Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

doglush · 2012-10-25 14:13:28

Hi,

I'm using Crunchbang Waldorf (awesome work) since september and I think it's
really more confortable than Win7. But my laptop seem warm and the battery life fall
to 3h00 (instead of 6h00 on win7).

I don't know how to stop bluetooth from start.
I tried to configure laptopmode but battery life don't change.

If someone have the same problem smile

shinji_rei · 2012-10-25 16:01:29

Here's just a link about TLP. Especially for ThinkPads. But it's german only sad

And another one about energy saving in general --> here

Last edited by shinji_rei (2012-10-25 16:04:52)

dura · 2012-10-25 16:06:20

You are probably experiencing the Linux kernel power regression bug- it effects thousands of machines.

You can fix this by forcing pcie_aspm to be on. You add this to grub, which you do through pressing 'e' on boot first to test if it makes any difference, and then through adding a new parameter to /etc/default/grub.

Also try searching "x220 linux power savings" for other ways. I use TLP, which is a thinkpad specific script for power savings as well.

By making the modification to grub my power consumption reduced by 70%. Now my x121e is quiet and cool, with 4.6w base power!

This page should give you exactly what you need:

http://askubuntu.com/questions/67965/la … ion-tweaks

Rather than fiddling with other stuff, I recommend that you use the fix I suggest, as I have done research on power regression over the last year to sort it out on my own machine. Now it is perfect.

smile

Make sure you do it exactly as it says.

Last edited by dura (2012-10-25 18:09:53)

el_koraco · 2012-10-25 17:10:23

You have two choices. First, you can run the Liquorix kernel. Second, you can run the Debian kernel, but you have to edit /etc/default/grub and change GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet" to

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet pcie_aspm=force i915.i915_enable_rc6=1  i915.i915.lvds_downclock=1 i915.i915_enable_fbc=1"

Then you run sudo update-grub and reboot.

Furthermore, this will net you an additional 40 minutes at least: http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic/11954

tao te · 2012-10-25 21:32:22

el_koraco wrote:

...

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet pcie_aspm=force i915.i915_enable_rc6=1  i915.i915.lvds_downclock=1 i915.i915_enable_fbc=1"

...

"pcie_aspm=force" has no effect with a kernel > 3.0 and
"i915.i915.lvds_downclock=1" can cause system freeze, while it has a poor effect on battery life.
"i915.i915_enable_rc6=1" makes the huge difference.

... and tlp is great!

dura · 2012-10-25 23:13:31

I have different settings that are amazing, from the x121e page on the arch forums. It may not work for x220 (el koraco might know), and I use tlp, and the script that el koraco links to. My base power is 4.6w or something.

doglush · 2012-10-26 09:24:44

Thanks for your help.
I'll try to patch my kernel this weekend.
And, maybe ,report a low power consumption.

I tried Liquorix kernel and grub patch.
PowerTop still report me 12,5w... I'm very far from 5w sad

Last edited by doglush (2012-10-29 12:01:43)

doglush · 2012-10-31 00:19:02

Ok,
I made a new installation of Crunchbang and follow all explanations on TLP documentation.
And I save some watts smile

I have few questions:
Idle I'mstill at 8.4 watts , when on Linux MintMate I'm at 6Watt (without doin nothing)
PowerTop always say I got some Tunables devices that can be "good". But I have to
turn them On manually. (like sata power save ... etc)

Thanks for your help.

(And what is "Compton" ? Can i remove it ?

Last edited by doglush (2012-10-31 01:59:10)

dura · 2012-10-31 12:00:30

You should turn on the 'good' parameters powertop suggests. You need to do this every new session.

You should use hardran's power savings script:

http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/topic … or-debian/

If you haven't already, the RC6 grub mod will make a difference, but it seems that your power is already on the low side.

Compton is the compositor for #!, and deals with all compositing, like shadows, translucency, etc., I expect that you can remove it, but don't blame me if your computer goes wrong because it needs it... hmm

You may also use rcconf or bum to save power from startup apps, but they are mainly minimal in power consumption I think.

