Getting sensors to work in Linux

[swannema]

Sensors lets you control your temps, voltages and fan rpms in Linux, similar to Asus Probe or MBM. It is not always easy to get it to work.
For SuSE 9.1 you have to use the packages from Packman, the SuSE packs don't work
http://packman.links2linux.de/?action=431
A nice front end is Ksensors.

Summary:
from console as root, run 'sensors-detect'
cut and paste the output from that into /etc/init.d/boot.local
reboot
run 'sensors' to see them work

Pretty easy, not really.

Lets open a terminal and become root, type su and then your password.

Now run sensors-detect

This will be the output:

This program will help you determine which I2C/SMBus modules you need to
load to use lm_sensors most effectively. You need to have i2c and
lm_sensors installed before running this program.
Also, you need to be `root', or at least have access to the /dev/i2c-*
files, for most things.
If you have patched your kernel and have some drivers built in, you can
safely answer NO if asked to load some modules. In this case, things may
seem a bit confusing, but they will still work.

It is generally safe and recommended to accept the default answers to all
questions, unless you know what you're doing.

Keep on answering the questions [I will post my output in the post]

It will get interesting when you get here:

I will now generate the commands needed to load the I2C modules.
Sometimes, a chip is available both through the ISA bus and an I2C bus.
ISA bus access is faster, but you need to load an additional driver module
for it. If you have the choice, do you want to use the ISA bus or the
I2C/SMBus (ISA/smbus)?

To make the sensors modules behave correctly, add these lines to
/etc/modules.conf:

#----cut here----
# I2C module options
alias char-major-89 i2c-dev
#----cut here----

To load everything that is needed, add this to some /etc/rc* file:

#----cut here----
# I2C adapter drivers
modprobe i2c-isa
# I2C chip drivers
modprobe w83627hf
# sleep 2 # optional
/usr/bin/sensors -s # recommended
#----cut here----

Now, there you have to insert those lines depends on your distro, in SuSE 9.1 the lines above have to be put into /etc/init.d/boot.local

What will work depends on you motherboard. I have all temps and voltages working, my fanspeeds are not shown.

[swannema]

Here is the output of my config, I cut it short at the end because I had it already running.

stefan@linux:~/Documents/Text> su
Password:
linux:/home/stefan/Documents/Text # sensors-detect

This program will help you determine which I2C/SMBus modules you need to
load to use lm_sensors most effectively. You need to have i2c and
lm_sensors installed before running this program.
Also, you need to be `root', or at least have access to the /dev/i2c-*
files, for most things.
If you have patched your kernel and have some drivers built in, you can
safely answer NO if asked to load some modules. In this case, things may
seem a bit confusing, but they will still work.

It is generally safe and recommended to accept the default answers to all
questions, unless you know what you're doing.

 We can start with probing for (PCI) I2C or SMBus adapters.
 You do not need any special privileges for this.
 Do you want to probe now? (YES/no): yes
Probing for PCI bus adapters...
Sorry, no PCI bus adapters found.

We will now try to load each adapter module in turn.
If you have undetectable or unsupported adapters, you can have them
scanned by manually loading the modules before running this script.

 To continue, we need module `i2c-dev' to be loaded.
 If it is built-in into your kernel, you can safely skip this.
 i2c-dev is not loaded. Do you want to load it now? (YES/no): yes
 Module loaded succesfully.

 We are now going to do the adapter probings. Some adapters may hang halfway
 through; we can't really help that. Also, some chips will be double detected;
 we choose the one with the highest confidence value in that case.
 If you found that the adapter hung after probing a certain address, you can
 specify that address to remain unprobed. That often
 includes address 0x69 (clock chip).

Some chips are also accessible through the ISA bus. ISA probes are
typically a bit more dangerous, as we have to write to I/O ports to do
this. This is usually safe though.

Do you want to scan the ISA bus? (YES/no): yes
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM78'
  Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM78-J'
  Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `National Semiconductor LM79'
  Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83781D'
  Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83782D'
  Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83627HF'
  Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83697HF'
  Trying address 0x0290... Failed!
Probing for `Silicon Integrated Systems SIS5595'
  Trying general detect... Failed!
Probing for `VIA Technologies VT82C686 Integrated Sensors'
  Trying general detect... Failed!
Probing for `VIA Technologies VT8231 Integrated Sensors'
  Trying general detect... Failed!
Probing for `ITE IT8705F / IT8712F / SiS 950'
  Trying address 0x0290... Success!
    (confidence 8, driver `it87')
Probing for `IPMI BMC KCS'
  Trying address 0x0ca0... Failed!
Probing for `IPMI BMC SMIC'
  Trying address 0x0ca8... Failed!

