HPnx7400

See also another compatibility page for model EY448ET: http://home.no/slazz/nx7400/

See also: http://emisca.altervista.org/nx7400

Current Issues

Hardy

Laptop does not come out from the "suspend to RAM" with BIOS version F.06. Beta versions of Hardy did. BIOS version F.0C comes out from Suspend to RAM, but quite often the laptop (apparently BIOS) gives about 6 short beeps and a message box appears on the desktop: "Suspend Problem. Your computer failed to suspend". If a USB hub is connected when suspending, there is a high change (~50%) that the laptop does not recover from suspend (screen stays black). Current kernel version is 2.6.24-19.

Edgy

Power management works but not out of the box. There is the need to use a more recent kernel to get suspend to ram. 2.6.19-rc5 works well. Pay attention that enabling Drivelock password on bios makes resume from suspend impossible. The drive is locked by the bios and never unlock it. Screen backlight after suspend to ram is powered off. If the brightness keys are pressed the light turns on. Don't use vbetool save/post or acpi_sleep parameter as it causes a machine hang on resume.

Dapper

  • Out of the box the power management does not work correctly: does not come out from the sleep mode and after hibernation the X stays blank (Ctrl+Alt+Backspace helps but the resolution is wrong).
  • 1680x1050 native resolution works with the help of 915resolution (needs manual installing and configuring to start at the boot).
  • Frequency scaling of the processors works but only up to 1.3 GHz of the maximum 1.83GHz (see a workaround below)
  • Enters into a "bad state" if Linux is shut down with a psmouse module loaded (see workaround below).

System Info

## Put the output of the following command here:
## (cd /var/lib/acpi-support/ ; grep . -r *-*)

## shipped condition
bios-version:68YGU Ver. F.02
system-manufacturer:Hewlett-Packard
system-product-name:HP Compaq nx7400 (EY305ET#AK8)
system-version:F.02

## after updating to latest official bios from HP
bios-version:68YGU Ver. F.06
system-manufacturer:Hewlett-Packard
system-product-name:HP Compaq nx7400 (EY305ET#AK8)
system-version:F.06

Hardware details

in Dapper

in Edgy

in Hardy 8.04

Installation works?

Yes

Untested

Yes

Hardware Information

Screen & Monitors

Device

Works?

Bug #

in Dapper (current stable LTS)?

in Edgy (current stable)?

in Hardy 8.04

Screen

Yes (shows 1280x1024 stretched to widescreen)

Yes (1280x800)

Yes

Correct resolution?

Yes (1680x1050) with help of the 915resolution tool

Yes

Yes (1680x1050)

Correct refresh rate?

Untested

Yes

Yes

3D Acceleration

Yes

Yes

Yes, 3D desktop effects out of the box!

External monitor works?

Yes

Yes

Yes

External monitor - mirrors

Yes, but cropped and strecthed (1280x1024 LCD-panel)

Yes

Yes

External monitor - extend desktop

Yes

Yes (also using mergedfb, hardware resolution limit 2048x2048)

Yes, see notes below

Power Management

Battery detected?

Yes, see a bug workaround in notes-section

Yes

Yes

Hibernates?

Yes, but does not initiate X properly (blank) after wake-up

Yes (ahci mode and ata_piix)

Not tested

Sleep

No, after wake-up the screen is blank and does not respond

Yes (ahci mode and ata_piix)

Yes with BIOS version F.0C, does not work with F.06

Dim monitor on battery

Yes

Yes (sometimes the screen backlight is turned on)

Yes

Blank monitor on inactivity

Yes

Yes

Yes

Lid Close

Yes

Yes

Cpu frequency scaling

Yes, see fix below to get full 1.83 GHz

Yes (same problem, see below)

Yes

Sound

Sound works?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Correct volume?

