Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

Aedit · 2009-12-12 20:55:38

Svlad Cjelli wrote:

I updated the wiki: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Samsung_N140 .
yeah i saw that, great work...

You're welcome DG :-).

indeed... that exactly what happens in my case...
There is a patch around in the www. But i am unable to patch the kernel...
A patched Kernel in AUR would be nice, but thats to much expected from anybody...

Do you mean Greg K-H's "samsung-laptop" patch? It has been reported not to solve the problem (http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0911.3/01604.html, "However, it does not prevent the ATA exception."), but you might try it out anyway for the backlight improvement.

Interesting that you said OpenSUSE worked for you. I haven't seen anyone state (a) whether the problem is really resolved or just less noticeable or (b) reasons _why_ it should be different. OpenSUSE has the samsung-laptop patch plus some other patches (including a few libata ones) and a different config. You could try them with Arch. Link to the src rpm is in the wiki.

In case it helps, here's a simple way to compile a custom kernel:
1) get the package files for the standard Arch kernel (from here http://repos.archlinux.org/wsvn/package … core-i686/ or ABS)
2) change "pkgname=kernel26" to "pkgname=kernel26-n140"
3) add an entry for your patch file to files=() and md5sums=() and a "patch" command just after the -ARCH patches line:

# Add -ARCH patches
# See http://projects.archlinux.org/linux-2.6-ARCH.git/
patch -Np1 -i ${srcdir}/${_patchname} || return 1

# Patch for Samsung N140
patch -Np1 -i ${srcdir}/mypatch-2.6.31.6-SamsungN140.diff    || return 1

4) install it and add an item in /boot/grub/menu.lst.

Last edited by Aedit (2009-12-14 01:17:40)

Svlad Cjelli · 2009-12-14 11:06:33

Do you mean Greg K-H's "samsung-laptop" patch? It has been reported not to solve the problem (http://lkml.indiana.edu/hypermail/linux … 1604.html, "However, it does not prevent the ATA exception."), but you might try it out anyway for the backlight improvement.

Oh sorry i misunderstood that... The patch occurs in the ata-exeption discussion and i thought that'd be the patch to fix that failure.

Building a custom kernel is not the solution i think.

The only way to get Linux running properly on the new Samsung netbooks is to hope for an ajusted kernel or wait for a BIOS-Update that fixes the problem...

Svlad

DonVla · 2009-12-14 11:44:45

Hi
I have no access to my N130, so I cannot give you further details about bios version and power saving settings right now.
On the N130 kernel AUR site (http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=32042) there is also a person who does not have hdd lock-ups.
It seems they do not always appear. I haven't heard of these till this thread started.
However Svlad, you might try enabling/disabling some bios features which are related to hdd power-saving. Later this week I'll post my settings.

Vlad

PS: You can take a closer look at the opensuse kernel and see what patches they use there.

Last edited by DonVla (2009-12-14 12:26:01)

Aedit · 2009-12-14 12:53:50

Svlad Cjelli wrote:

The only way to get Linux running properly on the new Samsung netbooks is to hope for an ajusted kernel or wait for a BIOS-Update that fixes the problem...
Svlad

It's perfectly understandable that you don't want to hack kernels. I would, but I don't have access to my netbook at the moment. The kernel SATA developers don't have an N130/N140 so it is unlikely that things will change without some testing from those that do have the hardware. So hopefully someone else will read this thread and the wiki and contribute.

Svlad Cjelli · 2009-12-14 13:09:44

On the N130 kernel AUR site (http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=32042) there is also a person who does not have hdd lock-ups.

thats really strange...

It seems they do not always appear. I haven't heard of these till this thread started.
However Svlad, you might try enabling/disabling some bios features which are related to hdd power-saving. Later this week I'll post my settings.

ok i just disabled everything regarding hdd-powersaving,

i even disabled hyperthreading, but the freezes continue.

In frustration i uninstalled the acpi-package and laptop-mode-tools... just to look what happens. I can tell you: FREEZES

It's perfectly understandable that you don't want to hack kernels. I would, but...

me too. And i have access to my netbook (right now)... the thing is: I ever was an ubutuusers (apperently since 7.10) and my linux skills are really not the best...

So i am not able to take a closer look at the suse-kernel and figure out what are the key-differences...
I just wait and start threads from time to time so that

someone else will read this thread and the wiki and contribute

DonVla · 2009-12-14 14:05:18

Svlad,
what hdd do you have in your n130?

Svlad Cjelli · 2009-12-14 14:13:53

DonVla wrote:

Svlad,
what hdd do you have in your n130?

Everest for Xo says:

Modell ID    Hitachi HTS545016B9A300

Other guys in the german ubuntuusers-board changed the hdd, they tried another an even used a ssd-drive.

The freezes continued...

see: http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/post/2265054/quote/

DonVla · 2009-12-14 14:17:36

Oh that's odd.
I have a Samsung drive in mine. I think it's a "Samsung HMI160".

