cannot suspend, GpmControlError.Code0: Cannot suspend as not allowed from policy Failed

[Martin Pool]

Binary package hint: gnome-power-manager

This seems to be a new regression in Karmic within the last week. (ie it was working a week ago, and is not working with yesterday's or today's updates.)

My Thinkpad X61s no longer shows options to suspend or hibernate in the logout dialog or from the gnome-power-manager applet. Also, the gpm applet always shows a mains plug even when the machine is running from battery, and the power history option no longer shows anything about a battery.

I worked through the steps in https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingGNOMEPowerManager which confirm that the kernel and lower levels of the machine *can* suspend correctly and do see a battery. It seems to be a higher level problem in the UI:

mbp@lithe% dbus-send --system --print-reply --dest="org.freedesktop.Hal" /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/computer org.freedesktop.Hal.Device.SystemPowerManagement.Suspend int32:0
method return sender=:1.0 -> dest=:1.104 reply_serial=2
   int32 0
*** at this point the machine suspended and resumed correctly ***
mbp@lithe% gnome-power-cmd suspend
Suspending
Error org.freedesktop.DBus.GLib.UnmappedError.GpmControlError.Code0: Cannot suspend as not allowed from policy
Failed
*** it did not suspend here ***
mbp@lithe% ubuntu-bug gnome-power-manager
ubuntu-bug gnome-power-manager 2.73s user 1.56s system 19% cpu 22.101 total
mbp@lithe% dbus-send --session --print-reply --dest="org.freedesktop.PowerManagement" --type=method_call --reply-timeout=6000 /org/freedesktop/PowerManagement org.freedesktop.PowerManagement.CanSuspend
method return sender=:1.19 -> dest=:1.82 reply_serial=2
   boolean false
mbp@lithe% gconftool-2 -g /apps/gnome-power-manager/general/can_suspend
true
mbp@lithe% polkit-auth | grep power-management.suspend
org.freedesktop.hal.power-management.suspend
mbp@lithe% hal-device | grep power_management.can_suspend
  power_management.can_suspend = true (bool)
  power_management.can_suspend_hybrid = false (bool)
mbp@lithe% pm-is-supported --suspend || echo "Not supported"
mbp@lithe% pm-is-supported --suspend

I see that policykit 0.9-4ubuntu1 was installed yesterday, perhaps the problem is in there.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
Date: Sun Jun 28 08:51:46 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: gnome-power-manager 2.27.1-0ubuntu3
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_AU.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/zsh
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.30-9.10-generic
SourcePackage: gnome-power-manager
Uname: Linux 2.6.30-9-generic i686

[Martin Pool (mbp)]

May also be interesting:

mbp@lithe% polkit-auth --show-obtainable
com.ubuntu.devicedriver.install
com.ubuntu.systemservice.setproxy
com.ubuntu.systemservice.setnoproxy
com.ubuntu.systemservice.setkeyboard
org.gnome.cpufreqselector
org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.stop-multiple-users
org.freedesktop.consolekit.system.restart-multiple-users
org.freedesktop.policykit.read
org.freedesktop.policykit.revoke
org.freedesktop.policykit.grant
org.freedesktop.policykit.modify-defaults
org.freedesktop.systemtoolsbackends.set
org.freedesktop.systemtoolsbackends.self.set
org.freedesktop.hal.power-management.shutdown-multiple-sessions
org.freedesktop.hal.power-management.reboot-multiple-sessions
com.ubuntu.screenresolution.mechanism.configure
com.ubuntu.screenresolution.mechanism.dontzap
org.freedesktop.devicekit.power.qos.set-minimum-latency
org.freedesktop.devicekit.power.qos.cancel-request
org.freedesktop.network-manager-settings.system.modify
com.hp.hplip.installplugin
org.gnome.gconf.defaults.set-system
org.gnome.gconf.defaults.set-mandatory
org.gnome.clockapplet.mechanism.settimezone
org.gnome.clockapplet.mechanism.settime
org.gnome.clockapplet.mechanism.configurehwclock
org.freedesktop.hal.storage.mount-fixed
org.freedesktop.hal.storage.unmount-others
org.freedesktop.hal.storage.crypto-setup-fixed

[Martin Pool (mbp)]

I see in polkit-gnome-authorization that permission to suspend etc is supposed to be implicitly granted to active local console users. I'm not sure why it's not detecting me as such.

[Eduard Sanchez Biete (esbiete)]

Martin, I had the same problem, but it's now solved in the lastest devicekit-power package update (008-1ubuntu2).