Notebooks freezes after closing lid or pressing some FN key combination

I have noticed the exact same problem on my M1210, both with Ubuntu Edgy, and Gentoo, but it only affects the am64-architecture, if i run it in 32-bit arch then the problem is gone, so I'm guessing this is has to be fixed in kernel-level acpi drivers.

If I use the "acpi=noirq" kernel parameter I can adjust the brightness without any problems but closing the lid the screen still remains black and the computer freezes.
Another sideeffect of this workaround is that because of the kernel parameter only one core is available, which is not acceptable for me because I want to enjoy the full power of my the two cores.

faced the same problem with my dell latitude. sometimes the screen resumed fine after closing and opening. But it often failed to resume. (At such times, pressing the power off button and hitting enter will shut down the system).

Got it fixed by following the thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=134319

Fix:

replace /etc/acpi/lid.sh with the following code

#!/bin/sh

# turns the screen off on lid close & on on lid open

grep -q closed /proc/acpi/button/lid/*/state
if [ $? = 0 ]
then
        /usr/sbin/vbetool dpms off
else
        /usr/sbin/vbetool dpms on
fi

adding to my above comment...

The replacement lid.sh only works for shorter periods of time. When the lid is closed for longer periods, the screen is not brought back to life.

The fix is to
1. open the lid
2. walk over to another computer and ssh into the laptop
3. type the following line of command
vbetool dpms on

The laptop screen is brought back to life. You could also blind-type the same commands on your laptop.

So it is clear that the commands in the lid.sh script is working. So the trouble is clearly with the triggering mechanism.

Does switching between battery and AC power have the same effect?

My Dell E1405 is freezing whenever I unplug or plug in the cable, as well as when I close the lid.

adding "noapic nolapic" to the kernel boot options in /boot/grub/menu.lst seems to solve the following problems for me:

complete system freeze / lockup / crash when:
- closing the laptop lid
- pressing either FN+UP or FN+DOWN
- unplugging the power supply (changing to battery power)

my grub entry:
-------------
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro splash notsc noapic nolapic
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
quiet
savedefault
boot

my system:
Dell Inspiron 640m / E1405
Core 2 Duo T7200
Intel 945GM

hm, i just noticed that "noapic nolapic" disables my second processor...
i guess i have to figure out something else...

ok, here's another update from me:
i tried a bunch of other kernel boot options and finally found one that seems to do the trick for me:
appending nmi_watchdog=0 to the boot parameters and blacklisting video as described here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.17/+bug/74284 (adding "blacklist video" in /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist).
now i can enjoy the power of my core 2 duo processor (meaning both processors!) and at the same time change the brightness of my display or close the lid if i want to ;-)

my grub entry:

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/sda2 ro splash notsc nmi_watchdog=0
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
quiet
savedefault
boot

my system:

Edgy Eft AMD64
Dell Inspiron 640m / E1405
Core 2 Duo T7200
Intel 945GM

i'll keep you posted if i encounter problems with this configuration...

I can confirm this on HP nx7300 (core 2 duo T5500, i945gm), freezes occured immediately after any brightness increase and nmi_watchdog=0 fixed it also.

I also have an Inspiron XPS M1210, with the same symptoms. I can confirm that the nmi_watchdog=0 boot option, combined with "blacklist video" fixes the freezes. I'm going to mark this bug as confirmed, but believe that attributing it to gnome-power-manager is wrong - it's more likely a kernel bug.

Does anyone know if the bug still occurs in the latest Fiesty?

I just tested the Kubuntu Feisty Herd3 cd (amd64) on my M1210 and there were no lock-ups, I used no extra kernel boot parameters. However when i closed the lid and reopened it the screen wouldn't turn back on, so i pressed ctrl-alt-f1 to get a console and pressed ctrl-alt-del to reboot.
I'm currently running the i386 flavor of Kubuntu Feisty, and have never had any problem with the screen not turning back on. However this may be a completely different bug.

Rejecting the bug against Ubuntu as a proper, kernel, package has been selected.

