From pjwall at mac.com Tue Jan 26 08:14:21 2010 From: pjwall at mac.com (Pat Wall) Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2010 23:14:21 +0000 Subject: [powerstation-owners] PowerStation Fans Message-ID: <4B5E25CD.2060100@mac.com> Hi All I have a PowerStation running YDL 6.2 that overall I must say I am very happy with. If I could make it a bit quieter I would be even happier still ;-) The fan noise is fairly loud on light desktop operation (e.g. browsing, emailing etc). Periodically and very suddenly the fans can spin up to maximum speed even if the PowerStation is idle and will usually return to normal speed within about 30 seconds. Is this type of fan activity normal for the PowerStation? - perhaps other users could confirm. From reading the mailing list archives I see that the issue of noise levels has come up from time to time but there appears to be no solution. I was just wondering if anyone has ever found a way of controlling the fans? Thanks in advance Best regards Pat From nuernbe at TU-Cottbus.DE Tue Jan 26 10:12:17 2010 From: nuernbe at TU-Cottbus.DE (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Stefan_N=FCrnberger?=) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:12:17 +0100 Subject: [powerstation-owners] PowerStation Fans In-Reply-To: <4B5E25CD.2060100@mac.com> References: <4B5E25CD.2060100@mac.com> Message-ID: <4B5E4171.8080007@TU-Cottbus.DE> > Hi All > > I have a PowerStation running YDL 6.2 that overall I must say I am very > happy with. If I could make it a bit quieter I would be even happier > still ;-) > > The fan noise is fairly loud on light desktop operation (e.g. browsing, > emailing etc). Periodically and very suddenly the fans can spin up to > maximum speed even if the PowerStation is idle and will usually return > to normal speed within about 30 seconds. Is this type of fan activity > normal for the PowerStation? - perhaps other users could confirm. > Yes that's the normal behavior for the PowerStation. > From reading the mailing list archives I see that the issue of noise > levels has come up from time to time but there appears to be no > solution. I was just wondering if anyone has ever found a way of > controlling the fans? > AFAIK the fans are controlled by the BMC. Communication with the BMC should be possible through IPMI. I was able to obtain readings from different temperature sensors this way, but did not find any fan control mechanism. I also think that it would not be very advisable to operate the CPUs at a higher temperature. The better approach would be to utilize the power management features of the processors. Unfortunately there was no cpufreq driver for the 970MP last time I checked. There was only some basic support for the 970FX in the linux kernel. It would be nice if someone could look into that. There is no need for the processors to run at full power when the system is idle. IIRC the 970MP has about 15 different power modes. Switching off unused cores completely would also be nice. Unfortunately I have seen no work in that direction so far. I was wondering if there were some YDL kernel patches that are not in mainline. Greetings Stefan From agraf at suse.de Tue Jan 26 10:23:24 2010 From: agraf at suse.de (Alexander Graf) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:23:24 +0100 Subject: [powerstation-owners] PowerStation Fans In-Reply-To: <4B5E4171.8080007@TU-Cottbus.DE> References: <4B5E25CD.2060100@mac.com> <4B5E4171.8080007@TU-Cottbus.DE> Message-ID: <03DA74AF-6E0A-4765-85A7-591656A095CE@suse.de> On 26.01.2010, at 02:12, Stefan N?rnberger wrote: >> Hi All >> >> I have a PowerStation running YDL 6.2 that overall I must say I am very >> happy with. If I could make it a bit quieter I would be even happier >> still ;-) >> >> The fan noise is fairly loud on light desktop operation (e.g. browsing, >> emailing etc). Periodically and very suddenly the fans can spin up to >> maximum speed even if the PowerStation is idle and will usually return >> to normal speed within about 30 seconds. Is this type of fan activity >> normal for the PowerStation? - perhaps other users could confirm. >> > > Yes