Yes

Yes

Yes

Hardware volume switch

Yes, mute, up, down

Yes, mute, up, down

Yes

Headphone jack

Yes

Yes

Yes

Mic jack

Yes

Yes

Networking

Wired NIC

Yes

Yes

Yes

Wireless NIC

Yes (built in IPW3945abg, also on/off button and lights work)

Yes (built in IPW3945abg, also on/off button and lights work)

Yes

PCMCIA NIC

Yes (Orinoco Silver WiFi)

Untested

Untested

Firewire

Yes

Untested

Yes

Bluetooth

Yes

Untested

Yes, OBEX receive after patching bluez-utils

Modem

No (no effort used, not needed)

sl-modem work with alsa

not tested

Infrared

n/a

n/a

n/a

Touchpad & Mice

Touchpad

Yes

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - Doubletap = double click

Yes

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - Scroll down side

Yes

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - turned off while typing

Untested

Untested

External mouse - USB

Yes

Yes

Yes

External mouse - Serial

n/a

n/a

n/a

Docking Station/Port Replicator HP Basic Docking Station (EN488UT)

AC through replicator

Yes

Untested

Untested

USB

Yes

Untested

Untested

Serial

Untested

Untested

Untested

Parallel

Yes

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - VGA

Yes

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - DVI

n/a (see notes below)

Untested

n/a

Modem

Untested

Untested

Untested

NIC

Yes

Untested

Untested

PS/2

Yes (only keyboard tested)

Untested

Untested

Audio Line Out

Yes (silences laptop speakers when plugged)

Untested

Untested

Audio Line In

Yes (after selecting docking station capture from alsamixer)

Untested

Untested

TV Out

Untested

Untested

Untested

S-Video Out

Untested

Untested

Untested

Power-button

Yes

Untested

Untested

Additional Hardware

Fingerprint reader

n/a

n/a

n/a

DVD+-RW DL drive

Yes (CD-R, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW read and DVD-RW burning tested)

Yes (CD-R, DVD-ROM, DVD-RW read and DVD-RW burning tested)

Yes

PCMCIA cards

Yes (Orinoco Silver Wifi card)

Untested

Untested

Parallel Ports

n/a

n/a

n/a

Card reader(s)

n/a

n/a

n/a

Function and other keys

Fn key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Dapper (current stable)?

in Edgy (current development)?

+ Space

Untested

Untested

+ Esc

Untested

Untested

+ F1

Untested

Untested

+ F2

Untested

Untested

+ F3

Suspend

Causes suspend when the laptop is not in the "bad state" (see notes below)

Suspend

Suspend

+ F4

Activate external monitor

Yes

Yes

+ F5

Untested

Untested

+ F6

Untested

Untested

lock screen

+ F7

Untested

Untested

+ F8

Battery info

Yes, shows battery info tooltip

Yes

Yes

+ F9

Screen brightness down

Yes

Yes

Yes

+ F10

Screen britheness up

Yes

Yes

Yes

+ F11

Untested

Untested

+ F12

Untested

Untested

+ ArrowUp

PageUp

Yes

Yes

+ ArrowDown

PageDn

Yes

Yes

+ ArrowRight

End

Yes

Yes

+ ArrowLeft

Home

Yes

Yes

+ PgUp

Pause

Untested

Yes

+ PgDown

inter

Untested

Yes

Other special keys

Key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Dapper (current stable)?

in Edgy (current development)?

Key

Untested

Untested

Notes

Hardy installation notes

Xrandr and Xinerama with Intel GMA 950

Intel GMA 950 does not support DRI with virtual screen size larger than 2048x2048. This limit is exceeded for example by trying to put laptop 1680x1050 display and external 1280x1024 LCD side by side (2960x1050). But without 3D support it does. See http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Intel_Graphics_Media_Accelerator_950 how to modify xorg.conf to support larger than 2048x2048 virtual displays without 3D support. Unfortunately 3D desktop effects are gone. Modify xorg.conf "Screen" section:

Section "Screen"
        Identifier      "Default Screen"
        Monitor         "Configured Monitor"
        Device          "Configured Video Device"
        SubSection "Display"
                Modes           "1680x1050"
                Virtual         2960 1050
        EndSubSection
EndSection

Dapper installation notes

How to fix the "bad state" problem

When the Linux is shut down with a psmouse kernel module installed (needed for the touchpad to work) the laptop goes in to the "bad state". The only way to come out from it is to shutdown the laptop and disconnect both the AC adapter and the battery for at least for 5 seconds or so.

Problems in the bad state:

  • Battery status applet shows wrong information: if AC adapter is connected or disconnected, it does not react.
  • Laptop does not go into the sleep mode (Fn+F3)
  • there is probably also other symptoms

See http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1026460&admit=-682735245+1154898021917+28353475 for more information.

