Re: mysterious power off problem 2.4.10-2.4.14 on laptop

On Mon, 12 Nov 2001, L A Walsh wrote:

> I haven't had time to track this down since I found it.  I'm throwing
> it out in case anyone has seen anything that might figure in to this.
>
> Machine: Dell Inspiron 8000.
> Problem: using same options, (starting with 249.config, and using make oldconfig
> for new kernel version), I get a kernel that has a bad habit of turning
> itself off after some period of time -- not shutting down, just turning off.
> This started in 2.4.10 and, and not having the time to debug it, I just
> went back to using 2.4.9 which didn't exhibit the problem.
>
> Things tried that haven't worked (not necessarily in any particular order)
> 1) 2.4.14 kernel
> 2) disabling power management from the KDE desktop.
> 3) renaming the apm binary would allow apm control.
> 4) Turning off apm support in the kernel.
> 5) Turning off BIOS apm management completely.
> 	a) BIOS PM on AC-power was set to
> 		i) turn off inactive video in 10 minutes
> 		ii) turn off inactive hard disk in 30 minutes
> 		iii) Suspend: disabled.
> 		iv) S2D Timeout: disabled
>
> 	b) BIOS PM on battery still _is_ set to
> 		i) turn off inactive video in 3 minutes
> 		ii) turn off in hard disks in 5 minutes
> 		iii) Suspend: disabled
> 		iv) S2D Timeout: 1 hour
>
> 	common options:
> 		v) Smart CPU: enabled
> 		vi) Display lid closed: <don't shut down, remain active>
> 		vii) all auto 'wake'/'resume' (on lan, alarm, ring, at time)
> 			disabled
> 		viii) CPU Mode: Battery Optimized
> ----
> Other details:
> 1) I noticed when the machine was on battery -- it turned off in about
>    3 minutes -- it might have been 5, but seemed closer to 3.  I note this
>    coincides with the Video timeout.  Previously when the timeout
>    would occur on AC power -- it seemed that the inactivity timeout was
>    about 10 minutes.  My estimations may be wrong, but part of the problem
>    could be related to the video timeout.
> 2) testing this problem is a pain, since my disks are still the
>    primitive 'ext2' file system and the multi-gig, laptop-speed disks
>    are slow to check.
>
> So am just wondering if someone has seen this, or its a known 'feature change'
> with the workaround or solution being 'X'.
>
> I note in the changelog that ACPI changes went into 2.4.10.  I am still using
> APM, not ACPI, but it it possible there is common code to both that got
> changed?
>
> Thanks for any help.
>
> -linda
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>

Give ACPI a try, for a while I've noticed APM getting mixed up
on my home box (its a VIA chipset, I've been told that probably
why :), doing things like not powering off and changing the instant-off
powerbutton to a wait-5-seconds powerbutton.

I switched to ACPI and everythings been working fine :)

mike