[SOLVED] Suspend to disk/RAM not working due to ?powersaved

[sling-shot]

I have been using this HP Mini netbook with Intel Atom 450 processor, 1 GB RAM, 250 GB harddisk for few months.
I have installed PCLinuxOS from 2010.10 iso and fully updated.
Have a swap partition of 3 GB.

For the first 2 months, suspend to RAM used to work whenever I closed the laptop lid and I could resume after typing my user password. Recently, may be around 20 days or so, I have noticed that whenever I close the laptop lid, only the screen gets switched off but the computer does not suspend. Even the log-in session too does not get locked. On opening the lid the desktop is just ready to go.

5 days back I put a fresh install of PCLinuxOS on another test partition and that install could suspend properly.
However after a full update, suspend is not working anymore.

Trying to investigate the matter, I went into KDE System Settings > Hardware > Power Management.
There I see this:

Code: [Select]

The configuration module cannot be started, since there seems to be a problem with the PowerDevil daemon. Read below for more details:
It seems powersaved is running on this system. PowerDevil will not start is other power managers are active.
If you want to use PowerDevil as your primary power manager, please stop powersaved and restart the PowerDevil service.

Now who is this 'powersaved'? How did he enter into my system? I do not remember installing anything other than gnumeric on this test install.

[AS]

Hi,

Now who is this 'powersaved'? How did he enter into my system? I do not remember installing anything other than gnumeric on this test install.

powersave is one of the available packages, may be you installed it by error. Try to look in Synaptic-> File -> History if it was installed recently,
then try to remove the package "powersave" and restart your desktop.

AS

[canajun]

I noticed similar problems with my lappy following latest major updates and a subsequent re-install when errors occurred.

Laptop: TOSHIBA Satellite A305d / ATA Hitachi HTS54252 / ATI Radeon
AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-60: 2000.00MHz
Processor: 2x AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-60, Memory: 2982MB
O/S: PCLinuxOS 2010.12 / KDE Platform Version 4.6.1
Kernel: Linux 2.6.33.7-pclos6.bfs (i686)

I may be wrong here, but "Powerdevil" no longer appears to be bundled in PClinuxOS 2010/11 KDE 4.6.1. At least, I no longer see it in the Repos with Synaptic. As such, because of "suspend" issues, I had to to do some experimenting.  I searched in Synaptic for terms such "suspend" and "hibernate" and found a few others apps available: "apmd", "guidance power manager", "powersave", as well as "WattOSPM", and I tested them out. 

1. with "apmd" I can suspend and hibernate, but lose control over the CPU frequencies and the temperatures soar, becoming dangerously hot, but suspend / hibernate works.

2. with "powersave" I have to uninstall "apmd" (according to Synaptic it conflicts with "powersave"and  one can only install one or the other). With "powersave" my lappy runs nice and cool but I cannot suspend or hibernate. In fact, the "power profiles" in KDE go missing. The best I could do is to install another app called "turnoffmonitor" to shut the screen off, otherwise, total shut down.

3. with "guidance power manager" I get no response at all. I can click on the GUI all day and it will not load. Not sure why. I suspect it also conflicts with "powersave"

4. Finally, "WattOSPM" is absolute crap and I would recommend that it be removed from the repos. It loaded, but it needs a lot of highly technical input from the user, and, for some dumb reason, it has a button attached to it for loading Firefox which totally borked my ALL my Mozilla apps (wasted several hours trouble-shooting that before I got them back).


If anyone else is experiencing similar issues, they should add them, as there may be something here that that the devs need to look at.

I have done a lot of experimenting with various other CPU related backend apps (installing, enabling and disabling) to get it to a point that it runs this cool. "Powersave" seems to be the one that did it.

If anyone has any suggestions related to "suspend / hibernate" probs, I would be keen to hear them. 


Thanks in advance.


 

[AS]

I may be wrong here, but "Powerdevil" no longer appears to be bundled in PClinuxOS 2010/11 KDE 4.6.1

Powerdevil is bundled in kdebase4-workspace-core, you can find it in synaptic by searching "powerdevil" and look in "provided packages".

AS

[canajun]

I have reloaded and updated Synaptic using Ibiblio repos and have searched for it by name and keyword, but I do not see it. Went trough all the sections too.  It doesn't show up as either installable nor upgrdable. Nada. 


...Weird 

[AS]

I have reloaded and updated Synaptic using Ibiblio repos and have searched for it by name and keyword, but I do not see it. Went trough all the sections too.  It doesn't show up as either installable nor upgrdable. Nada. 


...Weird 

Open "Configure your desktop" then goto Hardware -> Power management -> Global settings and click on button "Help", powerdevil docs will be shown.

powerdevil is enabled/started from Configure Your Desktop -> System Administration -> Startup and shutdown -> Service Manager.

if you are having the same problem as sling-shot, you need to disable powersaved, look in PCC -> Systems -> Manage system services,
once disabled reboot your system.

AS

[canajun]

Thanks for the reply AS.  The Power Profile settings in KDE Desktop Manager disappear when "powersave" is installed.  As soon as I uninstall "powersave", the profiles reappear and I can get the machine to suspend (presumably, that is "powerdevil", though again, I don't see that app anywhere).

The BIG PROBLEM is. however... as soon as the machine boots, it is already running at 65 C. and climbs rapidly to 85 C. and higher. In other words, it is going to crash or melt down.  (with PowerDevil).

I have tried to tweak it with various daemeons in the backend (stopping and starting them alternately), but no real change:



Are there any of these that are unnecessary or, having an adverse effect ??

Anyways, I am back to "powersave" for now. When "powersave" is running, the machine starts off at only 52 C. and drops to as low as 42 C.  That is of course much safer and healthier for the machine  ... but then I cannot use the suspend (sleep) function. 


Thanks again in advance for any more suggestions.

[AS]

The BIG PROBLEM is. however... as soon as the machine boots, it is already running at 65 C. and climbs rapidly to 85 C. and higher

this thing should be managed from cpufreq governor, you can check with command cpufreq-info, that's my system:

cpufrequtils 008: cpufreq-info (C) Dominik Brodowski 2004-2009
Report errors and bugs to cpufreq@vger.kernel.org, please.
analyzing CPU 0:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 0
  maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 2.10 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.10 GHz, 2.10 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, conservative, powersave, userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 2.10 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 800 MHz (asserted by call to hardware).
analyzing CPU 1:
  driver: acpi-cpufreq
  CPUs which run at the same hardware frequency: 0 1
  CPUs which need to have their frequency coordinated by software: 1
  maximum transition latency: 10.0 us.
  hardware limits: 800 MHz - 2.10 GHz
  available frequency steps: 2.10 GHz, 2.10 GHz, 1.60 GHz, 1.20 GHz, 800 MHz
  available cpufreq governors: ondemand, conservative, powersave, userspace, performance
  current policy: frequency should be within 800 MHz and 2.10 GHz.
                  The governor "ondemand" may decide which speed to use
                  within this range.
  current CPU frequency is 800 MHz (asserted by call to hardware).

you can use cpufreq-set to change governor.

AS

[canajun]

Thanks again.  I will scout around the net and try and get more info about about the various settings for "cpufreq" that are best for my cpu and what may be causing the conflict between power saving (suspend / hibernate) and cooling capabilities.