# Acer Aspire 5050 issues

## danky

I am having trouble getting sound, and wifi working on my acer aspire 5050 laptop.  I have done some digging and have found that these issues are pretty common for acer laptops but have not found any solid answers on how to fix them.   I have a feeling that my wifi problems are related to the fact that I cannot get the acer_acpi module to load.  As for my sound issues the card loaded once but did not put any sound out, after that I have not seen it load again.

lspci output:

```
 lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 Host Bridge (rev 10)

00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge

00:04.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge

00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge

00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge

00:07.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS480 PCI Bridge

00:12.0 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc 4379 Serial ATA Controller (rev 80)

00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)

00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB Host Controller (rev 80)

00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 USB2 Host Controller (rev 80)

00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 SMBus Controller (rev 83)

00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller (rev 80)

00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SB450 HDA Audio (rev 01)

00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-ISA Bridge (rev 80)

00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc IXP SB400 PCI-PCI Bridge (rev 80)

00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration

00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map

00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller

00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control

01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS485 [Radeon Xpress 1100 IGP]

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5006EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

08:01.0 CardBus bridge: ENE Technology Inc CB-712/4 Cardbus Controller (rev 10)

08:01.1 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc ENE PCI Memory Stick Card Reader Controller (rev 01)

08:01.2 Class 0805: ENE Technology Inc ENE PCI Secure Digital Card Reader Controller (rev 01)

08:01.3 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc: (rev 01)

08:01.4 FLASH memory: ENE Technology Inc SD/MMC Card Reader Controller (rev 01)

08:02.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

```

The output I get when I run modprobe acer_acpi:

```
modprobe acer_acpi

FATAL: Error inserting acer_acpi (/lib/modules/2.6.20-gentoo-r8/extra/acer_acpi.ko): No such device

```

and dmesg | grep acer output:

```
dmesg | grep acer

acer_acpi: Acer Laptop ACPI Extras version 0.4

acer_acpi: No WMI interface, unable to load.

acer_acpi: Acer Laptop ACPI Extras version 0.4

acer_acpi: No WMI interface, unable to load.

```

The output I get when I run /etc/init.d/alsasound restart

```
 /etc/init.d/alsasound restart

 * WARNING:  you are stopping a boot service.

 * Storing ALSA Mixer Levels ...

alsactl: get_control:209: Cannot read control info '2,0,0,Surround Playback Volume,0': Invalid argument

 * Error saving levels.                                                   [ !! ]

 * Killing processes using ALSA ...                                       [ ok ]

 * Unloading ALSA modules ...                                             [ ok ]

 * Loading ALSA modules ...

 *   Could not detect custom ALSA settings.  Loading all detected alsa drivers.

 *   Loading: snd_atiixp ...                                              [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd_atiixp_modem ...                                        [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd_hda_intel ...                                           [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd_intel8x0 ...                                            [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd_intel8x0m ...                                           [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd-seq-oss ...                                             [ ok ]

 *   Loading: snd-pcm-oss ...                                             [ ok ]

 * Restoring Mixer Levels ...

alsactl: set_control:970: failed to obtain info for control #3 (Invalid argument)

 * Errors while restoring defaults, ignoring                              [ ok ]

```

Thanks!

----------

## funeagle

danky,

I have an Acer Aspire 9303. I dont think that you need acer_acpi for your sound card, but I might be wrong.

I have a 00:10.1 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP51 High Definition Audio (rev a2), I am using the alsa-drivers (not the kernel) and ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel", it is working perfectly.

----------

## danky

Thanks for the reply,

I was thinking that all of my issues were related to the acer_acpi module not loading.  Any ideas how I can get that module to load so I can go from there?  I know for a fact that the wifi depends on acer_acpi to turn it on.  I emerged acer_acpi and also included it in /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 , but it always fails to load.  It is probably the same reason why I cannot view my battery status.  The gnome battery monitor says "battery not installed"

----------

## danky

How do I change from the in kernel alsa modules to alsa-drivers?  Just remove the modules from the kernel, recompile it then emerge alsa-drivers?  I am using gentoo-sources 2.6.20-r8.

----------

## funeagle

I am also using 2.6.20-gentoo-r8. Yes disable alsa in your kernel then find your card in the audio card matrix, set it in make.conf, mine was ALSA_CARDS="hda-intel", and emerge alsa-drivers. Follow the alsa guide doc if you are not sure. You have to recompile alsa-drivers each time after each kernel recompilation (from the doc)!

Yes I think we need acer_acpi for the wifi, i dont use it.

----------

## danky

Well this is interesting, as soon as I removed alsa from my kernel and rebooted my battery monitoring and power options started to work.  I can now see a notification icon in the tray that tells me if i am on AC or battery power and I also now have my laptop power options which I did not have before.

