[EN] Vostro 3700 - Random freezing when on battery (SOLVED)

[dibl]

Except for the Alt-SysRq combination, I believe that the keyboard is entirely controlled by xorg while X is running, so if there was a freeze of X, it would be expected that the keyboard also would be frozen.  Does it eventually unfreeze, or do you resort to the reset button?

[dlalias2k1]

I let it sit for 30 minutes earlier, it never unfroze. I usually use the reset button after a minute. sometimes when I reboot that way it tells me it couldn't cleanly mount my home and drops to maintenance mode. so then I do a fsck /dev/mp/home -f and reboot to get back to running

[dibl]

Google found some relevant information, although I don't see any good news here.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/767510

This one suggests the issue is the wifi chip:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/656745

The problem seems not to be specific to any Linux distro:

Arch

and

Fedora

It seems Ubuntu were still trying to get a complete bug report as recently as last summer:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1030992

I don't see any evidence of a real solution to whatever the hardware problem is, unfortunately.  You may be doomed to keep it connected to AC power while running.  

[DeepDayze]

Is this problem common to Dell Vostros? Have you even tried using a siduction ISO in live mode to see if this is an issue there as well?

[dlalias2k1]

Well Dibl, Thanks to your mad crazy research skills, a post in the Ubuntu thread mentions a workaround as:

The above boot option can be easily set by editing /etc/default/grub:
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash pcie_aspm=off"
And then running "update grub" command.


I don't want to jinx myself, but adding pcie_aspm=off as part of my default grub arguments has allowed me to run for 40 minutes on battery now.

I'm gonna try to switch back to nvidia and see if it still functions.

And for completeness, I will test to see if the problem exists on a siduction live cd.

[dibl]

Well Dibl, Thanks to your mad crazy research skills, a post in the Ubuntu thread mentions a workaround

Well, hey "Even the blind squirrel occasionally finds a nut!"

 :lol:

If it stays fixed, please edit your original post and put a "SOLVED" at the beginning of the title, in case it helps someone else, and thanks.

[dlalias2k1]

@DeepDayze: Live siduction CD didn't have the freezing problem. However, from the links dibl found, I attribute the freezes to an ASPM problem with my brcmsmac driver for my Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 wifi card. Since I don't think the brcmsmac driver is enabled on the live cd, I feel that may be why the livecd didn't have the problem.

There are some moments of latency when on battery, but at least it doesn't freeze.

Now to fixing hibernation. Thanks!

[chromguy]

I realize your problem is solved but my solution was different. I determined the issue was a heat problem and the simple solution was to use good laptop cooler as the i7 and GPU throws off a lot of heat. Problem is gone,