Too short battery time

mooattyi · 2012-02-05 00:07:45

Hi!

First of all, sorry for my bad english!

So, I have a Dell Inspiron laptop (Intel [non sandy] i5, Ati graphics). I used Ubuntu on it with Fluxbox. With it, the battery was discharged after 3 hours. Last week I installed Arch on it with Fluxbox, and the battery is discharged after 1,5 hours.
I've read many pages about it, but I don't know what to do. Can someone tell me, what programs should I install? Laptop Mode Tools, upower, acpi, acpid, pm-utils? Can someone tell me step-by-step what to do? I know the wiki pages, but they're too complicate for me, I'm newbie

desm0tes · 2012-02-05 00:45:11

I'd say, most of what you need is found here.
Go through step by step and take your time, it really ain't as hard as it may look like.

It tells you what programs to install (or not) and why, and it provides the necessary info to use it. To me it seems like a pretty good guide for newbies.

David Batson · 2012-02-05 01:51:20

Try the kernel boot parameters listed here:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=a … ower&num=1

In particular, I find the following one the most useful:

i915.i915_enable_rc6=1

EDIT: I just reread your opening post and see you are using ATI instead of Intel. I guess this doesn't apply to you.

Last edited by David Batson (2012-02-05 01:56:16)

mooattyi · 2012-02-05 10:49:37

Thank You for the reply! Ok, I'll try to don't be lost in the config files

mooattyi · 2012-02-11 00:08:21

Please help me!!

I don't know what to do!
I tried about this: http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/110148/#p110148
And this: http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/111481/#p111481
I tried with and without laptop-mode-tools, but nothing!! My battery time is 1:40 (

Please help me!

vwyodajl · 2012-02-11 00:44:46

Did you go through the link desm0tes posted above? Following that and building a suitable handler.sh for my laptop has given me a large increase in battery time, though I have not completed all I want to do and testing. Also be sure as you are installing things that if you turn something off in one program its not brought up by another "power" script, some of the things duplicate actions. For me just using a handler.sh with acpi has been more than enough, just take your time and read through all the links in the laptop page and any related pages.

If what is on the wiki is to hard to follow how would someone else posting the same info in a forum be any different? HTH

Last edited by vwyodajl (2012-02-11 00:47:35)

taylorchu · 2012-02-11 01:51:48

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 5#p1045475

see my post. it should at least double the battery life.

samrat94 · 2012-02-11 04:46:25

I'm having the same issue with my laptop (ThinkPad E520 core i5 with ATI graphics). Adding pcie_aspm and enabling rc6 at boot didn't do much help.

vwyodajl · 2012-02-11 07:23:15

You need to make sure what you are enabling even is on your system. If you do not run the same system as the person who is showing you the way they do it some of the things will not apply properly or even at all.

mooattyi · 2012-02-26 23:54:52

Thank You taylorchu!

Tomorrow I will try it! Did You installed something else? Laptop mode tools, cpufrequtils, or something like, or only that 3 apps?

toad · 2012-02-27 06:53:20

powertop comes to mind.

t1nk3r3r · 2012-02-27 22:42:00

Ubuntu does more configuring for you(behind the scenes). Arch tends to be more 'hands-on', and in the process you learn more about linux in general
Script: runs once=no overhead=more know-how/learning, good for squeezing out every minute
LMT: runs as a daemon=using precious resources, but easier to understand .conf files with explainations + a man page, can change settings between AC/battery

If you install LMT, that's not enough. It needs to be configured from *.conf files under /etc/laptop-mode as root. And be sure to add the daemon to rc.conf. Personally, I would change all the "auto"s to "0" or "1"

Assuming your using the open-source driver for ATI (radeon/xf86-video-ati):

cat /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_method

If it's "profile" then as root:

echo mid > /sys/class/drm/card0/device/power_profile

That alone added 30 minutes for me (using HD4250), and kept the laptop from getting as hot.

If that helps you, add the second line to the script. Or if using LMT, add the line to rc.local.

Do you have cpufrequtils installed and configured?

mooattyi · 2012-02-27 23:52:32

So I did them: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php … 5#p1045475
I added the second script to /etc/rc.local

My battery life now is 1:56
It's terrible too...

Bitterness...

vwyodajl · 2012-02-28 02:04:46

are you just copying and pasting everything from those threads without actually seeing if they apply to your laptop? You will need to work through whats using your power and adjusting it accordingly with your method of choice. If I would have just copied and pasted what was listed, it would have had very little impact in improving my battery life.

Try running powertop2 and it will help you track down more of whats using power

Are you bitter because you have to read and try things to get your laptop configured? As was stated by t1nk3r3r its a hands on OS. Also your battery life will vary depending on how much you are actually doing while using it on the battery, such as if you were just browsing the web it would last longer than if you were compiling kernels maxing out every core on your system. The thread you just posted plus reading the acpi related wiki's helped me drastically and to be able to track down the proper related changes for mine, I am sure you can do the same with some work on your part

mooattyi · 2012-02-28 09:41:53

No, I not just copy. I saw that the first config file is full of comment So I make it for my cpu as the wiki page said, and it's frequency is down, when it's have no job.
The second script is working. I only comment the USB section, because my USB mouse always lag with it.
I don't know the third is working or not. I think it's working, becouse after the boot my screen's backlight turns down a bit.

