APM Resume

spotslayer · 11-10-2004, 07:06 PM

Good evening,

I have an IBM Thinkpad 600e on which I have installed SuSE 9.1. The install went fine and all hardware was detected and seems to work fine. It took a little finegalling to get the sound up. As this is an older machine I have been trying to use APM for power management. It installs fine, seems to load properly. It goes into the suspend mode manually or automatically exactly on time and as it should. The problem comes up when I use the Fn key to bring it back the screen gives a little flicker like coming out or a screensaver but the LCD stays dark. At this point the only option I have is to power down. I have done much googling and have not found a clear answer to this situation. I truly hope someone can guide me in the right direction.

Let me clarify a little more. As I was typing I remembered this. When it goes into the suspend or hibernation mode I can bring it back if I act within a minute or so. If I wait any time longer the above situation occurs. I know this must be a configuration issue, but darn if I can find it.

David

mcleodnine · 11-10-2004, 11:32 PM

Have you looked at the BIOS settings for power management?

J.W. · 11-11-2004, 02:10 AM

I don't know if this applies to your model, but the typical way to get out of hibernation mode with Thinkpads is to press the Power button for 4 to 5 seconds.

http://www-3.ibm.com/pc/support/site...cid=MIGR-50944

Although your model isn't listed in that article, I'd say it's at least worth a try. Good luck with it -- J.W.

spotslayer · 11-11-2004, 07:32 AM

After submitting this question, I confinued to google for a solution. I came across these three lines at the very bottom of one of them.

===============================================================================
APM BIOS 1.2 works only if the option
[*] Allow interrupts during APM BIOS calls

is set while configuring the kernel. If this option is not set, a suspend will crash the machine on the resume.
===============================================================================

This bring up several questions

How can I dertermine the APM BIOS?
If I need to do a recompile can I just edit the config file and the compile?(this would be to leave all other settings as they are.)

I have been fooling with linux for almost a year and have not done a kernel recompile, this will be my first and the menus seem intimidating. I have read of folks forgetting to do something and have to go through them again. Thus I would like to edit the file I already have in place.

Thanks in advance for assistance.

David

J.W. · 11-11-2004, 03:47 PM

Recompiling a kernel seems like a big task, but it's not so difficult once you get into it. If you want to preserve your existing .config settings (note the dot) then the general series of steps you'd want to take would be as follows:

1. Get the latest kernel from www.kernel.org and save it to /usr/src, then untar it. That will create a new directory, with the name corresponding to the version.

2. Delete the existing symlink to /usr/src/linux (if one exists) then recreate it, pointing to the new directory. Example (using 2.6.9)

Code:

ln -s /usr/src/linux-2.6.9 /usr/src/linux

3. Copy your existing .config file to /usr/src/linux The existing file will be in /usr/src/<old version directory>

4. Run "make oldconfig" (no quotes). This will re-use your existing config settings. Proceed with making any other kernel configuration changes as well. This is where you enable or disable any particular kernel parameters.

5. Save your new .config file, then recompile the kernel by running

Code:

make
make modules
make modules_install
make bzImage

6. Copy the new kernel and corresponding .config file to your boot directory (name them in such a way that they are clearly identified, and make sure not to overwrite the existing kernel in case you need to fall back)

Code:

cp /usr/src/linux/arch/i386/boot/bzImage /boot/kernel-2.6.9
cp /usr/src/linux/.config /boot/config-2.6.9

7. If you use lilo, open up lilo.conf (in the /etc directory) and add the new kernel to the set of choices. Be sure to rerun lilo, so that those changes take effect - just run "/sbin/lilo" (no quotes). If you use GRUB, add the new kernel there. Reboot, and your new kernel should be an option. Note that if it doesn't work, you can just fall back to your previous kernel.

All of the above needs to be run as root, and note that I'm only using 2.6.9 as an example. You'll need to adjust things to fit whichever kernel version you decide to use. Lastly, I'm writing the above from memory, so if anyone sees any omissions or errors, please chime in with a correction. It may also be worthwhile to review some of the other threads here at LQ regarding kernel recompiles. Good luck with it -- J.W.

spotslayer · 11-13-2004, 07:11 AM

Thank's J.W.! What you gave me in a few paragraphs was what took many paged in the SuSE manual. I followed them and re did my kernel with no pprblem. Unfortunatly that did not solve my problem.

I have come to believe that the problem is that X is the only thing crashing, not the system. While I was crawling around with Google I cane across some documentation that explained how to stop X with a suspend and start it back up with resume. I read so much in such a short time I cannot remember where I saw this. Can someone guide me back to it or give me some advice on how to stop and restart X with the APM config.?

As long as I am not in X suspend and resume work fine, but I am open to any other suggestions.

David

spotslayer · 11-14-2004, 06:16 PM

Doesn't any one have any ideas? This is becoming a deal breaker for me. I really like the TP600e, but can't use it while I have this problem. I have seen so much information saying these computers work great, I know the solution is out there. I know I have done somthing wrong and I can correct it.

David