hybrid-graphics-linux team mailing list archive

[Bastien Schuhmacher <b.schuhm@xxxxxxxxx>]

2011/4/21 Alex Williamson <alex.l.williamson@xxxxxxxxx>

> On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 11:18 AM, Bastien Schuhmacher
> <b.schuhm@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> > I tested your module on my Asus N53Jf with ubuntu 10.10 and 2.6.38.
> >
> > It seems to be working right now, although it gets me a little confused.
> >
> > echoing ON and OFF impacted battery drain rate as expected, so I guess
> > discrete GPU is shut down properly.
> >
> > Then I tried  to switch to discrete. I echoed DDIS, then tried an X
> restart
> > with Alt+sys+K (Ctrl-Alt-Bckspc doesn't work for a reason..).
> > This gave me a blank screen I could not leave. I noticed that the screen
> was
> > lit though.
>
> If you have one available, does plugging in an external monitor
> trigger the display to turn on?  2.6.38 is supposed to have the vga
> switcheroo client reprobe hook, but I haven't actually tested this
> with that kernel yet.  You might boot to the default ubuntu 10.10
> kernel and do the install and see if things work better.  That would
> be a more similar vintage to the fedora 14 kernel I'm using for
> testing.
>

I'll try that at home, but that will be this week end.



> > On reboot, I had a blank screen between GRUB and GDM, so I assume I was
> on
> > discrete. This time the screen was not even lit, it was completely off.
>
> The laptop will typically reset back to IGD on reboot.  At least I've
> never seen mine come up with discrete graphics unless I flip the
> switch in the BIOS setup.
>

That's what I was expecting, but drain rates and echo OFF not having any
effect made me think I was on discrete.


>
> > Now, what confuses me is the output of cat
> > /sys/kernel/debug/vgaswitcheroo/switch wich says :
> > 0:DIS: :Off:0000:01:00.0
> > 1:IGD:+:Pwr:0000:00:02.0
> >
> > But I noticed echo OFF no longer lowers battery drain. Rate stays at
> ~30W,
> > which is a typical rate when GPU is ON.
> > Is the cat command unreliable ? Or do I misunderstand it?
>
> How did you setup the modules, loading by hand, or automatically via
> initramfs?  Seems like maybe they're not getting loaded right on the
> reboot.
>

I used make install-ubuntu.
I think my problem is I installed the module on 2.6.35 and forgot to
reinstall after updating to 2.6.38. I realize I could not turn off discrete
after my update. My mistake..
I'll try reinstalling tomorow.


>
> > I don't really have use of the discrete card, but the good news for me is
> I
> > don't get frozen on shutdown anymore with the xorg cold bug. May be
> related
> > to the new kernel tough, as I was running under 2.6.35 and updated to
> test
> > this module.
>
> I'm not familiar with the "xorg cold bug", but I do get freezes on
> shutdown sometimes with my system.  I was working on an init script
> that would power the discrete graphics on early in shutdown to see it
> that would help.  Thanks,
>
> Alex
>