QA:Testcase Power Management powertop2 power estimation engine

Description

This test targets laptop users. It checks the PowerTOP 2.x power estimation engine.

Setup

1. Check that you have powertop >= 1.97 installed:

   rpm -q powertop

   • If not install it.

The calibration process could be affected by other power savings mechanisms. The PowerTOP can control brightness and wireless devices, thus we need to disable screensaver, screen dimming/turning off, transition to sleep mode, HDD power savings and cron service. Generic step-by-step instructions follows, please tune them according to your configuration.

1. Disable screensaver (if applicable).
2. Disable sleep mode:

   gnome-control-center power

   • Uncheck "On battery power"
3. Disable LCD power savings:

   gnome-control-center screen

   • Uncheck "Dim screen to save power".
   • Set "Turn off after" to max. value.
4. Disable HDD power savings (needs root):

   hdparm -B 255 /dev/sda || hdparm -B 254 /dev/sda

5. Disable cron (needs root):

   service crond stop

How to test

1. Disconnect AC and run on battery.
2. Become root.
3. Start calibration by:

   powertop --calibrate

   • During the calibration process the PowerTOP will change various settings of your system including the LCD backlight, let it run. It will take approx. 10 minutes. Do not use your computer while calibrating. After the calibration the PowerTOP will start automatically.
4. Let the PowerTOP run to collect enough data. You can let it run in the background and simultaneously work with your computer as usual. In active idle the collection process can take 1 hour or more. After enough data are collected, the PowerTOP will start showing the estimation of power consumption for each item.

Expected Results

1. PowerTOP successfully collects calibration data.
2. Power consumption estimation starts showing for each item in the first column.