Svlad Cjelli · 2009-12-14 14:22:30

DonVla wrote:

Oh that's odd.
I have a Samsung drive in mine. I think it's a "Samsung HMI160".

hmm... do you think that could be causing the issue?
As i said another user changed the drive and the freezes contniued.

Aedit · 2009-12-14 14:53:13

They seem to be supplied with various disks (it was the same for the NC10). I have the Samsung HM160HI. I think the disk model is not relevant to the SATA freezing issue -- people have reported freezes with disks from several different manufacturers now. So there's no point swapping disks.

Svlad Cjelli wrote:

ok i just disabled everything regarding hdd-powersaving,

Which ones exactly?

There is CPU power saving too -- processor C-states have been mentioned as being related.
IIRC there are options like
"CPU C-states and gv3" and
"CPU power saving"

What I'm wondering is whether any combination of BIOS options stops the switching on of extra powersaving features at 5 minutes after boot. There would probably be higher power consumption but it would be useful information.

Svlad Cjelli · 2009-12-14 15:17:07

Ok here is my "advanced"-section of my Bios, i think it is the only relevant:

yperthreading ENABLED
Processor Power Management DISABLED
Legacy USB-Support ENABLED
Large Discs Access DOS
EDB (Executalbe Disable Bit) ENABLED
Internal Lan ENABLED
Touch Pad Mouse ENABLED
CPU Power Saving DISABLED
Fan Silent Mode LOW
USB S3 Support DISABLED
Battery Life Extension DISABLED

As you can see i disabled the Processor Power Management and the CPU Power Saving.
I even tried to disable them seperately, so PPM disabled and CPU-PM enabled and vice versa...

-> FREEZES

Last edited by Svlad Cjelli (2009-12-14 15:19:05)

DonVla · 2009-12-14 16:25:51

OK guys,
I'm checking the bios now:
First the BIOS version is 01CM and the MICOM (whatever this is) version is also 01CM.
Second my advances setting are:

Hyperthreading: EN
Processor Power Management: EN
Legacy USB Support: EN
Large Disk Access: DOS
EDB: EN
Internal LAN: EN
TouchPad: En
CPU Powersaving: EN
Fan Silent: AUTO
USB S3: DIS
Battery Life ... : DIS
Purchase Date 2009/10

As far as I remember I haven't changed much here.
And my HDD is Samsung HM160HI.

Vlad

PS: Hehe, perhaps _downgrading_ the bios to version 01CM helps...
PPS: Svlad, can you send me a link to the SUSE kernel which worked?
I think I'll take a look at it this week.

Last edited by DonVla (2009-12-14 16:49:00)

Aedit · 2009-12-14 17:00:49

Looks like *CM is for N130 and *CU is for N140.

My N140 runs BIOS 04CU, and I have freezes.

On delivery it had BIOS 01CU but I upgraded to 04CU before I installed Arch so I can't say anything about 01CU.
I can't check the BIOS settings at the moment but I belive I have the same settings as DonVla.

Has anyone managed to downgrade a BIOS on these netbooks? How?

Aedit · 2009-12-14 17:12:12

DonVla wrote:

PPS: Svlad, can you send me a link to the SUSE kernel which worked?
I think I'll take a look at it this week.

AFAIK it was OpenSUSE 11.1. See the wiki http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Samsung_N140 . The samsung-laptop and libata patches might be the place to start.

Svlad Cjelli · 2009-12-14 18:12:46

Aedit wrote:

DonVla wrote:
PPS: Svlad, can you send me a link to the SUSE kernel which worked?
I think I'll take a look at it this week.
AFAIK it was OpenSUSE 11.1. See the wiki http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Samsung_N140 . The samsung-laptop and libata patches might be the place to start.

yeah, thats the kernel that worked for me...

in fact that is the kernel from the current opensuse 11.2!
I emailed the maintainer of the bugreport on bugzilla.org and he uses opensuse 11.1 with kernel 2.6.30 and he also didn't complain about freezes.

OK guys,
I'm checking the bios now:
First the BIOS version is 01CM and the MICOM (whatever this is) version is also 01CM.

Ok, things start to become interesting now...

as i mentioned my BIOS-version is 05CM... I edited my advanced-section just as the same as yours Don Vla. And the freezes continue.

Downgrading to the older BIOS?
I'd be lucky to be the guinea pig :-)

I searched a bit via google, but didn't find anything.
I think i should write an email to samsung if they have those version for me to download...

Last edited by Svlad Cjelli (2009-12-14 18:14:08)

DonVla · 2009-12-14 18:54:02

Svlad Cjelli wrote:

Downgrading to the older BIOS?
I'd be lucky to be the guinea pig :-)

Hehe, good one
And google returns ...
http://www.google.com/search?q=samsung+ … 8&oe=utf-8
not much about 01CM bios version.

PS: Intersting! markuman (see the comments on the kernel26-n130 in AUR) also has the 01CM bios.

Last edited by DonVla (2009-12-14 18:58:07)

Feniks · 2009-12-14 22:03:33

Hi. I'm from Russia, and I have the same problem as you.

When I bought a netbook, it was the BIOS 03CM. After installing Debian, 5 minutes after boot, appeared freeze for 30 seconds. Upgrade to version 05CM did not help. Different distributions also failed.

