HARDWARE HP Compaq nx9420

From Gentoo Linux Wiki

[edit] /etc/make.conf

CFLAGS="-O2 -march=pentium-m -pipe -fomit-frame-pointer"
CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"
CXXFLAGS="${CFLAGS}"
MAKEOPTS="-j3"
...

[edit] Kernel

I would recommend to always use the latest ~x86 kernel-source available, since linux support for nx9420 is getting better with every kernel version.

[edit] The "Bad State" ACPI problem

Like other HP notebooks the nx9420 suffer from the "bad state" ACPI bug. It occures when psmouse is still loaded when the kernel shuts the notebook down and causes BIOS to take up to 30s for booting.

Workaround:

• Compile psmouse as a module (needed for internal touchpad)

   <M> PS/2 mouse

• Add psmouse to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6
• Add following line to /etc/conf.d/local.stop

rmmod psmouse

• If your notebook is already in the bad state turn it off, unplug AC adapter AND remove the battery for a moment.

[edit] Audio

   <M> Intel HD Audio

The module gets loaded automatically at boot by coldplug.

[edit] X

To get the native display resolution of 1440x900 you need to install proprietary graphics drivers from Ati. Using an external display properly is quite tricky. Writing "1440x900" and "1280x1024" in one "Modes" line does not work for some reason. The only solution that worked for me was switching xorg.conf-files via script.

If you get errors like this in /var/log/Xorg.0.log and X doesn't want to start, try disabling framebuffer (CONFIG_FB) in the kernel.

 (II) fglrx(0):  SAMSUNG
 (II) fglrx(0):  LTN154P1-L02
 (II) fglrx(0): End of Display1 EDID data --------------------
 (EE) fglrx(0): PreInitDAL failed
 (EE) fglrx(0): PreInit failed
 (II) fglrx(0): === [atiddxPreInit] === end

There is also a bugreport at the unofficial ATI bugzilla: http://ati.cchtml.com/show_bug.cgi?id=509

[edit] Touchpad

see HARDWARE Synaptics Touchpad

[edit] Wireless

emerge ipw3945

Do not forget to start ipw3945d after modprobing the module, since this daemon is needed to load the firmware. This can be done by editing/adding these two lines in /etc/modprobe.conf

install ipw3945 /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install ipw3945; sleep 0.5; /sbin/ipw3945d --quiet
remove ipw3945 /sbin/ipw3945d --kill; /sbin/modprobe -r --ignore-remove ipw3945

As of ipw3945-1.2.0.ebuild this is done automatically.

Then continue as stated here

[edit] Ethernet

   <*> Broadcom Tigon3 support

ifplugd (and netplug) works fine with it.

[edit] CPU Frequency Scaling

See HOWTO Gentoo on laptops#CPU frequency scaling.

Choose Intel Enhanced SpeedStep.

If you want to use ondemand governor do the following:

• Make sure ondemand governor is loaded
• emerge sys-power/cpufrequtils
• add these lines to /etc/conf.d/local.start

cpufreq-set -g ondemand -c 0
cpufreq-set -g ondemand -c 1
echo 10 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/ondemand/sampling_down_factor
echo 10 > /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu1/cpufreq/ondemand/sampling_down_factor

Attention: Beware of BIOS version F.12 as frequency scaling does not work with it! Use F.11 or lower. Since release F.17 frequency scaling is provided again, but only using the following workaround in /etc/conf.d/local.start the full scale is used. Otherwise the last frequency range isn't available.

for CPU in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*;
do
	einfo "Setting maximum frequency for $(echo "${CPU}" | cut -d\/ -f6)";
	MAXFREQ="$(cut -d' ' -f1 ${CPU}/cpufreq/scaling_available_frequencies)"
	echo "${MAXFREQ}" > ${CPU}/cpufreq/scaling_max_freq
done

[edit] Modem

TODO

[edit] Bluetooth

Not tested yet, but [1] might help.

[edit] PCMCIA

TODO

[edit] Vanderpool (VT)

If you want to use Xen to run unmodified guests (like Windows), you should use BIOS F.19 or later, because in <F.19 this feature was locked by HP.

[edit] See

• HOWTO Gentoo on laptops
• [2] Thread in a hp support forum about nx9420
• [3] BIOS Updates (Beware of F.12 it crashes cpu frequency scaling)