linux/Documentation/hwmon/via686a.rst
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   1Kernel driver via686a
   2=====================
   3
   4Supported chips:
   5
   6  * Via VT82C686A, VT82C686B  Southbridge Integrated Hardware Monitor
   7
   8    Prefix: 'via686a'
   9
  10    Addresses scanned: ISA in PCI-space encoded address
  11
  12    Datasheet: On request through web form (http://www.via.com.tw/en/resources/download-center/)
  13
  14Authors:
  15        - Kyösti Mälkki <kmalkki@cc.hut.fi>,
  16        - Mark D. Studebaker <mdsxyz123@yahoo.com>
  17        - Bob Dougherty <bobd@stanford.edu>
  18        - (Some conversion-factor data were contributed by
  19        - Jonathan Teh Soon Yew <j.teh@iname.com>
  20        - and Alex van Kaam <darkside@chello.nl>.)
  21
  22Module Parameters
  23-----------------
  24
  25======================= =======================================================
  26force_addr=0xaddr       Set the I/O base address. Useful for boards that
  27                        don't set the address in the BIOS. Look for a BIOS
  28                        upgrade before resorting to this. Does not do a
  29                        PCI force; the via686a must still be present in lspci.
  30                        Don't use this unless the driver complains that the
  31                        base address is not set.
  32                        Example: 'modprobe via686a force_addr=0x6000'
  33======================= =======================================================
  34
  35Description
  36-----------
  37
  38The driver does not distinguish between the chips and reports
  39all as a 686A.
  40
  41The Via 686a southbridge has integrated hardware monitor functionality.
  42It also has an I2C bus, but this driver only supports the hardware monitor.
  43For the I2C bus driver, see <file:Documentation/i2c/busses/i2c-viapro.rst>
  44
  45The Via 686a implements three temperature sensors, two fan rotation speed
  46sensors, five voltage sensors and alarms.
  47
  48Temperatures are measured in degrees Celsius. An alarm is triggered once
  49when the Overtemperature Shutdown limit is crossed; it is triggered again
  50as soon as it drops below the hysteresis value.
  51
  52Fan rotation speeds are reported in RPM (rotations per minute). An alarm is
  53triggered if the rotation speed has dropped below a programmable limit. Fan
  54readings can be divided by a programmable divider (1, 2, 4 or 8) to give
  55the readings more range or accuracy. Not all RPM values can accurately be
  56represented, so some rounding is done. With a divider of 2, the lowest
  57representable value is around 2600 RPM.
  58
  59Voltage sensors (also known as IN sensors) report their values in volts.
  60An alarm is triggered if the voltage has crossed a programmable minimum
  61or maximum limit. Voltages are internally scalled, so each voltage channel
  62has a different resolution and range.
  63
  64If an alarm triggers, it will remain triggered until the hardware register
  65is read at least once. This means that the cause for the alarm may
  66already have disappeared! Note that in the current implementation, all
  67hardware registers are read whenever any data is read (unless it is less
  68than 1.5 seconds since the last update). This means that you can easily
  69miss once-only alarms.
  70
  71The driver only updates its values each 1.5 seconds; reading it more often
  72will do no harm, but will return 'old' values.
  73
  74Known Issues
  75------------
  76
  77This driver handles sensors integrated in some VIA south bridges. It is
  78possible that a motherboard maker used a VT82C686A/B chip as part of a
  79product design but was not interested in its hardware monitoring features,
  80in which case the sensor inputs will not be wired. This is the case of
  81the Asus K7V, A7V and A7V133 motherboards, to name only a few of them.
  82So, if you need the force_addr parameter, and end up with values which
  83don't seem to make any sense, don't look any further: your chip is simply
  84not wired for hardware monitoring.
  85