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Thread: Important information for laptop users

  1. #1
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    Exclamation Important information for laptop users

    Hello,

    If you have a laptop, I would highly suggest reading this:

    I began using Ubuntu a lot just about two weeks ago. After installing, I noticed that my laptop hard drive was making a strange noise at least a few times per minute. As it turns out, that "noise" is the same as a load cycle. When I used Windows as my primary operating system, I don't recall ever hearing the noise.

    So here's the problem: Hard drives are rated for a certain number of load cycles before they are considered "dead". Most hard drives are rated for 600,000 +/- load cycles before they die, but I'm sure there are many that have exceeded that number and lived. Since I was hearing that "noise" quite a few times per minute, I was getting concerned.

    After doing some research, I found that laptop mode is disabled by default, which is understandable. I don't know if Ubuntu is primary for desktops or not, but that "laptop mode" setting is critical. Aggressive power settings, either by Ubuntu or through the system BIOS, can cause a massive influx of load cycles.

    So here in the forums there is a fix for the load cycles, otherwise known as "the ugly fix". Well, that "fix" doesn't really work too well in my opinion. It has you creating some file, then saving it to three different places. The fix has no guarantee of fixing anything, really.

    I would say, after all the internet research I've done, that 15 cycles or less per hour is probably normal.


    All I did to stop the constant load cycles was enable laptop mode, which can be done like this:

    1. Open Terminal

    2. Type in: sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda | grep 193
    Underneath Load_Cycle_Count is the total number of load cycles the hard drive has done. If you are getting an excessive number of cycles per hour, then continue reading.

    3. Type in: sudo gedit /etc/default/acpi-support

    4. Scroll down and find: ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE= (true=on, false=off)

    5. Set ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=TRUE to enable laptop mode (if applicable), and save the document

    6. Reboot

    Note: If enabling laptop mode did not decrease the number of load cycles you have per hour to a minimal amount, then you might want to look for other solutions. You can easily revert back by following the instructions again and setting the value to FALSE. Before I enabled laptop mode, I had one hour where I had OVER 100 load cycles (bad).

    You can also use the code:

    sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda | more

    That code will tell you everything about your hard drive. Scroll down to find "SMART Attributes", and underneath that will be values for Load_Cycle_Count. The closer your "WORST" value is to "THRESH", the more likely it is that your hard drive will fail soon. You can also check back with that page periodically to see how the load cycle counts are affecting the "WORST" value.


    UPDATE: Now with laptop mode enabled, I had 6 cycles over a period of two hours.

    ADDED INFORMATION:

    Originally Posted by tommcd

    I would like to add that you can check if laptop mode is enabled by running in terminal:
    Code:

    cat /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode

    If it returns 0, laptop mode is not enabled. A result of 2 = enabled.
    Last edited by ispyamoose; November 27th, 2008 at 08:02 AM.

  2. #2
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    Re: Important information for laptop users

    There was a big sticky about this issue in this section.But someone removed it i guess.

  3. #3
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    Re: Important information for laptop users

    Quote Originally Posted by binbash View Post
    There was a big sticky about this issue in this section.But someone removed it i guess.
    I wonder why? It's a really big issue..

  4. #4
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    Re: Important information for laptop users

    Quote Originally Posted by ispyamoose View Post
    I wonder why? It's a really big issue..
    Yes it is. Thanks for posting it.

    Also, see this from the Ubuntu wiki:
    https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PowerManagement

    One question, what did you install to get the smartctl command? I don't seem to have that on my laptop (running Intrepid). I do have laptop-mode-tools installed.
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  5. #5
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    Re: Important information for laptop users

    Quote Originally Posted by tommcd View Post
    One question, what did you install to get the smartctl command? I don't seem to have that on my laptop (running Intrepid). I do have laptop-mode-tools installed.
    I believe it is in the "smartmontools" package.
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  6. #6
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    Re: Important information for laptop users

    Quote Originally Posted by Sorivenul View Post
    I believe it is in the "smartmontools" package.
    That is correct.

