Arch Linux

RobertBuhren

Member

Registered: 2011-09-05

Posts: 59

[SOLVED]pm-utils no action when un/plugging ac cable

Hello,

i just installed arch in my new Thinkpad X220 and i have some problems with pm-utils. When i unplug the AC cable, pm-utils does nothing! I did a tail -f on /var/log/pm-powersave.log
and it shows nothing. acpi_listen successfully notices the change of ac power. On my old laptop, whenever i unplug the ac cable, the logfile /var/log/pm-powersave.log shows me which powermanagement rules were applied. I have no clue why this is not working on my the laptop. Any ideas welcome.

Thanks in advance,

Robert

Last edited by RobertBuhren (2011-12-19 10:52:33)

lagagnon

Member

From: an Island in the Pacific...

Registered: 2009-12-10

Posts: 1,087

Website

Re: [SOLVED]pm-utils no action when un/plugging ac cable

Do you have acpid installed and running? If not: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Acpid

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Philosophy is looking for a black cat in a dark room. Metaphysics is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there. Religion is looking for a black cat in a dark room that isn't there and shouting "I found it!". Science is looking for a black cat in a dark room with a flashlight.

lucke

Member

From: Poland

Registered: 2004-11-30

Posts: 4,018

Re: [SOLVED]pm-utils no action when un/plugging ac cable

If you're not using a DE with a powermanager, you should have acpid running and pm-powersave on/off set in /etc/acpi/handler.sh, I presume.

RobertBuhren

Member

Registered: 2011-09-05

Posts: 59

Re: [SOLVED]pm-utils no action when un/plugging ac cable

Thanks for the answers,

@lagagnon: yes acpid is installed and running.

@lucke: yes, i'm not using any DE but just plain compiz. On my other laptop (Acer Travelmate 8371) I'm using the same setup and there is nothing special in /etc/acpi/handler.sh. Any ideas which actually calls pm-powersave on/off? laptop-mode-tools is not used on both laptops.

EDIT: I found a solution, appearantly pm-utils relys on upowerd to switch powerstates. upowerd was installed, but not started (usually it should be started by a DE application). Since i'm not using any DE, upowerd was not running. To start upowerd, i simply added a "upower -e" to my .xinitrc. This will query the available power-sources and start upowerd, if it is not running. I think the /etc/acpi/handler.sh approach would also work, but i felt more comfortable with this solution, because it is close to what a "real" DE would do. I  still don't know what starts upowerd on my other system, i guess it's some gnome component that i accidently installed...

Thanks,

Robert

Last edited by RobertBuhren (2011-12-19 10:53:30)

orschiro

Member

Registered: 2009-06-04

Posts: 2,136

Website

Re: [SOLVED]pm-utils no action when un/plugging ac cable

Thanks for your investigation regarding upower. I was looking for a solution for quite a long time and didn't want to believe that acpid supposed to be the only solution.

To me using upower sounds far more right than acpid. I added this information to the wiki article.

Regards,

Robert

Last edited by orschiro (2012-01-19 04:05:18)

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@orschiro

orschiro

Member

Registered: 2009-06-04

Posts: 2,136

Website

Re: [SOLVED]pm-utils no action when un/plugging ac cable

For the last day I experienced that even though upower is started, pm-powersave is no longer executed.

May this be related to the recent kernel update?

Can anybody confirm this behaviour?

Regards

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@orschiro