To work around this add line "/sbin/modprobe -r psmouse" into /etc/init.d/halt and /etc/init.d/reboot scripts (right after the PATH variable setting lines).

These are the patched scripts (Succesfully Test on "Edgy Eft" and "Feisty Fawn"):

/etc/init.d/halt

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          halt
# Required-Start:    umountroot
# Required-Stop:
# Should-Start:      lvm raid2
# Should-Stop:
# Default-Start:     0
# Default-Stop:
# Short-Description: Execute the halt command.
# Description:
### END INIT INFO

PATH=/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin
[ -f /etc/default/halt ] && . /etc/default/halt

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

do_stop () {
        /sbin/modprobe -r psmouse
        if [ "$INIT_HALT" = "" ]
        then
                case "$HALT" in
                  [Pp]*)
                        INIT_HALT=POWEROFF
                        ;;
                  [Hh]*)
                        INIT_HALT=HALT
                        ;;
                  *)
                        INIT_HALT=POWEROFF
                        ;;
                esac
        fi

        # See if we need to cut the power.
        if [ "$INIT_HALT" = "POWEROFF" ] && [ -x /etc/init.d/ups-monitor ]
        then
                /etc/init.d/ups-monitor poweroff
        fi

        # Don't shut down drives if we're using RAID.
        hddown="-h"
        if grep -qs '^md.*active' /proc/mdstat
        then
                hddown=""
        fi

        # If INIT_HALT=HALT don't poweroff.
        poweroff="-p"
        if [ "$INIT_HALT" = "HALT" ]
        then
                poweroff=""
        fi

        log_action_msg "Will now halt"
        sleep 1
        halt -d -f -i $poweroff $hddown
}

case "$1" in
  start)
        # No-op
        ;;
  restart|reload|force-reload)
        echo "Error: argument '$1' not supported" >&2
        exit 3
        ;;
  stop)
        do_stop
        ;;
  *)
        echo "Usage: $0 start|stop" >&2
        exit 3
        ;;
esac

:

/etc/init.d/reboot

### BEGIN INIT INFO
# Provides:          reboot
# Required-Start:    umountroot $network
# Required-Stop:
# Should-Start:      lvm raid2
# Default-Start:     6
# Default-Stop:
# Short-Description: Execute the reboot command.
# Description:
### END INIT INFO

PATH=/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin

. /lib/lsb/init-functions

do_stop () {
        /sbin/modprobe -r psmouse
        # Message should end with a newline since kFreeBSD may
        # print more stuff (see #323749)
        log_action_msg "Will now restart"
        reboot -d -f -i
}

case "$1" in
  start)
        # No-op
        ;;
  restart|reload|force-reload)
        echo "Error: argument '$1' not supported" >&2
        exit 3
        ;;
  stop)
        do_stop
        ;;
  *)
        echo "Usage: $0 start|stop" >&2
        exit 3
        ;;
esac

To get the maximum speed out of the processor

"cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq" gives 1333000 when "cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies" gives 1833000 1333000 1000000 for my processor. To set the maximum frequency to 1833000 do following:

# sudo -s
# echo 1833000 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
# echo 1833000 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq

To make settings permanent make a file /etc/init.d/setcpumaxfreq

echo 1833000 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
echo 1833000 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq

Add execution permissions and add to boot scripts:

# sudo chmod a+x /etc/init.d/setcpumaxfreq
# sudo update-rc.d setcpumaxfreq defaults

Native LCD resolution (1680x1050)

I followed this guide to install 915resolution: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/i915Driver For some reason the 915resolution was not executed at the boot so I had to add it manually. Here are the complete steps:

# sudo apt-get install 915resolution

Edit file: "/etc/init.d/915resolution", add new line according to example below:

# Add following line
/usr/sbin/915resolution 50 1680 1050 32

And reboot. There was no need to edit xorg.conf.

General remarks of the laptop

Unfortunately it seems that DVI is not physically connected to docking port pins in the nx7400 series. DVI output of the docking station did not work even in Windows XP. Monitor just displays "Check the cable" although DVI cable is connected. This seems to be a feature of HP nx series: http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/questionanswer.do?threadId=1065796


CategoryLaptop CategoryLaptop

LaptopTestingTeam/Old/HPnx7400 (last edited 2010-02-24 14:45:31 by host58-172-dynamic)