Ubuntu Wiki

• Contact: ["Victor39"],["ConstantineEvans"],["BrunoAbinader"],["Huygens"]

• Brand: Dell
• Make: Latitude
• Model: D600

• Website: http://support.dell.com/ (No URL for info, badly built site)

Current Issues

CPU scaling works OK for most people with released version of Dapper, but some people have problems. There are however other kernel problems with Irda and some strange hald-addon-storage lockups preventing correct suspend/resume for some people. See below. These problems may be dependent on the BIOS version. (Updated - 2006-Jun-15)

Using first Kernel release of Dapper Flight5, I encountered some unexpected CPU soft lockup. This was regularly happening after a long period (1 hour) of not using the laptop, or when the network goes up.

• What sort of CPU lock-up? Did the laptop overheat (eg. from not having the fan running, but having the screensavers run at full speed. -PaulSladen

• --> Perhaps better discuss it in a forum thread, check it here: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=151829 -["Huygens"]

• It seems that others do have the problem also, a bug has been opened [https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/xorg/+bug/50683 #50683] -["Huygens"]

Also, the ATI driver support is not good. I cannot for the moment activate the composite extension of the X server. The screen is then unreable with losts of strikes on it. Video performance are not fantastic

• Is this the open-source one, or the binary driver? -PaulSladen

• I see a distorted display too since last opensource ati driver update. See https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-driver-ati/+bug/36887 - AchimBohnet

• --> I am using the binary driver from Dapper repository, and I have been following this forum thread to install it: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=143283 -["Huygens"]

• OK, this is "normal", I have a Radeon Mobility 9000, and here you can find that this is not supported with composite extension or compiz : [http://gentoo-wiki.com/HARDWARE_Video_Card_Support_Under_XGL#Cards_seemingly_unsupported Cards seemingly unsupported for Xgl] -["Huygens"]

• 20060909: I have Xgl and Compiz working on Ubuntu 6.06 If you are interested about the method, follow [http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=219336 this thread] and perform step 1 eventhough it could be recommended in the thread that you skip directly to step 2. Also, you will have to start manually compiz (compiz-start) once logged in. Note that it is using the open source driver, as I am not aware that Radeon Mobility 9000 can work with ATI's proprietary drivers and Xgl/compiz. -["Huygens"]

Hardware details

• The bugzilla URL for the battery key is out of date, please update if this is still an issue -PaulSladen

• Battery Key information is working on the Dapper LTS - BrunoAbinader

Notes

As of 2006-Jun-15

• Sleep works only couple of times before hald-addon-storage process locks up on I/O (and so becomes zombie process, impossible to kill). After this it is not possible to suspend a computer - the suspend script is executed, but kernel is not able to stop all processes and enter S3 state. There are reports that sticking a CD in the CD drive sometimes helps in such situations but not always. As a workaround: "sudo killall hald-addon-storage" before entering first suspend (after boot up) - but this probably disables CD insert/eject notification capabilities. Another work around is to remove your CD/DVD module. Then you can sleep as many times as you like without remembering to kill anything.

SOLUTION FOUND: I noted there were two hald-addon-storage processes going, and there is even a Ubuntu bug on this (#58935). See: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/hal/+bug/58935 I edited out the following lines:

<match key="storage.media_check_enabled" bool="true">

• <append key="info.addons" type="strlist">hald-addon-storage</append>

</match>

in /usr/share/hal/fdi/policy/10osvendor/20-storage-methods.fdi

and restarted. Then there is only one hald-addon-storage process and it never gets into the uninterruptable sleep mode, even with multiple times suspending. (You can check using ps aux | grep hald.)

This also solves a problem I was having with the Dell D600 freezing if I removed the CDRW/DVD drive (hotswapping it). Not that also works. I hope they put this in the Dapper release. Even though bug 58935 was listed. My machine did not have that problem fixed as of 9/23/2006, and it is totally updated.

• IRDA does not work at all, after installing irda-utils you can see error messages in dmesg and strange things start happening with networking etc.
• I observed some glithes with external display at highest resolution - but these could have been related to my projector
• A week ago I had several lockups obviously related to 3D acceleration (using radeon driver), it *seems* that these have been fixed probably, but caution is recommended (esp. regarding 3D screensavers).

