Arch Linux

schmidtbag

Member

From: NH, USA

Registered: 2011-02-08

Posts: 347

Acer M5-581T-6405 reboot issue

I recently got an Acer M5-581T-6405 with an i5-3337u (HD4000 GPU).  I got Arch with XFCE installed, and it overall seems to work fine, but I get this very strange issue where if and only if I'm running off the battery, some GPU intensive tasks force the computer to immediately reboot.  The best example of this is with the game Trine 1.  The game will play while plugged into AC, but as soon as I unplug from the wall, the computer reboots without any hesitation.  If I lower all graphics settings in the game, I'm still able to play on the battery.  A DVD in VLC managed to cause this as well, but it wasn't a reproducible situation.

I'm using SNA, but switching to UXA didn't seem to fix the problem either.

Last edited by schmidtbag (2013-08-06 13:10:45)

schmidtbag

Member

From: NH, USA

Registered: 2011-02-08

Posts: 347

Re: Acer M5-581T-6405 reboot issue

To further my tests showing that this is a GPU problem, I tried some CPU stress tests to make it run at 100% load while on the battery and it worked just fine.  I'm guessing the problem is the GPU is re-clocking and the extra power draw is just a little too much for the battery to handle.

Does anybody know of a way to alter the GPU power management?

Czarcasmo

Member

From: Colorado Springs, Colorado

Registered: 2011-04-20

Posts: 82

Re: Acer M5-581T-6405 reboot issue

Well, I, too, am having a GPU problem on almost the same model. I have the -6807 and it also has the HD4000 graphics. I don't seem to have the issue that you're having but mine artifacts and tears frequently. Are you seeing the same thing?

I've tried reproducing the problem you're having and can't make it happen. Have you tried the powersaving options on the Intel Graphics Arch wiki page?

Czar.

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Laptop: Lenovo X1 Carbon, Core i7 2.0Ghz, 8GB RAM, Gnome 3.16

schmidtbag

Member

From: NH, USA

Registered: 2011-02-08

Posts: 347

Re: Acer M5-581T-6405 reboot issue

I actually managed to solve my problem myself, using the following command (as root):

echo "800" > /sys/class/drm/card0/gt_max_freq_mhz

Doing this allowed me to unplug the laptop from the wall while playing games at full detail.  They did run slower, but at least they worked.  I noticed using 900MHz also works, but I'm not sure if the battery can handle that when it's getting closer to dying, so I left it at 800.  Besides, it'll be more power efficient this way.  If I'm running off battery, I don't care so much about performance.

I ended up creating a shell script that checks if the battery is discharging it'll cap the maximum CPU and GPU frequencies.  Otherwise, it'll set them to their normal frequencies.

Well, I, too, am having a GPU problem on almost the same model. I have the -6807 and it also has the HD4000 graphics. I don't seem to have the issue that you're having but mine artifacts and tears frequently. Are you seeing the same thing?

I've tried reproducing the problem you're having and can't make it happen. Have you tried the powersaving options on the Intel Graphics Arch wiki page?

Czar.

Your i5 is SLIGHTLY worse than mine.  The CPU portion is basically the same as mine but 100MHz slower (both stock and turbo speeds), and the GPU's turbo is also 50MHz slower.  There's a possibility that extra little dip in performance is all it takes to not make it reboot.  I only tried down-clocking to 900MHz, so there's a possibility that if I dropped to 1GHz it would still work just fine.

I do seem to get some visual problems myself, but since I don't intend to game on this computer anyway, it's not really a big deal to me.  I was mostly just testing games to see how it could handle them and to check that the hardware is functioning properly - and it's a good thing I did because the hardware WASN'T functioning properly.  Intel is still making progress on these GPUs, so I guess just give them time to improve the drivers.  For all I know, there could be a driver that fixes this reboot issue I have.

It's highly unlikely your laptop is the reason you're getting artifacts.

Last edited by schmidtbag (2013-08-07 13:37:26)