lm-sensors and psensor have different temp1 readings

Question

Using psensor, temp1 reads at around 92 degrees Celsius (and fan spins at around 4000RPM) while lm-sensors' temp1 reading is at 32 degrees.

This is the psensor reading.

This is the lm-sensors reading.

One the one hand 90-100 degrees is very high and my laptop (thinkpad t490) isn't hot to the touch though this may have to do with heat conductance). On the other hand psensor reads 90-100 degrees even when my laptop was off for several hours and my working environment is a bit cold (around 20-25 degrees) making me think that it's not accurate.

Can anyone help me understand if there are any differences between the two (lm-sensor reading vs psensor reading) or if this is caused due to an error?

From this answer: https://askubuntu.com/questions/254305/what-is-my-cpu-temperature/1046082#1046082 Try this command: `paste <(cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone*/type) <(cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone*/temp) | column -s $'\t' -t | sed 's/...$/.0°C/'` — WinEunuuchs2Unix, Jan 07 '21 at 12:45
Using this command it matches the psensor reading. However my computer reaches very high temperatures from start up. Is there a chance that this is an error from the sensors' side? Or should I check with my hardware? — alexandrosangeli, Jan 07 '21 at 13:19
What do they read when you run a good stress test? You can install `stress` and run it `stress -c 8` — rtaft, Jan 07 '21 at 13:56
I have been running it for a couple of minutes and executing `service lm-sensors status` outputs that `temp` is at around 40 degrees while `sensors` and `psensor` output (again) that cpu is at a constant of 90 degrees with no fluctuations. — alexandrosangeli, Jan 07 '21 at 14:37

score 0 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 07 '21 at 19:57

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When you say you run lm-sensors, I assumed you meant sensors, because that is the binary that lm-sensors installs. But in your comment you say you are running service lm-sensors status which is your problem. What isn't included in your screenshot is the timestamp that is also on that line. When I run that, I get:

  Dec 04 10:59:38 redacted-hostname sensors[878]: temp1:        +42.0°C  (crit = +128.0°C)

Notice the timestamp, 34 days ago. When I run uptime I get 34 days. That output you see from service is from the startup logs of the service.

answered Jan 07 '21 at 19:57

rtaft

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The timestamp is the same as the time I execute the command. – alexandrosangeli Jan 14 '21 at 10:06
@alexandrosangeli The service log outputs the `sensors` command from the past, and for me it's not even complete, only the last few lines. The command you are running is asking for the status of a service, not the actual temperatures. – rtaft Jan 14 '21 at 11:59
So what exactly do those temperatures indicate? – alexandrosangeli Jan 14 '21 at 16:32
temperatures that are not current, as it is log output and not current sensor readings. – rtaft Jan 14 '21 at 16:35

lm-sensors and psensor have different temp1 readings

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