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I would like to set the power button in my laptop to initiate suspension. Note that I can trigger suspension by closing the lid, or using pm-suspend, so the problem is the button, not the suspend process itself. I use Gnome, and through the tweak tool I have configured that I want the system to reboot, so this is also not the problem.

The problem seems to be that the system does not realise that I'm pressing the power key. The most clear indication that this is the case is that unlike when I press the buttons to control the screen brightness or the volume, acpi_listen returns nothing when I press the power button.

To provide further details, I have a Lenovo Thinkpad X1 Carbon (3rd Gen) with Suse 13.2.

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  • does the system show anything when you start xev(1), and then press the button? Commented Apr 7, 2015 at 18:42
  • No, I have the same behaviour. When I produce some acpi-related event, like changes in volume or brightness, xev gives some output, but the power button produces not response at all. Commented Apr 8, 2015 at 17:13
  • do you get anything in dmesg(8)? what if you modprobe thinkpad_acpi (or rmmod if it is loaded)? Commented Apr 9, 2015 at 4:20
  • dmesg indicates nothing. I configured the load of the thinkpad_acpi module, because doing so enables the brightness buttons. If I unload it (which forces me to reboot, breviaries the module is in use and cannot be unloaded), the same problem with the power button happens with the brightness (the sound volume still works however). All this makes me think that there is s bug in the module. Do you think I should report it? Where? Commented Apr 10, 2015 at 22:10

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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I have the same Laptop. Did you push the power button for more than one second? It needs some time to trigger the event.

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  • 2
    This was the problem indeed. It is counter-intuitive, because switching the laptop on or making it wake up does not require this second. But it works anyhow. Thanks. Commented Jun 4, 2015 at 16:33
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    Man… I've had this laptop for a year and had been puzzled by the power button not working in either Linux or Windows. Thank you thank you thank you! Commented Apr 20, 2017 at 16:04
  • if to press power button for more than 5 seconds it may turn off computer in hard way, it may cause file system errors. Commented Jan 28, 2021 at 8:43
  • Just came here to say: 'woot' it was literally just me myself and I that were at fault. Thank you fellow unknown boon! Commented Jul 14 at 14:08
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You might try:

  • trying some other GNU/Linux distribution to see if it has the same problem (easiest using live CD, like Debian or Ubuntu)
  • changing your BIOS ACPI settings (if any)
  • trying to boot with acpi_osi='!Windows 2012' and/or other ACPI related options (see http://redsymbol.net/linux-kernel-boot-parameters/ for example)
  • booting with acpi.debug_layer=0x2 acpi.debug_level=0xffffffff and checking if anything revealing shows up in dmesg(8) upon bootup and when you press power key.
  • upgrading your BIOS firmware (if updates available)
  • trying newer kernel
  • playing with thinkpad_acpi module options (use modinfo -p thinkpad_acpi to get a list of options that your kernel recognizes and http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Thinkpad-acpi for descriptions)

(and reporting here which of that helped).

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