Linux Kernel 3.0 Battery Life/Power Consumption

[Toz]

See: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Kernel/PowerManagement with kernels available from: http://zinc.canonical.com/~cking/pow...pmfix/oneiric/.

[sbraz]

thank you toz, you saved us a lot of troubles.


download the appropriate kernel-image AND kernel-headers lovely couple, move them somewhere safe, then open a terminal, go to that path and issue this:

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

i'll compile 3.1.1 with "da patch" i've just successfully applied to the vanilla sources and test it tomorrow, i left my charger at work... again.

root@sbraz-netbook:/usr/src/linux-3.1.1/source# patch -p1 < ../../kernel-patches/aspm.patch 
patching file drivers/acpi/pci_root.c
patching file drivers/pci/pci-acpi.c
Hunk #1 succeeded at 393 (offset -2 lines).
patching file drivers/pci/pcie/aspm.c
patching file include/linux/pci-aspm.h

GO GO GO!

[ali0chka]

Anxiously awaiting reports. I just ordered an X220 myself, and cannot envision reverting to W7.

Has anyone tried the solution posted by the guys at Phoronix? They claim the issue is with the APSM controller....and they also claim to have found a workaround (no permanent fix), which might be good for some, for the time being.

Look here

[ali0chka]

Just realized it was the solution posted by Toz...

:/

[steevven1]

Trying to install the patched kernel. I get the following errors:

$ sudo dpkg -i *.deb
(Reading database ... 169410 files and directories currently installed.)
Preparing to replace linux-headers-3.0.0-13-generic 3.0.0-13.22+mjgaspmfix (using linux-headers-3.0.0-13-generic_3.0.0-13.22+mjgaspmfix_amd64.deb) ...
Unpacking replacement linux-headers-3.0.0-13-generic ...
Preparing to replace linux-image-3.0.0-13-generic 3.0.0-13.22+mjgaspmfix (using linux-image-3.0.0-13-generic_3.0.0-13.22+mjgaspmfix_amd64.deb) ...
Examining /etc/kernel/preinst.d/
Done.
Unpacking replacement linux-image-3.0.0-13-generic ...
Examining /etc/kernel/postrm.d .
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/initramfs-tools 3.0.0-13-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-13-generic
run-parts: executing /etc/kernel/postrm.d/zz-update-grub 3.0.0-13-generic /boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-13-generic
Setting up linux-headers-3.0.0-13-generic (3.0.0-13.22+mjgaspmfix) ...
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of linux-image-3.0.0-13-generic:
 linux-image-3.0.0-13-generic depends on initramfs-tools (>= 0.36ubuntu6); however:
  Package initramfs-tools is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing linux-image-3.0.0-13-generic (--install):
 dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
 linux-image-3.0.0-13-generic

Help?

[ali0chka]

Did you try:

sudo dpkg --configure -a
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Be sure to post any error it spits out.

[steevven1]

Okay, I got it sorted out and tested the new, patched kernel. Turns out my power consumption is 83-92% of the power consumption using sbraz's "nosparseirq" kernel (see post 62 and nearby posts of this thread), which itself was a marginal improvement over the stock kernel that came with Xubuntu.

It DEFINITELY does not fix the problem that this thread is all about though, which is the Sandy Bridge graphics power bug. That bug is much more drastic a power problem (for Sandy Bridge users) than the bug that has been patched.

Anyway, bottom line: It IS worth installing the new, patched kernel. I'm on a ThinkPad X220 with a Intel Sandy Bridge i7 processor, btw.

IDEA: Maybe someone could combine the edits sbraz made with the nosparseirq kernel with the new patch!

[ali0chka]

[ali0chka]

@steeven1

Have you tried any other power management tweaks? I'm just wondering whether one can get the battery life up to somewhat acceptable values while this bug gets fixed. I'm particularly thinking of this from lesswats.org (which apparently is ran by Intel people) and this which works for the Thinkpad X1 (Ignore the TRIM section, seeing you don't use SSD).

I've been able to juice out 10-15% more battery from previous notebooks using similar methods. Albeit not perfect, I don't like to see people revert to Win just because of battery issues

There is also a lot of great info on people using the X220 and Ubuntu here

[Bucic]

Patched "3.0.0-13.22+mjgaspmfix" kernel tested on Lenovo Thinkpad T500. No luck! It didn't work at all. Works same as default install and config.

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 i915.i915_enable_fbc=1 pcie_aspm=force"

Edit:
Simple kernel upgrade/downgrade instructions
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...43&postcount=8

BTW, after successfull kernel upgrade you should get something like

~$ uname -a
... 3.0.0-13-generic #22+mjgaspmfix ...