The problem is I don't know what to do. Every people say different. Laptop mode tools, acpi, acpid, pm-utils, upower, phc, fancontrol, hddtemp...etc...
I don't know what exactly should I install, and set up with it's config file...

mooattyi · 2012-02-28 09:50:35

powertop said "swapper" eats the most energy. What is swapper? How to disable it?
I don't have swap partition. With 4 GB ram I thought it's unnecessary.

DDMC · 2012-02-28 16:49:02

The "swapper" process is related to the idle process... It is what the CPU does when it has nothing else to do and has nothing to do with a swap partition.

< EDIT: Note to myself... Don't write s*** at the end of a 30 hour day.

I have a netbook doing the same thing with Hardened Gentoo and I have no idea what is causing it and don't have the tools to run it down. On mine it reduces the time spent in the deep C4 state to 70-75% - pretty bad... At this point I am assuming that it is a configuration problem. >

While they may be accounting for a good portion of processor wakeups in powertop, it is doubtful that it accounts for double the power consumption.

Follow some of the earlier links. Look closely at power configurations for internal and external devices. USB, PCI-e, wireless, WAN, disk & DVD management... Not all of it behaves as expected or is easy to sort.

Cheers

Last edited by DDMC (2012-02-29 06:17:39)

mooattyi · 2012-03-06 07:45:51

So here is my Powertop:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/11253594/powertop.png
What should I do?

toad · 2012-03-06 07:54:07

Read the wiki and use google like the rest of us.

mooattyi · 2012-03-06 19:27:20

Hi!

So...I red every wiki pages, and used google.
Now I have success

Battery 0: Discharging, 98%, 02:17:04 remaining
Battery 0: design capacity 4400 mAh, last full capacity 3798 mAh = 86%

2:17 ) I'm very happy!

So here is my config file: http://pastebin.com/8hkSiMNb

I tried to undervolting my cpu, but i can't
My default_controls file has no FID-s:

cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/phc_default_controls
0:21 0:20 0:19 0:18 0:17 0:16 0:15 0:14 0:13 0:9

So, can somebody help me to save more energy?

Regards

toad · 2012-03-07 07:17:02

Have you stumbled across this thread?

mooattyi · 2012-03-07 15:33:37

Yes

Last edited by mooattyi (2012-03-07 15:33:58)

mooattyi · 2012-03-10 11:03:01

Hi!

If my laptop has no application running, only the X, I have about 150-200 wakeups/sec. From this "[Rescheduling interrupts] <kernel IPI>" eats about 50-60%. I don't know what's this.
If I kill X, the wake ups go down to 8-10 wakeups/sec. My battery life goes up with half hour.
If I start moc and start an mp3, my wakeups go high. My soundcard eats about 200 wakeups/sec. It means about -half hour in my battery life

Are they correct values? Or are they high? How can I get lower values?
I tried with ACPI=off kernel option, but with it it was terrible.

Earnestly · 2012-03-10 11:37:25

Try powertop2 from the AUR.

mooattyi · 2012-03-11 20:41:38

Thank You, this application is very useful!
Here are some screenshots about it: https://www.dropbox.com/gallery/1125359 … p?h=b54f44
I have some question.
My battery time is not bad if I use only console, and do nothing. But if I use X, and listen to music, my battery time goes down with 40-50 mins. Can I do something against this?
I see in powertop that mocp uses "Audio codec hw:C0D0: IDT" on 100%. Can I reduce this usage?

And another question. I have acpid installed, and running. I would like to ask it to run my powersave script if I plug out the adapter, and run another if I plug it in. I read that I have to make a script to /etc/acpi/events/ that ask my acpid. But I don't know how
My acpi_listen said the following happens if I plug out the adapter:

ac_adapter ACPI0003:00 00000080 00000000
battery PNP0C0A:00 00000080 00000001

And the following if I plug it in again:

battery PNP0C0A:00 00000080 00000001
ac_adapter ACPI0003:00 00000080 00000001
battery PNP0C0A:00 00000080 00000001

Can somebody tell me what should I insert to my event script?

Arch Linux

#1 2012-02-05 00:07:45

Too short battery time

#2 2012-02-05 00:45:11

Re: Too short battery time

#3 2012-02-05 01:51:20

Re: Too short battery time

#4 2012-02-05 10:49:37

Re: Too short battery time

#5 2012-02-11 00:08:21

Re: Too short battery time

#6 2012-02-11 00:44:46

Re: Too short battery time

#7 2012-02-11 01:51:48

Re: Too short battery time

#8 2012-02-11 04:46:25

Re: Too short battery time

#9 2012-02-11 07:23:15

Re: Too short battery time

#10 2012-02-26 23:54:52

Re: Too short battery time

#11 2012-02-27 06:53:20

Re: Too short battery time

#12 2012-02-27 22:42:00

Re: Too short battery time

#13 2012-02-27 23:52:32

Re: Too short battery time

#14 2012-02-28 02:04:46

Re: Too short battery time

#15 2012-02-28 09:41:53

Re: Too short battery time

#16 2012-02-28 09:50:35

Re: Too short battery time

#17 2012-02-28 16:49:02

Re: Too short battery time

#18 2012-03-06 07:45:51

Re: Too short battery time

#19 2012-03-06 07:54:07

Re: Too short battery time

#20 2012-03-06 19:27:20

Re: Too short battery time

#21 2012-03-07 07:17:02

Re: Too short battery time

#22 2012-03-07 15:33:37

Re: Too short battery time

#23 2012-03-10 11:03:01

Re: Too short battery time

#24 2012-03-10 11:37:25

Re: Too short battery time

#25 2012-03-11 20:41:38

Re: Too short battery time

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