Date: Thu, 04 Oct 2001 08:01:36
From: "neil barnes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: 70CT shuts down closing lid? More problems?
>Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2001 20:34:02 +0000
>From: "Matthew Hanson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Re: 70CT shuts down closing lid? More problems?
>
>But just last night, after setting the hibernation mode, I closed the lid
>to
>save the monitor (I tend to flip the lid closed when I go away and leave
>the
>system running with the reasoning that I'm saving the LCD life... the
>thinking that started all this recently), and then just picked it up again
>slowly to see how far up it would go before the lid switch kicked in the
>monitor.
The easy way to test this is just to press the switch with a pencil or
similar...
>
>Instead of turning on the monitor, the system did a hard shut down! This
>with a bunch of programs running, MusicMatch idling, Word, IE, WinMX
>downloading etc.. Running scandisk after rebooting found and fixed all
>kinds of problems.
I'd be tempted to blame windows <grin> but then I blame it for most
things...
>
>So it seems there's something else buggy about the system, maybe because of
>that little dent in the back left corner by the replicator screw holes.
>That's right about where that lid switch is located... but I can't think
>what connection there may be there.
If the system behaves as expected when you tickle the switch, but not when
you physically close the lid, it suggests some mechanical movement that the
greater forces from the hinge are causing. If the machine has been bounced,
there could be all sorts of invisible cracks etc - though around that end of
the machine, I'd expect the RAM to be affected as it seems very vulnerable -
and that usually causes either failure to boot or intermittent hard
crashing.
>
>But now, after reading a bit more, and understanding more about the
>hibernation mode, suspend mode, resume, and standby (these terms are still
>a
>bit dizzying), and testing them more... I find that 99.99% of the time I
>close the lid in the default 'boot mode' set in 'power saver' as it was set
>originally, it does not shut the system down. I've only had that problem
>twice. The first time was a day after I first got the fuse fixed and was
>using the system in 'boot mode'. And the second time last night with the
>'hibernation mode' setting.
>
Here's the biz on the BIOS controls (for the 50/70 - YMMV for later models)
- the windows utility is just another way of getting to them, and you have
to use two (the system thingy and the hairy lightbulb) to make it do what
you want if you go through the desktop rather than direct.
It appears that the esc key doesn't always get you into the bios if you have
a hibernated image...
in the OTHERS section:
o Power-up Mode: this should really be called power *down* mode.
- Hibernation: save the ram and screen contents to hard disk when
the power switch is pressed (or screen closed if enabled),
restore from disk when the system is powered up again.
- OPTION: Standby Time: After the system is allegedly powered
down, it turns of the disk and processor and goes into
standby. At this point, it can be restarted instantly by
hitting the power button or opening the screen (if enabled).
After a delay equal to the standby time, the image is written
to disk and the system closed down completely.
Note the two special cases: 0min means it saves to disc
immediately, and Unlimited means 'keep things in memory until
the battery dies'. In all cases, it saves to disc first so
losing your battery shouldn't lose data.
- Boot: turn the machine off/on from power switch or screen closure
(if enabled). Do not save any data. May talk to the operating
system and issue a shutdown command but depends on operating
system.
o CPU Cache: Controls how the CPU buffers data between itself and the
main memory. Experts only.
- Disabled: Make the machine very slow. Use only for diagnostics,
or if you have a particularly badly behaved piece of software
with self-modifying code that defeats the cache logic.
- Enabled:
- OPTION: Write-through: Every memory write is copied
immediately to the main memory. This is very safe but means
that all writes are restricted in speed to that of the main
memory.
- OPTION: Write-back: Memory writes only occur when the space in
the cache is required for something else, or at shutdown. This
is faster for the vast majority of code, and should probably
be the default option.
o System Auto Off: Only appears if 'Hibernation' is selected. This sets
the delay between the last keypress/mouse movement and an automatic
hibernation. Unfortunately it can't tell the difference between 'the
user has given up for a while' and 'the user is part-way though a ten-
hour compilation phase' so I tend to disable this.
o Alarm Volume: sets the volume of the beep for system warnings:
- OPTION: Low Battery Alarm: beeps when the battery gets below about
10% capacity. This is a bit vague as some batteries seem to run a
long time after 0%.
- OPTION: Panel Close Alarm: beeps when the lid is closed. You
probably don't want this if you're going to be running with the
lid closed.
o Panel Power On/Off: Only appears when hibernation mode is selected.
- Enabled: force a hibernation (with any delay you may have set)
when the lid is closed.
- Disabled: leave the processor running but kill the power to the
display to save power.
o Alarm Power On: Allows you to set a time and date at which the
processor will spring to life. I have yet to find any sensible use
for this option :) though it can be set to work at the same time on a
daily basis.
Note that if you enable it, it cannot be disabled except by exiting
without saving or waiting for the alarm to occur. Bad Toshiba, bad!
o Pointing Devices: Decide which mouse port will be active.
- Auto-selected: use an external mouse if one is found on the serial
port, otherwise use the mouse-button.
- Simultaneous: accept inputs from both the mouse-button and an
external mouse. Note that Windows sees nothing wrong with
believing two mice travelling in opposite directions. It will also
happily accept a 'shift' key on one keyboard as affecting another.
Windows is like the Red Queen and can believe in six impossible
things before breakfast.
o Boot Priority: Decide which order it should search for a boot sector.
- FDD->HDD: Look for an external floppy first. This is the default
and probably safest option.
- HDD->FDD: Look on the hard disk first, and only look for a floppy
if the hard disk image fails. This is slightly faster to boot, and
should be slightly more secure (until a miscreant finds a way into
the bios) if you need to prohibit external booting. But not very.
Hope this is of some use...
Neil
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