SUSE 9.2 and Toshiba A70 ACPI (I think) Problem
 

I installed SuSe 9.2 on a Toshiba Satellite A70 laptop yesterday. I had to disable hyperthreading to get KDE to come up, apparently because of an ACPI issue. Today, I have been experiencing a problem that I think may also be ACPI related.

I will be happily working away when suddenly the screen will shut off, the external mouse will shut off and the hard drive will shut off (I here it turn off). But, the power is still on but nothing brings the system out of its coma except powering down. I have switched the CPU frequency control from dynamic to performance and so far it is behaving.

I was looking at the power management settings in /etc/sysconfig with YaST and noticed two interesting settings that I wonder if anyone has tried. For both of

POWERSAVE_ACPI_MODULES located in System/Powermanagement/Powersave/General

and

ACPI_MODULES located in System/Powermanagement/acipd/General

a setting of toshiba_acpi may be included in the list of values possible for these parameters. So, as anyone used this, what were your results, might it solve my problem?

Of course, I could do the cavalier thing and just try it, but I'm a little bit cautious. :)

Thanks.

I noticed the following message in /var/log/messages

Feb 10 19:28:55 rho modprobe: FATAL: Error inserting toshiba_acpi (/lib/modules/2.6.8-24.10-smp/kernel/drivers/acpi/toshiba_acpi.ko): No such device

This occurred at boot and again when I added toshiba_acpi to the parameters in my initial post.
Now, the file /lib/modules/2.6.8-24.10-smp/kernel/drivers/acpi/toshiba_acpi.ko does exist.

Any suggestions?

I also have SUSE 9.2 on a Toshiba Satellite laptop. I took a different approach to getting it all to work. I took the SYSGEN option NOACPI in order to the load process to work; I did not have to turn off HyperThreading. KDE & the desktop work fine once I then used SAX2 to resize the video from VGA to XGA (9.2 does not detect that the ATI video will work in XGA mode, so it defaults to VGA.

If I boot up first into XP and let the laptop fan come on, and then reboot into SUSE LX, the laptop runs fine all day after that. What you experience was a hard shutdown because with no ACPI module enabled, the fan won't automatically turn on to cool everything down. You should have seen a Kernel Panic message about the CPU overheating, but I'm guessing you missed it. By booting up into XP first, the heatsink warms up & the fan starts, so I know I have no hardware problem.

I do have to turn HyperThreading off when I run Symantec PartitionMagic under XP to fool around with my dual boot partitioning; once done I then re-enable it in the BIOS.

Sooner or later, Toshiba will release a newer ACPI module that is compatible with SUSE 9.2 and HyperThreading; until I just do the dual-boot trick above.

Other contributors have posted script commands to force the fan on during boot-up; search the postings & look for them.

Also, the Toshiba LAN card did not work on 9.2; I had to download the latest Kernel upgrade from an RPM mirror site for 9.2 & install it using YAST (easy to do!); once I did this & rebooted, I had immediate Internet connectivity so I could download all the SUSE 9.2 updates.

Regards,
MoonRover

Thanks for the suggestions moonrover. Maybe I missed the kernel panic message. I certainly couldn't see it with no display. :) I had no trouble with my LAN card being recognised. My system never felt hot when it went down and the fan does come on periodically.

When I was looking at the documentation for fnfx (fn keys on toshiba) it indicated that the message I'm getting probably means toshiba acpi support is not compiled into the kernel and it gives a couple kernel parameters to set. I'm about to see about recompiling my kernel.

I guess I'm just stubborn and don't want to have to boot into XP to make Linux work just on principles.

Thanks.

Hi.

I also have a Toshiba Satellite (in the M35 series). I got the same error message about Toshiba_acpi and after some research, learned that my BIOS was not Toshiba native, but Phoenix. If that's the case with yours', the fnfx will make no difference to you whatsoever. Just a thought...

Thanks JSpired, I had come to the same conclusion last night. My bios is also Phoenix. In looking at the kernel parameters associated with APM, although it doesn't get loaded because ACPI does first, the help suggested a number of things to try if you were getting random kernel oopses. They range from passing paremters at boot eg. no-hlt to compiling without APM.

