HP Envy 13 and 15 - Linux thread!

So I'm trying to get my wireless working on my Envy 15 2nd gen. Can't seem to find the right firmware file (iwlwifi-6000-2.ucode) for my kernel (2.6.30) anywhere. Any suggestions?

 

you need kernel 2.6.32 or later for the wlan card to work in the HP Envy 15 gen2..

 

Well, I imagine it would work if I could find that version of the firmware file online anywhere. But since I can't, then for practical purposes, yes, it looks like I have to update my kernel first.

 

anyone know what needs to be done to get gpm to work with the touchpad? when I use gpm -t synps2, I can see the cursor when i touch the the touchpad, but it doesn't move.

If I use "gpm -t ps2", the cursor is visible and moves around fine, but when I try to use the buttons the cursor jumps to the top of the screen and doesn't do anything.

 

Having some more trouble, this time after applying the clickpad patch and rebuilding the kernel (this likely has nothing to do with the clickpad patch) I get a kernel panic on startup - details are at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1444781, if anyone more knowledgeable than me has any ideas on how to proceed.

 

Did you configure the kernel yourself? How did you configure it? It almost looks like there's no SATA support or something along those lines

 

The document at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/GitKernelBuild says:

Not knowing anything about how to configure the kernel, I just held down Enter through this step.

The only configuration change I made was the one suggested in step 6:

 

Hrm. Should be solid. What is the config on your Envy? Those messages look like it's having some kind of issue figuring out what the drives are.

 

Sorry for being dense, but what config are you asking about specifically?

 

Not a file What configuration in your machine. Dual SSDs? Single hard drive?

 

Oh, sorry - the only reason I didn't post that right away was because I had written it in the thread I linked, and so I thought you meant something else.

I have dual SSDs with Intel's software raid (the kind listed as "Fake Raid" on the Ubuntu site). The RAID array is divided into four primary partitions - three of which have Windows 7 stuff that came with the machine (one of those being a bootable Windows partition), and the fourth is my Ubuntu partition (this is "mapper/isw_cigaehddaa_RAID-04" from the error message). I'm using GRUB to boot (not sure if it is GRUB or GRUB 2).

 

I can almost bet its the RAID configuration that is unsupported by the dmraid driver. Check the version of dmraid that is included with your distro.

 

Code:

$ dmraid -V
dmraid version:                1.0.0.rc16 (2009.09.16) shared
dmraid library version:      1.0.0 rc.16 (2009.09.16)
device-mapper version:     unknown

I found something interesting when I inspected the commands at the GRUB menu. The one that works looks like this:

Code:

recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/mapper/isw_cigaehddaa_RAID-0,4)'
search = --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set f1105e9f-4053-4b27-b832-591696636583
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.32-17-generic root=UUID=f1105e9f-4053-4b27-b832-591696636583 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.32-17-generic

while the one that doesn't work just looks like this:

Code:

recordfail
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/mapper/isw_cigaehddaa_RAID-0,4)'
search = --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set f1105e9f-4053-4b27-b832-591696636583
linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.34-rc3-custom root=/dev/mapper/isw_cigaehddaa_RAID-04 ro quiet splash

I don't know what most of that is, but I wonder if the fact that the root is set differently and/or the missing initrd has anything to do with it. I'm hesitant to mess with GRUB, but I'll start reading through the documentation; if anyone can point me in the right direction, let me know.

 

You can always create a copy of the command and edit that and try it. It won't hurt. But if you set the root= to the same device as in the working kernel you will probably be alright.

It also looks like you don't have an initrd image generated or configured for your new kernel... that can often cause issues. Is there a reason you didn't make one?

 

I wasn't particularly given a choice at any point when I followed the instructions for building the kernel. How can I do this? A Google search tells me its related to mkinitrd, which turns up nothing on my machine, and packages.ubuntu.com says that mkinitrd comes from the initrd-tools package, but apt-get install initrd-tools doesn't find anything either.

 

Ok, it looks like it should have been created automatically when I ran

Code:

make-kpkg --initrd --append-to-version=-custom kernel_image kernel_headers

but that doesn't seem to be the case, according to "locate initrd". Any idea what could cause that?

 

Well, this is turning out to be a huge nightmare. I found this thread ( http://georgia.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1388164&highlight=clickpad&page=2) where someone posted their version of the clickpad patch, adding a Makefile and instructions for installing it using the current version of the kernel. I followed that and the mouse stopped working altogether, so I booted from the LiveCD and reinstalled Lucid the same way I had installed it in the first place, on the same partition.

