Introduction

The dv6000 series from HP has some varying hardware setups, each with its own varying degree of success under Ubuntu Edgy. Hopefully this Wiki page will help sort out some of the hardware issues that arise from this series. Many users frequently report problems with boot hangs, screen resolution, wireless connectivity, audio, microphone/headphone ports, and fan speed.

This page is intended to help you with the setup of troublesome components, and is by no means an official HOWTO. If you find something to be incorrect, or have your own experience to share, please feel free to help us out.

Work in progress.

Installation

First things first: if your laptop fails to boot the LiveCD (i.e. hangs at a certain point), then you most likely have a common problem with "apic."

Solution: When given boot options for the LiveCD, press F6 for other options and you should see a command line with commands already entered. Simply add

noapic nolapic

to the end of the line and press enter. The system should now boot without stalling.

The 6116eu laptop will quite happily install from an edgy live install cd, you may require alternate cd ISO if you need any .Deb packages prior to connecting to the internet EG network-manager-gnome.

*the dv6102 model has been reported to install Edgy without a hitch.

Screen Resolution

After initial installation, widescreen resolutions are sometimes unavaible, even if you edit xorg.conf.

For models that have the intel onboard video chipset, installing the package "915resolution" from the repositories will solve this problem. Reboot the system, and your screen resolution should be correct.

Wireless

Intel Chipsets

Some dv6000 models have the Intel 3945 Wireless chipset, and should work out-of-the-box with a basic Ubuntu install. If you are having problems connecting, enable the extra package repositories and install linix-restricted-modules, and don't forget wpa-supplicant if you need to use WPA security.

Broadcom Chipsets

The broadcom AIRFORCE 4113 rev 01 can be made to work with "bcm43xx-fwcutter". I used the script to install firmware and found it buggy using the wl_apsta.o firmware and bandwidth was useless. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx/Dapper

Preferred method: Install ndiswrapper When set up correctly, works flawlessly. Getting to that point is the challenge.

1. Use synaptic to install the following: ndisgtk ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils ndiswrapper-utils-1.1 ndiswrapper-utils-1.8 module-assistant

2. Follow the guidelines in the link below. https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Device/Broadcom_BCM4311_rev_01_%28ndiswrapper%29?action=show

I removed ndiswrapper kernel module and rebooted before proceeding with install

sudo rmmod ndiswrapper

sudo module-assistant

will allow you to see if module has been removed. It would be wise to remove the folder /etc/ndiswrapper before attempting to install the source, as described in the link above.

I used ndiswrapper 1.29 and compiled from source. The sp33008.exe can be extracted with cab extract and you must install using

sudo ndiswrapper -i bcmwl5.inf

For some reason ndisgtk never correctly installs them and when correctly installed ndisgtk doesn't show them.

Use this command to see installed drivers:

• sudo ndiswrapper -l

if you are lucky then you will get bcmwl5 driver installed, hardware (14E4:4324) present (alternate driver: bcm43xx) If you get a fatal error or it complains that it's not a valid driver it would seem that you haven't removed the original edgy kernel module and/or you didn't reboot after removing and before installing. If you are successful on reboot the wireless light will turn blue and you can install the package gnome-network-manager, if not already installed.

Reported wireless success

Graphics

• nvidia Geforce 6150 GO doesn't seem to want to run on open GL with either

nvidia-glx or nvidia-glx-legacy I have also tried driver direct from nvidia and anything apart from nv in xorg results in blank screen and having to boot into recovery and

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

The 6116eu I am having problems with text only terminal and ethernet while in text login-this could be affecting nvidia driver install-will figure out and report findings

The following guide has resulted in success: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=263851

Tested models

Media Card Reader

In most cases, the onboard media card reader will not work without a little persuasion. The driver for internal card readers is present in kernel 2.6.17, but is turned off by default. To enable it, do the following:

lspci

Look for SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter and note the number at the beginning of the line. For example, 05:05.2. Then run (inserting your number in place of mine):

sudo setpci -s 05:05.2 4c.b=0x02

Now put in an SD card, and it should work. The driver is still buggy, but should perform well nonetheless.

This method is not permenant, we're working on that.

Front Headphone/Microphone Jacks

The ALSA driver included with edgy does NOT support the front audio jacks on most dv6000 models. check your hardware first seems to be Intel or Nvida hardware The latest ALSA driver fixes the problem. To correct this, follow these steps for intel :

1. Use synaptic to install build-essential and linux-headers packages.

2. Download alsa-driver package from alsa-project.org

3. Unpack it.

4. Open a terminal and navigate to the directory where you unpacked the driver. Then run "./configure --with-cards=hda-intel"

5. Run "sudo make"

6. Run "sudo make install"

7. Edit /etc/modules with sudo gedit /etc/modules and add "snd-hda-intel" on a new line within the file.

8. Reboot your computer and your front jacks should work!

After reboot, open up volume control and make sure that none of your channels are muted.

Battery Life

To pull some more life from your battery, open a terminal and type

sudo gedit /etc/default/acpi-support

Look for the section containing ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE=false and change this value to true. This will cause your laptop to enter laptop mode when running on battery power, conserving more power. A restart will put this into effect.

Additionally, open Synaptic and make sure you have the extra repositories enabled. Then install the following packages:

laptop-mode
laptop-mode-tools
laptop-detect
cpufreqd
cpufrequtils

Known Issues

1. Reports of incorrect fan operation and risk of overheating. You should monitor your laptop's temperature until you are sure that the cooling system is operating correctly. Could be firmware issue - more info needed'

2. Occasional shutdown crash.

3. The headphone and microphone jacks are known to NOT work with the version of ALSA shipped in Edgy. Some users have reported that compiling a more recent version of ALSA has solved the problem.

If like me(teaker1s) you duel boot the hp system check will NOT inform you of bios update as it claims, Both friend and myself have the 6116eu and on random occasions with f.17 bios it will not power up without removing battery and refiting.

• I followed hp chat persons advice and used the automated updater-when instructed to remove battery/hold power button for 30sec to 1 min insert cable and boot without battery-boot windows and shut down, refit battery.

If you fail to do this ubuntu will not boot and complained of spurious program running. latest bios allows button beep to be turned off bios f.27 02/01/07

Wireless Issues:

*With the Intel 3945ABG wireless chipset, boot sequence will sometimes pause if the wireless switch is in the ON position. Turning the switch to OFF causes the boot process to resume normally. Once booted, wireless can be reactivated without a hitch.

• - - - > Could be related to the native drivers. Some users have reported that replacing them with ndiswrapper has resulted in greater boot reliability.

CategoryLaptop