new bug with all of the required information.

-JFo

Hi!

I have upgradete to Lucid today , before I was on 9.10, and the problem of cpu scaling remain with my PowerBook 12 1 Ghz ( Nvidia)
.
The error is the same:
ondemand governor failed, too long transition lacency of HW, fallback to performance governor

kernel: 2.6.32-16-powerpc

Sorry I have post in the wrong bug entries...

This is the entry:

I have upgradated to Lucid today , before I was on 9.10, now the problem of the FAN look fixed
I have put back on the /etc/modules the module: therm_adt746x and the fan work perfectly!!!

With a Powermac G5 (Powermac9.1) if you run Leopard the temperature in the lower HDD is bellow 45 degrees Celsius. With Ubuntu 10.4 (and summer) you get the same HDD at 57 degrees Celsius or more. Opening the side tower made the fans run at full speed, and the HDD becomes cool again.
The only message at boot (beside performance governor already fixed as in guides in the Powerpc FAQ) is related with windfarm not loaded (all those messages say about windfarm not loaded) but look like the problem is not with modules.
Here is why, Leopard was patched due to the bad location of the HDD sensor in Powermac G5 first models. the Fan Speed table look like is not the same as in Leopard because the HDD fan with Ubuntu does not run at more speed to get the HD cool.
I do not know how to change this tables,
But the system still runs more hot with Ubuntu 10.4 than in Leopard (about 10 degrees Celsius)
This issue has a side effect: the HDD stop responding after several hours running hot, this is reported by SMART as a Warning (show in the Hard Disk tools from Ubuntu) this warning say that the Disk is more than 50 Celsius in average, yesterday was 61 average and stoped responding for several hours after i found that opening the side made the fans run at full speed and keep it alive but i switch back to Leopard to see what is the diference and as i write before i found a difference in temperatures in both OS. Of course i remeber the HDD bad sensor documented in www.xlr8yourmac.com and some workarounds before Apple patched Leopard.

Thank you

I just tried the daily builds from Ubuntu 12.04 and while launching the install process the fans starts to spin very, very fast.

I guess this bug came back.

Confirmation of "the bug is back".
I run Ubuntu 12.04 with the latest
linux-image-powerpc64-smp_3.2.0.25.27_powerpc.deb
kernel and the fans are running nuts.

Please anybody fix this bug, because there are still people out there who like to keep iMacs running
under Linux instead of the outdated vulnerable OSX 10.5.8

If there is anything i can do to support the debugprocess, please let me and us know.

Thanks in advance!

/mantikor