Of course, now it doesn't boot at all. Additionally, GRUB no longer shows the options to boot from Windows. When I boot from the LiveCD and run GParted, it doesn't see the partitions or the RAID array - it just sees the two hard drives. Any idea what could have caused this / how to fix it?

 

Never mind, got that fixed. Back to the mouse issues.

 

Ahh the beauty of Linux. This is the reason I stick with VMs on the native supported OS. Virtualbox is a freebie virtualizer that if one wants to get running quick without cost..

The init image seems to be the problem which tells the kernel to load off a root system on a RAID device.

 

Ok! So now I've gotten to the point where I can boot from my custom-built kernel. I downloaded the latest sources, applied Takashi Iwai's clickpad patch (to synaptics.c and synaptics.h), built the kernel and booted from it. The mouse functions exactly as it did before. How can I check to verify that the patch is actually being used by the system?

 

I have this configuration as well. my experience is that the grub that comes with ubuntu 9.10 actually cannot boot on the dual SSD config. the grub that comes with 10.04 can.

so, as a workaround, I acutally have both installed, and use the grub from 10.04 to boot my ubuntu 9.10. (this is because I need 9.10 for the fglrx driver to work, as it doesn't work on 10.04). yes, its awkward and uses a lot of space, but at least it works.

alternatively, you could use an ultimatebootcd USB stick to boot..

 

I got this issue resolved by following the extra steps listed at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/GitKernelBuild under "Using Ubuntu Kernel Configuration" - I had to get the ubuntu packaging scripts and use the --overlay-dir option. This made it create the initrd, which was missing when I was getting the kernel panic.

Now I'm trying to get this clickpad patch working - I applied it to the source from which I built the kernel, but booting from the custom kernel shows no change in the way the mouse operates. Do you know how I can verify that the resulting synaptics.o is being used rather than some generic driver?

 

An update - I compared the md5sums of the psmouse.ko files in /lib/modules/$(shell uname -r)/kernel/drivers/input/mouse/ and in the source tree (after building the kernel), and they were different. I copied the new one over the old one and restarted, but that didn't seem to make a difference.

 

Another update - dmesg shows "Synaptics: Clickpad mode enabled", which corresponds to a line in the patch. So it's been applied, and it's installed. I am not sure what to do at this point.

 

interesting. the difference for me is that in the bottom region of the click-pad, you now have three different areas: left for the left mouse click, middle for the middle mouse click, and right for the right mouse click.

do you still have the whole bottom area dedicated to the left mouse click event?

 

No, actually clicking never worked for me at all. Maybe there is some setting disabling it? I haven't been able to find anything, though.

 

Same here. Clicking has no effect at all.

@Akos.maroy
Did you make any progress with shutdown/suspend? Anything more from the pm-linux mailing list folks?

 

Is that with or without the patch?

 

Anything new on this topic?

 

The clickpad left, right and middle click now work out of the box in ubuntu 10.04.
There is an open bug report for the 2nd gen Envy 15 suspend/shutdown issues here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/557072

If have the same issue, please add to the bug report to help get it noticed.

 

Apparently it had always worked for me (after applying the patch); I ended up e-mailing the author of the patch in desperation only to find out that the defined button area is quite small. Pressing the very bottom of the pad (as in, my finger is half resting on the frame) produces a click. When I get a chance I'm planning to modify the patch to suit my mousing style; maybe this is something that should be configurable.

 

Anyone try Fedora 13 Beta or Fedora 12 on the Envy 15 yet? I may try out Centos 5.5 after its release (who knows when) since RH has backported many of the drivers to the older kernel.

 

Using an Envy 15 (1030EF with latest BIOS update from HP), I couldn't manage to boot Fedora 12 from a LiveCD, Fedora stops loading with a boot error message. Haven't gotten around to the 13 beta yet, however.

I've done a fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, everything works almost OK :
Clickpad is enabled with right click, even though the click zones are pretty small, and multi touch is not supported, which makes the cursor go wild when putting a second finger on the touchpad.
Video seems OK (both with open and restricted drivers).

I do however have some problems cold booting into Ubuntu, the computer just hangs on a console screen with no text. I've tried dropping to another console, but the machine seems stuck. The only workaround I've got is to cold boot into Win 7, and reboot to Ubuntu from there.

