Laptop FAQ

Why is the disk imager not working?

• If the imager can't find the root partition, chances are it is either a bad hard drive (try another drive first) connected improperly, or the little IDE adapter is burned out. They burn out periodically. Check the back of the adapter for burned marks. Ask someone if you are unsure.

How do I fix the 2-inch border screen resolution problem on SONYs?

$ sudo displayconfig-gtk

Once that is open click where it says "plug and play"

A new window will pop up. The left pane should be generic and the right pane should be "LCD Panel 1024x768" then click ok.

Then change the resolution in the remaining windown to 1024x768 and click ok.

You will have to log out and back in for the fix to take effect.

How to fix the 3 part screen in Dell Inspiron 8000 series in Hardy

1. Log in
2. Open a terminal
3. Run sudo displayconfig-gtk
4. Select the correct model for Screen 1 (usually the system manufacturer + native resolution)
5. Set the resolution to the monitor's native resolution
6. Click the OK button
7. Log out
8. Press Ctrl + Alt + F1 to switch to a virtual terminal
9. Run sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
10. Find the Virtual line under Section "Screen"
11. Change the virtual resolution to the native resolution
12. Press Ctrl + O to save, and Ctrl + X to exit.
13. Run sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart to restart GDM

Hibernate problems

When a hard drive is moved from one laptop to another, hibernate may fail to work. In at least some cases, this is because the drive is being recognized as /dev/sda, rather than /dev/hda.

• make sure that the swap partition is a logical partition (not primary) e.g. /dev/sda5
• make sure that /etc/fstab shows the swap as the correct device.
• in /boot/grub/menu.lst make sure that there is the following line.

# defoptions=resume=/dev/sda5

• run "sudo update-grub" afterwards (might need to run "sudo grub-mkdevicemap" first)

Weirdly large font in login

Login screen looks fine until you put in the username, which is in a huge font (larger than the input field)

This is a bug in the X server which reports the screen size as 289x21 mm. In the final sense it is something that will be fixed in a future version of X, but for now there is a workaround. In the "Screen" section of xorg.conf, put in the following line:

Option  "DDC" "off"

Check the Battery Status

watch cat /proc/acpi/battery/

sometimes the remainder of the command is BAT0 or BAT1, sometimes it begins with a "C" Trial and error will get you there.

You might end up needing to look in "/sys/class/power_supply/BAT0/status" or some such place.