Re: Touchpad functionality dissappeared for no apparent reason!
On September 30, 2004 04:20 pm, Sebastian Tennant wrote:
> >
> > Dell ACPI is buggy - and you seem to have two errors in yours. Make
> > sure you have Dell's latest BIOS for your machine.
>
> You know what I'm going to ask now don't you, and I've got a horrible
> feeling that you're going to tell me that you can't upgrade your BIOS
> without booting into a Windows/DOS install. I've taken the MacOSX route
LOL. First thing is to check the version you have (it's just about the first
message that shows when you boot) and check Dell's site to find what is the
most recent. If yours is, there's nothing to do anyway, but iirc they
actually will send you a self-executing version that creates and installs a
boot-floppy. It may be DOS, but I don't think you need windows. It's been a
long time since they had an update for mine, and booting into Windows to do
it was easy enough, anyway.
> > Most of my ACPI problems went away with "relaxed AML" checking, but that
> > used to be a kernel config option, right after "Toshiba Laptop Extras",
> > and I don't see it any more (in 2.6.7). I suspect that means it's now
> > automatic. I still haven't got suspend functionality (S4), but I do
> > have sleep (S1).
>
> Ah. So we have two out of four/five?
>
> S0 ?
Normal activitiy. So you have that :-)
> S1 Sleep (Suspend-To-Ram?)
Sleep - NOT suspend-to-ram.
> S2 ?
I'm not sure what S2 is supposed to be, because I don't think _anybody_
implements it.
> S3 ?
Suspend to RAM. Most of the Dells _don't_ support it. cat /proc/acpi/sleep
will show you which ones are supported by the ACPI BIOS.
> S4 Suspend (Suspend-To-Disk?)
It should support this, but I haven't got it to work even with a kernel
compiled with the necessary ACPI options.
> and the article I read re: Sleep not supported must have been out-of-date
> or something...
Sleep is definitely, and has been for ages, supported. Suspend is still
problematic on many machines, not just Dell, and you might want to try
swsusp.
> Fair enough, I have come to expect GNU/Linux to out-perform Windows in
> virtually every way, but my fan behaviour can't be right. It doesn't come
> on until a reboot, and then it doesn't go off, which suggests its
> temperature is being checked once only at boot-time (I suspect by the
> BIOS) and doen't come on until a reboot because it has had sufficient time
> to cool after a halt, i.e., over night.
That does seem odd, and I'm afraid I don't have a clue. Now that I look, I
have a /proc/acpi/fan/ directory, but there's nothing in there. I'm thinking
my fans have _never_ been controlled by ACPI - but they come on at seemingly
appropriate times.
>
> >> P.S What are bogomips by the way?
> >
> > LOL. It's just a rating of how fast your machine is operating
> > (mips=million instructions / second). Mine seems to be consistent, but
> > a difference of 4 bogomips on any modern PC is inconsequential.
> >
> Ok, but what does the bogo bit stand for? (And don't look it up. Anyone
> can do that! :-)
Well, if I can't look it up, I can't tell you :-)
> CC me by all means but a follow-up will usually suffice.
Did I do that? Purely accidental. I try to always respond just on the list
(especially with people who are rude enough to say "CC me because I'm not
subscribed" - I figure if you want answers, you should participate - besides
which, trying to help you got me the answer to why _my_ mouse didn't work
right)
--
derek
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