Shutdown is OK for me however.

Best regards

 

Ubuntu 10 on my new i5 envy actually runs better than I thought it would. I haven't got multi gestures working or anything but overall it behaves nicely. I got compiz up and running with no issues which was surprising.

My only big issue is that the laptop cannot shut down. It reboots fine, but on shutdown it just hangs with a black screen and never powers off.

 

Anybody with an ATI 4830 Envy 15 (1st generation) has been able to install "restricted" Catalyst 10.4 drivers on Ubuntu 10.4? I get a frozen startup screen every time I try to boot.

The default Ubuntu 10.4 driver works fine, but doesn't support OpenCL. For that, I need to install the "restricted" drivers, and they crash. It looks like the same problem Catalyst drivers have on Windows 7 with this machine.

I am using Ubuntu 10.4 64-bit on a 1st generation Envy 15 (ATI 4830). Thanks.

 

After days of attempting to dual boot windows 7 and ubuntu with raid0 envy 15, I've finally succeeded and I would like to share with you guys the steps I took.

Things you need:
installed windows
ubuntu 10.4 desktop livecd
internet connection

- in windows: install partition manager: Free Download Magic Partition Manager Software ? Partition Wizard Online
- partition however you want, be sure your linux drive is formated using ext3
- insert ubuntu cd and restart, be sure you have boot to cd set up in bios
- after booting into ubuntu livecd, say you want try ubuntu
- click on install ubuntu on the desktop, when you reach the partition part, say you want to set it up manually
- click on the ext3 partition you've set up earlier, click change at the bottom and select "use as ext3" and mount as "/", do not format
- you will be warned about no wrap drive and you decided not to farmat, dont worry about them.
- when you get to the summary, click advanced options and uncheck install bootloader
- after you're done installing, restart (your livecd will pop out.. put it back it)
- restart into livecd, select try ubuntu again
- make sure you have internet
- go top applications, accessories, terminal

from nutznboltz:
Terminal,
sudo mkdir /mnt/root
ls /dev/mapper
- In this example the output would have shown "nvidia_cffbdeda, nvidia_cffbdeda1, nvidia_cffbdeda2" where nvidia_cffbdeda is the hdd. All the others listing a # on the end are the partitions. If you don't know what partition is the root of your installation check out gparted. I will use nvidia_cffbdeda1 in the following steps as an example for mounting and chrooting into the installation.
sudo mount /dev/mapper/nvidia_cffbdeda1 /mnt/root
- If this fails use nautilus (thunar in xbuntu) to mount your Ubuntu root partition then use mount to find the mount location. This location will be used in place of /mnt/root in the following steps.
sudo mount --bind /dev /mnt/root/dev
sudo mount -t proc proc /mnt/root/proc
sudo mount -t sysfs sys /mnt/root/sys
sudo mount -t devpts devpts /mnt/root/dev/pts
sudo cp /etc/resolv.conf /mnt/root/etc/resolv.conf
sudo chroot /mnt/root /bin/bash
6) Install Grub2 from Lucid
apt-get purge grub2 grub-pc
apt-get autoremove grub2 grub-pc
apt-get update
apt-get dist-upgrade
mv /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.bak
echo deb Index of /ubuntu lucid main > /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-get update
apt-get install grub-common
apt-get install grub-pc
- when it asks you to enter a linux command, just leave it blank and hit enter
- when it asks you to select a drive, highlight your raid drive (last option for me) and hit space, then hit enter
upgrade-from-grub-legacy
- when it asks you to select a drive, highlight your raid drive (last option for me) and hit space, then hit enter
7) Confirm grub version...
grub-install -v
- should report back 1.98
8) Hold packages
echo "grub hold" | sudo dpkg --set-selections
echo "grub-common hold" | sudo dpkg --set-selections
echo "grub-pc hold" | sudo dpkg --set-selections
9) Restore sources.list
mv /etc/apt/sources.bak /etc/apt/sources.list
apt-get update
10) Reboot

sources: [SOLVED] How-to Install 9.10 on fakeraid - Page 7 - Ubuntu Forums

if everything worked correctly, you should be able to boot into ubuntu or windows

 

anyone try the 10.5 Catalyst driver on a Gen 2 5830 yet with a current Distro?

 

Anyone else with a 5830 model notice problems with a hang occurring on shutdown (but not on restart) when using the proprietary Catalyst driver?

 

Has anyone managed to get a linux working on the 13 yet?