Tech News
← Back to articles

I uncovered an ACPI bug in my Dell Inspiron 5567. It was plaguing me for 8 years

read original related products more articles

Imagine you close your laptop lid to put it to sleep, but instead of pausing, it reboots. Not every time, just often enough to be infuriating. You try to save your work, but the machine decides to start over.

For eight years, this has been the reality of using my Dell Inspiron 5567. A bug I couldn't explain, happening across every OS I installed. This is the story of how I dug into the firmware's source code and found the single, flawed command responsible.

Intro

This laptop has been my companion since I was in 7th grade. It's the machine where I learned everything from C++ to Python. When it couldn't upgrade to Windows 11, I gave it a new life with Linux Mint. While that came with its own set of technical puzzles to solve, one bug has been a constant frustration across every OS: S3 Sleep.

The Bug

Whenever I put my laptop to sleep, it was a gamble. Sometimes, instead of pausing, it would completely restart. This happened whether I closed the lid or let it idle.

Since the bug persisted across both Windows and Linux, I knew the fault wasn't in the operating system, but something much deeper: the firmware itself.

Ignition of spark

https://github.com/Zephkek/Asus-ROG-Aml-Deep-Dive

Literally this GitHub repo. Just check this out, it's the thing I needed. I knew that it was an ACPI fault, but I needed to know how to read the code from the ACPI tables.

... continue reading