hdparm problem with ASUS 1015PN
I've started testing Trisquel on this laptop, at least with working ethernet connection.
But I have this issue with hardware spin-downs. Various sites (Ubuntu, ArchLinux, Linlap) suggest:
Fix numerous spin-downs of the Western Digital hard drive:
gksudo gedit /etc/hdparm.conf
Add the following at the end of the conf file
/dev/sda {
apm = 254
apm_battery = 254
}
I've done that and it doesn't help, the HDD still goes on max. I'm running Trisquel live on USB, might this be the problem? Does it need a reboot after the hdparm.conf was edited? I obviously don't wanna destroy my HDD, but without solving this problem I won't be able to run Trisquel.
I am a translator!
I have a similar netbook and it works for me. I did what I wrote here when I was using Trisquel:
http://h-node.org/notebooks/view/en/210/Eee-PC-1001PX
Does the command
sudo hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda
work?
I haven't noticed any sound difference, so I'm afraid it doesn't work. Is there any way to find out if it worked (e.g. to get some number difference via a Terminal command)?
I am a translator!
In order to see if the command worked simply run
sudo hdparm -B /dev/sda
The output should be:
/dev/sda:
APM_level = 254
I had this APM_level = 254 even before I ran the command in today's live session.
The ArchLinux wiki of my laptop says:
With the Western Digital hard disc (eg. WD2500BEVT), there is an important issue: using the APM (Advanced Power Management) there are too nomerous spin-down, that can damage the hard drive. To confirm this issue, you have to install smartmontools from Official Repositories.
And you have to run multiple times this command (once in a minute for like 5 minutes):
smartctl -a /dev/sda|grep Load_Cycle_Count
If the number under Load_Cycle_Count is increasing in a small amount of time (1 or 2 in a minute) you have this issue.
***
I did that and the number stays the same, so I hope this issue doesn't even occur on my laptop with Trisquel (or linux-libre kernel at all), since I did not have to run any command to fix that.
You might want to read the hdparm manual page as well.
man hdparm