Having read various topics on the internet, I came to the conclusion that may be to blame technology FailSafe. After talking to tech support, I found that to get rid of this technology, you need to replace the motherboard and hard drive.

I hope my information will help in a joint search problem.

caligula700 · 2009-12-14 22:31:15

Hello! I have a Samsung N130 too and I have the same trouble as all of you. The system freezes shortly after the startup, for about 30 seconds.

I have tried Ubuntu, Fedora, Linux Mint, all of them freeze.

OpenSuse 11.2 doesn't freeze at all.

This way, I think that it may be a kernel thing. I don't know if there is a way to use suse kernel on ubuntu.

By the way, it'd be interesting to test the 01CM bios version. But, if I use 05CM version and openSuse doesn't make my system freeze.... maybe the bios version is not the problem...

It'd be fantastic If someone with enough knowledgment could get the differences between Ubuntu and Suse kernels. Maybe the distro's developers?

Last edited by caligula700 (2009-12-14 22:31:40)

Feniks · 2009-12-14 22:42:45

I have freeze on openSUSE 11.2....

caligula700 · 2009-12-14 22:48:51

Feniks wrote:

I have freeze on openSUSE 11.2....

This is really annoying. Maybe it dependes on hardware. Surely Samsung mounts different hardware on the N130. But I don't know if this is the reason why OpenSuse 11.2 freezes on some systems and doesn't on others

Btw, I'm from Spain and I bought my n130 about 6 weeks ago. It came with Windows 7 (wich I uninstalled when I saw how slow it was on the netbook) and with 04CM bios version wich I updated to 05CM. The freezes have happened with both bios versions.

Last edited by caligula700 (2009-12-14 22:49:22)

Theomachos · 2009-12-14 22:51:08

If downgrading to 01CM works...fine

http://www.greenwww.org/html/02/t-13502.html
Any Chinese people here ????

caligula700 · 2009-12-14 23:00:59

I googled for 01cm and got into some chinese pages which seemed to have the 01CM bios for download, but I wasn't able to register because you have to type the "captcha" in Chinese, I think...

I wonder if:
1) we can get 01CM bios somewhere
2) 01CM makes the freezes dissapear
3) apart from the *possible remove* of the freezes, would it be some other collateral effects that could affect our systems the bad way (01CM bios is supposed to be outdated and worse than the last version).
4) Is it possible the downgrade? and the eventual upgrade later again?

I'm afraid there is only one way to know: trying. if we can get the old bios version

Feniks · 2009-12-14 23:02:49

who dare?

caligula700 · 2009-12-14 23:06:22

Feniks wrote:

who dare?

you have nothing to loose (even opensuse freezes on yours)

sorry, just kidding

the first thing we need is 01cm

Last edited by caligula700 (2009-12-14 23:06:50)

DonVla · 2009-12-15 09:49:17

caligula700 wrote:

I googled for 01cm and got into some chinese pages which seemed to have the 01CM bios for download, but I wasn't able to register because you have to type the "captcha" in Chinese, I think...

Hehe

I wonder if:
1) we can get 01CM bios somewhere

I doubt that Samsung will provide an older bios version.
In one of the kernel-bug site threads above someone talked about a "linux-bios" for the n130. Maybe someone could ask the Samsung support about that.

2) 01CM makes the freezes dissapear

At least 2 people here do not any problems with this version.

3) apart from the *possible remove* of the freezes, would it be some other collateral effects that could affect our systems the bad way (01CM bios is supposed to be outdated and worse than the last version).

Is this so?
I didn't make a bios upgrade in my life. It's too much hassle for too little actual results.
Actually it is _not_ recommended to make bios upgrades/downgrades at all. So far I understand the Samsung guarantee expires if one changes the bios by himself.

4) Is it possible the downgrade? and the eventual upgrade later again?

Downgrading should be no problem. It's the same procedures as upgrading

Arch Linux

#26 2009-12-12 20:55:38

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#27 2009-12-14 11:06:33

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#28 2009-12-14 11:44:45

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#29 2009-12-14 12:53:50

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#30 2009-12-14 13:09:44

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#31 2009-12-14 14:05:18

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#32 2009-12-14 14:13:53

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#33 2009-12-14 14:17:36

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#34 2009-12-14 14:22:30

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#35 2009-12-14 14:53:13

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#36 2009-12-14 15:17:07

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#37 2009-12-14 16:25:51

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#38 2009-12-14 17:00:49

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#39 2009-12-14 17:12:12

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#40 2009-12-14 18:12:46

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#41 2009-12-14 18:54:02

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#42 2009-12-14 22:03:33

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#43 2009-12-14 22:31:15

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#44 2009-12-14 22:42:45

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#45 2009-12-14 22:48:51

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#46 2009-12-14 22:51:08

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#47 2009-12-14 23:00:59

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#48 2009-12-14 23:02:49

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#49 2009-12-14 23:06:22

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

#50 2009-12-15 09:49:17

Re: Archlinux on Samsung n130/n140

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