Installing Debian Lenny on a ThinkPad T61

Hardware

ThinkPad T61 7663-13G

Kernel Configuration

• Version: 2.6.22-rc6

SATA Issues

Currently, SATA mode is set to "Compatibility" in the BIOS and I'm using the ATA_PIIX driver, which finds both the hard and the cdrom drive. In AHCI mode, the cdrom is not found. I haven't found any information on that, yet.

IRQ Issues

Occasionally, I get messages like

irq 23: nobody cared (try booting with the "irqpoll" option)
 [<c0156864>] __report_bad_irq+0x24/0x80
 [<c0156b11>] note_interrupt+0x251/0x290
 [<c0155d65>] handle_IRQ_event+0x25/0x50
 [<c015725b>] handle_fasteoi_irq+0xbb/0xf0
 [<c0106bfb>] do_IRQ+0x3b/0x70
 [<c0104b53>] common_interrupt+0x23/0x28
 [<f8849940>] acpi_processor_idle+0x21e/0x3e2 [processor]
 [<f8849722>] acpi_processor_idle+0x0/0x3e2 [processor]
 [<c0102434>] cpu_idle+0x84/0xe0
 [<c0387a3f>] start_kernel+0x2ef/0x370
 [<c03871f0>] unknown_bootoption+0x0/0x260
 =======================
handlers:
[<f888b530>] (usb_hcd_irq+0x0/0x60 [usbcore])
Disabling IRQ #23

Unfornuately, adding irqpoll to the boot command line only leads to frequent losses of Ethernet connectivity.

Temporary Workaround

When the message appears, USB devices will start to behave weird (USB keyboards & mice lag etc). Unloading and loading ehci-hcd fixes this problem, for now.

Custom Patches

None so far.

Sound: AD1984

I checked out both alsa-driver and alsa-kernel from the repositories ([1]) and built the modules for my kernel. After installation, sound (both headphone jack & internal speakers) works just fine. Haven't checked the MIC yet.

Graphics: NVidia Quadro NVS 140M

• Driver: nvidia
• Version: 100.14.09

The Debian packages work just fine. There seem to be some (known) issues with framebuffers consoles and running Darwinia in full resolution almost freezes the display, still I can switch to the console, kill the game and everything is fine. Using a smaller resolution works flawlessly.

Problems

I occasionally get hard locks, not even SysRq can reboot the machine. For now, I'm suspecting the NVidia driver and I have reverted to VESA drivers.

WiFi: Intel 4965AGN

• Driver: iwlwifi
• Version: 0.0.34

Since mac80211 is already a part of 2.6.22, only the iwlwifi module needs to be compiled. Following the instructions in the source package was sufficient. The module loads & finds some hardware and I can successfully scan for networks. Haven't tried more yet.