ThinkpadR61

  • Contact: KamilPáral

  • Make: Lenovo
  • Brand: Thinkpad R61
  • Model: 8918-DEG (and 7742-NCG, 2,4 GHz CPU added by Franko30)
  • Website:

Current Issues

  • Hibernation does not work with nvidia proprietary driver (resume fails).
  • With the 7742-NCG, standby only works with nvidia's proprietary driver, not with the standard driver.
  • External display does not work with nvidia proprietary driver when using Fn-keys, you must use nvidia-settings utility.
  • Sometimes after suspend resume or user switch there is only white screen on model 8918-DEG. Just write your password on blind and hit enter, you will return to your desktop without problems. This only happens with nvidia driver.

System Info

  • Display: 15.4" WSXGA+ 1680x1050
  • CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T8100, 2.10GHz (2.40 GHz with the 7742-NCG model)
  • RAM: 1x2GB DDR2 5300
  • HDD: SATA 160GB, 5400rpm
  • GPU: nVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M 128MB
  • Optical drive: Multiburner (DVD±RW)
  • Net: Wifi 802.11 a/g/n, Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000, modem 56k, Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
  • UltraNav (TouchPad + TrackPoint)

  • Keyboard light
  • Fingerprint reader
  • 3x USB 2.0, S-Video out (VGA with the 7742-NCG), IEEE1394, PCMCIA Card slot, Express Card slot
  • Windows Vista Business 32-bit Big Grin :) / Suse Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 with the 7742-NCG model

Hardware details

Screen & Monitors

Device

Works?

Bug #

in Hardy

in Intrepid

in Jaunty

Screen

yes

yes

yes

Correct resolution?

yes

yes

yes

Correct refresh rate?

yes

yes

yes

3D Acceleration

only with nvidia driver

only with nvidia driver

only with nvidia driver

External monitor works?

with nv driver yes, with nvidia driver only with nvidia-settings

Untested

-

External monitor - mirrors

with nv driver yes, with nvidia driver only with nvidia-settings

Untested

-

External monitor - extend desktop

Untested

Untested

-

Power Management

Battery detected?

yes

yes

yes

Hibernates?

with nv driver yes, with nvidia driver no

with nvidia driver no

with nvidia driver no

Suspend

yes/only with nvidia driver (7742-NCG model)

50%/untested (7742-NCG model)

yes

Dim monitor on battery

yes

yes

-

Blank monitor on inactivity

yes

Untested

-

Lid Close

yes

yes

-

Cpu frequency scaling

yes

yes

-

Sound

Sound works?

yes (see notes)

yes

yes

242103

Correct volume?

yes

yes

yes

Headphone jack

yes

yes

yes

Mic jack

yes, just enable in volume control

yes

-

Networking

Wired NIC

yes

yes

yes

Wireless NIC

yes

yes

-

PCMCIA NIC

Untested

Untested

Untested

Firewire

Untested

Untested

Untested

Bluetooth

yes

Untested

-

Modem

Untested

Untested

Untested

Touchpad & Mice

Touchpad

yes

yes

yes

Touchpad - Doubletap = double click

yes

yes

-

Touchpad - Scroll down side

yes

yes

yes

External mouse - USB

yes

yes

yes

Docking Station/Port Replicator

AC through replicator

Untested

Untested

Untested

USB

Untested

Untested

Untested

Serial

Untested

Untested

Untested

Parallel

Untested

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - VGA

Untested

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - DVI

Untested

Untested

Untested

Modem

Untested

Untested

Untested

NIC

Untested

Untested

Untested

PS/2

Untested

Untested

Untested

Additional Hardware

Fingerprint reader

Untested

Untested

Untested

CD/DVD drive

yes

yes

-

PCMCIA cards

Untested

Untested

Untested

Card reader(s)

probably no/not available (7742-NCG model)

Untested

xD card no, MMC card yes

Function and other keys

Fn key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Hardy

in Intrepid

in Jaunty

+ Space

Zoom

no (changes resolution in Vista)

no

-

+ F2

Lock

yes

yes

-

+ F3

Battery info

yes

yes

-

+ F4

Suspend

yes

yes

-

+ F5

Wireless/Bluetooth switch

yes

yes

-

+ F7

External display switch

with nv driver yes, with nvidia driver no

Untested

-

+ F8

Trackpoint/touchpad switch?

no (enables/disables trackpoint/touchpad in Vista)

no

-

+ F9

Eject CD

yes

no

-

+ F12

Hibernate

yes (but with nvidia driver resume fails, therefore key works, but hibernation doesn't)

Untested

-

Other special keys

Key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Hardy

in Intrepid

in Jaunty

Menu key

show the context menu

no

no

yes

209906

Back key

'back' in web browser

yes, see notes

yes

yes

20204

Forward key

'forward' in web browser

yes, see notes

yes

yes

20204

Fn+PgUp

toggle keyboard light

yes

yes

yes

Fn+Home

brightness up

yes

yes

yes

Fn+End

brightness down

yes

yes

yes

Mute key

mute sound

yes

yes

yes

Volume up key

volume up

yes

yes

yes

Volume down key

volume down

yes

yes

yes

Notes

Franko30 added the 7742-NCG model to this report, as it only has a different CPU.

The R61 7742-NCG freezes completely with 8.04 when ejecting multibay battery and/or DVD. System has to be powered down to change multibay modules.

Back and Forward keys (Hardy only)

Does not work by default in Hardy, but it's not hard to enable them. Open Terminal and run this command:

echo -e 'keycode 234 = XF86Back\nkeycode 233 = XF86Forward' >> ~/.Xmodmap

Log out and in again. Ubuntu will ask you if you want to include ~/.Xmodmap file in your keyboard configuration, include it and confirm. That's it.

If you don't receive any dialog, you can use gconf-editor to set keys /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/general/known_file_list and /desktop/gnome/peripherals/keyboard/general/update_handlers to value [.Xmodmap].

If you are not using Gnome, run this command in your session manager after login:

xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

Source: ThinkWiki

Simultaneous playing of many audio sources (Hardy only)

After default Ubuntu 8.04 install, there is some problem when playing multiple audio sources:

  • Totem and Rhythmbox plays simultaneously (as any GStream applications)
  • Rhythmbox and most games (Extreme Tux Racer, Frozen Bubble) does not play simultaneously
  • Rhythmbox and flash videos does not play simultaneously

To fix this, as root edit file /etc/pulse/default.pa:

gksudo gedit /etc/pulse/default.pa

find this line:

load-module module-hal-detect

and change it to this:

#load-module module-hal-detect

Also to the end of the file add these two lines:

load-module module-alsa-sink
load-module module-alsa-source

Save file, close editor, logout and log in again. The sound should work now in most cases simultaneously.

Reported bug: 242103


CategoryLaptop

LaptopTestingTeam/Old/ThinkpadR61 (last edited 2010-03-02 13:04:05 by host226-241-dynamic)