I will try some more things but would be really interested to hear from anyone who has gotten this stuff to work without the "boot into xp" workaround.

From my suggestion to you to search postings for references to "fan" & overheat, you will find the following in another posting:
=================================================================
Kwast & Co
Newbie
Registered: Oct 2004
Location: Amsterdam
Distribution: Fedora
Posts: 9
HCL Entries: 0
Reviews: 0
Re: Toshiba Satellite A65 Dual Boot Overheats with Fedora only ( post #4)
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally posted by jpc1258
I have a Toshiba Satellite A65-S126, I installed Fedora Core in a Dual Boot with Windows XP. Everything went smooth. Now my laptop will overheat and shut down only when running Fedora. Windows XP Works great. Any Help?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
put echo "force_on:1" > proc/acpi/fan/FAN1/state in rc.local to turn the fan on if you don't want a sudden shut down due to overheating.
Best regards,
Dick.
=================================================================

Regards,
Moonrover

Thanks Moonrover for doing that search. I tried but came up empty, clearly because I restricted my search to the suse forum. That'll teach me. You mentioned in your first post that there would likely have been a kernel panic. I have searched some of the logs (/var/log/messages and /var/log/faillog to name two) but do not see a kernel panic in them. Maybe I'm searching the wrong log.

Now I did see something interesting in /var/log/messages

Feb 12 20:22:24 rho [powersave][5509]: DIAG in Function activateSettings, line 2
95: No trip point support
Feb 12 20:22:24 rho [powersave][5509]: DIAG in Function activateSettings, line 3
04: Cooling mode is not supported by BIOS or the thermal module is not loaded,
nag your vendor to implement all ACPI specfications.

I wonder if I should tell powersaved to not load the thermal module.

I'll check out that fan on setting you pointed me to.

Thanks again.

Hmmm. I'm starting to think that my problem is not ACPI related. I tried booting with the acpi=off boot parameter today. The system boots fine and acipd reports no acpi in the kernel. Makes sense.

The fan has been going on and off by itself (presumably the bios is doing this) throughout the morning. I was working in a shell when I saw the display flash and after that - comatose.

No kernel panic in messages.

Any thoughts on how I might trace down what is causing these lock-ups? :scratch:

Thanks

I have an A65-S1068 Toshiba, which is slightly different than the A70 model, so I don't know if the BIOS's are the same between the two or not. All I can give you are just general troubleshooting suggestions:

1) Download all the SUSE 9.2 updates with YOU from any distro mirror site that has them; I used the one in Ulm, Germany, and install them. Verify SUSE still works OK.

2) Reboot one last time & turn off hyperthreading in the BIOS, then bootup cold the next morning with ACPI turned off, and without booting up into XP first to start the fan. Verify that either that the fan somehow starts up automatically on its own as you state above, or that the CPU shuts down after a kernel panic. When I created my initial login account/password, I check-marked the box that said "OK to receive system messages", so maybe why this is why I get the panic messages and you don't.

3) If you do get it to shutdown, immediately reboot up into XP or LX and verify that the fan comes on automatically because the heatsink is already HOT. If not, you have a thermal problem with the heatsink/fan for Toshiba to fix.

Regards,
MoonRover

I will try what you have suggested. I did request system messages when I created my account. I had another look and /var/log and some files of the form mail* which indicated that poxtfix was having trouble. I will have to look at its configuration. That probably explains why I havn't seen any panic messages.

To Moonrover or anyone:

I have a Toshiba Satellite A65-S1067, one number less than yours (Probably the same). You might be the only one on web with the similar specs that I have.

I have wasted 2 weeks trying to configure linux on this hunk of junk. I had to pick the worst possible configuration for linux. Anyways, I was wondering if you could give me a walkthrough of what you did as soon as you bought the laptop?

I've tried Slackware-Current and Ubuntu Warty on it and the same problems show up every time. I've already given it back to my parents to get it fixed.

I'd like to know what you think is the best distro for this laptop (S1067 or S1068)? You seem to be using Suse. How's that coming along?

The bottom line is, I just want to be productive.

I had to give up and now my parents have installed XP Home already. But today, the internal drive to use linux sprung out again.

