ACPI and Macbook Pro 5,3 Ubuntu 13.04

Question

Found out that I can't use ACPI on my Macbook Pro 5,3 (2009) with Ubuntu 13.04. I tested it with the 3.6.x and 3.8.x kernels, and with nVidia drivers 310 ("tested" driver in "Additional driver") and 313 (also available in "Additional drivers").

If I boot with ACPI=off, the system runs good, but I can't go in suspend mode, the screen stays alive when I close the screen, and when I shut down the computer the process stops after the "system halt" message (and I'm forced to long-press the power button to shut it down once and for all).

If I boot with ACPI on (that is, I delete the "ACPI=off" in Grub2), I can manage the battery, I see it in Parametres > energy, but the system suddenly freezes after a minute of two, whatever I'm doing at the moment. I'm forced to long press the power button to reboot the system...

Any idea how to fix it?

Answer 1

Here is a workaround... It's not THE solution but at least it allows for a nice management of the battery and suspend/hibernate. The trick it to tell the system there's only ONE CPU instead of TWO. So that's not really a solution because the computer is a little bit less powerfull with only one CPU, but for the everyday life (browsing, editing images, watching stuff...) you won't see the difference.

In order to run with only one CPU, you have change your GRUB2 configuration file so that when the computer is booting, GRUB2 says to Ubuntu that there's one CPU to handle.

In order to do that, you have to edit the grub2 config file, update grub2, and then reboot.

1 - Edit your GRUB2 config file.

You can do that with a terminal. Type sudo nano /etc/default/grub to open the config file. There is a line GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="blah blah blah", add the parameter MAXCPUS=1 (maximum CPUs is 1) and delete the parameter ACPI=OFF.

Save the modification (Crtrl+O then press ENTER) and close the file (CTRL+X).

2 - Update your GRUB

Still in the terminal, just type update-grub and presse ENTER.

3 - Reboot!

You can do that in the terminal with the command sudo reboot

Now you should see the battery indicator in your menu bar and the battery management options in System Settings > Energy Saving.

Additionnaly, you can install the TLP utility that allows for a better battery management. You just have to install it and forget about it, it will tweak the power management for a longer battery life, see here for details: Is there a power saving application similar to Jupiter?

Let's hope some update to come will allow for a good power management of the Macbook Pro 5,3...