  7. #7
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    Re: Important information for laptop users

    Quote Originally Posted by Sorivenul View Post
    I believe it is in the "smartmontools" package.
    Yup, that was it. Thanks.

    I would like to add that you can check if laptop mode is enabled by running in terminal:
    Code:
    tom@ubuntu:~$ cat /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode 
    2
    tom@ubuntu:~$
    If ti returns 0, laptop mode is not enabled. A result of 2 = enabled.

    Regarding smartmon tools, does anyone know what load cycle count is considered excessive? Here is mine (with laptop mode enabled):
    Code:
    tom@ubuntu:~$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda | grep 193
    193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   078   078   000    Old_age   Always       -       225637
    tom@ubuntu:~$
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  8. #8
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    Re: Important information for laptop users

    Quote Originally Posted by tommcd View Post
    Yup, that was it. Thanks.

    I would like to add that you can check if laptop mode is enabled by running in terminal:
    Code:
    tom@ubuntu:~$ cat /proc/sys/vm/laptop_mode 
    2
    tom@ubuntu:~$
    If ti returns 0, laptop mode is not enabled. A result of 2 = enabled.

    Regarding smartmon tools, does anyone know what load cycle count is considered excessive? Here is mine (with laptop mode enabled):
    Code:
    tom@ubuntu:~$ sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda | grep 193
    193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   078   078   000    Old_age   Always       -       225637
    tom@ubuntu:~$
    I would say, after all the internet research I've done, that 15 cycles or less per hour is probably normal. Your cycle count is pretty high. How long have you had your laptop?

    You can also use the code: sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda | more
    That code will tell you everything about your hard drive. Scroll down to find "SMART Attributes", and underneath that will be values for Load_Cycle_Count. The closer your "WORST" value is to "THRESH", the more likely it is that your hard drive will fail soon. You can also check back with that page periodically to see how the load cycle counts are affecting the "WORST" value.

    PS: I added info to the original post giving credit. Thanks for the code.
    Last edited by ispyamoose; November 27th, 2008 at 07:59 AM.

  9. #9
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    Re: Important information for laptop users

    Bump.

  10. #10
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    Re: Important information for laptop users

    Quote Originally Posted by ispyamoose View Post
    I would say, after all the internet research I've done, that 15 cycles or less per hour is probably normal. Your cycle count is pretty high. How long have you had your laptop?
    I was afraid of that. I've had the laptop for about 1.5 years. I don't know why the load cycle count is so high.

    Quote Originally Posted by ispyamoose View Post
    You can also use the code: sudo smartctl -a /dev/sda | more
    That code will tell you everything about your hard drive. Scroll down to find "SMART Attributes", and underneath that will be values for Load_Cycle_Count. The closer your "WORST" value is to "THRESH", the more likely it is that your hard drive will fail soon. You can also check back with that page periodically to see how the load cycle counts are affecting the "WORST" value.
    When I run: "smartctl -a /dev/sda | more" here is what I get:
    Code:
    ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME          FLAG     VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE      UPDATED  WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE
    .........
    193 Load_Cycle_Count        0x0012   078   078   000    Old_age   Always       -       225762
    As you can see, my THRESH value is 000. Any idea what that means? Also, under TYPE, what do all those "Pre-fail" and "Old_age" values mean?

    One more thing,
    In addition to editing /etc/default/acpi-support as you described, I also had to edit /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf
    and change:
    ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE_ON_AC=0
    to:
    ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE_ON_AC=1
    in order to enable laptop mode while on AC power. This is how I enabled laptop mode in Debian also, since Debian does not seem to have /etc/default/acpi-support.
    Does laptop mode work on AC power for you without editing /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf?
    Last edited by tommcd; November 27th, 2008 at 12:36 PM.
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