I am investigating bug #44393, where it is suggested that the 'close lid' part of this bug is due to the xserver-xorg-video-intel driver. And that the i810 driver would not have this issue. You could test that by editing your /etc/X11/xorg.conf, replacing Intel by i810 in device section, making it looks like:
Section "Device"
        Identifier "Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device"
        Driver "i810"
        ...
EndSection

That said, it should not be a long term solution because we want the intel driver to totally replace the older i810 one.

Some possibly related message on Linux-Kernel archive:
http://www.uwsg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0610.1/2232.html
Dell Inspiron e1405 have a intel GMA 950 and Intel Yonah Core Duo T2300 according to:
http://www.notebookreview.com/default.asp?newsID=2950&review=Dell+Inspiron+e1405

Extract: Modify 64bit kernel entry point to do something trivial (flashing
character on vga text mode?) then see if lid close breaks it. If so,
blame smm, and force vendor to fix it.

In fact the problem disappeared on my M1210 some time ago after upgrading to feisty. And I have not yet encountered this problem on gutsy either.

On my Dell Inspiron 640m / e1405, the problem disappeared after upgrading to Feisty, too. I'm currently running Gutsy, but "Blank Screen" and "Suspend" on lid close do not work out of the box on Gutsy. That means when "Blank Screen" is selected, the screen turns off and after a second turns right back on, but with the lid still closed. Suspend is also broken in the way that my Intel wireless (ipw3945) is gone after opening the lid again (I think I read about a fix for that somewhere...). To conclude, lid close doesn't freeze my laptop anymore, but it's still not working perfect, so I never use it.

I am assigning this bug to the 'ubuntu-kernel-team' per their bug policy. For future reference you can learn more about their bug policy at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies .

The 18 month support period for Edgy Eft 6.10 has reached it's end of life. As a result, we are closing the linux-source-2.6.17 Edgy Eft kernel task.

Hardy Heron 8.04 was recently released. It would be helpful if you could test the new release and verify if this is still an issue - http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . You should be able to test your bug using the LiveCD. Please let us know your results. Thanks.

The Ubuntu Kernel Team is planning to move to the 2.6.27 kernel for the upcoming Intrepid Ibex 8.10 release. As a result, the kernel team would appreciate it if you could please test this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. There are one of two ways you should be able to test:

1) If you are comfortable installing packages on your own, the linux-image-2.6.27-* package is currently available for you to install and test.

--or--

2) The upcoming Alpha5 for Intrepid Ibex 8.10 will contain this newer 2.6.27 Ubuntu kernel. Alpha5 is set to be released Thursday Sept 4. Please watch http://www.ubuntu.com/testing for Alpha5 to be announced. You should then be able to test via a LiveCD.

Please let us know immediately if this newer 2.6.27 kernel resolves the bug reported here or if the issue remains. More importantly, please open a new bug report for each new bug/regression introduced by the 2.6.27 kernel and tag the bug report with 'linux-2.6.27'. Also, please specifically note if the issue does or does not appear in the 2.6.26 kernel. Thanks again, we really appreicate your help and feedback.

I have not seen this issue on my laptop since at least 2.6.22. I've tested the "unoficcial" 2.6.27-packages for hardy and they are also not affected. I think this bug should be closed since the exact issue it was reported on has been fixed in the kernel for some time.

Marking "Fix Released" per the last comment.

had the same issue on my hp2510p

you can disconnect the sensor lid so when you close it nothing happen.

to disconnect it, remove the cover where you have the power switch, touchpad
on/off, volume... no need to unscrew anything. you will find the sensor connector next to the power switch, it's the
connector with 2 wires. when disconnect, you can then close the lid for as long as you want without crashing ubuntu or the touchpad turned off.

Per a decision made by the Ubuntu Kernel Team, bugs will longer be assigned to the ubuntu-kernel-team in Launchpad as part of the bug triage process. The ubuntu-kernel-team is being unassigned from this bug report. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeamBugPolicies for more information. Thanks.