noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

phrakture · 2004-11-19 19:18:27

Currently I am running a handful of power saving utilities. Currently I have cpudyn running in acpi mode, which will spin down the disc while idle and control acpi freq throttling. I also had laptop-mode-tools installed to handle some acpi events.
Due to the new generic handler (/etc/acpi/handler.sh) in the acpid package, I have removed laptop-mode-tools. Now this handler deals with my power events.

Anyway, when my laptop sits idle and X is not active, it gets periodically noisy... I can't tell if it's the CPU fan, or my harddrive about to take off like a helicopter. Something winds up, spinning wildly for a few seconds, stops for about the same amount of time, and repeats. While in X, this does not happen. I checked the acpi logs, and it's not hitting any events to cause things to spin up. I am wondering if this is due to cpudyn?

In addition, I'd like to know what type of power saving functionality you all use, and how you handle acpi events.... just for curiosity's sake.

i3839 · 2004-11-20 00:40:15

laptop mode is as far as I know mainly abou keeping your harddisk quiet, so if you disabled it then the kernel will periodically write to your hd (also make sure you have atime turned of with mount options). So I'd recommend to enable laptomode, because it isn't for powersaving but for sparing your hd.

phrakture · 2004-11-20 07:09:45

hey let me know if you have 1.04 of laptop-mode-tools working - mine is borked with script errors.. i'll look at it tomorrow

i3839 · 2004-11-20 12:17:10

I don't have a laptop, so never used it. But you could take a look at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~bsamwel/laptop_mode/

cstorm · 2004-11-21 22:39:46

phrakture wrote:

Anyway, when my laptop sits idle and X is not active, it gets periodically noisy... I can't tell if it's the CPU fan, or my harddrive about to take off like a helicopter. Something winds up, spinning wildly for a few seconds, stops for about the same amount of time, and repeats. While in X, this does not happen. I checked the acpi logs, and it's not hitting any events to cause things to spin up. I am wondering if this is due to cpudyn?

maybe this is because of the hd's powermanagement. i've had "clicking noise" sounds, so as if the hd is parking periodically. i solved it by issueing hdparm -B 244. now my hd is quiet (the sound was really annoying!). what is weird is, that it only happens to you on console...

hdparm -B values for reference:
0x01-0x7F: max power saving with stop spinning
0x80-0xFE: some psaving but not stop spinning
0xFF: turn off apm features
___
acpi handling is done my my own script and i use the ondemand cpu-freq governor from the kernel (lowered latency a bit)

phrakture · 2004-11-22 16:00:32

cstorm wrote:

phrakture wrote:
Anyway, when my laptop sits idle and X is not active, it gets periodically noisy... I can't tell if it's the CPU fan, or my harddrive about to take off like a helicopter. Something winds up, spinning wildly for a few seconds, stops for about the same amount of time, and repeats. While in X, this does not happen. I checked the acpi logs, and it's not hitting any events to cause things to spin up. I am wondering if this is due to cpudyn?
maybe this is because of the hd's powermanagement. i've had "clicking noise" sounds, so as if the hd is parking periodically. i solved it by issueing hdparm -B 244. now my hd is quiet (the sound was really annoying!). what is weird is, that it only happens to you on console...
hdparm -B values for reference:
0x01-0x7F: max power saving with stop spinning
0x80-0xFE: some psaving but not stop spinning
0xFF: turn off apm features
___
acpi handling is done my my own script and i use the ondemand cpu-freq governor from the kernel (lowered latency a bit)

hmm, I'd be interested to see your acpi setup... if ya feel up to it, maybe you could write a wiki page, you seem well versed (or at least better off than me)

cstorm · 2004-11-24 10:50:24

phrakture wrote:

hmm, I'd be interested to see your acpi setup... if ya feel up to it, maybe you could write a wiki page, you seem well versed (or at least better off than me)

well, i would but my acpi handling is sort of.. homebrew, has nothing in common with distro shipped handlers and is specific to my asus m6800. it's not a general drop-in replacement for the current distro installed handlers although i think it'll serve well for a starting point for other laptops to catch/handle acpi-events. so, i don't feel good publishing it until it's tested/improved/generalized by someone else.
if you're still interested i'll send it to you if you tell me where to send it.

phrakture · 2004-12-13 15:41:18

naw mine is kind of like a periodic "revving" of the engine... I'll try to duplicate it in text:
wwwrrrrrrrrWWWRRRRRRRwrrrrrrrrWWRRRRRRRRRwwwwrrrrrrrWWWRRRRRR

it sounds like either the fan or HDD... not sure though... I almsot never notice it because of headphones... but it doesn't sound healthy

dtw · 2004-12-14 03:46:25

ahem - it's not the cdrom is it? :oops: just worth asking...

i spent two hours trying to mount a cd once, it was on the desk...

phrakture · 2004-12-14 18:20:15

dibblethewrecker wrote:

ahem - it's not the cdrom is it? :oops: just worth asking...
i spent two hours trying to mount a cd once, it was on the desk...

hmmm, it's possible... but the sound sounds as if its coming from the fan exhaust...which is on the other side of the laptop...

I dunno, I think it's gotten better on it's own.... heh

Jet2k5 · 2004-12-22 17:40:34

I think I have the same noise.... for mine I know it's the laptop's fan. I got to sleep leave my laptop turned on and then when I wake up in the morning the lappy is very hott and the fans are going crazy, so right away I check if there is anything hogging the cpu but nothing, then after like 45 seconds of me being active on the computer it stops and goes away . I really want to find a program that puts my computer into stand by mode, and all those other modes that kde's powermanagement has... I tried gnome's which is found in it's screensaver package, but that's a CPU hogg for mine so I can't really run it. People have recommended apmd, I read the man pages and I can't really understand it since I'm still a Linux n00b with no common sence . Is there a gui power managment? IF not can you tell me how you guys got started on all these programs? apd, etc....

-Luis

phrakture · 2004-12-22 18:16:42

Jet2k5 wrote:

I think I have the same noise.... for mine I know it's the laptop's fan. I got to sleep leave my laptop turned on and then when I wake up in the morning the lappy is very hott and the fans are going crazy, so right away I check if there is anything hogging the cpu but nothing, then after like 45 seconds of me being active on the computer it stops and goes away . I really want to find a program that puts my computer into stand by mode, and all those other modes that kde's powermanagement has... I tried gnome's which is found in it's screensaver package, but that's a CPU hogg for mine so I can't really run it. People have recommended apmd, I read the man pages and I can't really understand it since I'm still a Linux n00b with no common sence . Is there a gui power managment? IF not can you tell me how you guys got started on all these programs? apd, etc....
-Luis

you'd probably not want to use apm, if you can help it... I find acpi much better...

acpi has suspend to ram / suspend to disk.... but i don't know

Arch Linux

#1 2004-11-19 19:18:27

noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#2 2004-11-20 00:40:15

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#3 2004-11-20 07:09:45

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#4 2004-11-20 12:17:10

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#5 2004-11-21 22:39:46

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#6 2004-11-22 16:00:32

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#7 2004-11-24 10:50:24

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#8 2004-12-13 15:41:18

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#9 2004-12-14 03:46:25

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#10 2004-12-14 18:20:15

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#11 2004-12-22 17:40:34

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

#12 2004-12-22 18:16:42

Re: noisy while idle - and power saving pkgs

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