Author Topic: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues  (Read 7745 times)

urkomasse

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Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« on: May 24, 2012, 06:13:51 PM »
Hi,

I am trying to get the Asus 1215B going with Ubermix 1.0. I am also having suspend/resume issues.
Did you make any progress?

I still haven't tried using the AMD proprietary drivers. From a forum post in Ubuntuforums, I changed one option in the BIOS: C6 mode is OFF. It seems to help: suspend/resume works, but then when you shut down, you need to take the battery out to get it to start again!

Worth asking before I go on a long Google hunt...

jnetman1

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Re: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« Reply #1 on: May 24, 2012, 11:16:13 PM »
I have an old 1015B in the office, which is essentially the same motherboard. I'll give it a shot on Tuesday when I get back. In the mean time, the proprietary driver should work fine with that model, including suspend/resume. The battery remove to boot problem is the sort of thing you see when the video card is flaky or the thing tries to go into C6 mode.

Make sure you have the latest BIOS installed, which you can do using a USB key running FreeDOS. Use unetbootin to create the FreeDOS key :-)

jnetman1

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Re: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« Reply #2 on: May 24, 2012, 11:17:38 PM »
I asked Acer for a demo 722 unit. Hopefully I'll have it soon so that I can poke around at this problem. Seems the Fusion-based systems are a bit twitchy.

urkomasse

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Re: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« Reply #3 on: May 25, 2012, 12:20:38 AM »
I'll check the BIOS version and get a FreeDOS usb stick ready.

Thanks a lot for your help! Looking forward to trying out the new version next Tuesday.

We have shown the Asus 1215B running Ubermix 1.0 to a few students and teachers, and the feedback has been very positive. As it looks now, unless I can't get suspend/resume working, we will very likely go with Ubermix!

I just tried installing the AMD drivers using the download from the Wiki, and it gave an error: it can't build for kernel 3.2.0-22-generic.
The fglrx driver is now activated anyway, but I think it's an older version. Suspend is still causing troubles, though.

jnetman1

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Re: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« Reply #4 on: May 25, 2012, 09:21:25 PM »
Are all of your machines 1215Bs? How many do you have?

urkomasse

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Re: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« Reply #5 on: May 26, 2012, 02:22:52 AM »
Yes, all of them 1215B. We have almost 200.

For this coming school year we will get a few more to replace the ones that have been more severely damaged by our students, but it will be a minimal number. It will be the newer generation of the same model, or as close as possible.
Definitely sticking to the AMD chips, as they offer higher performance, and to stay consistent with the current model.

If I had known back when we got started that I would get the chance to go with Ubermix, I would have probably chosen Intel, but...

jnetman1

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Re: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2012, 04:18:49 PM »
So I tested the 1015B with both BIOS 311 and 404, and saw the same problem until I went in and disabled C6 mode in the BIOS. Then it worked as expected. Make sure you save your changes and after disabling C6. You can tell if C6 mode is enabled by clicking the battery icon - if it says "not present" then C6 is still turned on.

urkomasse

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Re: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2012, 01:23:49 AM »
I have now an Asus 1215B permanently to try to get this figured out.
With our latest customized image, with all Ubuntu updates applied, suspend/resume seems to work well now.

But when I try to reboot after suspending a couple of times, it gets stuck. It just can't boot. I need to turn it off and take the battery out.

What is interesting is that C6 settings in the BIOS don't make any difference now. Suspend/resume works, but if you use it, you can't reboot.

My BIOS is 0310.

I am going to try installing the AMD proprietary drivers. I tried using Jockey, but it didn't work. I will try the script in the wiki, or maybe go directly to the AMD website.

urkomasse

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Re: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2012, 08:02:52 AM »
I have found this bug report:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/856711
It is long, but around the end, a user seems to have found some changes in suspend parameters that might help:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/856711/comments/81

I'll try that tomorrow, and report back.

In that thread they also mention the issue of not being able to reboot after suspend, and it seems to be a known BIOS bug. So I will also try the BIOS upgrade first. This might explain why you are not experiencing that problem.

By the way, C6 option in the BIOS makes no difference in detecting the battery. It is always detected.

Thanks for all your help!

urkomasse

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Re: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2012, 08:01:22 PM »
Ok, so I'm still having problems.
I upgraded the BIOS to version 0503. After suspend, I still can't reboot. It can't find the hard disk for some reason.

Suspend itself works well, at least most of the time, but making students pull out the battery would not be acceptable :(

AMD restricted drivers:
  • The script doesn't check to make sure that dkms is installed, so the driver installation fails.
  • If dkms is installed, the drivers complain that compilation gives an error. I am using the latest .deb files created using the official AMD installer. Have you modified the .deb files that you have on the wiki so they can compile against the "3.3" kernel that is in Ubermix?

urkomasse

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Re: Asus 1215B - AMD suspend issues
« Reply #10 on: May 31, 2012, 08:33:45 PM »
Trying now BIOS 0404, no difference.
If I suspend, the next reboot doesn't work until I fully remove all power.

I have installed Lubuntu 12.04 straight, to test with a clean, non-aufs system, and to get the ATI drivers going. No difference.

I think the issue is related to the SATA controller, and not the graphic drivers. Would anyone know which drivers are for the SATA controller?

urkomasse

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Asus 1215B - Suspend/Resume issues, Enable Hibernate?
« Reply #11 on: June 01, 2012, 03:04:19 AM »
Hello,

I am starting a new thread because the other one was getting quite misleading.

The Asus 1215B is a very nice netbook, but the suspend/resume has a lot of problems.
I am trying to work with the Ubuntu developers to make some progress:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1006918

In the mean time, Hibernate is very reliable, but needs a swap partition.

How can I...

1) ... add the creation of a swap partition at the end of the hard disk in the Ubermix usb?

2) ... disable Suspend and make only Hibernate available? Or redirect Suspend to Hibernate?

Thanks!

jnetman1

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Re: Asus 1215B - Suspend/Resume issues, Enable Hibernate?
« Reply #12 on: June 12, 2012, 01:02:47 PM »
For others facing this issue, ubermix 1.02+ has a new option to enable hibernate, which works well as a workaround for suspend issues. You can enable it by:

  • Reboot the computer and press ESC immediately after your computer manufacturer's splash screen disappears (you should see a flashing cursor in the top left corner for a few seconds - press the escape key within 3 seconds to view the menu.)
  • Select "Normal Boot" from the menu (but don't press enter) and press the "e" key on your keyboard
  • Select the line in the box that begins with the word "initrd" and move the cursor to the end of the line.
  • Backspace over the four letters "aufs" and replace them with "generic". Do not add any spaces. Then press "ctrl+x" on your keyboard to boot
  • Open a terminal (ctrl-alt-t) and type /usr/local/lib/hibernate/setup.sh
  • Reboot