And lastly, turning down your screen brightness makes a MASSIVE difference to power consumption.

doglush · 2012-10-31 15:16:58

Thanks for your help.
It's strange if we have to tune Powertop each time we boot computer...

dura · 2012-10-31 15:23:26

I think its a safety precaution in case something important is switched off. Powertop is apparently made by intel.
It seems there is no way to make them stick- no powertop config file, etc. The only way is to implement each setting separately in their own config files (undoable really I reckon...)

Last edited by dura (2012-10-31 15:24:26)

dura · 2012-10-31 17:17:10

I hope you dont mind doglush but I'm going to answer the message you sent me here so myself and others can learn in the future (learn might be pushing it a little...)

I read your post, and it seems that we have the "same" laptop.
How do you manage to have a so low 4,6watt under powertop ?
I tried linux mintmate, and I've got 6watt without doing anything.
I want to use Crunchbang but Liquorix kernel don't helped me.
I can tune some thing onto powertop, but how to fix that ?
You have to switch each time you boot up your computer ?
I tried TLP and after 'self'patching the kernel... My crunchbang won't
boot anymore ...
Arrrrrggggghhh !!! Can you help me ?

First, we do not have the same machine. I have an x121e. I think my 4.6w may be particular to my machine.

I have never found that drastic a reduction in power consumption using powertop, but it does contribute. If you want to use powertop then there is no way to make the parameters to stick. You have to do it manually everytime.

If you haven't already, using Hardran's power savings script that we mentioned before is very useful, as it does in fact made some of the modifications powertop makes possible stick so that you do not need to do them every time.

The RC6 mod to grub is the most important- for my machine anyway. The liqourix kernel should have this as default, but you may wish to try el koraco's suggestion again, using 'e' at grub first to test.

If your computer does not boot then I recommend that you use a live usb to rescue all important files from the machine and then reinstall it, and try again, using the grub parameters.

If you use a live usb you could also alter the kernel parameters back to their original state.

I'm quite worried about suggesting this, but the parameters I USED ON MY MACHINE are:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="pcie_aspm=force i915.i915_enable_rc6=1 i915.i915_enable_fbc=1 i915.lvds_downclock=1 i915.semaphores=1"

It was these parameters that worked so well for me. Use at your own risk- they may bork your machine as it is different to my x121e.

pvsage · 2012-10-31 20:30:52

dura wrote:

I think its a safety precaution in case something important is switched off. Powertop is apparently made by intel.
It seems there is no way to make them stick- no powertop config file, etc. The only way is to implement each setting separately in their own config files (undoable really I reckon...)

Surely they can be added to an init script?

dura · 2012-10-31 20:34:29

That is beyond me but it would be nice. Hardran's apparently does some, but I wouldn't know where to begin...

edit: actually it does seem that some settings powertops provides sticks- it is only the RM writeout that doesn't- and apparently that is one of the parameters Hardran's power savings script makes sticky.

Last edited by dura (2012-10-31 20:38:30)

el_koraco · 2012-10-31 20:39:48

You don't have to turn on the powertop tunables on every boot. You need to charge your battery to a 100 percent, disconnect the AC, run powertop, accept all the suggestions you like, then let it run in a terminal or tty for an hour or two.

Last edited by el_koraco (2012-10-31 21:38:00)

beta · 2012-11-04 12:28:30

X230
3.6.5
sid
tlp controls cpufreq
acpi-call running (in the tlp netrunner repos)
no other powersaving scripts

14h26min full charge with brightness at 90% and wifi on

Last edited by beta (2012-11-04 12:40:06)

dura · 2012-11-04 13:25:49

^^thanks el koraco. Nobody knows about that in all the threads I have seen on powertop.

^ Impressive savings.....had a look at acpi_call.......kinda looks a bit risky if you don't know how to configure it, so won't be using it...though I'd love to shave some more consumption off

At 4.78w I'm already in smart phone power consumption territory though I think...beta is somewhere else completely...

dura · 2012-11-04 19:00:23

following el koraco's advice I charged my battery to full, then ran powertop turning all settings on, and left it for an hour.

Doing so, I shaved another 10mw off power consumption, making it 4.6w baseline.