that's the normal behavior for the PowerStation. > >> From reading the mailing list archives I see that the issue of noise >> levels has come up from time to time but there appears to be no >> solution. I was just wondering if anyone has ever found a way of >> controlling the fans? >> > > AFAIK the fans are controlled by the BMC. Communication with the BMC should be possible through IPMI. I was able to obtain readings from different temperature sensors this way, but did not find any fan control mechanism. I also think that it would not be very advisable to operate the CPUs at a higher temperature. The better approach would be to utilize the power management features of the processors. Unfortunately there was no cpufreq driver for the 970MP last time I checked. There was only some basic support for the 970FX in the linux kernel. It would be nice if someone could look into that. There is no need for the processors to run at full power when the system is idle. IIRC the 970MP has about 15 different power modes. Switching off unused cores completely would also be nice. I haven't tried this yet, but while debugging a 970fx target I stumbled across this sysctl setting: kernel.powersave-nap which defaults to 0. When set to 1 (enabled), the kernel actually tells the cores to power down. With 0 (disabled) it just loops. I guess it's worth a try ;-). Please tell me if it helps! Alex From nuernbe at TU-Cottbus.DE Tue Jan 26 10:40:44 2010 From: nuernbe at TU-Cottbus.DE (=?ISO-8859-1?Q?Stefan_N=FCrnberger?=) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:40:44 +0100 Subject: [powerstation-owners] PowerStation Fans In-Reply-To: <03DA74AF-6E0A-4765-85A7-591656A095CE@suse.de> References: <4B5E25CD.2060100@mac.com> <4B5E4171.8080007@TU-Cottbus.DE> <03DA74AF-6E0A-4765-85A7-591656A095CE@suse.de> Message-ID: <4B5E481C.8060603@TU-Cottbus.DE> Am 26.01.10 02:23, schrieb Alexander Graf: > > On 26.01.2010, at 02:12, Stefan N?rnberger wrote: > >>> Hi All >>> >>> I have a PowerStation running YDL 6.2 that overall I must say I am very >>> happy with. If I could make it a bit quieter I would be even happier >>> still ;-) >>> >>> The fan noise is fairly loud on light desktop operation (e.g. browsing, >>> emailing etc). Periodically and very suddenly the fans can spin up to >>> maximum speed even if the PowerStation is idle and will usually return >>> to normal speed within about 30 seconds. Is this type of fan activity >>> normal for the PowerStation? - perhaps other users could confirm. >>> >> >> Yes that's the normal behavior for the PowerStation. >> >>> From reading the mailing list archives I see that the issue of noise >>> levels has come up from time to time but there appears to be no >>> solution. I was just wondering if anyone has ever found a way of >>> controlling the fans? >>> >> >> AFAIK the fans are controlled by the BMC. Communication with the BMC should be possible through IPMI. I was able to obtain readings from different temperature sensors this way, but did not find any fan control mechanism. I also think that it would not be very advisable to operate the CPUs at a higher temperature. The better approach would be to utilize the power management features of the processors. Unfortunately there was no cpufreq driver for the 970MP last time I checked. There was only some basic support for the 970FX in the linux kernel. It would be nice if someone could look into that. There is no need for the processors to run at full power when the system is idle. IIRC the 970MP has about 15 different power modes. Switching off unused cores completely would also be nice. > > I haven't tried this yet, but while debugging a 970fx target I stumbled across this sysctl setting: > > kernel.powersave-nap > > which defaults to 0. When set to 1 (enabled), the kernel actually tells the cores to power down. With 0 (disabled) it just loops. > > I guess it's worth a try ;-). Please tell me if it helps! > > Alex You are my personal hero! ;) Works like a charm. The system has gone quiet in just a couple of seconds. Thank you so much! Stefan From agraf at suse.de Tue Jan 26 10:42:40 2010 From: agraf at suse.de (Alexander Graf) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:42:40 +0100 Subject: [powerstation-owners] PowerStation Fans In-Reply-To: <4B5E481C.8060603@TU-Cottbus.DE> References: <4B5E25CD.2060100@mac.com> <4B5E4171.8080007@TU-Cottbus.DE> <03DA74AF-6E0A-4765-85A7-591656A095CE@suse.de> <4B5E481C.8060603@TU-Cottbus.DE> Message-ID: <9B122436-01AE-4D36-B927-42B70FDC635F@suse.de> On 26.01.2010, at 02:40, Stefan N?rnberger wrote: > > > Am 26.01.10 02:23, schrieb Alexander Graf: >> >> On 26.01.2010, at 02:12, Stefan N?rnberger wrote: >> >>>> Hi All >>>> >>>> I have a PowerStation running YDL 6.2 that overall I must say I am very >>>> happy with. If I could make it a bit quieter I would be even happier >>>> still ;-) >>>> >>>> The fan noise is fairly loud on light desktop operation (e.g. browsing, >>>> emailing etc). Periodically and very suddenly the fans can spin up to >>>> maximum speed even if the PowerStation is idle and will usually return >>>> to normal speed within about 30 seconds. Is this type of fan activity >>>> normal for the PowerStation? - perhaps other users could confirm. >>>> >>> >>> Yes that's the normal behavior for the PowerStation. >>> >>>> From reading the mailing list archives I see that the issue of noise >>>> levels has come up from time to time but there appears to be no >>>> solution. I was just wondering if anyone has ever found a way of >>>> controlling the fans? >>>> >>> >>> AFAIK the fans are controlled by the BMC. Communication with the BMC should be possible through IPMI. I was able to obtain readings from different temperature sensors this way, but did not find any fan control mechanism. I also think that it would not be very advisable to operate the CPUs at a higher temperature. The better approach would be to utilize the power management features of the processors. Unfortunately there was no cpufreq driver for the 970MP last time I checked. There was only some basic support for the 970FX in the linux kernel. It would be nice if someone could look into that. There is no need for the processors to run at full power when the system is idle. IIRC the 970MP has about 15 different power modes. Switching off unused cores completely would also be nice. >> >> I haven't tried this yet, but while debugging a 970fx target I stumbled across this sysctl setting: >> >> kernel.powersave-nap >> >> which defaults to 0. When set to 1 (enabled), the kernel actually tells the cores to power down. With 0 (disabled) it just loops. >> >> I guess it's worth a try ;-). Please tell me if it helps! >> >> Alex > > You are my personal hero! ;) > Works like a charm. The system has gone quiet in just a couple of seconds. Thank you so much! Yeah, same thing happened for my VM - suddenly it went from 100% host CPU usage to 0% ;-). I wonder why that option isn't enabled by default. Either way, I'm glad I could help. Alex From pjwall at mac.com Wed Jan 27 07:26:47 2010 From: pjwall at mac.com (Pat Wall) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:26:47 +0000 Subject: [powerstation-owners] PowerStation Fans In-Reply-To: <4B5E4171.8080007@TU-Cottbus.DE> References: <4B5E25CD.2060100@mac.com> <4B5E4171.8080007@TU-Cottbus.DE> Message-ID: <20100126222647.0b99187e@powermacg5.ydl> On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:12:17 +0100 Stefan N?rnberger wrote: > > Hi All > > > > I have a PowerStation running YDL 6.2 that overall I must say I am > > very happy with. If I could make it a bit quieter I would be even > > happier still ;-) > > > > The fan noise is fairly loud on light desktop operation (e.g. > > browsing, emailing etc). Periodically and very suddenly the fans > > can spin up to maximum speed even if the PowerStation is idle and > > will usually return to normal speed within about 30 seconds. Is > > this type of fan activity normal for the PowerStation? - perhaps > > other users could confirm. > > > > Yes that's the normal behavior for the PowerStation. > > > From reading the mailing list archives I see that the issue of > > noise levels has come up from time to time but there appears to be > > no solution. I was just