Here are problems I had when I configured it:

ACPI - This seems to be recurring theme on linuxquestions.org ( Yes, I get the Random Shutdown as well because the fan does not turn on ).
Video - I can't seem to get 3D acceleration with xorg. Any tips there?
Sound - This I got to work, No probs here
PCMCIA/Cardbus - I bought the world's worst wireless card OR toshiba's cardbus slot is not detecting it at all. I bought the newest Linksys WPC54GS w/ Speedbooster (have to use ndiswrapper) (uses a Broadcom chipset), but in /sbin/lspci, I don't get anything except for Texas Instruments Cardbus Controller. I assume you have the same cardbus and run similar pcmcia scripts if you use the port.

Also do you know whether the BIOS for (S1067 or S1068) is authentically toshiba or just pheonix? According the toshiba's specs page at http://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/t...ceghdgngdgmm.0

it just says it's ACPI Bios.

Also, can linux damage your battery because of random shutting downs. Because soon after I had my troubles, I realize I can't turn on my laptop with out the AC Adapter and even after charging the laptop for a day, the battery light is still amber.

I hope these clues will help all toshiba linux users. I just don't want to have to succumb to Windoze in the end. In order to use the stability of Windows, I've compromised to have 20 GB WIndows and 20 GB Linux. Which linux to use (Arch, Slackware, Suse, Debian, Ubuntu, or Gentoo)? That's up for you guys to suggest. This might actually turn out to be a very helpful thread for the future. Thanks!

Well, let's start at the top of the heap, and work your way thru your problems, one at a time, in small incremental steps, instead of the big bang you are hoping for.

First off, you have a great shot at success in getting LX working on the Toshiba gear. It required a bit of debugging on my part, but I'm a full-time programmer and used to this sort of thing. I've had many years on SCO Unix, "C", Windows, and decided to take the plunge into SUSE LX after the announcement that Novell picked them up. I've used Netware many years and all their documentation is good, so this is the advantage I perceived over all the other LX distros that are available. They all have a common Unix family tree, but performance, support, and documentation is what will make or break a vendor. I tackled this task just to keep my debugging skills sharp, because over the years Windoze does so much self-configuration and automatic driver insertion and automatic updating without intervention, it's kinda like having a nice touring car that you never lifted the hood on ........

From absolute ground zero, I took notes of every step in getting my Toshiba up & running; I will eliminate the deadends & just give you the shortest path to success. Here we go. "You're gonna git your fingers a little oily under the hood now ....."

1) I bought Toshiba Pentium laptop after Xmas was over; got a good deal at CompUSA. Best bang for the buck, and I wanted a Pentium "V-8" instead of a Celeron "4-banger". I verified that the XP preloaded on it worked OK, and that all hardware (LAN, modem, wireless, CD, etc.) worked fine under XP. It came with 256 MB memory; I doubled it to 512 MB. Tested audio CDs, a DVD movie, and Internet access. Then be ready to blow it away knowing that you have a Rescue CD from Toshiba; it definitely works, I tell you.

2) Next, I bought SUSE LX 9.2 at Fry's. After having practicing loading it on an Athlon based system at work, the next weekend I started getting ready for the dual-boot reconfiguration on my new laptop. Early on a Saturday morning I started the process with DVD 1 in the distro package and chose English as my primary language. Now we're off and running .....

3) Next, you have an opportunity to mess with the partitioning. The lowest I could go was 11GB for XP so that it would work with the GRUB dual boot loader, There was a bug in the 9.1 distro that for larger XP partitions, the dual-boot loader failed to load XP (see other threads on this site) that was still in the 9.2 distro. I put XP at the bottom of the disk, a future expansion area (undefined), and at the top of the drive an 878MB swap area, and a 33GB LX partition on my second try, because I found out that any larger for XP that GRUB failed (the infamous "Chainloader +1" bug), and that with ACPI enabled I failed at multiple points along the way too.

