The last version of this FAQ is available at http://wpitchoune.net/gitweb/?p=psensor.git;a=blob_plain;f=doc/faq.html;hb=HEAD.
1. No sensors or only cpu usage is displayed
+Psensor is relying on few libraries or softwares for retrieving the information about the computer:
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+
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+
+motherboard and CPUs sensors: the information is retrieved + from the lm-sensors library, it requires that +
+sensors-detecthas been run and the kernel module + correctly installed.sensorscan be used for checking. +
+ -
+
+GPUs: it depends on which driver you are using: +
++-
+
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+
+Opensource drivers (nouveau for Nvidia GPUs or + radeon/ati for ATI GPUs) is used and support sensor + monitoring for your GPU, the information is using + lm-sensors, same steps than above. +
+
+ -
+
+proprietary driver Nvidia: run
+nvidia-settingsto + check that it supports sensors monitoring. +
+ -
+
+proprietary driver Catalyst/fglx: use
+aticonfigto + check that it supports sensors monitoring. Important + note: it requires that you are using a Psensor + binary compiled with the ATI support. +
+
+ -
+
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+
+HDDs: it uses the hddtemp daemon. Verify that it is + correctly reporting temperature by using the command:
+sudo + hddtemp /dev/sda. If hddtemp does not support your disk, + you may want to try using the libatasmart support instead + (option--use-libatasmart). +
+
If the underlying software is reporting sensors which are not +displayed by Psensor, it is probably a bug in Psensor, so please +report it. Otherwise, the issue is on the underlying software itself +and you should contact the corresponding development team or refer to +its documentation.
2. How to monitor an ATI card using the Catalyst driver?
+For monitoring ATI card using the proprietary Catalyst driver, Psensor +must be compiled with a proprietary library which is not packaged in +any Linux distribution.
Unfortunely, due to the license of this library, I cannot provide a
+compiled version of Psensor, even in a Ubuntu PPA or Ubuntu/Debian
+standard repositories. You have to compile Psensor sensor. You can
+find the instructions in the section ATI/AMD GPU Support of the
+README file available in the Psensor source archives.
If you are using the ATI OpenSource driver, it is not needed to +compile Psensor with this proprietary library.
3. The reported temperature is obviously wrong
+If the reported temperature is obviously wrong (never change, lower +than the ambiant temperature, negative, higher than the sun +temperature, etc):
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+
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+most of the time it is not a bug in Psensor nor in the + underlying monitoring libraries: +
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+
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+
+if the temperature does not change, it might be due + to an existent sensor not wired by the hardware + manufacturer. +
+
+ -
+
+the goal of the sensor is to allow the system to + detect critical temperature and NOT to report an + exact temperature. Most sensors report a relative + temperature. The more it differs from the critical + temperature , the more it is wrong. +
+
+
+ -
+
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+
+It is only a bug in Psensor if the underlying libraries + report a different information than Psensor (use the + appropriate command or software:
+sensors,aticonfigor +hddtempto check). In this case, please report a bug. +
+
4. What is the sensors XXXX?
+Since Psensor v0.7.0.4, open the preferences of the sensor (click on +its name in the main window and select the menu item Preferences), and +look at the Chip field.
For older Psensor releases, look at the Id field, if the string is +starting with:
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+
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+
+
+lmsensor coretemp: Intel CPU. +
+ -
+
+
+lmsensor k10temp,lmsensor k8temp,lmsensor fam15h_power: AMD CPU. +
+ -
+
+
+nvidiaorlmsensor nouveau: NVIDIA GPU. +
+ -
+
+
+hdd: hard disk drive. +
+ -
+
+
+amd: AMD GPU. +
+ -
+
+
+lmsensor C B: C is the name of the chip, B the name of the adapter. +
+
For more information about lmsensor devices, see +http://lm-sensors.org/wiki/Devices.
5. How to report a bug?
+Please use https://bugs.launchpad.net/psensor/+filebug to report bugs +even if it can only reproduced with a non-Ubuntu distribution or a +release not available in the standard Ubuntu repositories.
