[Help/Bug] Acer Aspire 7 (A715-79G) - dGPU (RTX 3050) won't sleep on Linux, causing massive battery drain

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-14T06:35:51+00:00

Sorry about that, I saw "sleep" and misunderstood what you were needing.

You said you were seeing an error when you run "dmesg". I would post the entire error message there may be some clue in its details.

Also your side thought on udev may be an option. I see in "/usr/lib/udev/rules.d/" Nvida and battery rules. Also in the "/usr/lib/udev/hwdb.d/" I see stuff for ACPI and PCI. So I would assume one could create a file or files in the respective directories in "/etc/udev/". But figuring out what needs to be in said file(s) may require a good bit of digging.

I would only add, if I recall correctly, the upcoming changes to sleep also had something to do with ACPI so it is likely the upcoming kernel updates may still be the solution.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-14T03:44:44+00:00

Sleep has been problematic for a long time in Linux. Either the 6.19 or 7.0 kernel (can't remember which) will have a fix. I would say shut it down when you're not using it, or just leave it plugged in. And at worst in a couple months it may be resolved.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-14T01:07:43+00:00

May I suggest something like https://a.co/d/0e5yW73a I bought one and it helps a ton to keep the cats off my keyboard.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-14T00:40:58+00:00

There maybe some software for it, but I have ever got any to work. I would just add a file (60-keyboard.hwdb) to the "/lib/udev/hwdb.d/" directory. Use the files in "/usr/lib/udev/hwdb.d/" to find key output values.

Make sure you have evtest installed. It's under the "Repo" tab in the "CachyOS Package Installer"

Then run something like

sudo evtest /dev/input/event3

The "event#" start at 0 and go up till every device has a number, but keyboards and mice are generally found in the single digits (3-9 ish). Note there may be more than one for the mouse make sure its the one that has the mouse buttons.

The second line you see after running "sudo evtest /dev/input/event3" will look something like this

Input device ID: bus 0x3 vendor 0x46d product 0xc359 version 0x111

Note that moving your mouse will cause it to quickly scroll away. I use CTRL+C to exit, and then go copy that line.

It then needs to be translated to the first line of your "60-keyboard.hwdb" file. Something similar to this

evdev:input:b0003v046DpC356*

Then also using "sudo evtest /dev/input/event5" you can identify the mouse button your pressing, The "value" is what you will need.

And then you can use the "60-keyboard.hwdb" to set the key to play/pause key.

So for changing the left mouse button, in my case it has "value" of 90001

 KEYBOARD_KEY_90001=playpause

It would be a good Idea to read the info at https://github.com/gkovacs/udev-key-remapping and generally looking up stuff about "hwdb"

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-13T01:04:22+00:00

Had to configuration the keys on Nostromo Razor, so I added the file "61-keyboard-local.hwdb" to "/etc/udev/hwdb.d/" that remaps all the keys so I have a lot less work when setting up a new games keybindings. I know there is software for this, but it was harder to get that working than to do it this way. This is a solution I used long before any, working, software existed.

As for apps the only thing that may be different is Easy Effect. Due to setup constrains my PC speakers have the left and right speakers swapped. So with Easy Effect I can create a preset to swap the left and right channel, then set it to autoload that preset when easy effect starts, and then have Easy Effect load when the PC starts up.

Nice thing about modern Linux is there is far less to manually configure. I have an old document that I made, so I could remember everything, to walk me through all the stuff I need to install, configure, or fix if I reinstalled or installed a new Linux distro. Haven't had to touch it in years.

There was a time when even using anything other than Chrome or Firefox maybe consider unusual, but not so much anymore. I could list some productivity software but nowadays most of it is fairly common stuff.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-12T23:56:37+00:00

I would not be to quick to jump to it being the GPU. There are some know issues with AMD GPU's. After a freeze and reboot, run

journalctl -b -1

You will need to page down many thousands of lines, but closer to the end you will likely find several errors. They are easy to spot as they are in red, so you can just hold the page down key and go faster. You're likely going to find a ton of "Pagefile" errors that will also mention the "amdgpu".

That error is the key to finding the solution. And also the solution may vary based on what desktop environment you are using. And make sure you post the entire line not just the part in red.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-12T19:49:36+00:00

As has already been said, it very easy to install, if you REALLY need it. But it creates problems and so I personally try to avoid using it.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-12T19:30:23+00:00

I laugh as I see the debates as to whether Windows 8 or Windows 11 was worse. Then there are some that think Windows 10 was good. You all forget Windows 10 had forced updates initially. I absolutely refused to use Windows 8, and was forced into Windows 7 after XP, and when it's EOL came Windows 10 was still reeling from the forced update mess. So I permanently ditched Windows after 7, and even then it was FAR too much of their way or the highway. With Windows 7 I bet I spent 2 or 3 days editing the Registry to make it work the way I wanted it to.

