Ubuntu
xorg package

Gateway laptop - function keys force me to hard reboot

Bug #160652 reported by kpictjl
2
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
meta-gnome2 (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned
xorg (Ubuntu)
Invalid
Undecided
Unassigned

Bug Description

I've installed 7.10 on a Gateway 200 ARC laptop. The following function key combinations cause my display to wig out completely. The entire screen becomes very "snowy" and not readable. Ctrl-alt-backspace won't restart X. The only thing I know to do to fix it is a hard reboot by holding how the power button.

fn+up/down arrow : brightness
fn+right/left arrow : volume

During boot however the function keys work fine. I can change brightness and volume no problem. Once I get to the logon screen those function keys hose the display.

If I do nothing during boot, then the screen defaults to what appears to be the lowest brightness level.

Also, Power Manager Brightness Applet 2.20.0, says "cannot get laptop panel brightness." This feels like a separate issue since the wigged out screen happens using the volume keys as well.

The occurs every time.

The workaround is to set screen brightness and volume during boot time ONLY.

The recovery is a hard reboot.

Revision history for this message
kpictjl (todlarson) wrote :

Attached are all the files from /var/log/ that updated when I recreated this problem. I recreated the problem at about 22:09 in logfile time.

Revision history for this message
kpictjl (todlarson) wrote :

On the same laptop I did a clean install of Ubuntu 7.10 while not connected to the internet so this configuration has received absolutely no software updates. The fn-keys work mostly. fn-up/down causes the screen to get brighter/dimmer, but the icon in the upper level is actually a volume icon. fn-left/right works find and this even gives me a nifty, translucent, ubuntu looking volume meter that covers about an 1/8 of the lower part of the screen.

Is there any configuration or logs I should capture while the machine is in this apparently good state?
uname -a = 2.6.22.14-generic

Attached are the log files from /var/log that changed when the boot the system this time.

Revision history for this message
kpictjl (todlarson) wrote :

I'd like to run a test where I figure out which package causes this problem. Does this sound like a good procedure? Any other recommendations while I have a controlled environment?
1. connect to Internet
2. do not touch sources.list
3. Download all updates.
4. Install only the updates for meta-gnome2...see what happens.
5. Install only the updates for xorg...see what happens.
- beware of dependencies to make sure I install the least amount of stuff each time.
- document each package that I install.

Revision history for this message
Pedro Villavicencio (pedro) wrote :

That's probably an acpi issue not gnome, please include the information requested at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingACPI as separate attachments, thanks.

Changed in meta-gnome2:
status: New → Invalid
Revision history for this message
kpictjl (todlarson) wrote :

I have reinstalled Gutsy from CD and now I cannot recreate the problem.

Revision history for this message
kpictjl (todlarson) wrote :

I reinstalled a clean copy of Gutsy from CD and now cannot recreate the problem.

Changed in xorg:
status: New → Invalid
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