4) Got thru the rest of the system loading, but I noted that the monitor resolution chosen was at VGA mode instead of XGA. Don't be temped to change it now; you will get the "black screen of death". Just let it reboot and then use SAX2 to set it to 1024x768 XGA mode once you do the initial signon. Catch 22 -- you can't use YAST; I tried; you can't save the new configuration because the "SAVE" button is off the screen because of the wrong resolution.

5) Because I had first booted up into XP, at this point I didn't realize that my fan was working fine, so it was not a problem at this point. I played around with the desktop, resizing the icons, with KDE, and got familiar with everything.

6) Next problem -- couldn't get the modem, LAN, or wireless to work, so I couldn't execute YOU to fetch the latest updates. After Googleing for a few hours on my Win98 desktop, I decided to download the latest kernel (both the default and the NOGPL versions) from an RPM mirror site and burned them onto a CD and inserted into the laptop & loaded them both using YAST.

7) Upon rebooting, I discovered that my LAN card was now working with no more editing and changing. I verified Internet connectivity (Hello, eBay !!), and then executed the YOU function (YAST Online Update). I downloaded all suggested updates from the Ulm, West Germany mirror site, and let YAST install them all. I gave up getting the modem & wireless drivers for now; I will tackle that later.

8) The next day I ran into the Kernel Panic I've discussed with NOACPI; I get around it by first booting into XP long enough for the heatsink to heat up. Yes, a kludge, but LX runs the whole day afterward with the fan in low speed instead of cyclone mode.

9) Final problem was running PartitionMagic on XP to resize the XP partition from 11GB to 16GB; DON'T do it unless you first turn off HyperThreading in the XP BIOS or you will blow out the XP partitioning table like I did; I had to stop & fix it, and it is now at 16GB.

10) Now to wait for drivers for the Wireless NIC, my USB mouse is where I'm at. I don't want to use the NDIS wrapper solution using Windoze drivers on LX, so I wait .....

10) I'm also waiting for an ACPI driver that won't misbehave on the Toshiba on LX.

In the meantime, GRUB faithfully loads both systems, and I play to my heart's content late at night trying learn what many other LX pioneers before me have found out.

Regards,
Moonrover

Even more answers:

3-D graphics - No, haven't gotten it working, neither have others I see from other LX postings on this site I've cruised thru. Nice to have if I needed it, but I don't yet.

BIOS (Phoenix or ??) -- Don't know, don't care. I have SUSE 9.2 LX up & running with the LAN card, so I have a "Linux Labortory" with dual boot working. I will be patient & wait for working drivers once Novell convinces the manufacturers to open up their specs so SUSE can write working native drivers instead of using the NDIS wrapper solution.

Battery damage - No, LX cannot damage it. It should recharge OK overnight and come back to the "two green LEDs" the next day. I have a wireless router in my house, so I use XP anywhere I'm at in the house with no power cord, & then re-dock it at night to recharge. Maybe you have a weak battery. If it's a NiCad, toss it & get a Nickel-Metal-Hydroxide ASAP. LX runs just fine on the battery once I get the fan cranked up, and I have had no more Kernel Panics followed by a shutdown.

In short, remember that my total LX experience is with SUSE 9.2, but a lot of the information I gave you applies to other distros as well. A Ford and a Chevy both get you down the freeway, but people buy one or the other for styling, confort, and service. I won't critique or even critisize any of the other distros because I have no experience with them. I chose SUSE for the reasons stated above & was willing to be a pioneer on 9.2 like everyone else ahead of me simply because of my previous experience with Novell Netware.

Best Regards,
Moonrover

Moonrover, I tried your suggestions and here is what happened.

I did the online update yesterday.

I did a cold boot this morning straight into Linux with acpi=off. The fan cycled on and off throughout the morning. There were idle periods (where screensaver activated) and active periods. The system ran for about three hours and crashed. A crash is indicated in wtmp but still no kernel panic messages to me or root and no errors in /var/log/mail.

I rebooted immediately in xp and the fan came right on. Also, I stuck my hand underneath and the the air coming out of the fan vent was cool. It just doesn't seem like the thing is overheating.

Is there a boot flag that will cause the system to do some sort of crash dump?

BTW, the A70 has a phoenix bios and I am running the most recent bios and I have had hyperthreading disabled since my initial install.

I'm not sure what to try next.