DellG5SE-Fan-Linux

The Dell G5SE-5505 laptop isn't working with usual fan managers, this script is a small utility to automatically set fan speed according to cpu and gpu thermals.

Requirements, installation.

Be aware that this binary may hurt your hardware if you don't have the exact same hardware as mine (EC chip). Correct the EC offsets in the sources files according to your hardware if necessary.

AUR package (for arch based distro)

You can install dell-g5se-fanctl. This package is not maintained by me.

Manual way

You will need to modprobe the dell smm kernel module, which is not loaded by default on this laptop. For the CPP version, which is writing to directly to the embedded controller of the laptop, you will need to allow EC writing.

$ sudo modprobe dell-smm-hwmon restricted=0 ignore_dmi=1
$ sudo modprobe ec_sys write_support=1 

If you want these settings to stay upon reboot, you can create a / replace by or append to the config file /etc/modules-load.d/dell-smm-hwmon.conf

# This file must be at /etc/modules-load.d/
dell-smm-hwmon
ec_sys

and the same for /etc/modprobe.d/dell-smm-hwmon.conf

# This file must be at /etc/modprobe.d/
options dell-smm-hwmon restricted=0 ignore_dmi=1
options ec_sys write_support=1

If ec_sys still doesn't load, it may be because it's a builtin kernel module. Then, try to add ec_sys.write_support=1 as a kernel paramenter.

Once these requirements are filled, you can grab a compiled binary in the release tab, or compile it yourself with the following command.

g++ -std=c++17 -O2 -march=native -Wall DellFan.cpp -o DellFan

Usage

Cpp Version

Approximatively the same as the python script as usage. EC writing gives (much more) fan control.

$ ./DellFan -h
Usage :
sudo ./Dellfan [-s  left right] [-l] [-ut t1 t2 t3 t4 t5 t6 t7] [-t timer] [-r] [-m] [-b] [-v] 

Arguments description :
 -h, --help             show this help message and exit.
 -s, --set left right   sets left/rights fan to selected speed (from 0 to 164).
 -l, --loop             launch into loop mode, ie, execute a fan
                        update every $timer seconds.
 -ut  t1--t7            sets the temperature thresholds 
                        t1, t2, t3, t4, t5, t6, t7 (in °C),
                        of the loop update.
 -t, --timer t          set the loop timer (in seconds). Default is 2s.
 -m, --manual           Switch to manual fan mode.
 -r, --restore          Gives back the fan control to the BIOS.
 -b, --boost            Set fan speed to BOOST (as fn+F7).
 -v, --verbose          Prints loop fan updates. -1 means no fan update made.

For a better ease of use, you can put this script in your binaries path /usr/bin/DellFan and ask sudo not to ask your password everytime you use it by adding the line

ALL ALL=(root) NOPASSWD: /usr/bin/DellFan

to your sudoers file.

This also should allow you to map profiles / fan speeds to keyboard shortcuts via your display environment (gnome / kde / ...).

⚠️ Be careful ! Too high temperatures can permanently damage your hardware.

Todo

• Live fan curve update
  • This can be achieved retrieving the address of the temperature threshold (not ideal), or if the program recognize some temp file.
• Cpp version
  • gui.
  • Remove the Dell-smm-hwmon kernel module dependance.
• Direct EC editing.
  • GPU part.
  • CPU part.
  • Manual trigger.
• Tell me