ACER Aspire 4520 tried to kill me…….(2)

I started to work on this unit since September 2007, tried to pump the Linux in. I have tried to install many distros; the result was failed and failed again. I considered this as a trigger for m to keep pushing myself harder in knowing about Linux. I didn’t want myself just as a Linux installer, i wanted more.

I have tried to install PCLOS2007, Vector, DreamLinux, OpenSuse, Skole, Slackware, Mandriva, IGOS to this laptop. But…like usual, it kept rejecting them. The last; i returned to edubuntu-7.04 again. I asked questions to edubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com about my problem. Any Linux that i installed on can not display a good graphic (graphic card problem), can not connect to the wireless and it’s mute (sound problem).

One of edubuntu users told me that i have to force this unit to run in save graphical mode by doing;

edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf, go to the Device stanza for your video card and change the driver to vesa, eg:

Section “Device”

Identifier “ATI Technologies, Inc. ATI Default Card”
Driver “vesa”
BusID “PCI:3:0:0”

EndSection

Then do sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

Actually, an alternative and possibly better way to do this is to run:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

You will be led through a series of menus. Take the default answer to all questions (there are quite a few), except where you are asked for the “X server driver”, when you should choose “vesa”. Once that’s done, try restarting the display manager

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart

yes, it worked….in safe graphic mode, but it didn’t satisfied me.

Two months passed by, slowly i found out the way to solve this problem. I used Ubuntu-7.10 ( Gutsy Gibbon ) and after searched for the answer at https://ubuntuforums.org and waiting from edubuntu-users answers. I can settle it down.

Here is the way out;

How to set the display ( nVIDIA 7000M )

go to Applications – Add/Remove
type nvidia and choose : nvidia binary X.org driver (‘new’ driver )
click on apply button and wait until the installation finished
go to system – Restricted Drivers Manager – enable the NVIDIA
open terminal
type sudo vi /etc/X11/xorg.conf
replace the resolution manually from “1024×768” to “1280×800”
reboot the computer

How to set the wireless ( Atheros – AR5007EG )

download the AR5007EG windriver
install ndiswrapper manually
open terminal; type sudo rmmod ath_pci ( remove the pci module )
type sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-common
insert : blacklist ath_pci ( to put ath_pci in blaklist mode )
save it and restart the computer
extract the windriver into one folder ( ex: documents )
go to System – Administration – Windows Wireless Drivers
install net521.inf
click configure button and set it up
open terminal; type sudo ndiswrapper -m ( to load ndis on restart )
reboot the computer

How to set the sound ( Realtek High Definition Audio a.k.a Realtek ALC268 )

install linux-backports-modules-2.6.22.14-generic
install linux-backports-modules-generic_2.6.22.14
open terminal; type sudo vi /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base
insert : options snd-hda-intel model=acer
reboot the computer

By November 05, 2007, i finished my long journey to make ACER Aspire 4520 runs in Windows XP and Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbons, as an addition; this laptop was Vista design.. 😀

~E~

ACER Aspire 4520 tried to kill me…….(1)

My supervisor wanted to buy a new laptop since her old one cracked at the screen flip. She asked my suggestion about which laptop that suit her need and her budget. So, based on those, I tried to make a list consisted of some laptops. Without telling me anything, she tried to find by herself too.

After one day passed by, we met again and after struggling in deciding her chosen one, we met an agreement that she should buy Acer Aspire 4520 without an Operating System on it since she will use Linux onto it. By this time….we just started to socialize Edubuntu here.

This laptop important specifications were

Processor : AMD Turion 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-58 ( 1.9GHz, 1MB L2 cache )
Chipset : NVIDIA nForce 610M ( MCP67-MV )
RAM : 1GB DDR2 667MHz
Graphic : NVIDIA GeForce 7000M
Wireless : Atheros 5007EG
LAN : GigaByte
Sound : Realtek High Definition Audio
Hard Drive : 80GB
Additional : Card Reader, WebCam, DVD-Super Multi, Bluetooth

She called the store and agreed about the price and everything, including ship it to our place ( nowhere of sugarcane fields ). We just have to wait for about three working days and the package came. Later, this package became a great nightmare of mine…..!!!!

I started to work on this 4520, I formatted first and make new partition tables on the disk. After that, I tried to install a Linux distro which was Edubuntu-7.04 on it. Amazingly…….stucked at the beginning. I assumed that maybe this variant was too old to be installed in this new laptop. Then I switch to install thi laptop with Microsoft Operating System. I tried XP first, It worked okay until I found out that there was no driver at all. The provider included an installation DVD in the package, but…it’s for Vista ( huaaaa…..i am in misery now )

I tried to find a vista cd ( trial version ) everything was fine and all drivers worked. But the owner of this laptop complained that she would not buy a Vista….she will use Linux on it or at least XP on it. Damned……..I installed XP once again to this laptop. Then jump to the Internet to find a solution about my problem.

Finally, I found a way out………after couple of days; XP graphic driver was taken from http://komku.blogspot.com/……
and the rest of drivers taken from http://www.acer.com.cn/……

My ass is temporarily safe now, at least she can work with her new laptop even in XP environment. Since this day, she kept asking about installing Linux onto her laptop. And since this day…i started my long journey to solve this.

Next Mission : Pump a Linux into Acer Aspire 4520

~E~

My first writing……

After so long time, finally i can create a blog.Before i started to make this blog, i didn’t even care about a thing called “blog”. I don’t know why……? But after time passed by, i found out that a blog can help some people in searching for something that could be useful to them. I stated that because it’s based on my own experiences.

Since i moved here, in middle of nowhere, i have difficulties in updating my knowledge. I am so lucky since my institution provided us with 24-hours Internet connection. For me, this is like jump directly to heaven even until now, people around me still confuse about “is the Internet useful or not ?”. For me, it depends on that person itself. If they want a bad thing; Internet provides it, if you want a good useful thing; Internet also provides it.

I started to look at a blog ( accidentally ) when i had difficulties in working with Edubuntu and setting up the wireless connection here. I found the sollution of my problems on a blog. From that point, i started to think about “should i make a blog, too ?”

Next thing was, I like to record every problems that i solved into a journal. This journal is personally mine. I also think about “what if i share my journal ?”

Now, you can see that i am blogging!. I made this blog to help people like what other people helped me from their blog, also to publish my journal contains about some little things that i solved through bloody-sweat try an errors and also maybe i will put personal stories of mine, my family, friends and foes.

I think this is enough as my first writing….i am thinking about adding my blog items now

~E~