USB/ACPI problem on Compaq R3000z

[Jonathan Berry]

On Fri, 31 Dec 2004 15:16:52 -0500, Gene Czarcinski <gene at czarc.net> wrote:
> Since the volume is high on this mailing list while the signal-to-noise is
> often low, I would appreciate any communications on this to be done off-list
> (I will post any results to the list).
> 
> I have a Compaq R3000z (Athlon64) notebook.  There are multiple systems
> installed:  WinXP on a shrunk hda1, swap on hda2, a FC3 minimal install on
> hda3 as a boot director, FC3 i386 everything install on hda5 and FC3 x86_64
> everything install on hda6.  My problem(s) occur identically (as far as I can
> tell) on both the i386 and x86_64 systems.

Hi Gene,
There is an R3000 mailing list for Linux that has been very helpful
for many people.  Check it out:
LinuxR3000 mailing list
LinuxR3000 at lists.pcxperience.com
http://lists.pcxperience.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/linuxr3000

> Booting with ACPI=ON (actually specifying nothing at boot time):
> 
> 1.  The integral synaptic touchpad is detected as a generic PS2 two-button
> input device.
> 2.  A USB (1.1) mouse is not detected/useable.
> 3.  USB 1.1 flash drive is not detected although USB 2.0 flash drives are
> detected and useable.
> 
> Booting with ACPI=OFF:
> 
> 1.  The integral synaptic touchpad is not detected.
> 2.  The USB (1.1) mouse is detected an useable.  It can be hotplugged if not
> present at boot time.
> 3.  Both the USB 1.1 and the USB 2.0 flash drives are detected and useable.
> 
> Bug reports have been filed:
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=143893
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=143894
> https://bugzilla.redhat.com/bugzilla/show_bug.cgi?id=143895
> 
> There are some bug reports filed at bugzilla.redhat.com which may be the same
> thing or at least related.  However, nothing recent which sounds like this.

This sounds familiar to a f30 BIOS issue that has been discussed on
the above list.  This is probably not a FC3 issue, but rather a BIOS
issue.  Are you running the f30 BIOS?  If so, you may want to flash
back to f21.  Try looking at this thread in the archives (of the
LinuxR3000 list):
http://lists.pcxperience.com/pipermail/linuxr3000/2004-December/001861.html

> I also searched bugzilla.kernel.org and came up with some reports indicating
> problems in the 2.5/2.6 kernel with USB/ACPI (one very old report pointed me
> in the right direction).
> 
> I have also tried these devices on a ASUS SK8V/Opteron system and everything
> worked fine there.  This "problem" seems to have been around for a while and
> I know that there are Compaq R3000z notebooks (or the HP equivalent) out
> there being used with FC3.  I am a bit surprised that this problem is not
> more widely known.

If you don't have the problematic BIOS (you only would with very new
laptops or if you upgraded), then the issue isn't there :).

> I am also interested in trying a "generic" kernel from kernel.org if that is
> possible/practical.  Does anyone know if it is "safe" to run the generic
> kernel without all the Red Hat/Fedora Core patches (a lot fewer patches than
> SUSE run but nevertheless a significant number).

You will most likely have issues with SELinux here.  There have at
least been a couple of threads on the list with trouble.

> Any help will be appreciated.
> --
> Gene

Hope this helps.  I have an R3000Z and I really like it.  There are
many out there using Linux on it with great success.

Jonathan