But just rebooted and expected that I might see the settings stick. They didn't. Previously most settings applied were staying through reboots, I guess fully charging affects defaults or something?

el_koraco · 2012-11-04 19:55:50

You should apply the settings on battery, not on full AC.

dura · 2012-11-04 20:59:29

ah, thanks el koraco. I thought if I should pull the plug. nice one

dura · 2012-11-06 16:12:28

Just to note, I followed what el_koraco said (waiting until fully charged, then changing settings to good, and leaving for an hour) and I have saved quite a bit more power.

My thinkpad x121e now has a baseline power of 4.18w

Edit: make that 4.01 and still counting down!

YESSSSSSS!!!!!

Settings stick while on battery too, but do not seem to when on ac.

Last edited by dura (2012-11-10 14:26:17)

beta · 2012-11-07 01:07:25

el_koraco' suggestion does work for some settings, but not all.
check with powertop again which settings did become permanent.

alternatively do powertop --html that will generate a powertop.html file
open it, there are suggestions how to tune
c&p them into a script
run the script, keep what you like
cp the script and make it to be executed at boot (init.d/systemd/runit/ignite - whatever)

powertop output for my x230

System baseline power is estimated at 3.72 W

Power est. Usage Device name
2.19 W    73.3% Display backlight
820 mW    25.5% Display backlight
0.0 pkts/s Network interface: eth0 (e1000e)
213 mW    0.9%    CPU use
39.4 pkts/s Network interface: wlan0 (iwlwifi)

Last edited by beta (2012-11-07 01:17:36)

dura · 2012-11-07 20:21:33

nice one beta! this seems to be unknown across tinternets smile

junkie · 2012-11-07 21:04:43

12.9 W Totally got ya'll beat! tongue

beta · 2012-11-09 16:32:46

Example of a startup script, started by systemd on boot

>>>>cat /usr/local/bin/startup.sh

#VM writeback timeout	
echo '1500' > '/proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs';
#Enable Audio codec power management	
echo '1' > '/sys/module/snd_hda_intel/parameters/power_save';
#Enable SATA link power management for /dev/sda	
echo 'min_power' > '/sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy';
#Wireless Power Saving for interface wlan0	
iw dev wlan0 set power_save on
#Enable SATA link power management for /dev/sda	
echo 'min_power' > '/sys/class/scsi_host/host0/link_power_management_policy';
#NMI watchdog should be turned off	
echo '0' > '/proc/sys/kernel/nmi_watchdog';
#VM writeback timeout	
echo '1500' > '/proc/sys/vm/dirty_writeback_centisecs';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode]	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.2/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation Centrino Wireless-N 2200	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:03:00.0/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Ricoh Co Ltd MMC/SD Host Controller	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:02:00.0/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.3/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:02.0/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:14.0/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:16.0/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1b.0/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1c.0/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 2	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1c.1/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1c.2/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1d.0/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 82579LM Gigabit Network Connection	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:19.0/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation QM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1f.0/power/control';
#Runtime PM for PCI Device Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2	
echo 'auto' > '/sys/bus/pci/devices/0000:00:1a.0/power/control';
#Wake-on-lan status for device eth0	
ethtool -s eth0 wol d;

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#1 2012-10-25 14:13:28

Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#2 2012-10-25 16:01:29

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#3 2012-10-25 16:06:20

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#4 2012-10-25 17:10:23

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#5 2012-10-25 21:32:22

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#6 2012-10-25 23:13:31

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#7 2012-10-26 09:24:44

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#8 2012-10-31 00:19:02

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#9 2012-10-31 12:00:30

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#10 2012-10-31 15:16:58

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#11 2012-10-31 15:23:26

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#12 2012-10-31 17:17:10

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#13 2012-10-31 20:30:52

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#14 2012-10-31 20:34:29

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#15 2012-10-31 20:39:48

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#16 2012-11-04 12:28:30

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#17 2012-11-04 13:25:49

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#18 2012-11-04 19:00:23

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#19 2012-11-04 19:55:50

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#20 2012-11-04 20:59:29

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#21 2012-11-06 16:12:28

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#22 2012-11-07 01:07:25

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#23 2012-11-07 20:21:33

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#24 2012-11-07 21:04:43

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

#25 2012-11-09 16:32:46

Re: Battery Life on Thinkpad X220

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