HOWTO: HP Compaq 6720s and ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon : a (hopefully) complete guide

[AlesUbu123]

Hi samstre,
when did the computer freeze? When you were booting or when you closed the laptop's lid?

Regards!

[samstre]

when i closed my laptop lid...

i think the problem with my lid is all about the /etc/acpi/ scripts!
first of all it looks like the script /etc/acpi/events/lidbtn is never used!

if changed the /etc/acpi/events/lidbtd from:

# /etc/acpi/events/lidbtn/
# Called when the user closes or opens the lid

event=button[ /]lid
action=/etc/acpi/lid.sh

to:

# /etc/acpi/events/lidbtn/
# Called when the user closes or opens the lid

event=button[ /]lid
#action=/etc/acpi/lid.sh
action=/home/samstre/Desktop/lid.sh

here my own lid.sh:

echo "Lid Closed/Opened"

but Lid Closed/Opened is never echoed on any tty or terminal...


and even if the lid.sh would be executed it wouldn't work...
the original lid.sh something thats called CheckPolicy()...

. /usr/share/acpi-support/policy-funcs

if [ `CheckPolicy` == 0 ]; then exit; fi

and CheckPolicy() alwas return 0....

grep closed /proc/acpi/button/lid/*state

returns the right value... state: closed if closed and nothing if opened... so the rest of the script should work...

but why the hell is that script never executed???

btw: can anybody please send me his /etc/acpi/lid.sh and his /usr/share/acpi-support/screenblank

thanks in advance
samstre

[samstre]

sry ... doublepost

[AlesUbu123]

Hey,
I am currently in Fedora and I have not been able to find the files you requested on my system.
My computer was also freezing when I closed the lid, but I have fixed this using http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=587390&page=3

Hello, I'm using Debian unstable + 2.6.23 kernel from http://kernel-archive.buildserver.ne...n/l/linux-2.6/ on HP 6710b and have the same problem - when I close the lid the laptop freezes. In my case removing acpid didn't work. When using boot parameter acpi=off the problem was gone. I found out that video.ko acpi module was causing the problem. In http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kerne...cdcbf7cb1ce4ed I found the solution for my problem: # echo 1 > /proc/acpi/video/*/DOS Could you please check if it works for you too.

Hey - in your previous post you mentioned sth about a fault in the DSDT tables. Do you think this could affect the function of our 6720s?

Regards!

[samstre]

Yeah there is a waring in the DSDT table (warnings can be ignored). I've fixed the waring according to http://wiki.ubuntuusers.de/acpi-fix
^^
sorry i only found the german version

i've changed my dsdt and updated it... now i got no warnings, no errors...

but still no change...

i've tried the acpi=off option, but still no change...

[AlesUbu123]

Hey samstre!
I have tried debugging the DSDT tables and I also got this:

dsdt.dsl 8740: Wait (\_SB.C1AB, 0x10) Warning 1103 - Possible operator timeout is ignored ^ ASL Input: dsdt.dsl - 16390 lines, 587425 bytes, 7570 keywords AML Output: dsdt.aml - 71710 bytes 1211 named objects 6359 executable opcodes Compilation complete. 0 Errors, 1 Warnings, 0 Remarks, 2583 Optimizations

What do you think that means?
I am in fact having some problems with the thermal zones setting on my computer, they are different every time I boot my computer. Sometimes my fan starts working at temperatures of 34 ˚C and somtimes at temperatures of 49 ˚C.
Even dmesg shows that thermal_zones are not consistent!! Check this out:

At one time I get this from dmesg

Jan 13 12:08:53 localhost kernel: ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ0] (34 C) Jan 13 12:08:53 localhost kernel: ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ1] (30 C) Jan 13 12:08:53 localhost kernel: ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ3] (22 C) Jan 13 12:08:53 localhost kernel: ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ4] (20 C) Jan 13 12:08:53 localhost kernel: ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ5] (74 C)

And then after rebooting I can get totally different thermal_zones!?

Jan 13 14:17:09 localhost kernel: ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ0] (48 C) Jan 13 14:17:09 localhost kernel: ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ1] (48 C) Jan 13 14:17:09 localhost kernel: ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ3] (43 C) Jan 13 14:17:09 localhost kernel: ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ4] (20 C) Jan 13 14:17:09 localhost kernel: ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ5] (49 C)

1. Do you think that DSDT compiler warninga could contribute to this??
2. Have you noted this inconsistencies in thermal_zones (fans turned being on at different temperatures, sometimes the computer is really quiet and after rebooting fans are on almost instantly and it is louder, and I have noted that after using suspend fans are also turned on very soon)?
3. Has fixing DSDT tables resolved this?
4. Could you possibly post the output of this command?

dmesg | grep Thermal

5. How did you fix the DSDT table?

I am really intrigued now And pretty much out of any clues what could be wrong....

Regards, Ales

[samstre]

i'm sorry that i've been offline for such a long time!

1. i'm not quite shure... they say that compiler warnings can be ignored...
2. i haven't noted inconsistencies (because i haven't looked for any )
3. i've fixed the dsdt table right after installing so i can't say anything... but i'll test within the next few days
4.

[    3.488000] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ0] (53 C)
[    3.492000] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ1] (54 C)
[    3.496000] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ3] (46 C)
[    3.504000] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ4] (20 C)
[    3.508000] ACPI: Thermal Zone [TZ5] (41 C)

5. that is quite easy...

1. install the iasl package
2. read the current dsdt table and save it into a file

sudo cat /proc/acpi/dsdt > dsdt.dat

3. please make a copy of your dsdt.dat, so you can restore it, if you do something wrong!!

cp dsdt.dat /home/<user>/save_dsdt.dat

4. disassemble your dsdt.dat

iasl -d dsdt.dat

this will create the dsdt.dsl file
5. compile your dsdt.dsl

iasl -sa dsdt.dsl

you will see a warning

save_dsdt.dsl  8740:                         Wait (\_SB.C1AB, 0x10)
Warning  1103 -             Possible operator timeout is ignored ^

6. open the dsdt.dsl, got to line 8740 and change the value 0x10 to 0xFFFF
7. save the file!
8. recompile the file

iasl -sa dsdt.dsl

now there should be no warnings at all
9. copy the file to the initramfs-tools dir

sudo cp dsdt.aml /etc/initramfs-tools/DSDT.aml

10. update the dsdt

sudo update-initramfs -u

11. now reboot

[AlesUbu123]

Hey samstre!

Thank you for your kind and detailed reply.

I'll try it as soon I come home!

Regards

EDIT
I tried fixing the tables - and it worked, but sadly this has not changed the thermal management much on my laptop. Still hoping to find something to make it more quieter.

[slayer^_^]

hey, seems this 'lil guide has had a good success !!
I guess that this means it has been useful

so... any suggestions to update the first post of the guide? any stable fixes available? just let me know, ok? anticipate thanx for your patience and time...

p.s. many people contacted me asking how to make the wireless card work on fedora 8 (i know this would be an OT)... i just gave it a try but i haven't been able to make it work in a stable way (just with ndiswrapper restarting the network and the networkmanager and dispatcher many times. any suggestions?

[flibble42]

Just for info - I had no trouble installing the drivers + detecting hw for wireless using ndiswrapper but to actually enable it I had to change the bios settings to set wireless on + bluetooth off by default and turn wireless switching off (BIOS ver F.05). After boot I then had to press the wireless button to turn the light from orange -> blue to actually turn on wireless.

Great guide btw!