Sleep (suspend?) freezes mac

[scognito]

Hi,
I'm using an iMac (12,2) with Ubuntu 12.04 64 bit, standard kernel (3.2) and latest AMD drivers (downloaded from AMD site).
Sometimes when monitor turns off (because it went in sleep after x minutes) I can't turn the monitor on anymore.
Sometimes it works (moving mouse), sometimes don't. I don't know if it is related to some level of "sleep": seems (but didn't verify) that if it is in sleep mode for 5 minutes, I can wake it up, but if it is in sleep for an hour or so, I can't.
Also ALT-F1/F2/... doesn't switch to virtual console.
I've installed ssh to see at least if it is a display problem or a completely freeze of machine, just trying ssh'ing into, I'll let you know.
I don't remember to have this problem using opensource Radeon driver, so this seems related on these drivers.
Does this problem happen to you too?
Thanks in advance.

[este.el.paz]

@scognito:

I can confirm the issue with, is it just Mac's?, failing to revive from "suspend" . . . I've posted questions about this and have yet to receive any solutions, but it seems like a Linux or Debian issue as I've had a number of different Debian based systems on three computers, an iMac G4 w/XuLu 12, iBook G4 w/Debian Wheezy, and a MBPro w/LMDE all set up dual boot with OSX. Whenever I'm finished using the Xu/Lu, or any of the Linux side partitions I have to restart and boot back into OSX, otherwise I have to shut the computers down. The PPC FAQ sections on this problem make it seem like it is a deficiency of RAM that is the problem, but the MBPro has plenty of RAM and still "Suspend" is not something that can "wake up" with the tap of a key or click of a mouse. It would be nice to see if there is a simple solution to this problem.

On the "F-keys" not working, I saw a post here yesterday where somebody said that the "new aluminum Apple keyboard doesn't do the F-key commands" . . . I can confirm that as well, as I have the newer aluminum keyboard on my G4 iMac . . . and have yet to get the F-key commands to work as advertised . . . .

e.e.p.

[scognito]

As for the F-keys they works like a charm. What I mean is that they don't work when the machine freezes.
I'll investigate further, thanks!

[este.el.paz]

@scognito:

Ah, OK, well anyway, the main problem is this failure to revive from suspend, it's less important whether all or none of the keys work if all you/I can see is a black screen that is unresponsive to any inputs except the "Off" button . . . requiring re-booting each time that the Linux side is used . . . . And that makes it "slow" . . . yes?

e.e.p.

[c4c]

It’s not just Mac. Many machines have problems with both suspend and hibernate. Granted, I am setting up 5-10 year old computers for the most part; but it definately crosses through AMD, Pentium, PowerPC... I’ve taken to removing both options from the Power Menu so there is no chance anyone will accidently do either.

gksudo gedit /usr/share/polkit-1/actions/org.freedesktop.upower.policy

There are only two sections in this file; the first for Suspend, the next for Hibernate.
Almost at the end of each section is a line that reads:<allow_active>yes</allow_active>
Change "yes" to "no" in the 1st section to disable the Suspend option.
<allow_active>no</allow_active>
------------
<allow_active>yes</allow_active>
Change "yes" to "no" in the 2nd section to disable the Hibernate option.
<allow_active>no</allow_active>

Suspend and/or Hibernate will be gone out of the Power menu whenever you restart. If you want to change back, just change the no to yes again.

[este.el.paz]

@c4c:

I'm not sure if the OP wants to turn off the feature, but as the SP (second poster) I appreciate the reply and the insights . . . certainly the iMac & iBook are in the 5 - 10 + year range . . . . Personally, I'd like to "fix" the suspend feature . . . but since I now know that "suspend" probably doesn't work I can just not click on it . . . .

e.e.p.

[2blue]

12.04 is the first time suspend and hibernate works flawlessly for me in both Ubuntu and Lubutu. (I`m no dual booting though). I know these functions can be fuzzy, but you have to make a generous swap for them to work.

[este.el.paz]

@2blue:

Thanks for the post, glad to hear that Suspend is working for somebody; I do have 12.0.4 Xu/Lu on the iMac, but I guess it's not meeting the criterion for "generous swap" or swap that is enough to get suspend to work?? It has 512??MB of RAM so I have 1 GB of swap, but no joy in terms of Suspend. And, the machine where I have lots of GB's of swap, 7 or 8 I believe, it must be an area where Ubun/Xubun/Lu has dealt with the problem of Suspend successfully but LMDE/Debian is leaving that for another day? No joy for Suspend revival there . . . so close, but . . . .

e.e.p.

[2blue]

My iBook orginally had 512MB RAM and lubuntu installer made 1.5GB swap by default. Advice vary on how much swap is needed, but in this case it is three times RAM. A few days ago I installed 1GB RAM extra and swap/hibernation still works fine. System still hardly ever use more than 400-500GB RAM regardless of applications running.

I have previously wondered if swap partitions can be randomly accessed by whatever os you boot, and sort of mess up a bit? I know live CDs can grab swap partitions if there are any, which surprised me a bit.

Just in case: You have activated and set powermanager to work with suspend? I just remembered I had messed with the settings for battery and screen before it all worked properly.

[este.el.paz]

My iBook orginally had 512MB RAM and lubuntu installer made 1.5GB swap by default. Advice vary on how much swap is needed, but in this case it is three times RAM. A few days ago I installed 1GB RAM extra and swap/hibernation still works fine. System still hardly ever use more than 400-500GB RAM regardless of applications running.

This post is pretty interesting, agreed, it doesn't seem that the advice on swap is "standardized" as it seems that the Debian based installers that I've mostly used are going for 2x RAM, but, in watching the System Monitor I actually don't recall seeing much if any swap being used . . . the line just flopped along slightly above zero.

I have previously wondered if swap partitions can be randomly accessed by whatever os you boot, and sort of mess up a bit? I know live CDs can grab swap partitions if there are any, which surprised me a bit.

Yeah, this also is interesting in terms of dual-booting, some things good and some things odd. When I was running MintPPC on my iBook I didn't have too many problems because it uses the "radeon" video driver, but, during one update/upgrade I got a flash of an error screen saying "Low Disc space--148MB available" . . . something like that, and I had a small partition to begin with, 6 GB, split between root/home and swap, but I didn't understand why there was "no room" . . . checked GParted or Disc analyzer and "somehow" a "small" 250 MB partition had been cut off the root/home . . . and that was my wiggle room for space . . . and, I couldn't get that partition to meld back using GParted . . . had to wipe the HD and re-install; I went with straight Wheezy at that point because it shaved an hour off the install, and haven't had any issues yet. Possibly that might have been a "side effect" of dual booting????? Don't know.

Just in case: You have activated and set powermanager to work with suspend? I just remembered I had messed with the settings for battery and screen before it all worked properly.

[/QUOTE]

This might be most relevant to my problem--set powermanager????? to work with Suspend????? I probably have not done that in the Xu/Lu system since it's still very new and I haven't had time to mess with it . . . no Linux system has lived in the iMac for longer than a couple of months before it either imploded or an upgrade took out the video driver . . . . I'll try to look at that in the next few days and if it doesn't seem obvious maybe the SP will post back asking for a "handout" on how to set the powermanager to work with Suspend. That would be great if it would be a simple fix and the system would revive with a click of the mouse . . . thanks for the idea.

e.e.p.