HowTo: Ubuntu Linux on HP Pavilion series laptops

8. Media Card Reader

On Ubuntu Linux Lucid 10.04  and and Karmic 9.10 the media card reader is fully supported: SD (Secure Digital), MMC (Multi Media Card) and MS (Sony MemoryStick).

On Ubuntu Linux Hardy 8.04 the media card reader support is limited to: SD (Secure Digital), MMC (Multi Media Card)

It’s a Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter

Modules governing this device are:

ricoh_mmc
mmc_block
sdhci_pci
sdhci

I tested only SD and MMC cards. Please send feedback for the other types of media (MS, MS Pro, and XD cards)

Support for MS (Sony MemoryStick) cards has been added with 2.6.25 kernel.

http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=commit;h=baf8532a147d5b76681ce040e2c8f25a3f0e718d

9. VGA, S-Video & HDMI Outputs

On Ubuntu Linux Lucid 10.04  and Karmic 9.10 the video outputs are fully supported using the restricted drivers (nvidia for nVidia cards, fglrx for AMD ATi cards).

Does not work with the 2D nv driver when the xserver is running

Screen is cloned by default.

To manage the second external screen/projector:

  • gnome-display-properties (System -> Preferences -> Display) has been completely reworked with Gnome 2.26 and is much more handy and capable. Only works with OpenSource drivers, otherwise will suggest to use the restricted drivers tool.
  • nvidia-settings (System -> Administration -> NVIDIA X Server Settings) to configure resolution, refresh rate and display mode (cloned, extended, etc.)

HDMI video works perfectly with nvidia settings and nvidia-glx-180.22 drivers installed from ubuntu jaunty 9.04 repositories. Previously audio did not work.

Note: Some users still have difficulty in having audio work, if anybody comes along with a reliable fix please drop a line! Unfortunately I do not have any hdmi enabled video device.

User Giorgio advised to add three lines in xorg.conf in order to workaround X not starting any more

Section "ServerFlags"
Option "IgnoreABI" "True"
EndSection

S-Video is fully supported by nVidia 3D restricted drivers (nvidia) and AMD ATi ones.

Intel newest drivers also fully enable S-video support (see comment).

Contrast problems can be fixed with xcalib

xcalib -contrast 55 -alter

You can download the latest drivers from

http://intellinuxgraphics.org/download.html

10. Remote Control

On Ubuntu Linux Lucid 10.04  and Karmic 9.10 the remote control is partially supported.

This works out of the box, even without installing any infrared support (since HP Pavilion series do not actually have a IR communication port, it is just a receiver)

To configure the buttons have a look at paragraph 20 (Touch Sensible Buttons)

11. Firewire

On Ubuntu Linux Lucid 10.04  and Karmic 9.10the firewire is fully supported.

12. Battery

HP recommends battery calibration every three months. This means disabling low power shutdown and allowing the computer to discharge the battery to 0% charge.

To do this, change your Power Management setting “When battery power is critically low:” to “Do Nothing”.

For batteries storage is advisable to leave them in a fresh and clean environment with a charge ~50%. For longer life you should not sotck your batteries full 100% or empty <1% in charge

Return to index

Related posts:

  1. Linux Power Saving Tweaks for HP Pavilion laptops
  2. Call for enabling HP Pavilion internal softmodem
  3. Ottimizzazioni per il Risparmio Energetico per portatili HP Pavilion su Ubuntu Linux
  4. [EN] Configure HP Pavilion QuickPlay multimedia buttons in Ubuntu Linux
  5. Guida per Ottimizzare Ubuntu Linux sui portatili HP Pavilion
  6. How to update ALSA to latest version easily
  7. Ad Hoc Wireless Networking in Linux

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311 Responses to “HowTo: Ubuntu Linux on HP Pavilion series laptops”

  1. Uwe says:

    Thank you very much, Aldeby, for this great collection of tips! I found it after solving almost all problems in 9.04 and wished that I had found your site much earlier.

    One hint for the suspend/hibernate chapter: I run a dv9500 with the most recent BIOS, but after a clean install of 9.10, the machine hung while trying to hibernate. There are two more solutions to this topic, one is to use the package “uswsusp” instead of the default pm-utils. The other is to list modules (mostly wifi) to unload before suspending or hibernating. Google “SUSPEND_MODULES” or have a look here:

    http://www.ubuntugeek.com/fix-for-suspend-and-hibernation-problem-for-laptops.html

    Best regards,
    Uwe

  2. Makis says:

    i runed the script setup_alsa and it gets to a point where it says “Choose the mode which best fits you” but when i type my prefered number and i hit enter doesnt do anything.am i doing something wrong?

    • aldeby says:

      Makis, why don’t you use an utility like meld to compare the original and your customized script to highlight all the differences (and eventually the mistakes)?

