Arch Linux

phildg

Member

Registered: 2006-03-10

Posts: 146

Dell Laptop acpi events

Hi,

I have a Dell Inspiron 1150. I'm struggling to get it to recognize acpi events such as the lid closing or the power button. The acpi modules I have loaded are ac, battery, fan, button. To monitor acpi events I typed

cat /proc/acpi/event

in a terminal. Is there some module I'm missing? Other acpi functionality seems to be working - I can throttle the cpu, I can get information about the state of the battery and it can detect when the ac adaptor is plugged in.

rayjgu3

Member

From: Chicago IL usa

Registered: 2004-07-04

Posts: 695

Re: Dell Laptop acpi events

well the kernel  used to have all the necesary stuff loaded into it
but its gone modular so you need to load modules to get it up
check this
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/ACPI_modules
should give you a ggod enough idea of whats needed to get things going for you again

phildg

Member

Registered: 2006-03-10

Posts: 146

Re: Dell Laptop acpi events

I listed the modules that were loaded and that I think were necessary. I have even gone to the extreme of attempting to modprobe all the modules under /lib/modules/2.6.20-ARCH/kernel/drivers/acpi but no luck.

I have found out that `cat /proc/acpi/button/lid/LID/state` correctly outputs the state of the lid, its just /proc/acpi/event never receives notification of the lid being closed/open, which I need for acpid.

To note: I hadn't bothered with this before acpi was modularized, so its not like its just stopped working.

Last edited by phildg (2007-04-24 21:23:45)

rayjgu3

Member

From: Chicago IL usa

Registered: 2004-07-04

Posts: 695

Re: Dell Laptop acpi events

what DE/WM you using kde gnome xfce4 openbox.....
i run kde on my laptop ocasionally xfce4  rarely enlightenment
kde checkout control center > power > laptop battery.  theres settings in there once you get everything setup on acpi

dont recall setting up xfce4 or enlightenment

phildg

Member

Registered: 2006-03-10

Posts: 146

Re: Dell Laptop acpi events

I'm using xfce4, but I'm pretty sure thats irrelevant.

acpid monitors /proc/acpi/event and then runs an appropriate action based on what event is recieved. If nothing comes from /proc/acpi/event how can acpid work? I think the problem is at the kernel level.

goldfish2

Member

Registered: 2007-04-06

Posts: 4

Re: Dell Laptop acpi events

You wont see anything happening in /proc/acpi/events using cat, if it works or not.
when acpid is running you can monitor what events it received by

cat /var/log/acpid

phildg

Member

Registered: 2006-03-10

Posts: 146

Re: Dell Laptop acpi events

You wont see anything happening in /proc/acpi/events using cat, if it works or not.

I beg to differ.

An example output from my (working) desktop:

$ su
Password: 
[root@newcastle philip]# /etc/rc.d/acpid stop
:: Stopping acpid                                                        [DONE] 
[root@newcastle philip]# cat /proc/acpi/event 
button/power PWRF 00000080 00000001
button/power PWRF 00000080 00000002
button/power PWRF 00000080 00000003
button/power PWRF 00000080 00000004

[root@newcastle philip]#

I've aslo examined the acpid log, and I get a few random ac_power events but I can't seem to reproduce them

goldfish2

Member

Registered: 2007-04-06

Posts: 4

Re: Dell Laptop acpi events

I stand corrected. I just got 'device or resource busy', obviously since acpid was running. Thanks phildg.

Are there any buttons listed in /proc/acpi/buttons ?

Last edited by goldfish2 (2007-04-26 15:36:50)

phildg

Member

Registered: 2006-03-10

Posts: 146

Re: Dell Laptop acpi events

In /proc/acpi/button I have directories for lid, power and sleep.

As I said in #3 /proc/acpi/button/lid/LID/state correctly recognises when the lid is closed and when it is open. So the kernel must be able to detect and understand what is happening when I close the lid, its just never output to /proc/acpi/event.