How to fix missing vgaswitcheroo

samvv · 10-20-2015, 02:56 PM

Hi,

This is my first question on this forum

I've installed Debian 8 Jessie on a laptop, which is going to be my new server. However, the fan is making an aweful lot of noise. The power drain is also incredibly high, if I read the output of /sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/power_now correctly (about 200 Watts). I suspect this is due to my integrated graphics card blowing on full speed (ATI Radeon HD 5xxx). To disable this, most posts I encounter say I should echo OFF > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch, but it isn't available on my system. I also tried changing the boot command to GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash radeon.runpm=0", but that too does not fix anything.

Some of the link I found are listed here, but none of them solve my question.

Anyone any ideas how to solve this? Help is greatly appreciated.

colorpurple21859 · 10-22-2015, 09:30 AM

Vgaswitcherro is for a system with 2 graphic cards, that isn't optimus. What are the laptop specs?

Emerson · 10-22-2015, 09:33 AM

Are you running GUI or the fan speeds up when X is not loaded?

samvv · 10-22-2015, 09:41 AM

Hi,

Thanks for replying.

No Xserver or GUI, just a vanilla Debian server. The fans start blowing immediately after powering up, although they weren't spinning when I tried out NixOS.

The laptop is a Dell n7010. The screen got broken a while ago (weird color and pixels), but is working now.

I'll post the specs when I get back home. If I'm correct there should be an additional integrated graphics card (Intel-based).

Sam

colorpurple21859 · 10-23-2015, 05:18 AM

maybe debugfs isn't mounted. Run the following to mount

Code:

mount -t debugfs none /sys/kernel/debug

then try vgaswitcherro.

samvv · 10-23-2015, 12:51 PM

The mount -t debugfs gave the following result:

Quote:

mount: none is already mounted or /sys/kernel/debug busy

Specs:

Quote:

Operating system: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium
Display: 17.3-inch LED HD+ TrueLife 1600900
Webcam: 1.3 megapixels
Processor: 2.4GHz Intel Pentium Core I3
Chipset: Mobile Intel HM57 Express
Memory: 8GB DDR3-1333
Hard drive: 250GB SSD
Optical drive: 8x DVD+/-RW
Graphics: Integrated Intel HD Graphics
Discrete Graphics: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Park [Mobility Radeon HD 5430/5450/5470]
Audio: Integrated
Networking: Ethernet, 802.11b/g, Bluetooth v2.1
Ports: 4 x USB 2.0, 1 x VGA, 1 x HDMI, 1 x Ethernet (RJ-45), 1 x audio line-in, 2 x audio line-out
Battery: 6-cell lithoum-ion
Model: Inspiron N7010
Included items: Dell Inspiron N7010, battery, AC adapter
Dimensions: 16.54 inches wide x 1.24 inches high X 10.87 inches deep
Weight: 6.7 pounds

Also something else ... could aticonfig have anything to do with it? I just noticed it gets installed when installing the fglrx-drivers.

Edit:

Found something! aticonfig --px-igpu:

Quote:

aticonfig
[...]
--px-list-active-gpu
--pxl
List current activated GPU
--px-dgpu
Activate discrete GPU (High-Performance mode), must re-start X to take effect
--px-igpu
Activate integrated GPU (Power-Saving mode), must re-start X to take effect

However it does not work:

Quote:

samvv@server:~$ sudo aticonfig --pxl
PowerXpress: Discrete GPU is active (High-Performance mode).

Anyone got any pointers? I'm running short on options.

Emerson · 10-23-2015, 01:10 PM

Why are you installing ati driver on a CLI-only host?

samvv · 10-23-2015, 01:15 PM

Thought it might enable the power-savings mode, which apparently it didn't.

Emerson · 10-23-2015, 01:18 PM

fglrx is Xorg driver, it is not used without X.

samvv · 10-23-2015, 01:20 PM

Oh right got it; uninstalling now. Though I'm pretty sure it won't fix the issue.

Emerson · 10-23-2015, 01:24 PM

Is there an option in the BIOS to disable ATI card?

samvv · 10-23-2015, 01:30 PM

Nope, nothing. Might be unsolveable. Thanks for helping by the way.

Emerson · 10-23-2015, 01:31 PM

Is this ATI card an add-on board? You may be able to remove it from the laptop.

samvv · 10-23-2015, 01:45 PM

Didn't think about that. That would actually be a really good solution. I'll try it when I open it up tomorrow, though I'm afraid it's connected to the CPU.

I also tried blacklisting, didn't work either.

/etc/modprobe.d/fbdev-blacklist.conf

Quote:

blacklist fglrx
blacklist radeon
alias radeon off
alias lbm-radeon off

Some more links:

colorpurple21859 · 10-23-2015, 10:09 PM

Have you installed firmware-linux-nonfree?