Installing Debian Lenny on a ThinkPad T61

Hardware

ThinkPad T61 7663-13G

Kernel Configuration

• Version: 2.6.22

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)
 [<c>] __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
 [<f>] acpi_processor_idle+0x21e/0x3e2 [processor]
 [<f>] acpi_processor_idle+0x0/0x3e2 [processor]
 [<c>] 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

Unfortunately, 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.

Temporary Workaround 2

Adding noirqdebug to the kernel commandline at least removes the messages. Let's hope for a BIOS update from Lenovo.

Custom Patches

ThinkPad ACPI Extras v0.15-20070723 ([1]). With the latest version, brightness control works under X11.

Sound: AD1984

I checked out both alsa-driver and alsa-kernel from the repositories ([2]) 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: 100.14.11

The Debian packages work just fine. There seem to be some (known) issues with framebuffers console. OpenGL applications and games work just fine, Darwinia (Darwinia and Defcon ([3]) run smoothly at 1440x900.

Problems

With 100.14.09 and RenderAccel/Compositing, I occasionally got hard locks after a couple of minutes, not even SysRq can reboot the machine. Only the NumLock LED is blinking, and no suspicious entries are in the logs. With 100.14.11 and no RenderAccel, the lockups are less frequently. I'm still trying to figure out which configuration makes them go away.

• I've tried to pci=nommcconf on the kernel commandline, didn't help.

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. Connecting to our local WiFi access point using WPA works just fine.

Bluetooth

My Logitech Bluetooth mouse works.

Fingerprint Sensor

Works with ThinkFinger.

References

• This guide is listed at the TuxMobil Linux laptop and notebook installation guides survey (IBM/Lenovo).

T61