Issue when resume from suspend in Slack 12.1
 

hi all,

I just installed 12.1 on my Compaq nx6120 laptop. I'm trying to get it to suspend when I close the lid based on this post . You might notice that that was me on 12.0 and it was working well. My issue now is when resuming the display is somehow 'dimmed' (i.e. no backlight?). I can see the desktop if I look hard enough :)

I've tried:

• backlight brightness control keys doesn't work (it works during normal operation)
• xset dpms force on (also works during normal op - i.e. turning display on/off)
• removing the acpi video kernel module (I think I read somewhere that it could be a problem?)

Any ideas? Some help, please?

Sleep functionality is very dependent on kernel versions and hardware; what might work on one combination is quite likely to fail on another combination. I've done a lot of work in this area for Slackware -current, but it should be relatively trivial to backport it for 12.1.

Find a mirror with the most recent -current updates (the ones from 20081130, which at the time of this writing, may not have synced publicly yet) and navigate to the slackware-current/source/ap/ directory. Pull the entire contents of the libx86, vbetool, radeontool, and pm-utils directories, then do this:
You might consider also getting the latest hal-info from the slackware-current/source/l directory and doing this:
Note that this is optional, but it offers you the best chance of success.

Once you've done all that, read over /usr/doc/pm-utils-*/README.SLACKWARE for how to use pm-utils.

hi Robby,

thanks for the suggestion.. I have actually considered trying your pm-utils package but decided not to when I read your post. How critical is it when you say...

I think I may fall under that category at the moment - but if it's not that critical, I'll definitely give it a try.

Also, I've looked at the Slackware mirror in Australia - I can only so far find pm-utils and hal-info sources. But I guess that's why you said wait for recent ones (20081130)? I'll wait for a couple of days longer...

Well, I've had one report of filesystem corruption, and neither I nor the pm-utils maintainer have been able to figure out why. The good news is that it was on a desktop system rather than a laptop, so that hardware family doesn't exactly get the kind of testing as do laptops.

Most mirrors should have it now. If not, SlackBuilds.org has virtually identical stuff now :)

Right... I've installed all the packages including the new hal-info. pm-is-supported reports OK for suspend (all actually). Unfortunately, pm-suspend still produces the same results - dimmed display. As before, the system is still running and if I logout to the login screen, the display is somehow restored. pm-hibernate works flawlessly so far.

So, I guess the suspend/resume process is not really a problem then? Maybe it's a display control problem? Anyways, using vbetool to restore does not work, and radeontool is not applicable in my case (no radeon device).

I'm currently using vbetool to just turn on/off the display on lid event. I'd really like to get suspend to work again. Any ideas?

Okay, correct me if I'm wrong on any of this:

pm-hibernate works as expected (suspend to disk)? If so, then that's good, but mostly expected, as the BIOS gets to reinitialize the hardware on the reboot.

pm-suspend: does it actually *suspend* the system, and then you have a dim display on resume, OR does it simply dim the display and then stop?

Does the display backlight turn off when you do pm-suspend? If not, then try running "pm-suspend --quirk-dpms-suspend"

More importantly, is the display *really* dim after resume (i.e. the backlight is not on at all)? If so, do this: "pm-suspend --quirk-dpms-on"

I'm thinking the second suggestion above is going to work for you.

If it does, please send me via email the make/model of the laptop, short summary of the problem (as a reminder), complete lshal output, and a reminder of which extra quirks you had to use for proper resume.

Yes... pm-suspend managed to suspend the system and the backlight was turned off. Everything else is back on resume except the backlight is not on at all. I've tried "pm-suspend --quirk-dpms-suspend" - it's still the same :(

Crap. That second one was supposed to be "pm-suspend --quirk-dpms-on"

That didn't work either, but it made me think I should really read the man page for these --quirk options. And it so happens, --quirk-vbe-post actually did the trick! Yay! Thanks, Robby!

Just curious, I think I don't actually need the radeontool package, right? What about vbetool and libx86? Does that --quirk-vbe-post option actually use the vbetool package or is it an internal code?

p/s: I've just sent you the information requested previously. Hope it's useful.