[ltp] T60 power management issues

[Ingmar Schoegl]

I got my T60 last friday and have linux (ubuntu dapper) pretty much
installed and configured. So far, I really love this machine (especially
compared to the laptop I was using before), but I have some remaining
issues. My T60 appears to have power management issues, and I'm not sure
whether I should wait for a BIOS update which might fix them or try to
have the lenovo/IBM tech support address them ...

i) The EEPROM issue: I get the EEPROM Checksum Is Not Valid error (see
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_e1000:_EEPROM_Checksum_Is_Not_Valid)
which I was able to circumvent by removing/adding the kernel module
# modprobe -r e1000
# modprobe e1000
annoying, but I can put that into a script

ii) My main concern: the high pitched noise when wifi is on and I'm
running on battery.  Again, there is a fix (see
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Problem_with_high_pitch_noises)
# echo 2 > /sys/module/processor/parameters/max_cstate
I.e. the noise occurs only at the lowest two processor power states

Here I have a question. I just ran 
# cat /proc/acpi/battery/BAT0/state | grep present present:
yes
present rate:            22287 mW
present voltage:         11296 mV
on battery, medium backlight, both cpu's up (max_state=2),
bluetooth/wifi on, 15" version with x1400 chip (fglrx drivers installed
but not optimized). OK, I didn't really try to optimize power
consumption, but the voltage reading seems really low (a post by Sean
Kelley contains a voltage reading of 12327mV), i.e. it might be a full
volt low ... do you think that this might cause the noise problem? 

I really want to know whether my T60 has a technical problem, so I'd
really appreciate if you could post some readings and tell me whether
you have the noise problem or not?

iii) something that I haven't investigated in depth yet is the graphics
chip (ATI x1400). First of all, the chip's running hot (67 deg at idle,
88 deg when running fgl_glxgears), and when I tried to force it into
power saving mode (correct me if I got this wrong)
# aticonfig --set-powerstate=1
I got extremely bad artifacts (had to reboot, couldn't even get into a
shell). Any tips would be appreciated (I used the restricted ubuntu
driver package)

To make this mail not even longer than it already is, I just wanted to
ask for some feedback about my woes. Should I send my T60 in to try to
get rid of the noise issue? I'm hesitant to send it in and have tech
support tell me that those things are normal. Thanks for you help, I
really appreciate it!

-ingmar-

----------------
T60 (2007-72U)
Ubuntu 6.06.1 (dapper drake)
6 cell battery