wondering if anyone has ever found a way of > > controlling the fans? > > > > AFAIK the fans are controlled by the BMC. Communication with the BMC > should be possible through IPMI. I was able to obtain readings from > different temperature sensors this way, but did not find any fan > control mechanism. I also think that it would not be very advisable > to operate the CPUs at a higher temperature. The better approach > would be to utilize the power management features of the processors. > Unfortunately there was no cpufreq driver for the 970MP last time I > checked. There was only some basic support for the 970FX in the linux > kernel. It would be nice if someone could look into that. There is no > need for the processors to run at full power when the system is idle. > IIRC the 970MP has about 15 different power modes. Switching off > unused cores completely would also be nice. > > Unfortunately I have seen no work in that direction so far. I was > wondering if there were some YDL kernel patches that are not in > mainline. > > Greetings > Stefan > Hi Stefan Many thanks for your reply and for your very interesting findings on how the fans are controlled :-) All the best Pat From pjwall at mac.com Wed Jan 27 07:57:53 2010 From: pjwall at mac.com (Pat Wall) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:57:53 +0000 Subject: [powerstation-owners] Fw: PowerStation Fans Message-ID: <20100126225753.1283fec8@powermacg5.ydl> Begin forwarded message: Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:02:20 +0000 From: Pat Wall To: powerstation-owners at lists.fixstars.com Subject: Re: [powerstation-owners] PowerStation Fans On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:42:40 +0100 Alexander Graf wrote: > > On 26.01.2010, at 02:40, Stefan N?rnberger wrote: > > > > > > > Am 26.01.10 02:23, schrieb Alexander Graf: > >> > >> On 26.01.2010, at 02:12, Stefan N?rnberger wrote: > >> > >>>> Hi All > >>>> > >>>> I have a PowerStation running YDL 6.2 that overall I must say I > >>>> am very happy with. If I could make it a bit quieter I would be > >>>> even happier still ;-) > >>>> > >>>> The fan noise is fairly loud on light desktop operation (e.g. > >>>> browsing, emailing etc). Periodically and very suddenly the fans > >>>> can spin up to maximum speed even if the PowerStation is idle > >>>> and will usually return to normal speed within about 30 seconds. > >>>> Is this type of fan activity normal for the PowerStation? - > >>>> perhaps other users could confirm. > >>>> > >>> > >>> Yes that's the normal behavior for the PowerStation. > >>> > >>>> From reading the mailing list archives I see that the issue of > >>>> noise levels has come up from time to time but there appears to > >>>> be no solution. I was just wondering if anyone has ever found a > >>>> way of controlling the fans? > >>>> > >>> > >>> AFAIK the fans are controlled by the BMC. Communication with the > >>> BMC should be possible through IPMI. I was able to obtain > >>> readings from different temperature sensors this way, but did not > >>> find any fan control mechanism. I also think that it would not be > >>> very advisable to operate the CPUs at a higher temperature. The > >>> better approach would be to utilize the power management features > >>> of the processors. Unfortunately there was no cpufreq driver for > >>> the 970MP last time I checked. There was only some basic support > >>> for the 970FX in the linux kernel. It would be nice if someone > >>> could look into that. There is no need for the processors to run > >>> at full power when the system is idle. IIRC the 970MP has about > >>> 15 different power modes. Switching off unused cores completely > >>> would also be nice. > >> > >> I haven't tried this yet, but while debugging a 970fx target I > >> stumbled across this sysctl setting: > >> > >> kernel.powersave-nap > >> > >> which defaults to 0. When set to 1 (enabled), the kernel actually > >> tells the cores to power down. With 0 (disabled) it just loops. > >> > >> I guess it's worth a try ;-). Please tell me if it helps! > >> > >> Alex > > > > You are my personal hero! ;) > > Works like