Acer Timeline 3810T

I got my 3810T-8737 a few days ago and I love it! The default battery life with Ubuntu is great but I knew it could be better. I've managed to get my laptop down to 7.0-7.3W at idle. Here's how I did it:

(execute this as root or via sudo)

Code:

---

#!/bin/bash
# Author: Riskable
#
# Description: Enables every power saving feature I know of
#

# Enable Intel HD Audio power saving
echo 10 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
echo Y > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save_controller
echo 1 > /dev/dsp # Gotta make a sound to turn it on

# Enable various kernel power saving features
echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs

# Enable SATA power management
for i in /sys/class/scsi_host/*; do echo "min_power" > $i/link_power_management_policy; cat $i/link_power_management_policy; done

# Enable Wifi power management
/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 power on

# Enable the most aggressive hard drive power savings
hdparm -B 1 -S 12 /dev/sda # Note: May not work on the Acer Timeline's hard drive

---

I also added "usbcore.autosuspend=1" to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT variable in /etc/default/grub (run 'update-grub' after making that change). I don't think that particular setting makes much of a difference.

Here's why I think we can't get power usage below 7W in Ubuntu: ACPI fan control. The fan is ALWAYS ON with this laptop--for some reason the BIOS doesn't turn it off on its own (ever). I suspect this problem won't be fixed until Acer releases a BIOS update that fixes whatever the problem is.

As for getting power usage below 6W, I'm not sure what else can be done. I suspect that Acer did something with its Windows drivers to get it down that low. They need to be more transparent about this so Linux hackers can get these features working as well.

Still I didn't got any feedback of disabling the HD4330 and using onboard ONLY.
Isn't there any way to do this?

Powertop tells me around 8,0 W in absolute power saving mode (Wifi/Bluetooth off; all the tweaks from above) with ATI enabled!

With Wifi and low screen brightness ca. 9 W.

Disabeling the ATI card:
- Turn graphics to switchable in BIOS
- Compile lenovo_acpi module (google!)
- add to /etc/modules
- reboot

I am still not 100% sure, that it is disabled though...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by acermobile

...

I am still not 100% sure, that it is disabled though...

---

If it's not listed with

Code:

---

lspci

---

the card is off.

Is the first time I write anything in a forum, i buy a Acer TimeLine 3810T and I investigated. It's very important for install Ubuntu and Windows 7 (Sorry Linux person for intruducing this in this forum but it is true) update the bios of this computer. because if you dont do this you can't install Ubuntu and Windows 7 apearlish v a blue screen. When I buy this computer have the BIOS version 1.04, you can't update first to 1.20 (the last version), you have to update to 1.10,1.15.1.17 and finally 1.20. When you do this you can install Ubuntu and Windows 7 without problem.
I hope help all with this comentary.

Sorry for my english mistakes but I am from Spain and i dont speak and write English very well.

Good Luck.

Hi to everyone!
Well i tried the script wrote by Riskable and it works (thank Riskable),i have the same results,only one question,maybe two:
1)Does your hd completely stop?Mine doesn't.
2)I can't get under 7.3w even if i switch-off wi-fi,is it normal?
I think that we should use ram in a better way,using it like a hd,so we could reduce hd-access.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by acermobile

Powertop tells me around 8,0 W in absolute power saving mode (Wifi/Bluetooth off; all the tweaks from above) with ATI enabled!

With Wifi and low screen brightness ca. 9 W.

Disabeling the ATI card:
- Turn graphics to switchable in BIOS
- Compile lenovo_acpi module (google!)
- add to /etc/modules
- reboot

I am still not 100% sure, that it is disabled though...

---

Some fantastic news. I'll definitly give this a try.
Oh, another thing comes to mind.
Does Ubuntu support passiv cooling? The 3810 is quite noisy if active cooling is switched on. (Yeah ; Sorry ; I'm such a noob -_-)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by riskable

I got my 3810T-8737 a few days ago and I love it! The default battery life with Ubuntu is great but I knew it could be better. I've managed to get my laptop down to 7.0-7.3W at idle. Here's how I did it:

(execute this as root or via sudo)

Code:

---

#!/bin/bash
# Author: Riskable
#
# Description: Enables every power saving feature I know of
#

# Enable Intel HD Audio power saving
echo 10 > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save
echo Y > /sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save_controller
echo 1 > /dev/dsp # Gotta make a sound to turn it on

# Enable various kernel power saving features
echo 1500 > /proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs

# Enable SATA power management
for i in /sys/class/scsi_host/*; do echo "min_power" > $i/link_power_management_policy; cat $i/link_power_management_policy; done

# Enable Wifi power management
/sbin/iwconfig wlan0 power on

# Enable the most aggressive hard drive power savings
hdparm -B 1 -S 12 /dev/sda # Note: May not work on the Acer Timeline's hard drive

---

I also added "usbcore.autosuspend=1" to the GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT variable in /etc/default/grub (run 'update-grub' after making that change). I don't think that particular setting makes much of a difference.

Here's why I think we can't get power usage below 7W in Ubuntu: ACPI fan control. The fan is ALWAYS ON with this laptop--for some reason the BIOS doesn't turn it off on its own (ever). I suspect this problem won't be fixed until Acer releases a BIOS update that fixes whatever the problem is.

As for getting power usage below 6W, I'm not sure what else can be done. I suspect that Acer did something with its Windows drivers to get it down that low. They need to be more transparent about this so Linux hackers can get these features working as well.

---

WOW !! Thank you. I had 20W before (see my post #642) and now I have 9W when surfing! It's like windows now :)
Just one thing, I see this error : Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.
How can I fix it ?
thanks

install linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic, reboot and try again

I've installed this packet now.
The script above works good with kernel 2.6.31.14. But the wireless power saving doesn't, I still see "SET failed on device wlan0" even with linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic installed. When screen brightness is at its lowest and wifi off, I see 8 W in powertop.

With kernel 2.6.31.17, is seems that the script does nothing at all. I see 20W in powertop (with or without the script). However in this kernel I don't see the error "SET failed on device wlan0". Strange ... ?!

Another question : all these results are with "switchable graphics = discrete" in BIOS.
If I change to "switchable" I can't boot to ubuntu at all. The screen is blinking and I can't log into X. Any idea ?