Difference between revisions of "Toshiba Satellite A210 (701)"

From Organic Design wiki
m (Wifi)
(remove ubuntu 7.1 and vista sections)
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*[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI ATI BinaryDriverHowto]
 
*[https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/ATI ATI BinaryDriverHowto]
 
*[http://xorg.freedesktop.org/releases/X11R6.7.0/doc/radeon.4.html Radeon xorg.conf options]
 
*[http://xorg.freedesktop.org/releases/X11R6.7.0/doc/radeon.4.html Radeon xorg.conf options]
 +
 +
<pre>
 +
fglrxinfo
 +
  display: :0.0  screen: 0
 +
  OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
 +
  OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon X1200 Series
 +
  OpenGL version string: 2.1.7412 Release
 +
 +
aticonfig --query-monitor
 +
  Connected monitors: crt1, lvds
 +
  Enabled monitors: crt1, lvds
 +
</pre>
  
 
== Webcam ==
 
== Webcam ==
Line 48: Line 60:
  
 
== USB Problem ==
 
== USB Problem ==
I'm having major problems with USB. If a few devices are connected then after some minutes all of them will stop working (this is even without using a hub and just connecting to all available usb ports on the laptop). After they've stopped, the system will shutdown during bootup spontaneously (and not at exactly the same point during bootup) until all devices are removed (even monitor and LAN will need to be removed sometimes before it will boot). So far it has always succeeded in booting when there's nothing plugged in except power.
+
After some time USB devices freeze up and are inoperable until rebooting with devices detached. An ''lsusb'' revealed that the internal webcam is also a USB device, and so I wondered if that also froze when the problem occurred to the external devices. It was in testing this that I discovered that the freezing problem does not occur while the webcam is running, so until a proper solution is found, I have the webcam running and minimised onto an unused desktop.
 
 
I don't know yet whether this is a hardware problem or a linux problem. First I'd like to see if Sven's behaves the same way in my set up. If not I'll have to reinstall it with vista and test it again then return the unit if still failing.
 
 
 
I'm now back on the old A10 lappie and nuking the A210 back to factory default system so I can test the USB's thoroughly. The last straw was when I tried to watch a movie and it was not able to render it smoothly, and about 5 minutes into it rebooted. I tried installing with an older version of Ubuntu 7.1 but it locked up during installation.
 
  
 
== Benchmark ==
 
== Benchmark ==
 
I haven't found a good simple program to give a simple whetstone result for the CPU(s) yet. But as a basic benchmark comparison I did a two-pass rip of a DVD vob to a 1GB xvid file using ''dvd::rip''. It took a bout 5.5 hours on the A10 (2200MHz Celery with 400MHz FSB), and about two hours on the A210, which made it just under 3 times the speed. However, I didn't realise at the time that you need to set it to cluster-processing to use both cores, so actually it's about 5.5 times faster.
 
I haven't found a good simple program to give a simple whetstone result for the CPU(s) yet. But as a basic benchmark comparison I did a two-pass rip of a DVD vob to a 1GB xvid file using ''dvd::rip''. It took a bout 5.5 hours on the A10 (2200MHz Celery with 400MHz FSB), and about two hours on the A210, which made it just under 3 times the speed. However, I didn't realise at the time that you need to set it to cluster-processing to use both cores, so actually it's about 5.5 times faster.
  
== Windows Vista ==
+
== Redemption claim ==
I've had to reinstall the machine to factory defaults again by booting the recovery DVD's made after first boot. The discs don't contain any user information, the put it back to exactly the same state that it comes out of the box running an installer on first boot.
 
 
 
I've been extensively testing USB devices and they seem to be working without any problem (it's difficult to tell because vista is so unstable that it's intefering with my observations!).
 
 
 
Two of my drives may be full of windows virus's which may be why vista crashes when they're turned on. I've been running USB mouse and keyboard, one external drive and two memory sticks. I'm running in extended desktop and running video's off different devices onto both screens. It seems to be running smoothly and with good performance. So overall I'm pretty confident that the spontaneous shutdown's and USB problems are to do with Linux not with the hardware.
 
 
 
I'm downloading Ubuntu 7.10 i386 since this should be the most stable Linux option to try even if it won't perform quite as well.
 
