natty: vgaswitcheroo, blacklist and modprobing!

[kahwedyich]

Yeah, I hope so.

Here is what I did:

First, I (foolishly) upgraded via update manager.
Well, that went down badly, so I download the image and do a clean install - still no good.

Even with the LiveCD I have to use nomodeset. :S

[mexicanseaf00d]

Meanwhile, browse through the phoronix-forums - http://www.phoronix.com/forums/

[bleedlinux]

I'm such a fool..

just added

modprobe radeon

to the rc.local... doh

this comment saved my laptop!!!! . awesme work !!!! thanks!!

[andrikos]

My solution in order to have the Discrete ATI graphics always Off and only use the Integrated Intel card is to make the following changes:

• Blacklisting of the radeon driver:
  Create /etc/modprobe.d/vgaswitcheroo.conf and add
  

  blacklist radeon

• Service that controls the card
  Create /etc/init.d/vgaswitcheroo and add
  

  #!/bin/sh -e
  #
  # This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
  # Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
  # value on error.
  #
  
  COMMAND="$1"
  
  case "$COMMAND" in
  restart|start)
  	echo "Switching off Radeon dedicated graphics"
  	modprobe radeon
  	echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
  	;;
  stop)
  	echo "Switching on Radeon dedicated graphics"
  	echo ON > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
  	;;
  status)
  	cat /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
  	;;
  esac
  
  exit 0

• Make the service called by default
  Run these commands:
  

  cd /etc/rc2.d
  ln -s ../init.d/vgaswitcheroo S21vgaswitcheroo

• Make sure it works on hibernate
  In /etc/hibernate/common.conf add the following line
  

  RestartServices vgaswitcheroo

[lgp171188]

My solution in order to have the Discrete ATI graphics always Off and only use the Integrated Intel card is to make the following changes:

• Blacklisting of the radeon driver:
  Create /etc/modprobe.d/vgaswitcheroo.conf and add
  

  blacklist radeon

• Service that controls the card
  Create /etc/init.d/vgaswitcheroo and add
  

  #!/bin/sh -e
  #
  # This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
  # Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
  # value on error.
  #
  
  COMMAND="$1"
  
  case "$COMMAND" in
  restart|start)
  	echo "Switching off Radeon dedicated graphics"
  	modprobe radeon
  	echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
  	;;
  stop)
  	echo "Switching on Radeon dedicated graphics"
  	echo ON > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
  	;;
  status)
  	cat /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
  	;;
  esac
  
  exit 0

• Make the service called by default
  Run these commands:
  

  cd /etc/rc2.d
  ln -s ../init.d/vgaswitcheroo S21vgaswitcheroo

• Make sure it works on hibernate
  In /etc/hibernate/common.conf add the following line
  

  RestartServices vgaswitcheroo

Removing nomodeset and blacklisting radeon doesn't work for me as the display switches off without nomodeset

[andrikos]

Removing nomodeset and blacklisting radeon doesn't work for me as the display switches off without nomodeset

I think nomodeset is essential for this to work.
The default ubuntu kernels already have this option enabled.

[ndak]

The procedure described by Andrikos worked for Lenovo g770 with Intel core i5-2410M with hybrid Integrated graphics + AMD Radeon HD6650M running Ubuntu v.12.04 LTS. After making the script executable and rebooting, the Radeon graphics was powered off and computer/cpu temps went from 50-60 C to 30-40 C. I was not able to complete the final hibernate step of the procedure because I could not save the file for some reason. It still works fine.

Many thanks to all who spent considerable effort to solve this hybrid issue with Intel processors.

dal

[vaporblock]

Hey guys

I'm completely new with Ubuntu, and I have really very little experience with it. So I need a lot of HELP!!!

I have a sony vaio VPCSB with switchable graphics (intel HD 3000 and Radeon6410). I tried to install the drivers for the graphics cards by using the additional drivers function of Ubuntu, but that really didn't help anything. As Im a complete noob at these things, could you list the exact steps that I need to do to get the graphics working (at least intel). Without it Im unable to finish my assignment, so Its really urgent.

[mexicanseaf00d]

uninstall fglrx drivers (google how to do that)!

then

1) in a terminal: sudo -i
2) edit /etc/rc.local, add following before "exit 0":

modprobe radeon
echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch

3) edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf, add

blacklist radeon

0




Also look at this thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1930450

[heidricha]

I have got a HP ProBook 4740s
One of my problems with the NB was this overheating (60C in normal conditions - very incomfortable under my left wrist - now it's about 45C, still warm, but OK) and poor battery life (under 2 hours - now it is over 5).
Now both have been solved with the help of this topic and other resources, but I have got a new one:

system completely freezes after waking up from standby/sleep state, or when I press fn+f4 to change the monitor configuration.

I have read, that it should have been solved with the /etc/pm/sleep.d/whatever script, but it had not solved the problem at all. Anyone to advice anything?

Currently I have this in rc.local:

modprobe radeon
sleep 2
echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch

# grep radeon /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
blacklist radeon

# cat /etc/pm/sleep.d/11_switcheroo_suspend
#!/bin/bash
case "${1}" in
hibernate|suspend)
modprobe radeon
echo ON > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
;;
resume|thaw)
echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch
;;
esac

The scripts are executable, and the VGA config is OK after a fresh boot. If I put the NB in standby state, it can wake up a few minutes later, but if I do this at night, the PC won't wake up in the morning! I can see the closed X11 screen, but mouse ptr doesn't move, even CapsLock doesn't work, so it is stoned perfectly.

Earlier I have also tried the closed-source driver from Ati. It was not bad at all, but there didn't exist a way to put the PC in sleep state at all! Now I think I know why but I hope I'm wrong, and it should be possible somehow!