Some Super I/O chips may also contain sensors. Super I/O probes are
typically a bit more dangerous, as we have to write to I/O ports to do
this. This is usually safe though.

Do you want to scan for Super I/O sensors? (YES/no): yes
Probing for `ITE 8702F Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `ITE 8705F Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `ITE 8712F Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87351 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87360 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87363 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87364 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87365 Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87366 Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87372 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `SMSC 47B27x Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `SMSC 47M10x/13x Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `SMSC 47M14x Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `SMSC 47M15x/192 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `VT1211 Super IO Sensors'
  Failed! (0x82)
Probing for `Winbond W83627HF Super IO Sensors'
  Failed! (0x82)
Probing for `Winbond W83627THF Super IO Sensors'
  Success... found at address 0x0290
Probing for `Winbond W83637HF Super IO Sensors'
  Failed! (0x82)
Probing for `Winbond W83697HF Super IO Sensors'
  Failed! (0x82)
Probing for `Winbond W83697UF Super IO PWM'
  Failed! (0x82)

Do you want to scan for secondary Super I/O sensors? (YES/no): yes
Probing for `ITE 8702F Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `ITE 8705F Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `ITE 8712F Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87351 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87360 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87363 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87364 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87365 Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87366 Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Nat. Semi. PC87372 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `SMSC 47B27x Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `SMSC 47M10x/13x Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `SMSC 47M14x Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `SMSC 47M15x/192 Super IO Fan Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `VT1211 Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83627HF Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83627THF Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83637HF Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83697HF Super IO Sensors'
  Failed!
Probing for `Winbond W83697UF Super IO PWM'
  Failed!

 Now follows a summary of the probes I have just done.
 Just press ENTER to continue:

Driver `it87' (may not be inserted):
  Misdetects:
  * ISA bus address 0x0290 (Busdriver `i2c-isa')
    Chip `ITE IT8705F / IT8712F / SiS 950' (confidence: 8)

Driver `w83627hf' (should be inserted):
  Detects correctly:
  * ISA bus address 0x0290 (Busdriver `i2c-isa')
    Chip `Winbond W83627THF Super IO Sensors' (confidence: 9)


 I will now generate the commands needed to load the I2C modules.
 Sometimes, a chip is available both through the ISA bus and an I2C bus.
 ISA bus access is faster, but you need to load an additional driver module
 for it. If you have the choice, do you want to use the ISA bus or the
 I2C/SMBus (ISA/smbus)?

To make the sensors modules behave correctly, add these lines to
/etc/modules.conf:

#----cut here----
# I2C module options
alias char-major-89 i2c-dev
#----cut here----

To load everything that is needed, add this to some /etc/rc* file:

#----cut here----
# I2C adapter drivers
modprobe i2c-isa
# I2C chip drivers
modprobe w83627hf
# sleep 2 # optional
/usr/bin/sensors -s # recommended
#----cut here----

WARNING! If you have some things built into your kernel, the list above
will contain too many modules. Skip the appropriate ones! You really should
try these commands right now to make sure everything is working properly.
Monitoring programs won't work until it's done.

Do you want to generate /etc/sysconfig/lm_sensors? (YES/no): no

A screenie of Ksensors, I also inserted the cpu temp in one of the superkaramba themes.

[swannema]

Here is my boot.local file

#! /bin/sh
#
# Copyright (c) 2002 SuSE Linux AG Nuernberg, Germany. All rights reserved.
#
# Author: Werner Fink <werner@suse.de>, 1996
# Burchard Steinbild, 1996
#
# /etc/init.d/boot.local
#
# script with local commands to be executed from init on system startup
#
# Here you should add things, that should happen directly after booting
# before we're going to the first run level.
#
# I2C adapter drivers
modprobe i2c-isa
# I2C chip drivers
modprobe w83627hf
# sleep 2 # optional
/usr/bin/sensors -s # recommended

[wallijonn]

swannema,

why not use "code" and "/code" in brackets to cut down on page space, instead?

[swannema]

Originally Posted by wallijonn

swannema,

why not use "code" and "/code" in brackets to cut down on page space, instead?

Thanks, didn't even know that one