 
 
== Ubuntu 7.10 i386 ==
 
I tried Debian and still the same trouble, so I'm assuming it's something to do with the Linux kernel, or at least a problem in common with all Debian-based distro's.
 
 
 
=== Installation ===
 
The first problem with the 7.10 installation is that the installation first boots in as a live CD to the desktop, then the installation application is launched from there. This is a problem because without the ''fglrx'' graphics driver, the desktop won't start. So at that point, hit ''CTRL+ALT+F1'' and install the driver first with the following commands,
 
<pre>
 
apt-get update
 
apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx
 
depmod -a
 
aticonfig --initial=dual-head
 
</pre>
 
After changing this, do ''CTRL+ALT+F7'' and hit enter to get it to retry in two minutes. The display manager will try again eventually and should take you to the desktop. You can then run the installation application from the icon on the desktop.
 
 
 
On first boot of the installation, the same problem will occur so repeat the process. You'll need to log in after ''CTRL+ALT+F1'' using the details you specified in the installation application. After logging in this is a good time to set up your root user with ''sudo passwd root''. You don't need to wait for the window manager to retry after installing the driver (it may only retry during the installation boot anyway), just ''reboot'' and you should get in to the desktop of your newly installed 7.10.
 
 
 
A notification will come up saying ''restricted drivers available'', enable the driver and reboot again. Now go through the normal Ubuntu update procedure to bring the system up to date.
 
 
 
=== USB problem ===
 
Unfortunately the USB problem is happening with 7.10 as well. It doesn't spontaneously shut down, but all devices stop working, and again it won't reboot until at least some are unplugged. The ''lsusb'' command shows that all the devices are present even when no longer responding. I should have tested it first with the LiveCD (doh!) because it even fails on that - but anyway if that had happened I would still have had to test if the updates fixed it so no time lost there. However, we now need to decide what we're going to do, because the laptop isn't very usable if it can't work with USB devices. At least 7.10 allows continued testing after things stop working, so maybe we can figure out what's going on. The next step may be to try a different Linux distribution like pure Debian or Mepis.
 
: The USB problem seems to be caused by other peripheral devices, either the keyboard or the mouse (models?). --[[User:Sven|Sven]] 00:57, 10 June 2008 (NZST)
 
 
 
=== Video problem ===
 
Unfortunately after updating the system, the dual-monitors are no longer perfect. The xorg.conf file needed to be modified for it to boot (current version [[Nad/xorg.conf|here]]), and even then there's a problem with the mouse pointer on the external monitor which makes it render as a large block of junk. I could not get the external monitor resolution to be correct in any configuration other than extended desktop, and the ''Screens and Graphics'' application no longer reflects the actual configuration.
 
*[http://wiki.cchtml.com Unofficial Linux ATI driver wiki]
 
*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=301941 Setting up with ''aticonfig'' only]
 
*[http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=273934 Getting GL working properly with ATI]
 
 
 
=== Audio problem ===
 
There's no audio available after the 7.10 installation, I haven't looked in to this yet.
 
 
 
== Ubuntu 8.04 AMD64 ==
 
I downloaded the .iso, wrote it to CD and booted it. During the install off CD the USB freeze problem occurred. After updating the OS and enabling restricted drivers here's the info,
 
<pre>
 
fglrxinfo
 
  display: :0.0  screen: 0
 
  OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
 
  OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon X1200 Series
 
  OpenGL version string: 2.1.7412 Release
 
 
 
aticonfig --query-monitor
 
  Connected monitors: crt1, lvds
 
  Enabled monitors: crt1, lvds
 
</pre>
 
 
 
=== Webcam ===
 
When doing ''lsusb'' the built-in webcam shows up in the list (Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd). So I wondered if this device also froze when the USB freezing problem occurs. It turned out that the freezing is directly related to the webcam and never occurs when the cam is running! This is still a problem, but at least now there's a workable solution allowing the other devices such as external drives, keyboard and mouse to be used until a better solution is found.
 
 
 
Originally I used skype to run the webcam, then I found a program called ''Cheese''. But I've found a better program now which has a far better picture too called ''luvcview'' which can be installed using ''apt-get.
 
