when using the latest installation of Umbrel on a Raspberry Pi 4 with an Argon One case, the cooling fan does not function properly. The root cause of this issue is that the I2C interface is disabled, and the /boot/config.txt file is set to read-only. This problem can be resolved as follows:
Enabling I2C on Raspberry Pi
Open Terminal:
Launch the terminal on your Raspberry Pi.
Remount /boot with Write Permissions:
Run the command:
sudo mount -o remount,rw /boot
Edit /boot/config.txt:
Open the configuration file with nano:
sudo nano /boot/config.txt
Enable I2C:
Add or uncomment the following line:
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
Save and Exit:
Press Ctrl+X to exit, Y to confirm saving, and Enter to finish.
This guide ensures that the /boot/config.txt file is writable, I2C is enabled, and the Argon One service is reinstalled.
Hope it will work in your case. Still it will be nice to solve it in future updates of Umbrel, since in next update you will loose all changes and you can do this again
Hi Jan, thanks for your feedback. Unfortunately, it still doesn’t work for me. I don’t know why. I did it as described in the instructions. Unfortunately the Argon script still says i2c cannot be detected. I have a Pi 5 but that shouldn’t be a problem. The Argon script is the same.
i2c Test
umbrel@umbrel:~$ sudo apt-get install -y i2c-tools
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
Reading state information... Done
i2c-tools is already the newest version (4.3-2+b3).
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
umbrel@umbrel:~$ sudo i2cdetect -y 1
Error: Could not open file `/dev/i2c-1' or `/dev/i2c/1': No such file or directory
Argon Tool
Unable to detect i2c
TEMPERATURE INFORMATION:
CPU: 49.6°C
FAN CONFIGURATION INFORMATION:
65.0=100
60.0=55
55.0=30
FAN SPEED INFORMATION:
Unable to detect i2c
Fan Speed 0
boot.txt
GNU nano 7.2 /boot/config.txt
# Enable DRM VC4 V3D driver.
#
# MX: This has been enabled by default and is required for 3D graphics
# hardware acceleration. We just leave it enabled.
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2
# We want to run the processor in its 64-bit mode.
arm_64bit=1
# Enable NVMe interface
# This is not needed if booting with NVMe so potentially
# we only want to support that and don't need this.
dtparam=nvme
# This may improve NVMe performance but is not stable:
# > The Raspberry Pi 5 is not certified for Gen 3.0 speeds. PCIe Gen 3.0 connections may be unstable.
# - https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi.html#pcie-gen-3-0
dtparam=pciex1_gen=3
dtparam=i2c_arm=on
max_usb_current=1
I have to come back to the problem for a moment. At least for my Argon ONE V3 M2 case, reconnecting or changing the fan connector is not an option (see screenshot). The whole board is controlled by the Argon software. So it would be really great if someone could take care of it. As much as I like the OS I’m considering switching back to casa.
