Linux + Software Suspend 2: Sweeet

**rubicon** · 02-25-2005, 10:24 AM

Originally Posted by cbergeron

Using 512MB is just insane unless you're using bloated pigware apps.

Lol, no, no bloated pigware (unless I run "emerge WindowsXP"!) - the 512MB was a knee-jerk reaction when I ordered the board - I think it was an extra $90 or so (over the default 128MB) and I've always been a fan of lots o' RAM.

Never gave much thought to the amount of RAM affecting the boot/response time of the system. I appreciate the heads-up, but the machine is sufficiently quick to boot/resume at the moment, so I'm not going to look into putting less RAM into it.

Its an M10000 w/GCS caps. My project this weekend is to identify all of the nasties on the motherboard, get replacements, take a deep breath, and get to (de)soldering. At least there're no SMD parts to worry about!

**cbergeron** · 02-25-2005, 01:07 PM

What is GCS? And why would you want to remove components from the board? Or are you talking about removing the BIOS?

**starfox** · 02-25-2005, 10:49 PM

Ah? Are you replacing some of the motherboard's caps with more expensive ones?

**rubicon** · 02-25-2005, 11:01 PM

Originally Posted by starfox

Ah? Are you replacing some of the motherboard's caps with more expensive ones?

More expensive caps? What purpose would that serve?

No, just want to get the GCS caps out before they might do damage. I'll admit that the possibility might be remote/far-off (for now), but the concern won't go away.

See this thread for details & links to more descriptive discussions.

Am I panicking needlessly? Perhaps. But I just dropped (what for me is) a buttload of money on this computer (*and* designed my system around it), and this really chaps my ***.

**starfox** · 02-26-2005, 11:17 PM

Ah i see what you mean.. yeah that's what i meant, replace the cheapo caps that some motherboard manufacturers use with higher temperature and better specced ones...

Just be careful that you match the caps as closely as possible.. if you choose caps with higher ripple damping, sometimes the internal resistance of them isn't as high which can cause loop stability problems and their lifespans are a lot shorter.. then again you probably know that already

**lgbr** · 02-26-2005, 11:19 PM

How much power does the system use with this?

**starfox** · 02-26-2005, 11:20 PM

Oh, on a side note: If you do replace your caps, you'll probably need to use a variable temp soldering iron... Last time i was replacing exploded crap-brand caps on a motherboard my portable soldering iron wasn't hot enough to desolder the cap leads. Needed to use about 350'C to get the solder to melt and needed desoldering braid to remove enough of it to pop the cap out..

**rubicon** · 02-27-2005, 03:36 PM

Originally Posted by starfox

side note

I appreciate the info. Never attempted to replace hard-wired parts on a motherboard before, and am not looking forward to it now.

To tell the truth, I've decided on a "wait and see" approach, given that nobody on this board (that I can find) has complained (yet) about boards w/the GCS caps. I won't be using the board 24/7 (until I go on a road trip!); I'll check it every week or so, to see how its doing. Also, I think Linux has some good hardware monitoring daemons that I can use, to (hopefully) let me know when something flakey starts to happen.

When (not if) I get around to replacing those caps, I'll let everybody know.

**rubicon** · 02-27-2005, 03:38 PM

Originally Posted by lgbr

How much power does the system use with this?

Can you be more specific?

If you mean with SWSUSP2+hibernate, then none - an image of the system's current state is saved to (what is normally) the swap partition, and the power is cut entirely. On next boot, if Linux sees an image on the swap partition, it loads (resumes) that - otherwise, it boots normally.

**mkkbb** · 03-01-2005, 04:24 PM

I'm using an Epia 5000 (which doesn't have pse or pse36). I know it says it isn't supported in kernels 2.4, but I am using 2.6.8.1. I can get it to suspend and resume in text mode, but when I run Gnome or desktop it suspends, but ownt resume.

Has anyone had any luck with an Epia 5000? How did you get it to work?