high power consumption on Asus X4GS(N43SN)

[Felix Haller]

This bug report is about the high power consumption. The battery time i get on Windows 7 Home Premium is between 3 and 4 hours. On Ubuntu Oneiric I get between 1,5 and 2 hours (with ca. 28-32W power consumption).

When I install nvidia drivers (nvidia-current) the power consumption decreases to 22-25 W. But then the 3D mode isn't available and Unity 2D starts. I don't know how to fix this, but this is another problem.

When running Ubuntu the fan is always medium-fast to fast. When running windows 7 the fan is usually slow and sometimes medium-fast.

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.10
Package: linux-image-3.0.0-12-generic 3.0.0-12.20
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.0.0-12.20-generic 3.0.4
Uname: Linux 3.0.0-12-generic x86_64
AlsaVersion: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Driver Version 1.0.24.
ApportVersion: 1.23-0ubuntu3
Architecture: amd64
ArecordDevices:
 **** List of CAPTURE Hardware Devices ****
 card 0: PCH [HDA Intel PCH], device 0: ALC269VB Analog [ALC269VB Analog]
   Subdevices: 1/1
   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
AudioDevicesInUse:
 USER PID ACCESS COMMAND
 /dev/snd/controlC0: oziriz 1624 F.... pulseaudio
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] Datei oder Verzeichnis nicht gefunden
Card0.Amixer.info:
 Card hw:0 'PCH'/'HDA Intel PCH at 0xdf000000 irq 43'
   Mixer name : 'Intel CougarPoint HDMI'
   Components : 'HDA:10ec0269,104311a3,00100100 HDA:80862805,80860101,00100000'
   Controls : 23
   Simple ctrls : 13
Date: Mon Oct 17 21:42:06 2011
HibernationDevice: RESUME=UUID=8c761f94-6607-4a3a-9dac-ab042cc4e9f0
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" - Beta amd64+mac (20110921.2)
MachineType: ASUSTeK Computer Inc. N43SN
ProcEnviron:
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcKernelCmdLine: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-3.0.0-12-generic root=UUID=f9150048-8ee4-45a6-ac88-3e6e3062ccc3 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7
RelatedPackageVersions:
 linux-restricted-modules-3.0.0-12-generic N/A
 linux-backports-modules-3.0.0-12-generic N/A
 linux-firmware 1.60
SourcePackage: linux
StagingDrivers: mei
UpgradeStatus: No upgrade log present (probably fresh install)
dmi.bios.date: 09/21/2011
dmi.bios.vendor: American Megatrends Inc.
dmi.bios.version: N43SN.412
dmi.board.asset.tag: To be filled by O.E.M.
dmi.board.name: N43SN
dmi.board.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.board.version: 1.0
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Tag
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
dmi.chassis.version: 1.0
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnAmericanMegatrendsInc.:bvrN43SN.412:bd09/21/2011:svnASUSTeKComputerInc.:pnN43SN:pvr1.0:rvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:rnN43SN:rvr1.0:cvnASUSTeKComputerInc.:ct10:cvr1.0:
dmi.product.name: N43SN
dmi.product.version: 1.0
dmi.sys.vendor: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

Would it be possible for you to test the latest upstream kernel? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

This may be a duplicate of bug 870262

Thanks in advance.

[Felix Haller (felixhaller)]

ok i will test the kernel. what is the best way i can provide the results to you? is there a way to collect important results like with "ubuntu-bug linux" without opening a new bug?

[Felix Haller (felixhaller)]

I tried out the "current" mainline kernel:
[~]$uname -a
Linux fanta 3.1.0-999-generic #201110171146 SMP Mon Oct 17 11:50:29 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

But same results as with the old one. Sorry.

I'am waiting for instructions ;-)

[Felix Haller (felixhaller)]

after some tests with the mainline kernel and the other one I can say, that the mainline kernel takes ~2W more than the other one. That means the power consumption with the mainline kernel (3.1.0-999-generic) is 31W and the consumption with the oneiric stock kernel (3.0.0-12-generic) is 29W.