You can also use +https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/psensor/+filebug if the bug +can be reproduced with a package from the standard Ubuntu +repositories.
If you donât want to use the launchpad, you can send the report by +email to:
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+
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+
+psensor-users@googlegroups.com (require registration at: + https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups&hl=en#!forum/psensor-users) +
+
+ -
+
+or jeanfi@gmail.com. +
+
+
If the bug is concerning Debian or Ubuntu derivatives distribution,
+please add in its description the output of the command: apt-cache
+policy psensor.
If it is related to the Psensor source compilation, please add the
+full output of the configure command.
6. How to send ideas, questions or comments?
+Check the FAQ or the TODO pages.
If you donât find the information, you can send an email to the public +mailing-list psensor-users@googlegroups.com (require registration at: +https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups&hl=en#!forum/psensor-users) +or send an email directly to me: jeanfi@gmail.com.
7. How to contribute?
+ +8. How to install Psensor on Ubuntu?
+Psensor is in the official repository, search psensor in the
+software center and install it. More information at:
+http://wpitchoune.net/blog/psensor/ubuntu-integration/.
9. How to install Psensor on Debian?
+Psensor is in the official repository since Debian 7.0. You can get +the last packaged version from the sid repository. More information +at: http://packages.qa.debian.org/p/psensor.html.
10. What is the difference between the 3 Ubuntu PPAs?
+-
+
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+
+ppa:jfi/ppa: last stable version. +
+ -
+
+
+ppa:jfi/psensor-unstable: last development version, no + major bug is expected. +
+ -
+
+
+ppa:jfi/psensor-daily-trunk: build each day directly from + the GIT source repository. It may contain major bugs or + incomplete features. Useful for contributors or testing + whether a bug is fixed. +
+
11. How to install Psensor on ArchLinux?
+ +12. How to install Psensor on my Linux distribution?
+Psensor packages are available in the standard repositories of Ubuntu +(since Oneiric) and Debian (since v7) distributions.
For other distributions, you will find the compilation and
+installation instructions in the section Installation from source
+archive in the README file of the source archive. Psensor should
+compile in any modern distribution.
13. How to log sensors temperatures?
+The best way is probably to use sensord or a custom script based on
+the output of the different commands like sensors.
Anyway, as I received several requests about such feature, since the
+0.7.0.4 release it is implemented in both psensor ( menu preferences >
+sensors > enable log of measures) and psensor-server
+(--sensor-log-file option).
14. No graphs are displayed, but the table of the main window is displaying sensors
+In the sensors table of the main window, switch on the checkbox of the last
+column (named Enabled or Graph depending on the Psensor version).
15. Launch Psensor automaticaly on session startup
+Since the version 1.0.1, Psensor is no more started automaticaly by default.
Open the Preferences window, select the Startup tab and switch on
+the option Launch on session startup.
This feature is requiring that the Desktop Environment supports the +XDG +specification.
16. How to monitor the temperature of a disk?
+By default, Psensor is using hddtemp to retrieve the temperature of
+the disks.
If hddtemp is installed but no disk temperature is reported, check
+that the daemon is running by using for example the command ps
+-eaf|grep hddtemp.
+It should output something like:
root 1433 1 0 May28 ? 00:00:21 /usr/sbin/hddtemp -d -l 127.0.0.1 -p 7634 -s | /dev/sdbSince recent Ubuntu releases, installing the hddtemp package is not
+enough, it is required to manually allow the hddtemp daemon. Edit the
+file /etc/default/hddtemp and set RUN_DAEMON to "true".
# hddtemp network daemon switch. If set to true, hddtemp will listen
+# for incoming connections.
+RUN_DAEMON="true"17. Is there any other similar softwares?
+Here is a list of few well-known sensors monitoring softwares:
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+
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+
+for X11: http://freecode.com/projects/xsensors +
+
+ -
+
+for GNOME2: http://sensors-applet.sourceforge.net/ +
+
+ -
+
+for Ubuntu Unity: https://launchpad.net/indicator-sensors +
+
+ -
+
+more general, but can be configured to display sensors + information: http://conky.sourceforge.net/ +
+
+