On closer inspection this is an ACPI issue not raising lid events. A simple acpi_irq_balance to the kernel optoins fixed the lid event issues. THe lid events properly call radeontool.
Sorry for reporting to the wrong package! -- Backlight is turned off on Inspiron 5100 when booted with screen down https://launchpad.net/bugs/53775 -- ubuntu-bugs mailing list ubuntu-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-bugs