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Linux power regression + overheating problem on ThinkPad [fixed?]

November 10, 2011

This post is also available on/was written for OMG! Ubuntu

This blog post isn’t only directed to ThinkPad owners as most notebook Linux users with Intel Core Duo 1/2 and i3/i5/i7 processors have been affected by this bug if not all. And yes, this problem is present on latest Debian Unstable and Ubuntu 11.10.

Prelude

I’m owner of Thinkpad X300, great machine except the fact that just recently I replaced its 3rd cooling fan! Yea, I do a lot of compiling and it’s on all the time, but still this kind of things shouldn’t happen. I first linked this problem to the fact that Thinkpad fan on Linux (as of 2.6.22) always works at what’s its basically maximum RPM, thus the reason there are numerous fan control scripts. My favorite one is Thinkfan, but controlling fan doesn’t really help if you have a overheating problem. For matter of a fact it working on its maximum speed might only help, with its own toll.

As of kernel 2.6.38 up until 3.1 (still present) there has been a problem of power regression but besides this I had slight problem with overheating. Regarding overheating in beginning I tried reporting bugs, tried different Thinkfan configurations, blamed proprietary software such as Adobe Flash for spiking up CPU temperature, however this problem was somewhat solved. After numerous battery calibrations and as these didn’t work in the end for battery life getting poorer with each day, I just blamed the factor that notebook was getting pretty old (~3 years).

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What’s the best Xperia X10 custom ROM?

February 27, 2011

Everybody hates Xperia

When I first got Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 it was running on Android Donut (1.6), my frustrations followed soon after mostly because it was greatly lagging with release of Android 2.1. Finally official 2.1 was released, but troubles didn’t stop there, because everybody was waiting for multi-touch support … I could go on like this for a very long time. However, to sum it up Sony has no plans of updating X10 anymore, they are releasing brand new phone (Arc) and they are hoping people will pay money to get it after X10 horrors. Even tho 2.1 isn’t that old, (31.4% of overall Android users is using it on it), Sony changed its UI to make it look better, but all they actually did is make it look pretty bad + made it abnormally slow.

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I want Xperia X10 Android 2.1 update now!

November 1, 2010

Story

I bought Xperia X10i this summer during DebConf10 in NYC, I loved this phone from very beginning however what bothered me was that it was still stuck on outdated Android 1.6. To get your own custom Android on it, wasn’t quite possible because no one managed to hack bootloader even though some of the guys at XDA where getting pretty close.

Long story made short, Sony Ericsson has finally release their Android 2.1 update, but made it available only for Nordic region, they explained it all on their blog where they also sent a message for “paranoid” users as they called them. I thought, if I gave it all this time I can wait a little bit longer, but then one of my friends (@sahinovic) gave me a good pointer to go in right direction with using custom ROM, Nordic for example? So this is where I got my idea.

I want 2.1 update now!

Please note steps below will get you Android 2.1 update, but AFAIK you’ll also lose your warranty

1. Root your phone

If you don’t have your phone rooted, this can now be done in single click. Get X10 Root and follow instructions on screen.

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Sony Ericsson w960 touchscreen not working; DIY

April 30, 2009

I’m completely out of time, but I gotta tell you about this one.

My touchscreen adventures with w960

As I remember I got w960 in February last year. I really take great care of this phone, but touchscreen stopped working twice already in this as some might say short period of time. I’m one of them btw.

First time it stopped working I was sitting in a chair which FYI was incredibly low, I dropped out of my hand, it hit the floor (with some sort of rug on it). My colleague at the time is driving us home from work, rain is … ballistic, insane trash containers are on the streets, aaah mayhem!

I grab my phone to take few pictures or something, touchscreen is not reacting … I restart it, it’s still not working. We’re going through this lake, car is about to stop running. Ok now I hard restart, nah still not working. I curse and swear at it for the rest of the way back home and keep threatening it that I’ll switch to Nokia.

Find a solution

I think about going to Zagreb or Belgrade just for few hours and go to official Sony Ericsson centre to have it fixed within half an hour. It’s a long story but my w960’s hometown is Wien, you can’t even buy in Bosnia. Nevertheless, after contacting Sony Ericsson in Zagreb, they give me this company in Mostar (I won’t name anyone) and that they’ll handle it just fine. I send it to them, they had to order stuff from Zagreb, cuz as the “boss” said, this phone is a collectors item. Yeepee.

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Beer spill on X300

January 5, 2009

This is also my story with X300.

I have 4 notebooks at the moment, two are Toshiba other two are Thinkpads. I dreamed about X300, it just amazed me, and after I got it, paid loads of cash for it (I paid in cash) ~2400 euros, after I rejected the fact that I’ll get Windows with it, since I’m basically “pushing” towards Debian development, otherwise the “original” cost would be ~2500 euros.

I order it Genelec (official dealer), wait for it for less than 2 weeks, got it, paid full price in cash.

Now I get my X300, I’m amazed and all, first I notice one weird thing, battery is not as it “noted” everywhere else, every week it’s losing 5 minutes of its battery life, in the end I get with something as 2:45-40, please do take the fact that I compile my own kernel and that I optimize it to the maximum, but … that’s the story.

Tried many methods, “blank it” out to … whatever it didn’t help, but I had idea of getting a new battery and in the meantime 128GB SSD came out, so it was in my future plans, some day. Anyways, pretty much everything was great and I was actually considering of switching to Thinkpad for good.

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Category: Hardware