Comment 51 for bug 157691

I got hit by this bug too.....

Hardware HP6710B

root@X01:~# uname -a
Linux X01 2.6.24-24-generic #1 SMP Fri Jul 24 22:15:50 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Symptom
=======

Closing the lid amost always caused a kernel panic. Everything on the machine freezes.
Only reason I know for sure it was a pnic was I switched to a text terminal before trying this and saw the panic text: there's nothing in the logs. You cannot change to other terminal or log in remotely.
Only way to reboot is to hold down the power key for 4 seconds for a hard reset.

workaround:
==========

change the power management option on the Gnome desktop to "do nothing" on lid closure (the backlight goes off anyway apparently in hardware)

check this is working

echo 1 > /proc/acpi/video/C098/DOS

and then close the lid and check if you can log in remotely, or work agian by re-opeing the lid.

if this works, permanently override the default by adding to rc.local

sudo vi /etc/rc.local and add the following lines

echo 1 > /proc/acpi/video/C098/DOS
exit 0