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#1 2014-02-21 07:03:36

Arup
Member
From: Earth
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 95

TLP and LAPTOP MODE tools SOLVED

I installed Arch and updated on my ASUS Optimus i7 laptop. With the stock nouveau, kernel 3.12 keeps the discrete nvidia off and you can use the xrandr command to enable PRIME support. Also battery consumption is quite good and CPU temps stay well under control. However if you install TLP the temp shoots up as for some reason it enables the GPU. Battery consumption goes down as well subsequently.
Laptop-mode doesn't interfere but it doesn't make much difference to consumption and also induces boot time errors as it tries to look for cpu-freq which the kernel disables for Intel SNB and above and uses the pstate instead. You will get slew of errors while booting regarding this issue.

I will later add some intel GPU related kernel parameters to squeeze out battery life but I will advise all to stay away from laptop-mode or tlp as they make very little difference compared to headaches they bring with.

Also the Linux kernel on daily basis is getting better with regards to power consumption so these tune ups would be redundant anyways. This is my experience, yours may vary.

Last edited by Arup (2014-03-12 03:48:35)

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#2 2014-02-21 08:04:22

CH2IS
Member
From: Wales
Registered: 2013-08-01
Posts: 18

Re: TLP and LAPTOP MODE tools SOLVED

TLP is known to conflict with many other power management tools. I've never had much luck with it either. In general, you are better off using one such tool or you're going to suffer all manner of headaches. I'd recommend using Powertop.

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#3 2014-02-21 11:03:41

Arup
Member
From: Earth
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 95

Re: TLP and LAPTOP MODE tools SOLVED

Yep powertop works out best and safest.

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#4 2014-02-22 13:01:47

alroar
Member
Registered: 2012-10-15
Posts: 27

Re: TLP and LAPTOP MODE tools SOLVED

Arup wrote:

Yep powertop works out best and safest.

TLP uses the same stuff as powertop does, except the stuff that does not make sense. I cannot agree with your statement there. TLP was designed for thinkpads, but works on other brands aswell. Power functions are set up depending on your usage (battery or on line). Further powertop does not make any persistent changes and the usage displayed may be far off reality.

Last edited by alroar (2014-02-22 13:02:19)

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#5 2014-02-22 16:53:43

linrunner
Member
Registered: 2013-04-21
Posts: 52

Re: TLP and LAPTOP MODE tools SOLVED

@Arup: feel free to drop me a bug report at the TLP issue tracker. Please don't forget to attach the full output of

tlp-stat # as root

@CH2IS: one should not install and use two power management tools at the same time, as all tools change the same set of kernel settings. So it's plain obvious that the "conflicts" you mention (btw: where is your evidence?) are not a speciality of TLP.

And to make that clear: powertop is not a power management tool because is doesn't make any persistent changes to power relevant settings. As such it is not an alternative to laptop mode tools or TLP.

Last edited by linrunner (2014-02-22 16:54:29)

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#6 2014-02-23 09:22:34

CH2IS
Member
From: Wales
Registered: 2013-08-01
Posts: 18

Re: TLP and LAPTOP MODE tools SOLVED

@CH2IS: one should not install and use two power management tools at the same time, as all tools change the same set of kernel settings. So it's plain obvious that the "conflicts" you mention (btw: where is your evidence?) are not a speciality of TLP.

And to make that clear: powertop is not a power management tool because is doesn't make any persistent changes to power relevant settings. As such it is not an alternative to laptop mode tools or TLP.

You make a fair point on both counts even if I think you are perhaps being a little pernickety. You're right that it is misleading to blame TLP but that was not my intention and I did make the same point as you, namely that using any two of that type of tool will likely cause problems.

Clearly, Powertop's not in the same bracket as TLP and Laptop Mode Tools because, as you rightly say, it doesn't make any changes by itself. However, I think it can be used as an alternative if you're inclined to change kernel settings and the like manually.

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#7 2014-02-25 08:17:41

Arup
Member
From: Earth
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 95

Re: TLP and LAPTOP MODE tools SOLVED

linrunner wrote:

@Arup: feel free to drop me a bug report at the TLP issue tracker. Please don't forget to attach the full output of

tlp-stat # as root

@CH2IS: one should not install and use two power management tools at the same time, as all tools change the same set of kernel settings. So it's plain obvious that the "conflicts" you mention (btw: where is your evidence?) are not a speciality of TLP.

And to make that clear: powertop is not a power management tool because is doesn't make any persistent changes to power relevant settings. As such it is not an alternative to laptop mode tools or TLP.


I have used your tool in Ubuntu and till today, it works well in it. However with Arch I use nouveau to take advantage of PRIME which automatically switches on the discrete card as per load. When I install TLP, it turns on the discrete card permanently leading to heat and battery life issues. Its got to be something in TLP's kernel tuning that turns the nouveau on via PRIME. This happens with both kernel 3.12 and 3.13. The older kernels don't do PRIME.

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#8 2014-03-07 05:40:25

Arup
Member
From: Earth
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 95

Re: TLP and LAPTOP MODE tools SOLVED

Its not just TLP but even Powerdown is kicking nouveau on so the configurations in these kick up the discrete card for some reason.

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#9 2014-03-12 03:39:57

Arup
Member
From: Earth
Registered: 2014-02-20
Posts: 95

Re: TLP and LAPTOP MODE tools SOLVED

Update issue solved thanks to some real good fast work by TLP team, thank you very much. The issue can be found here at https://github.com/linrunner/TLP/issues/62

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