Javier Perez wrote:
> I installed Linux on a second hand Compaq Presario 17XL265 that I got
> recently.
> It is supposed to have ACPI (but no APM) support.
> Nevertheless, my Bios is blaclisted on the ACPI driver
There are a couple of reasons why this might happen. From a quick Google,
either might apply.
* BIOSes dated from 2000 and before are generally blocked. This is simply
because too many BIOSes that old were too buggy.
* Your BIOS might have been explicitly noted as being buggy.
In either case, an updated BIOS might help. Some pre-2001 BIOSes will
work acceptably with ACPI: you could try adding acpi=force to the end of
the kernel line in /boot/grub/grub.conf.
I can't see your system in /usr/src/linux*/arch/i386/kernel/dmi_scan.c,
so it might just be the age. In which case, a 2001 or later BIOS *would*
solve the problem.
If it's blacklisted, that's for a reason. Alan Cox has called such BIOS
authors:
'stupid morons who cant program and
wouldnt know QA if it hit them on the head with a mallet'
Also see this flowchart from an earlier version of the same file:
/*
* Check for clue free BIOS implementations who use
* the following QA technique
*
* [ Write BIOS Code ]<------
* | ^
* < Does it Compile >----N--
* |Y ^
* < Does it Boot Win98 >-N--
* |Y
* [Ship It]
*
*/
> How do I know that is wrong with the BIOS and fix it with DSDT?
You don't. If it could easily be done in software, it would have been
done. The machine specific part of ACPI is the realm of the BIOS, and
the BIOS authors.
Are you sure the machine doesn't support APM? That's unusual (but then
it's Compaq, so anything's possible).
Sorry.
James.
--
E-mail address: james | "I blame the teachers, and I blame the politicians
@westexe.demon.co.uk | for picking the teachers, and I blame the parents
| for voting them in, and top of the list I put the
| bastard who invented the caps-lock key."
| -- Chris Hacking
