[Dell Inspiron 3646] Power LED won't blink or change color during suspend on 14.04.2

[Po-Hsu Lin]

CID: 201403-14890 Dell Inspion 3646

The power LED on this system do have two colors (white / orange)
But when it's suspended, it won't change color or blink.
It will be off instead.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: linux-image-3.16.0-30-generic 3.16.0-30.40~14.04.1 [modified: boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-30-generic]
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-30.40~14.04.1-generic 3.16.7-ckt3
Uname: Linux 3.16.0-30-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.7
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: Unity
Date: Sun Apr 26 22:40:15 2015
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-04-14 (13 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20150218.1)
SourcePackage: linux-lts-utopic
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
---
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.7
Architecture: amd64
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: ubuntu 1801 F.... pulseaudio
CurrentDesktop: Unity
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=404b79c5-1e9a-41ee-a1e6-ba3f26d22861
InstallationDate: Installed on 2015-04-14 (13 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS "Trusty Tahr" - Release amd64 (20150218.1)
MachineType: Dell Inc. Inspiron 3646
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: linux (not installed)
ProcFB: 0 inteldrmfb
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.16.0-30-generic root=UUID=6e79389f-c729-4309-a6b6-66d41e3663ce ro quiet splash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.16.0-30.40~14.04.1-generic 3.16.7-ckt3
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.16.0-30-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.16.0-30-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.127.11
Tags: trusty
Uname: Linux 3.16.0-30-generic x86_64
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
UserGroups: adm cdrom dip lpadmin plugdev sambashare sudo
_MarkForUpload: True
dmi.bios.date: 04/14/2014
dmi.bios.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.bios.version: A00
dmi.board.name: Type2 - Board Product Name1
dmi.board.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.board.version: Type2 - Board Version
dmi.chassis.type: 3
dmi.chassis.vendor: Dell Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: A00
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnDellInc.:bvrA00:bd04/14/2014:svnDellInc.:pnInspiron3646:pvr:rvnDellInc.:rnType2-BoardProductName1:rvrType2-BoardVersion:cvnDellInc.:ct3:cvrA00:
dmi.product.name: Inspiron 3646
dmi.sys.vendor: Dell Inc.

[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Po-Hsu Lin (cypressyew)]

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[Brad Figg (brad-figg)]

This change was made by a bot.

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Po-Hsu Lin / ALex Hung, as per http://www.dell.com/support/home/us/en/19/product-support/product/inspiron-3646-small-desktop/drivers an update to your computer's buggy and outdated BIOS is available (A07). If you update to this following https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BIOSUpdate does it change anything?

If it doesn't, could you please both specify what happened, and provide the output of the following terminal command:
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date

Once the BIOS is updated, and the information above is provided, then please mark this report Status Confirmed.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Alex Hung (alexhung)]

I updated BIOS to A07 from #19, the led doesn't blink either.

The command "sudo dmidecode -s bios-version && sudo dmidecode -s bios-release-date" shows
A07
03/25/2015

[Alex Hung (alexhung)]

A friend @ Dell told me that some (or all) systems won't blink led when systems are sleeping, so I tried Windows 8 to see whether this problem is unique for Ubuntu/Linux.

The result: the led won't blink for Windows 8 either (clean Win8 + VGA driver). I think this is a design instead of a bug.