I've also tried the "pcie_aspm=force" parameter with both kernel versions, but there is no difference.Sorry.

Any other idea?

Greets
Felix

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

@Felix

Thanks for testing. Could you also try the latest release candidate, located at:
http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.1-rc10-oneiric/

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

@Felix

This may be a duplicate of bug 818830

Can you try the suggestion in comment #2 of that bug?

[Felix Haller (felixhaller)]

I tested the kernel 3.1.0-030100rc10-generic and got a value of 28-30W in idle mode.

Please note that these values are only the ones i got in IDLE mode. That means, when i move the cursor and switch to another window the power consumption increases up to 40W-45W and more. Only to keep this in mind.

[Joseph Salisbury (jsalisbury)]

@Felix,

Were you able to try the comment #2 suggestion in bug 818830 ?

 The suggestion was to add:
 i915.i915_enable_rc6=1

To the kernel parameters at /etc/default/grub.cfg

[Felix Haller (felixhaller)]

ok now my kernel parameters look like this:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash pcie_aspm=force i915.i915_enable_rc6=1"

and the power consumption is down to 24W(from 29W) in IDLE. Thank you so far.

But nevertheless the outcome of this is a battery lifetime just under two hours. That's better than before (1,5h) but not nearly as good as in windows7.

I thank you for your effort and hope there are more options for tuning.

Greets Felix

[Felix Haller (felixhaller)]

the mentioned results i got by using the kernel 3.1.0-030100rc10-generic.

[Felix Haller (felixhaller)]

just for info:

with kernel: 3.2.0-030200rc1-generic (the latest mainline kernel) i get the same results. (~24W in Idle)

[Felix Haller (felixhaller)]

I found a way to increase battery lifetime to 4-5 hours in idle (power consumtion ~12W) by disabling the nvidia-card through an acpi-call mentioned here:

http://linux-hybrid-graphics.blogspot.com/2010/07/using-acpicall-module-to-switch-onoff.html

for this you can't have the kernel 3.1.x or 3.2.x installed. i switched back to the latest official oneiric kernel (3.0.0-14-generic)

these are the lines that work for me(executed as root):

insmod acpi_call.ko
echo '\_SB.PCI0.PEGR.GFX0._OFF' > /proc/acpi/call

the dark side is that suspend/hibernating isn't working anymore. So i create a script to execute this magic lines only on demand. maybe there is a elegant version to provide a hide-my-nvidia-card funktion for users with optimus that don't need the nvidia card on ubuntu (like me).

i'm now a little bit more mobile and my notebook isn't a heater anymore (if i don't want so)

[Felix Haller (felixhaller)]

i have to add: we have to blacklist the "nouveau" module, otherwise the system will hang from time to time

[penalvch (penalvch)]

Felix Haller, this bug was reported a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue? If so, could you please test for this with the latest development release of Ubuntu? ISO images are available from http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/ .

If it remains an issue, could you please run the following command in the development release from a Terminal (Applications->Accessories->Terminal), as it will automatically gather and attach updated debug information to this report:

apport-collect -p linux <replace-with-bug-number>

Also, could you please test the latest upstream kernel available (not the daily folder) following https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds ? It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please comment on which kernel version specifically you tested. If this bug is fixed in the mainline kernel, please add the following tags:
kernel-fixed-upstream
kernel-fixed-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

where VERSION-NUMBER is the version number of the kernel you tested. For example:
kernel-fixed-upstream-v3.12

This can be done by clicking on the yellow circle with a black pencil icon next to the word Tags located at the bottom of the bug description. As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

If the mainline kernel does not fix this bug, please add the following tags:
kernel-bug-exists-upstream
kernel-bug-exists-upstream-VERSION-NUMBER

As well, please remove the tag:
needs-upstream-testing

Once testing of the upstream kernel is complete, please mark this bug's Status as Confirmed. Please let us know your results. Thank you for your understanding.

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for linux (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]