 
 
Use the following command to obtain information about the webcam device
 
luvcview -d /dev/video0 -d /dev/video0 -L
 
 
 
Run the webcam window with the following command
 
  luvcview -d /dev/video0 -f yuv
 
 
 
==Redemption claim==
 
 
* Follow the link in [http://www.isd.toshiba.com.au/redemption/r_index.asp here]
 
* Follow the link in [http://www.isd.toshiba.com.au/redemption/r_index.asp here]
 
*The list of redemption codes is available [http://www.isd.toshiba.com.au/redemption/r_currentredemptionlist.html here]
 
*The list of redemption codes is available [http://www.isd.toshiba.com.au/redemption/r_currentredemptionlist.html here]

Revision as of 09:20, 21 June 2008

CPU

The A210 exhibits a dual-core Turion 64 X2 TL-62 running at 2100 MHz (200 x 10.5) and with a 512KB L2 cache for each core. For traditional processors, the multiplier is the value multiplied by the speed of the FSB to get the clock speed of the processor. Turion processors have a memory controller integrated on the CPU die, replacing the traditional concept of FSB. The multiplier here applies to the 200MHz system clock frequency, not the HyperTransport speed which is 800MHz.

Video Card

There's a dedicated utility for configuring the fglrx ATI driver called aticonfig. I was able to configure the card to accept the dual heads with the following command which generated an appropriate xorg.conf file.

aticonfig --initial=dual-head --screen-layout=above

To run a single monitor, use

aticonfig --dtop=clone
fglrxinfo
  display: :0.0  screen: 0
  OpenGL vendor string: ATI Technologies Inc.
  OpenGL renderer string: ATI Radeon X1200 Series
  OpenGL version string: 2.1.7412 Release

aticonfig --query-monitor
  Connected monitors: crt1, lvds
  Enabled monitors: crt1, lvds

Webcam

lsusb shows the webcam to be a Chicony. Some of the webcam programs are unable to communicate with it, but skype show that it's working fine. Xawtv and Cheese also work with it. But I've found a better program now which has a far better picture too called luvcview which can be installed using apt-get.

Use the following command to obtain information about the webcam device

luvcview -d /dev/video0 -d /dev/video0 -L

Run the webcam window with the following command

 luvcview -d /dev/video0 -f yuv

Wifi

The A210's come with an internal wifi card which shows up correctly in lspci as an Atheros AR242x. But no wireless network interface appears in the network configuration applet or from ifconfig.

The MadWifi driver works perfectly using the following procedure from root shell (from here). Before starting this process, it's best to disable the current drivers from System/Administration/Hardware Drivers.

svn co https://svn.madwifi.org/madwifi/branches/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6
cd ~/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6
make
make install
depmod -ae
modprobe ath_pci

Make sure that ath_hal and ath_pci are listed in /etc/modules, then re-enable the drivers from System/Administration/Hardware Drivers, and reboot. The only problem with this solution is that each time there's a kernel update it may have to be rebuilt, so keep the source in your ~/Source or /usr/src directory and rebuild after kernel update.

cd ~/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6
make clean
make install

Recently the madwifi.org site has been down, so instead of checking the driver out from their SVN server, you can download a local copy from here.

USB Problem

After some time USB devices freeze up and are inoperable until rebooting with devices detached. An lsusb revealed that the internal webcam is also a USB device, and so I wondered if that also froze when the problem occurred to the external devices. It was in testing this that I discovered that the freezing problem does not occur while the webcam is running, so until a proper solution is found, I have the webcam running and minimised onto an unused desktop.

Benchmark

I haven't found a good simple program to give a simple whetstone result for the CPU(s) yet. But as a basic benchmark comparison I did a two-pass rip of a DVD vob to a 1GB xvid file using dvd::rip. It took a bout 5.5 hours on the A10 (2200MHz Celery with 400MHz FSB), and about two hours on the A210, which made it just under 3 times the speed. However, I didn't realise at the time that you need to set it to cluster-processing to use both cores, so actually it's about 5.5 times faster.

Redemption claim

  • Follow the link in here
  • The list of redemption codes is available here
  • You need the model number (PSAFGA-077019) and the serial number on the back of the machine (silver sticker), and the code off the receipt.
  • Details of offer are in this pdf

See also