a charm. The system has gone quiet in just a couple of > > seconds. Thank you so much! > > Yeah, same thing happened for my VM - suddenly it went from 100% host > CPU usage to 0% ;-). I wonder why that option isn't enabled by > default. > > Either way, I'm glad I could help. > > Alex Hi Alex You are rapidly gaining a fan club ;-) I have just made the change myself and there is an immediate and noticeable difference. It is such a pleasure! I checked my dual-core Powermac and interestingly it's default setting for kernel.powersave.nap is 1. Thanks once again :-) All the best Pat From pjwall at mac.com Wed Jan 27 07:02:20 2010 From: pjwall at mac.com (Pat Wall) Date: Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:02:20 +0000 Subject: [powerstation-owners] PowerStation Fans In-Reply-To: <9B122436-01AE-4D36-B927-42B70FDC635F@suse.de> References: <4B5E25CD.2060100@mac.com> <4B5E4171.8080007@TU-Cottbus.DE> <03DA74AF-6E0A-4765-85A7-591656A095CE@suse.de> <4B5E481C.8060603@TU-Cottbus.DE> <9B122436-01AE-4D36-B927-42B70FDC635F@suse.de> Message-ID: <20100126220220.12181883@powermacg5.ydl> On Tue, 26 Jan 2010 02:42:40 +0100 Alexander Graf wrote: > > On 26.01.2010, at 02:40, Stefan N?rnberger wrote: > > > > > > > Am 26.01.10 02:23, schrieb Alexander Graf: > >> > >> On 26.01.2010, at 02:12, Stefan N?rnberger wrote: > >> > >>>> Hi All > >>>> > >>>> I have a PowerStation running YDL 6.2 that overall I must say I > >>>> am very happy with. If I could make it a bit quieter I would be > >>>> even happier still ;-) > >>>> > >>>> The fan noise is fairly loud on light desktop operation (e.g. > >>>> browsing, emailing etc). Periodically and very suddenly the fans > >>>> can spin up to maximum speed even if the PowerStation is idle > >>>> and will usually return to normal speed within about 30 seconds. > >>>> Is this type of fan activity normal for the PowerStation? - > >>>> perhaps other users could confirm. > >>>> > >>> > >>> Yes that's the normal behavior for the PowerStation. > >>> > >>>> From reading the mailing list archives I see that the issue of > >>>> noise levels has come up from time to time but there appears to > >>>> be no solution. I was just wondering if anyone has ever found a > >>>> way of controlling the fans? > >>>> > >>> > >>> AFAIK the fans are controlled by the BMC. Communication with the > >>> BMC should be possible through IPMI. I was able to obtain > >>> readings from different temperature sensors this way, but did not > >>> find any fan control mechanism. I also think that it would not be > >>> very advisable to operate the CPUs at a higher temperature. The > >>> better approach would be to utilize the power management features > >>> of the processors. Unfortunately there was no cpufreq driver for > >>> the 970MP last time I checked. There was only some basic support > >>> for the 970FX in the linux kernel. It would be nice if someone > >>> could look into that. There is no need for the processors to run > >>> at full power when the system is idle. IIRC the 970MP has about > >>> 15 different power modes. Switching off unused cores completely > >>> would also be nice. > >> > >> I haven't tried this yet, but while debugging a 970fx target I > >> stumbled across this sysctl setting: > >> > >> kernel.powersave-nap > >> > >> which defaults to 0. When set to 1 (enabled), the kernel actually > >> tells the cores to power down. With 0 (disabled) it just loops. > >> > >> I guess it's worth a try ;-). Please tell me if it helps! > >> > >> Alex > > > > You are my personal hero! ;) > > Works like a charm. The system has gone quiet in just a couple of > > seconds. Thank you so much! > > Yeah, same thing happened for my VM - suddenly it went from 100% host > CPU usage to 0% ;-). I wonder why that option isn't enabled by > default. > > Either way, I'm glad I could help. > > Alex Hi Alex You are rapidly gaining a fan club ;-) I have just made the change myself and there is an immediate and noticeable difference. It is such a pleasure! I checked my dual-core Powermac and interestingly it's default setting for kernel.powersave.nap is 1. Thanks once again :-) All the best Pat