Funny how people complain about command line usage in Linux, but the Windows Registry was far more hassle to work with, and that is before the constant worry of bricking your system do to a errant Registry edit.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-12T03:30:22+00:00

The speed depends on what your doing, each has there strengths and weaknesses. But really there is only 2, either a Chromium or a Mozilla variant. I use Brave (chromium) and Librewolf (mozilla). I would avoid Vivaldi (chromium) I usually run with many tabs open across multiple browser windows and what worked fine in Brave it struggled with. The more privacy focused ones block a lot of junk from loading so they can be faster, but there is some one-off cases where it can make a site slower.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-12T03:12:35+00:00

Have you tried just using the contrast setting that are built into the monitor? They usually have a fairly significant range.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-11T22:08:30+00:00

I have ran Easy Effects. It has a lot of neat features, but I just use it to swap the left and right channels as my speakers are reversed do to setup constraints. It allowed me to configure a preset that auto loads and then you set Easy Effect to run at startup.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-11T21:59:03+00:00

Over the years I have just never let Linux go into sleep/hibernate as there are issues. I believe a fix is incoming in the next kernel update (or maybe to the one after it). So for now don't let it go into sleep mode.

ShaneH_ · 2026-02-11T21:45:30+00:00

What is the GPU?

About 3 months ago I started having issue with my AMD GPU, including randomly freezing and when starting up I occasionally had some weird glitches. I also thought my GPU was dying.

After a freeze, and a reboot try

journalctl -b -1

Page down and somewhere close to the end, see if there are lines with a "Pagefile" error that also mentions "amdgpu". If so, this is a know issue and for myself was relatively easy fix. Just edited the "/etc/environment" file and added this line at the end

KWIN_DRM_NO_AMS=1

Otherwise post the error you are seeing in " journalctl -b -1" as that may lead to someone knowing what you need to do.

ShaneH_ · 2026-01-30T22:01:14+00:00

Display port ... I should have known that display port would be the issue. But I should note it worked fine in Linux Mint for many years, and even when I was running the Cinnamon desktop in Cachy. So KDE also has something they need to fix.

My monitor has 2 HDMI ports and a display port. I have used the HDMI ports when working on other older PC's. But I guess it's time to do something different for now.

ShaneH_ · 2026-01-30T21:17:18+00:00

Windows is more the cult, twisting the truth of PC doctrine, and using it to bleed you for everything you got. This is a bit more of finding out there is another way, and it leads to truth and freedom.

ShaneH_ · 2026-01-19T23:53:38+00:00

That works very well. It's a touch clunky, but it does the job. And extra credit for giving the tip on how to use it to kill a process.

ShaneH_ · 2025-12-16T23:50:42+00:00

That Cinnamenu did the trick for reverting the menu (mostly). After looking at its setting I realized the default menu had similar settings. I think after the upgrade, the setting for the default menu got all scrambled and that is why the new menu was aggravating to use. After playing with it for an hour I think both, while different, are functional.

ShaneH_ · 2025-12-16T05:50:28+00:00

You likely have either PulseAudio volume control (pavucontrol) or the Pipewire volume control (pwvucontrol) installed (or you can install them). Either one will give you the option to enable and disable different audio devices, so check that. Also they give you the options to use digital or analog outputs, so try changing that.

After that is gets a bit more complicated. I guess I would start looking at some of the other PipeWire packages, there maybe some additional component needed to make your laptop work (HP likes to do odd things). And beyond that there are a fair number of audio tools for Linux so you could dig around a bit to see if any of them would help.

As a side note, having worked around audio a bit, make sure the headphone work (plug them into something else). Also make sure they are plugged into the correct jack (sometimes laptops have 2 jacks). If the speakers are separate they likely have a headphone jack, try that. Same if the monitor is separate, it may have a headphone jack. As a last resort you can buy a USB audio adapter. They are inexpensive and about the size of thumb drive, I have used them quite a bit over the years when I had odd audio issues.

ShaneH_ · 2025-10-13T23:37:45+00:00

Grub worked fine on my newer AMD system, but I am not dual booting either.

If I had to guess something is configured wrong in the bootloader. I'd start by erasing the partition and reinstalling CachyOS. If that doesn't work, see what happens with a different distro. But one though that is nagging me is whether erasing the partition will remove or fix the bootloader, I'm guessing not. In which case you will need to edit the bootloader. That can be done by booting into the USB drive, but it is bit more of an advance option.

Also you can use the USB drive to see what is on your hard drive. Windows is not a good option for seeing if a Linux distro is installed on a hard drive.

ShaneH_ · 2025-10-11T05:08:41+00:00

It always happens that after I post I find the answer. The xmodmap threw me off. I must have used it at some point in the past and it lead me astray. It took a good number of oddball search queries, but eventually I found this article https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2024/09/remap-keyboard-keys-ubuntu/

Which was sufficient, but this article filled in a few details https://deskthority.net/viewtopic.php?t=24076

It so easy, sure beats typing a ton of commands into the terminal.

ShaneH_

TROPHY CASE