Comment 3 for bug 1620360

I'm using i8kutils on Dell XPS 9560 with a fresh installed Ubuntu 16.04.2 Kernel 4.8 and I managed to set it up and make it work, but it was tricky.

One problem was that to make it work it was necessary to download the package sources, compile and move the "smm" utility to /usr/local/bin as that doesn't ship as a binary with the package.

The smm utility is needed to enable/disable the fan handling from the BIOS.
I've created a couple of scripts to switch between BIOS and i8kmon fan control.
Be careful with smm as it writes on hardware registers and if misused can potentially create troubles or even damage, in fact if you turn off bios fan management the effects of the command survive a reboot, if you plan to boot another OS enable BIOS fan control.

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I8KUTILS fan control
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#!/bin/bash
sudo smm 30a3
sudo service i8kmon start

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BIOS fan control
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#!/bin/bash
sudo service i8kmon stop
sudo smm 31a3

The Dell XPS 9560 has 2 fans so this is my custom /etc/i8kmon.conf

# Temperature thresholds: {fan_speeds low_ac high_ac low_batt high_batt}
# These were tested on the I8000. If you have a different Dell laptop model
# you should check the BIOS temperature monitoring and set the appropriate
# thresholds here. In doubt start with low values and gradually rise them
# until the fans are not always on when the cpu is idle.
set config(0) {{0 0} -1 60 -1 60}
set config(1) {{1 0} 50 65 50 65}
set config(2) {{1 1} 61 70 61 70}
set config(3) {{2 2} 66 128 66 128}