[ltp] T520 - how to disable firewire and other features?

[linux-thinkpad@linux-thinkpad.org]

Hi-

I don't use several ports/features on my T520- firewire, express card,
fingerprint reader. In order to conserve my battery power I'd like to
disable these.

I have tried to disable them in Bios, but the modules still load. This
surprises me.

 I've googled and can see that some people suggest to use blacklist, but
that doesn't work (/etc/blacklist says it "does not affect autoloading of
modules by the kernel").

Can someone tell me how to disable these services so their respective
modules don't load?

I'm running Debian Wheezy, kernel 3.0.0-1-amd64. I am relatively new to
Linux.

Thanks,
Keith Ostertag