Linux on Laptop HP 6930p

[Dirk H.]

Purchased a brand new EliteBook 6930p and installed Ubuntu 8.10 on it. It works quite well, graphics was recognized out of the box, I'm quite impressed with this machine, but there are three problems:
- there is no sound on the built-in speakers, only on the headset
- none of the LCD brightness controls work
- the MMC/SD card reader doesn't seem to function
I created an Ubuntu bug for this (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/284319) and published a laptop test (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/HPCompaq6930p/Intel).

The HP Quickspecs for this machine say that it is certified with SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 (or vice versa). So, I installed this (SP 2) on a spare disk, but I get the same problems. Ok, the mute button acts slightly different, but not correctly either. I also tried booting from an openSuSE 11 live CD, still the same problems.

Now I have two questions:
(1) What does this "certified" statement in the Quickspecs actually mean?
(2) How can I get these problems fixed? Preferably in Ubuntu, but if I someone knows how to fix it in SuSE, I may be able to transfer the solution to Ubuntu.

[Antonio Armento]

in my case the model is fl494aw with ati video card.
the problem with this model seems to be, hw recognized, when i try to boot with cd iso image of ubuntu 8.10 for installation steps, but it doesn't seem to work... the start up processes hang, and i cannot read anything from terminal....
help!!!

[Alex Chiang]

Have you filed a Novell bugzilla against SLED?

They are usually pretty responsive. I can help poke the right people, just file a good bugzilla and update this thread with the link, and I'll add myself to the cc.

[zenit_1]

Hi there,
i also struggled with those issues. But luckily they are solvable.

speakers:
have a look at this page http://forums.opensuse.org/hardware/laptop/398728-headphones-work-but-laptop-internal-speaker-doesnt.html.
adding this line "options snd-hda-intel model=laptop" to /etc/modprobe.d/sound fixed it

Screen Brightness:
just add the "Brightness" applet to the panel.
that will do the trick

SD:
as far as i understand one would have to compile the kernel module from the sources. I did not do that yet.

Hope that helped.

PS: i also happened to land on the SUSE certified page, which helped me to decide to get the 6930p for my penguin. But the supported/certified drivers they listed were of hardly any use at all.

[Dirk H.]

Hello Zenit,

The brightness applet doesn't work either. The problem is not with the key assignment any more. That was fixed (see the Ubuntu bug I mentioned.) When I press the keys (Fn F9/F10) or use the brightness applet or connect/disconnect the power, I get this little sun icon on the screen indicating that the brightness goes up or down, but in fact the brightness doesn't change at all. (My machine has the Intel 4500MHD video.)

[Dirk H.]

Zenit, my sound also works now, someone in the Ubuntu community told me about the same trick.

Now about the card reader: would you know what to do in the kernel? I'm compiling my own anyway because I had to enable the 64G memory option in order to enjoy the full four gigs that my machine has.

[Unixnoob]

You're lucky, I couldn't even get Ubuntu to install or run the live CD version on the 6910p. Drops to Busybox every time no matter what I try.

I'm experimenting with different distros to see what installs. PCLinuxOS dies to busybox and Fedora wants a driver for the wired network adapter which I can't find.

Is it me or are these laptops distinctly Windoze Vista machines only? No Unix distro seems to want to know it.

I'm a real noob as far as unix goes but I wanted a machine that had only unix on it so I could learn to use it. Seems like I bought the wrong machine to do it with.

[Dirk H.]

Unixnoob, you may want to check http://www.linlap.com/wiki/
The have some information about your laptop and it seems to work.

There is also https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/ but currently it has no info about the 6910

This sounds dumb, but are you sure that your CDs are ok? Do they boot on any other machine that you or your friends have?

[Nuwan Alwis]

Hi,
I suggest you try other distro such as fedora live to identify if this also gives you same issues. normally these kind of issues are very common with linux and fixing this from one shot might take time. But im sure some workaround with OS will give you better results.
Also its better if you can check the equipment manufacture web site (Sound card/SD)to see if they have released a better driver for linux.

Good Luck...!

[Andor Kiss]

I have been using Ubuntu on an HP 6910p for a year. Check out my blog, or post your questions.

http://toothfish.blogspot.com/