# Is this how you blacklist modules? (loud nvidia fan)

## forkbomb

My fresh install of Gentoo has an issue with loud fans on my nvidia 8600GTS (EVGA card). It's an issue with the Linux drivers that nvidia has known about for something like two years but apparently won't fix. I'd rather not resort to third-party software (eg nvclock) to control the fans unless some folks can convince me it works well and without issues.

Anyway, on Arch, I had the same issue and managed to quiet the fans by blacklisting the "video" module in rc.conf.  Is there a similar way to blacklist a module in Gentoo? I've tried "blacklist video" in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist but there seems to be no improvement.

It's definitely a driver issue. I've checked for the obvious stuff like dust. Not to mention the fan only goes into "jet engine mode" (top fan speed as far as I can tell) when I fire up an X session. Heat wise, according to nvidia-settings, it runs cool and stable at about 75 degrees Celsius (good enough for stock coolers).

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## aceFruchtsaft

 *forkbomb wrote:*   

> Anyway, on Arch, I had the same issue and managed to quiet the fans by blacklisting the "video" module in rc.conf.  Is there a similar way to blacklist a module in Gentoo? I've tried "blacklist video" in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist but there seems to be no improvement.
> 
> 

 

You have to run update-modules after editing /etc/modprobe.d/* so the relevant changes are made to /etc/modprobe.conf.

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## justinkb

75 degrees celcius under no load?

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## disi

I have GF 7950 GT since about 3 years and they run also on about 70. Never had any problems and as I remember you have to start worrying at around 120.

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## forkbomb

 *aceFruchtsaft wrote:*   

> 
> 
> You have to run update-modules after editing /etc/modprobe.d/* so the relevant changes are made to /etc/modprobe.conf.

 

I thought I had done that, but just to make sure I checked the blacklist file, then ran update-modules again, and rebooted (the fan spins up as soon as GDM comes up).

No change.

 *justinkb wrote:*   

> 75 degrees celcius under no load?

 

Normal for me for this card, it seems. I've never seen it much below 72-75C on any OS I've used.

(Anyway, I've heard talk of BIOS updating sometimes fixing the issue but the mentions I have heard don't mention what motherboards it worked on. I have an ASUS board, but EZ Flash 2 is bugged and won't let me flash any BIOS update from USB, and I don't have a floppy drive on the machine or for that matter even a floppy disk laying around  :Wink:  so old school DOS flashes are out until I get one.)

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## PaulBredbury

 *forkbomb wrote:*   

> so old school DOS flashes are out

 

I vaguely remember using freedos to update the BIOS on my Dell Inspiron 5160 laptop, to upgrade its BIOS. Don't need a bootable floppy.

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## justinkb

follow the instructions here

http://wccftech.com/forum/overclocking-modding-benchmarking-and-tweaking/19704-guide-to-ati-4870-bios-flash-top-asus-bios-flash-included.html

to make a usb boot 'disk' (pen), needs to be done under windows btw. obviously, instead of the atiflash etc. put another flash app on it.

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## M

So, if you are going to try to flash bios why not then try first nvclock? I remember when there was some buggy driver version that spinned fan on maximum all folks were using nvclock to set fan speed to normal. Anyway, is video module now loaded? You can always recompile kernel and turn off module, no need to blacklist anything.

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## forkbomb

Grr. This is getting frustrating.

I installed nvclock from CVS and in order to make it do anything I'd have to use the force flag and I'd rather not do that.

I'm not flashing my BIOS over this. Maybe it's me being stubborn but I'm not going to risk a BIOS flash because of something nvidia refuses to fix. Any way to install old nvidia drivers through portage (this issue has more or less been constant since about version 169 or so)?

I tried compiling out some video stuff but I'm a bit lost as to which module is the "video" one - there wasn't a part of the kernel in menuconfig labelled as just "video" so I have no idea what I'd compile out. After recompiling my kernel it would boot but I couldn't get an x session to start so I'm back with the genkernel build right now.

Either way it's all kind of moot because my X session doesn't have working mouse or keyboard - a problem I had before but fixed. I don't know why it resurfaced.

EDIT: no, the video module is not running according to lsmod but I'm still having the massive fan speed issue when I start an X session (that I must kill through ssh because my mouse and keyboard won't work  :Rolling Eyes:  ).

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## forkbomb

Okay, last "update"...

I got my X server to run properly using my old Arch xorg.conf, which is odd because the mouse and keyboard sections were pretty much the same. Oh well. It works so I'm happy.

I've noticed the loud fan issue seems to stop after a few seconds to a few minutes. Whether that means the fan is completely stopping or just slowing down I can't tell. But I've been monitoring the temp and haven't seen it above 75 degrees Celsius.

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