After updating Fedora 43 Workstation to kernel 6.17.7-300.fc43.x86_64, my Dell G15 laptop (with an RTX 3050 GPU) started showing abnormal fan behavior. When the performance mode is activated through Power Profiles, the fans immediately ramp up to maximum speed and remain there constantly, even under very low CPU or GPU load. This results in continuous, unnecessary noise.
With the previous kernel, 6.17.1-300.fc43.x86_64, the system behaved normally. The fans would gradually increase their speed as system demand rose and slow down when the workload decreased, without excessive noise. After noticing this difference, I reinstalled the system and confirmed that the issue only appears after applying updates that include kernel 6.17.7. With a clean installation running 6.17.1, the performance mode works perfectly.
I performed several tests, including a clean Fedora reinstall, checking NVIDIA modules (using the Open Kernel driver version 570), testing with and without TLP, and with power-profiles-daemon enabled, but the abnormal fan behavior persists only with the newer kernel. I also noticed that after updating, the GRUB menu shows two Fedora 43 entries: the first one (kernel 6.17.7) exhibits the issue, while the second one (kernel 6.17.1) does not.
Based on these tests, it seems the issue is related to changes in thermal or power management between kernels 6.17.1 and 6.17.7. It might involve modules such as dell_smbios, intel_pstate, intel_rapl, or platform_profile, since the system’s power control behavior differs significantly.
As a temporary workaround, I locked the working kernel version using the command sudo dnf versionlock add kernel. This prevents updates to newer kernel versions and keeps the system stable, with normal fan behavior restored. This issue directly affects usability since the constant fan noise makes the laptop uncomfortable to use even for light tasks in performance mode. It would be helpful to check for possible regressions or changes in recent kernel versions that might have affected thermal or power control on Dell G15 laptops (and possibly other models in the same series).
Potentially that may be a problem if you are actually using the 570 driver.
The current driver version for nvidia is 580.95.05 when installed from rpmfusion.
Where did you install the driver from?
Please show the output of dnf list --installed \*nvidia\* and modinfo -l nvidia as well as dnf repolist
This happens because newer kernels add support for AWCC power profiles through the alienware-wmi driver.
power-profiles-daemon automatically maps “performance” to G-Mode, but you can manually control this through the platform-profile interface. You can read about it here.
Thank you very much for the tip. It really makes sense, because that’s exactly what happens when you activate G mode. In Windows I have control over G mode, but in Fedora I don’t know how to control it. I will read the post and if I manage to solve it I will give feedback here. Thank you very much.
My current video driver version is 580.105.08. I recently updated the output of the command dnf list --installed \*nvidia\* using rpmfusion, and it looks like this:
and the output of the command modinfo -l nvidia is: Dual MIT/GPL
I’m still on Kernel 6.17.1 because I’m afraid to update, the problem might return, and even with feedback from colleagues, I won’t be able to solve it. But I’ll still find the courage to solve it once and for all… haha
You can simply echo balanced | sudo tee /sys/firmware/acpi/platform_profile and the fans should stop. Or any of the profiles listed with cat /sys/firmware/acpi/platform_profile_choices.