Strange, I have no problem with sleep or 3D acceleration lockups. What BIOS version do you have? On the other hand, I have the CPU frequency problem, which seems to be caused by a problem with the information given to the ACPI processor module, and so might be dependent on the BIOS version. -- ConstantineEvans

To discuss about this, I have created a forum thread (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1144903) See you there! -- ["Huygens"]

Testing run on 2005-08-28:

• tests are being run on Colony 3 LiveCD, this is just to make sure that everything works out of box too.
• DRI used to work in the past, now it doesn't work anymore.
• Wireless works with ndiswrapper and the proper ndis drivers.

Testing run on 2005-12-21:

• tests are being run on Dapper Flight2 by ["Victor39"]

• Hello,SamiHaahtinen.I have done a testing for flight2 on dell latitude d600.Would you please add a column on the table? so I can fill my result in it.If you are ready,mail to me please.Thank you! jianggw@bsw.net.cn

Testing run since 2006-03-15:

• tests are being run on Dapper Flight5 by ["Huygens"], this was a clean install (apart /home) over a Kubuntu Breezy Badger. Since then, this version has been updated almost daily on internet.
• My Dell Latitude D600: Centrino 1.6GHz, 1GB RAM, CD/DVD Combo, 40GB HD, ATI Radeon Mobility 9000

• Extra hardware: Palm Tungsten T5, Logitech Wheele Mouse USB, Canon PowerShot A70, HP Scanjet 4470C (unsupported by Sane)

• Partition schema: /boot ext3 -- swap -- LVM2: system (/) XFS & home (/home) JFS

• (updates from 20060401) test with an external monitor on-going, however, if someone knows how to extend the desktop to 2 screens, I am willing to know how to do this! --> See Note1 below.

• (updates from 20060414) the system starts to be pretty stable now. Almost no crash to report. I have got my wireless connection working straight out of the box. The only configuration required was setting up the password Then, I have been able to plug, review, download and manage my pictures taken from my Canon Powershot A70, without any configuration change really great. For the scanner, no luck, it is not supported by Sane

Testing run on 2006/09/09:

• tests run on Ubuntu 6.06 LTS + all updates as of today by ["Huygens"].

• Updated partition schema: /boot ext3 -- swap -- LVM2: system (/) ext3 & home (/home) JFS

• Almost all issues have been solved by a clean install and using ext3 instead of XFS for my system partition. I have no more CPU lockups or crash (by the way, this was due to some hardware problems on my motherboard which are fixed now). The hard disk constant access has been solved now, I am not sure whether this was due to XFS... Xgl/compiz is working using the open source drivers. And I do not have issue anymore with the network (probably the same hardware problem that I had on the mother board).

• My only issues left, the proprietary ATI driver is worth nothing with my Radeon Mobility (most 3D applications will not work, and impossible to have Xgl/compiz) and I will have to dig further to make my Palm synchronise with Evolution

• tried out the Ubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft) Knot 2 (still in alpha): cannot launch it using either the normal mode (the one by default) or the safe graphics mode. I get a blank screen after a short while during the boot process. There is no activity on the CD, and the only key combination working is Ctrl+Alt+Del

A few comments

• Running the latest Dapper, the DRI works for me, as does the suspend to RAM, and have not been broken in the recent past. Should I add this to the Flight 2 column? This is with a clean install except for the /home partition. Also, I have an Intel 2200 mini-pci instead of the standard Dell card, and this works as well. The wireless toggle shortcut works with this card. - ConstantineEvans

• I did a clean flight4 install a few weeks ago, and have updated the tests. - ConstantineEvans

• Sleep works on my D600 in Flight 5 - JohanrammEricson

• Needs updated information for latest Dapper release - BrunoAbinader

Notes

• Note 1: Support for big desktop (2 screen with an extended desktop) works at least in the following case: having ATI binary driver (fglrx) installed and configure, and executing the aticonfig command line (make a back-up of /etc/X11/xorg.conf before using this tool). However, I did not manage to have the laptop LCD set to 1024x768 (my max resolution) with the external screen set to a different resolution.

  • If you have your 2nd screen on the left of your laptop, execute: sudo aticonfig --dtop=horizontal,reverse
  • If you have your 2nd screen on the right of your laptop, execute: sudo aticonfig --dtop=horizontal

CPU frequency issues

It appears that CPU scaling doesn't work with Dapper. The frequency sticks at the lowest value. See bug [https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.15/+bug/36014 #36014], but note that this now happens with the 386 kernel as well. - ConstantineEvans

CategoryLaptop