HPPavilionDV6730ec

Current Issues

The built-in microphone records sound, but the recordings are very scratchy and every half a second there is loud noise for a split second.

Wireless does not reactivate when disabled and enabled again using the hardware switch (I'll post a fix, when I found one out). UPDATE: the following two commands seem to fix wireless after switching it off and on again, using the hardware kill switch. Before using these commands, make sure your WLAN adapter is the same as mine (Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG).

sudo rmmod iwl3945
sudo modprobe iwl3945

This effectively reloads the driver of the WLAN adapter. Until recently, this was not possible: the module could not be reloaded, because it was supposedly still in use. This seems to have changed with an update, I guess.

If you want the system to automatically reload the driver, whenever you disable wireless using the kill switch, do the following:

1. Open GEdit (or your favorite plain text editor) as root.

gksu gedit

2. Paste the following code into the text file:

 #!/bin/bash
KILL_SWITCH_ON=$(/usr/bin/udevinfo -a -p /sys/class/net/wlan0 | /bin/grep -c ATTRS\{rf_kill\}==\"2\")
if [ "$KILL_SWITCH_ON" != "0" ]; then
        sleep 3 && /sbin/rmmod iwl3945 && /sbin/modprobe iwl3945 &
fi
exit 0

3. Save the file to /etc/network/if-post-down.d/reload_iwl3945

4. Make the file executable:

sudo chmod a+x /etc/network/if-post-down.d/reload_iwl3945

5. Kill wireless with the kill switch. Wait approx. 5 seconds. Turn wireless on again. After a few seconds, the throbber in the system tray should start working and you should have a wireless connection shortly after.

System Info

Pavilion dv6700 Notebook PC
100KiB BIOS
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5450 @ 1.66GHz
64KiB L1 cache
2MiB L2 cache
2GiB System Memory
1GiB DIMM Synchronous 667 MHz (1.5 ns)
1GiB DIMM Synchronous 667 MHz (1.5 ns)
Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub
Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 PCI Express Root Port
nVidia GeForce 8400M GS
82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4
82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5
82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2
82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1
Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2
82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 6
RTL8101E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1
82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2
82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3
82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1
82801 Mobile PCI Bridge
R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller
R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter
R5C843 MMC Host Controller
R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter
xD-Picture Card Controller
82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller
storage 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller
disk CDDVDW TS-L632N
storage 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller
disk 160GB SAMSUNG HM160HI
82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller

Hardware details

Screen & Monitors

Device

Works?

Bug #

in Hardy

Screen

Yes

Correct resolution?

Yes

Correct refresh rate?

Yes (but not for external monitor)

3D Acceleration

Yes (with NVIDIA proprietary driver)

External monitor works?

Yes (by pressing Fn + F4, but not in screen resolution preferences)

External monitor - mirrors

Yes (see above)

External monitor - extend desktop

Kind of (you have to fiddle around with nvidia-settings; the display stretches over both screens)

Power Management

Battery detected?

Yes

Hibernates?

Yes

Suspend

Yes

Dim monitor on battery

Yes

Blank monitor on inactivity

Sometimes

Lid Close

Yes (monitor blanks)

Cpu frequency scaling

Yes

Sound

Sound works?

Yes

Correct volume?

Yes

Hardware volume switch

Yes

Headphone jack

Yes

Mic jack

Untested

Built-In Mic

No (it records, but there is a lot of noise and it is very scratchy)

Networking

Wired NIC

Yes

Wireless NIC

Yes

PCMCIA NIC

N/A

Firewire

Untested

Bluetooth

Yes

Modem

Untested

Infrared

N/A

Touchpad & Mice

Touchpad

Yes

Touchpad - Doubletap = double click

Yes

Touchpad - Scroll down side

Yes

External mouse - USB

Yes

External mouse - Serial

N/A

Docking Station/Port Replicator

AC through replicator

Untested

USB

Untested

Serial

Untested

Parallel

Untested

External Monitor - VGA

Untested

External Monitor - DVI

Untested

Modem

Untested

NIC

Untested

PS/2

Untested

Additional Hardware

Fingerprint reader

Yes

CD/DVD drive

Yes

PCMCIA cards

N/A

Parallel Ports

N/A

Card reader(s)

Untested

Webcam

Yes

Remote Control

Yes

Function and other keys

Fn key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Hardy

+ F1

Help

Yes, but has the same keycode as button to lock touchpad

+ F2

Print

Yes

+ F3

Browser

Yes

+ F4

External monitor

Yes

+ F5

Sleep

Yes

+ F6

Lock screen

Yes

+ F7

Brightness down

Yes

+ F8

Brightness up

Yes

+ F9

Play/Pause track

Yes

+ F10

Stop track

Yes

+ F11

Previous track

Yes

+ F12

Next track

Yes

+ Scroll

Numlock

Yes

+ Pause

Break

Yes, but there is no function assigned to it

+ Insert

Print screen

Yes

+ Delete

Sysrq

No (does the same as Fn + Insert)

Other special keys

Key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Hardy

Lock touchpad

Lock touchpad

Yes, but has the same keycode as Fn + F1

Quickplay loop

Must be defined in keyboard shortcuts

Yes

Quickplay DVD

Must be defined in keyboard shortcuts

Yes

Quickplay previous track

Previous track

Yes

Quickplay play/pause track

Play/pause track

Yes

Quickplay next track

Next track

Yes

Quickplay stop track

Stop track

Yes

Quickplay mute/unmute

Mute/unmute

Yes

Quickplay volume slider

Adjust volume

Yes

Wireless switch

(De)activate Bluetooth/Wireless

Yes (see hints at top of page)

Notes

The overall support of this notebook is very good. Almost everything works out-of-the-box. For anything else, there is this great blog: http://aldeby.org/blog/index.php/howto-ubuntu-linux-on-hp-pavilion-dv2000-dv6000-dv9000-series-laptops There are many other interesting posts about Ubuntu and HP Pavilion notebooks on this blog, as well.

You might also want to check out this post to reduce battery consumption and CPU heat: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=786402 In my case, I could reduce the CPU voltage by 50% and the temperature went down by 12°C. Updating the BIOS to the latest version (F.53) decreases the temperature by another 5°C (but on the other hand, the fan does not turn off anymore (it is still very silent though)).

If you boot Ubuntu in battery mode (i.e., AC power is not connected), the fan is more silent (in case you do not update your BIOS). You can then plug-in the AC power connector.


CategoryLaptop

SergioZanchetta/Old/HPPavilionDV6730ec (last edited 2010-02-26 13:45:59 by host226-241-dynamic)