1PWMCONFIG(8) System Manager's Manual PWMCONFIG(8)
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6 pwmconfig - tests the PWM outputs of sensors and configures fancontrol
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10 pwmconfig
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14 pwmconfig will attempt to stop your fans, one at a time, for approxi‐
15 mately 5 seconds each. This may cause your processor temperature to
16 rise. Verify that all fans are running at normal speed after this pro‐
17 gram has exited. pwmconfig does its best to check that the fans are
18 spinning when they are supposed to, but due to the diversity of avail‐
19 able motherboards and fans, it shouldn't be blindly trusted. Always
20 verify by yourself.
21 It is strongly recommended to run pwmconfig at a time when there is no
23 significant system load, to minimize the risk of overheating.
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27 pwmconfig searches your sensors for pulse width modulation (PWM) con‐
28 trols, and tests each one to see if it controls a fan on your mother‐
29 board. Note that many motherboards do not have PWM circuitry installed,
30 even if your sensor chip supports PWM.
31 When a connection is established between a PWM control and a fan, pwm‐
33 config can generate a detailed correlation, to show how a given fan is
34 responding to various PWM duty cycles.
35 Lastly, pwmconfig will enter in fancontrol configuration mode (unless
37 you decide to skip that part.) In this mode, you are invited to enter
38 several parameters which will determine how the fancontrol daemon regu‐
39 lates the speed of one or more fans in your system based on temperature
40 measurements. In particular, you will have the opportunity to establish
41 mappings between fans and temperature inputs, define the temperature
42 range over which the speed of the fan should be adjusted dynamically,
43 the minimum speed at which the fan should spin, etc. See fancontrol(8)
44 for additional information.
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48 The term "PWM" is used because most fan control systems in computers
49 are based on pulse width modulation. Some motherboards however use DC
50 variation instead. So, the term "PWM" should be seen as a generic term
51 for "fan speed control", regardless of the actual method used.
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55 fancontrol(8), sensors(1).
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59 Marius Reiner <marius.reiner@hdev.de>, Jean Delvare <khali@linux-
60 fr.org>
61lm-sensors 3 September 28, 2008 PWMCONFIG(8)