xref: /linux/Documentation/hwmon/hp-wmi-sensors.rst (revision a8d70602b186f3c347e62c59a418be802b71886d)
1.. SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-2.0-or-later
2
3.. include:: <isonum.txt>
4
5===========================
6Linux HP WMI Sensors Driver
7===========================
8
9:Copyright: |copy| 2023 James Seo <james@equiv.tech>
10
11Description
12===========
13
14Hewlett-Packard (and some HP Compaq) business-class computers report hardware
15monitoring information via Windows Management Instrumentation (WMI).
16This driver exposes that information to the Linux hwmon subsystem, allowing
17userspace utilities like ``sensors`` to gather numeric sensor readings.
18
19sysfs interface
20===============
21
22When the driver is loaded, it discovers the sensors available on the
23system and creates the following sysfs attributes as necessary within
24``/sys/class/hwmon/hwmon[X]``:
25
26(``[X]`` is some number that depends on other system components.)
27
28======================= ======= ===================================
29Name                    Perm    Description
30======================= ======= ===================================
31``curr[X]_input``       RO      Current in milliamperes (mA).
32``curr[X]_label``       RO      Current sensor label.
33``fan[X]_input``        RO      Fan speed in RPM.
34``fan[X]_label``        RO      Fan sensor label.
35``fan[X]_fault``        RO      Fan sensor fault indicator.
36``fan[X]_alarm``        RO      Fan sensor alarm indicator.
37``in[X]_input``         RO      Voltage in millivolts (mV).
38``in[X]_label``         RO      Voltage sensor label.
39``temp[X]_input``       RO      Temperature in millidegrees Celsius
40                                (m\ |deg|\ C).
41``temp[X]_label``       RO      Temperature sensor label.
42``temp[X]_fault``       RO      Temperature sensor fault indicator.
43``temp[X]_alarm``       RO      Temperature sensor alarm indicator.
44``intrusion[X]_alarm``  RW      Chassis intrusion alarm indicator.
45======================= ======= ===================================
46
47``fault`` attributes
48  Reading ``1`` instead of ``0`` as the ``fault`` attribute for a sensor
49  indicates that it has encountered some issue during operation such that
50  measurements from it should not be trusted. If a sensor with the fault
51  condition recovers later, reading this attribute will return ``0`` again.
52
53``alarm`` attributes
54  Reading ``1`` instead of ``0`` as the ``alarm`` attribute for a sensor
55  indicates that one of the following has occurred, depending on its type:
56
57  - ``fan``: The fan has stalled or has been disconnected while running.
58  - ``temp``: The sensor reading has reached a critical threshold.
59    The exact threshold is system-dependent.
60  - ``intrusion``: The system's chassis has been opened.
61
62  After ``1`` is read from an ``alarm`` attribute, the attribute resets itself
63  and returns ``0`` on subsequent reads. As an exception, an
64  ``intrusion[X]_alarm`` can only be manually reset by writing ``0`` to it.
65
66debugfs interface
67=================
68
69.. warning:: The debugfs interface is subject to change without notice
70             and is only available when the kernel is compiled with
71             ``CONFIG_DEBUG_FS`` defined.
72
73The standard hwmon interface in sysfs exposes sensors of several common types
74that are connected as of driver initialization. However, there are usually
75other sensors in WMI that do not meet these criteria. In addition, a number of
76system-dependent "platform events objects" used for ``alarm`` attributes may
77be present. A debugfs interface is therefore provided for read-only access to
78all available HP WMI sensors and platform events objects.
79
80``/sys/kernel/debug/hp-wmi-sensors-[X]/sensor``
81contains one numbered entry per sensor with the following attributes:
82
83=============================== =======================================
84Name                            Example
85=============================== =======================================
86``name``                        ``CPU0 Fan``
87``description``                 ``Reports CPU0 fan speed``
88``sensor_type``                 ``12``
89``other_sensor_type``           (an empty string)
90``operational_status``          ``2``
91``possible_states``             ``Normal,Caution,Critical,Not Present``
92``current_state``               ``Normal``
93``base_units``                  ``19``
94``unit_modifier``               ``0``
95``current_reading``             ``1008``
96``rate_units``                  ``0`` (only exists on some systems)
97=============================== =======================================
98
99If platform events objects are available,
100``/sys/kernel/debug/hp-wmi-sensors-[X]/platform_events``
101contains one numbered entry per object with the following attributes:
102
103=============================== ====================
104Name                            Example
105=============================== ====================
106``name``                        ``CPU0 Fan Stall``
107``description``                 ``CPU0 Fan Speed``
108``source_namespace``            ``root\wmi``
109``source_class``                ``HPBIOS_BIOSEvent``
110``category``                    ``3``
111``possible_severity``           ``25``
112``possible_status``             ``5``
113=============================== ====================
114
115These represent the properties of the underlying ``HPBIOS_BIOSNumericSensor``
116and ``HPBIOS_PlatformEvents`` WMI objects, which vary between systems.
117See [#]_ for more details and Managed Object Format (MOF) definitions.
118
119Known issues and limitations
120============================
121
122- If the existing hp-wmi driver for non-business-class HP systems is already
123  loaded, ``alarm`` attributes will be unavailable even on systems that
124  support them. This is because the same WMI event GUID used by this driver
125  for ``alarm`` attributes is used on those systems for e.g. laptop hotkeys.
126- Dubious sensor hardware and inconsistent BIOS WMI implementations have been
127  observed to cause inaccurate readings and peculiar behavior, such as alarms
128  failing to occur or occurring only once per boot.
129- Only temperature, fan speed, and intrusion sensor types have been seen in
130  the wild so far. Support for voltage and current sensors is therefore
131  provisional.
132- Although HP WMI sensors may claim to be of any type, any oddball sensor
133  types unknown to hwmon will not be supported.
134
135References
136==========
137
138.. [#] Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.,
139       "HP Client Management Interface Technical White Paper", 2005. [Online].
140       Available: https://h20331.www2.hp.com/hpsub/downloads/cmi_whitepaper.pdf
141