  3. Kyle says:

    In the audio section, sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic should be sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-alsa-karmic-generic.

  4. str8upx says:

    This site saved my 9.04 + 9.10 ubuntu installations on my HP dv 7 (3165dx) notebook. Thank you! I just did a clean install of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS and everything works perfectly: sound, front audio jacks, wireless card, web cam, etc. I hope this helps If your considering upgrading.

    • CharlesdArvay says:

      I confirm my flawless upgrade to 10.04 from 9.10 – on the 6th of May 2010 – kra20kra!

      Thanks for this wonderful website that helped in the first place, when I doubted about buying this machine for Linux.

      So I guess HP should be thankful as well…

      Charlot

      • aldeby says:

        I’m happy to read your feedback CharlesdArvay!

        By the way I haven’t heard a word from HP yet.
        They seem way too busy making profit to even bother understanding what the opensource approach is!

  5. Darren says:

    Thanks for your detailed site. I look forward to delving in to it. My initial task however is to install 10.04 Server on a Pavillion notebook using an external monitor as the LCD screen is not working. The external monitor initially shows the cdś loading progress and then the screen is completely black. When the off button is pressed the external monitor again details the shutting down process. Is there some way of seeing what is occurring through the whole process? Thanks for any help that can be offered.

    • aldeby says:

      Hi Darren!
      As far as I recall the external monitor would switch off when the video driver takes control of the video card. As long as is the BIOS controlling both internal and external screens are enabled. You should then be able to enable the external screen from within the driver settings.
      But I guess your laptop has a broken screen…

      Basically I would suggest you to install the operative system in text only mode (so that you would benefit from the BIOS controller and be able to use the external monitor) and not forget to install SSH support so that you could access via network cable your install. Now it would be fairly easy to enable the external monitor by configuring your laptop driver ( /etc/X11/xorg.conf for instance).

  6. Scott says:

    Linux newbit who installed the newest version of Linux Ubuntu 10.04 on my HP Pavilion dv6000 Laptop. Both my wired and wireless connections do not work. Thank you for your help.

    Below is the output of sudo lshw -C network

    *-network
    description: Ethernet interface
    product: MCP67 Ethernet
    vendor: nVidia Corporation
    physical id: a
    bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
    logical name: eth0
    version: a2
    serial: 00:1b:24:8c:7b:fa
    size: 100MB/s
    capacity: 100MB/s
    width: 32 bits
    clock: 66MHz
    capabilities: pm msi ht bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
    configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=forcedeth driverversion=0.64 duplex=full latency=0 link=yes maxlatency=20 mingnt=1 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
    resources: irq:27 memory:f6488000-f6488fff ioport:30f8(size=8) memory:f6489c00-f6489cff memory:f6489800-f648980f
    *-network
    description: Network controller
    product: BCM4311 802.11b/g WLAN
    vendor: Broadcom Corporation
    physical id: 0
    bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
    version: 02
    width: 64 bits
    clock: 33MHz
    capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
    configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=0
    resources: irq:19 memory:f6000000-f6003fff
    *-network DISABLED
    description: Wireless interface
    physical id: 1
    logical name: wlan0
    serial: 00:1a:73:84:5e:66
    capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
    configuration: broadcast=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg

    • aldeby says:

      It seems your hardware is supported. Have you had a look at System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers to see whether your computer needs restricted drivers?

      By the way I find it suspicious to read: *-network DISABLED

      If you have installed the default packages and had not modified any file inside /etc by hand you should at least be able to connect via ethernet. Check right clicking on the Network Manager applet if you can tick Enable Networking.

  7. Neva says:

    Broadcom also offers closed STA drivers for those chipsets that aren’t yet covered by the b43 driver. Their compiling instructions are pretty distro-inspesific, I found it easier to connect the laptop to a wired connection and install the same closed driver offered by Ubuntu.
    http://www.broadcom.com/support/802.11/linux_sta.php

    • aldeby says:

      Thank you for sharing your suggestion Neva!
      I’ve added it to the tutorial. Have a nice day!

  8. Uwe says:

    Hi Aldeby, it’s me again. ;-)
    This time with an addition to 7. (Touchpad):
    Under 9.10 as well as 10.04 I had problems with the touchpad after disabling it with the touchpad’s “on/off”-button. Re-enabling did not work, although the button’s light changed from off to on. Restarting X or rebooting did not work, either.

    Cause: The gnome-settings-daemon interferes with the Synaptics touchpad driver and saves the “off” state forever.
    Remedy: Run “gconf-editor”, navigate to “apps”-”gnome-settings-daemon”-”keybindings” and change the value of “touchpad” to “” (empty string).

    Source: Ubuntu Bug #549727, https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-synaptics/+bug/549727/comments/103

    Best regards,
    Uwe

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