NAME
pwmconfig - tests the PWM outputs of sensors and configures fancontrol
SYNOPSIS
pwmconfig
WARNING
pwmconfig will attempt to stop your fans, one at a time, for
approximately 5 seconds each. This may cause your processor temperature
to rise. Verify that all fans are running at normal speed after this
program has exited. pwmconfig does its best to check that the fans are
spinning when they are supposed to, but due to the diversity of
available motherboards and fans, it shouldn’t be blindly trusted.
Always verify by yourself.
It is strongly recommended to run pwmconfig at a time when there is no
significant system load, to minimize the risk of overheating.
DESCRIPTION
pwmconfig searches your sensors for pulse width modulation (PWM)
controls, and tests each one to see if it controls a fan on your
motherboard. Note that many motherboards do not have PWM circuitry
installed, even if your sensor chip supports PWM.
When a connection is established between a PWM control and a fan,
pwmconfig can generate a detailed correlation, to show how a given fan
is responding to various PWM duty cycles.
Lastly, pwmconfig will enter in fancontrol configuration mode (unless
you decide to skip that part.) In this mode, you are invited to enter
several parameters which will determine how the fancontrol daemon
regulates the speed of one or more fans in your system based on
temperature measurements. In particular, you will have the opportunity
to establish mappings between fans and temperature inputs, define the
temperature range over which the speed of the fan should be adjusted
dynamically, the minimum speed at which the fan should spin, etc. See
fancontrol(8) for additional information.
BUGS
The term "PWM" is used because most fan control systems in computers
are based on pulse width modulation. Some motherboards however use DC
variation instead. So, the term "PWM" should be seen as a generic term
for "fan speed control", regardless of the actual method used.
SEE ALSO
fancontrol(8), sensors(1).
AUTHORS
Marius Reiner <marius.reiner@hdev.de>, Jean Delvare <khali@linux-
fr.org>