OS 11.2 - ATI GPU Fan runs too hot in Linux

English Hardware
1

Hello all,

I am running into an issue with Opensuse 11.2, the latest version.

It seems that there is no real ATI Radeon X1950 drivers for Opensuse 11.2, which everyone is mostly finding out, that the drivers exist only for the previous version (11.1), but not for (11.2).

Thats not my real issue at the moment. I am currently dual booting Windows XP PRO SP2 and Opensuse 11.2, which works fine, but in Windows XP, I use a program called ATI Tool to monitor and keep my GPU temperatures cool at around 64 C’s. My ATI Radeon X1950 had the sensors fried on it last year, so my gpu fan won’t actually spin or work until it gets into Windows XP and the ATI Tool takes over.

The problem I am having is that OpenSuse Linux doesn’t have a linux version of the famous ATI Tool. I also have not found any real way to monitor or have linux automatically change the GPU fans speeds to compensate for the increase in GPU temperature.

Currently in linux my GPU is heating up around 80 to 100 C’s and the GPU fan doesn’t seem to be cycling at all. I am afraid that my GPU card will probably burn up very soon, unless I can find a way of having the system automatically cycle the GPU fan.

I have tried everything… I have tried installing an ATI driver, but so far there is none for opensuse 11.2, and even if I did, the catalyst doesn’t have the ability to set how fast the GPU fan runs. Also, I have tried installing ATI Tool in Wine. Wine has really improved over the years, but the ATI Tool in Wine doesn’t detect the graphics card at all. I can’t seem to find any mention of GPU fan speeds in my INTEL bios either. I also can’t find any linux program that I can use to make this work, nor can I find any DOS program that would work at the startup of the computer.

I’m worried that I won’t be able to continue to use Linux until this issue is resolved. Otherwise, I will have to go out and buy another 100 graphics card, and I am just not ready to fork over money for a FREE operating system.

Does anyone have any ideas, can anyone give me any links or help?

2

Running a VC without it’s fan is a sure path to a dead VC.

I’d read a bit on the tachometer used in these fans and short-circuit (or open-circuit) it to have the fan at top speed, as a remedial measure.

Usually the fan is connected to the VC by a three- or four-wire plug, two for power and one or two for speed measurement/control. Interrupting (or grounding) one of the wires, or even inserting a resistor between them, should do the trick, possibly trigging some warnings from the VC.

I wouldn’t expect much from ATI, as it dropped support for a number of older cards, I don’t know if yours is one of them (I’m mostly a NVidia user).

Good luck.