----------

## danky

The audio card matrix showed that I need to use the "hda-intel" driver so I set that in make.conf.  I emerged alsa-drivers then followed the guide and used alsaconf to configure the card.  It allowed me to choose the ati card but after it was all done I still have no sound.  I don't even see it listed in the gnome mixer, I only see conextant ID 2c06 (oss mixer) which I am guessing is the modem.  When I try to run alsamixer in a command line I get the following error: 

```
alsamixer

alsamixer: function snd_mixer_load failed: Invalid argument
```

Also my battery thing must have been a one time deal cause once I rebooted the laptop no longer finds it.  The power options are still there though.

----------

## danky

I added atiixp and atiixp-modem to the ALSA_CARDS list in make.conf to see if it would change anything and it did not.

----------

## danky

Well I tried to go with the masked alsa-driver package to see if that would fix the issue but it would not compile.  So I went back to the  stable drivers and it downgraded alsa-headers but when it went to recompile alsa-drivers I got an error.

```
  WARNING: Symbol version dump /usr/src/linux-2.6.20-gentoo-r8/Module.symvers

           is missing; modules will have no dependencies and modversions.

  CC [M]  /var/tmp/portage/media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1/work/alsa-driver-1.0.14rc2/acore/memalloc.o

  CC [M]  /var/tmp/portage/media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1/work/alsa-driver-1.0.14rc2/acore/sgbuf.o

/bin/sh: scripts/genksyms/genksyms: No such file or directory

make[4]: *** [/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1/work/alsa-driver-1.0.14rc2/acore/memalloc.o] Error 1

make[4]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....

  CC [M]  /var/tmp/portage/media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1/work/alsa-driver-1.0.14rc2/misc/ac97_bus.o

/bin/sh: scripts/genksyms/genksyms: No such file or directory

make[3]: *** [/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1/work/alsa-driver-1.0.14rc2/acore] Error 2

make[3]: *** Waiting for unfinished jobs....

make[4]: *** [/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1/work/alsa-driver-1.0.14rc2/misc/ac97_bus.o] Error 1

make[3]: *** [/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1/work/alsa-driver-1.0.14rc2/misc] Error 2

make[2]: *** [_module_/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1/work/alsa-driver-1.0.14rc2] Error 2

make[1]: *** [modules] Error 2

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.20-gentoo-r8'

make: *** [compile] Error 2

!!! ERROR: media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1 failed.

Call stack:

  ebuild.sh, line 1615:   Called dyn_compile

  ebuild.sh, line 972:   Called qa_call 'src_compile'

  ebuild.sh, line 44:   Called src_compile

  alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1.ebuild, line 129:   Called die

!!! Make Failed

!!! If you need support, post the topmost build error, and the call stack if relevant.

!!! A complete build log is located at '/var/tmp/portage/media-sound/alsa-driver-1.0.14_rc2-r1/temp/build.log'.

```

This sound card is really starting to make me angry!

----------

## danky

I solved my alsa-driver compile issue by recompiling my kernel.  Seems the sources got a bit messed up.  But still no sound =( .

----------

## danky

I finally got my sound working!  I installed the unstable version of alsa drivers and then had to put the following in /etc/modules.d/alsa

```
alias char-major-116 snd

alias char-major-14 soundcore

alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

alias sound-slot-0 snd-card-0

alias sound-service-0-0 snd-mixer-oss

alias sound-service-0-1 snd-seq-oss

alias sound-service-0-3 snd-pcm-oss

alias sound-service-0-8 snd-seeq-oss

alias sound-service-0-12 snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/mixer snd-mixer-oss

alias /dev/dsp snd-pcm-oss

alias /dev/midi snd-seq-oss

options snd cards_limit=1

options snd_hda_intel model=acer position_fix=1
```

Now to get the wireless working.

----------

## danky

Well looks like the wifi is unsupported at this time: here is an entry from the acer_acpi google page.

http://code.google.com/p/aceracpi/wiki/SupportedHardware

Unsupported

This list is very incomplete. The models listed here are the ones known to absolutely not work with this driver - if you have one of these: it is not, cannot and will not (unless stated otherwise) be supported by acer_acpi. (Some of these might be useable with acerhk, or the wireless/ bluetooth switches may be hardware driven instead and not require any software).

Acer

Aspire

    * 1500 series [u,dw]

    * 1520 series [c,d,n]

    * 5000 series [c,d,n]

* 5050 series [c,d,r] (Uses a new WMI ACPI interface - needs reverse engineering)

    * 5100 series [c,d,r] (Uses a new WMI ACPI interface - needs reverse engineering)

    * 5650 series [c,d,r] (Uses a new WMI ACPI interface - needs reverse engineering)

    * 6510 series [c,d,r] (Uses a new WMI ACPI interface - needs reverse engineering)

Looks like I need to look into other options like a pc card or usb type wifi card.

----------

## micro_mx

the weird thing is that the wireless works fine in ubuntu edgy, it started to work when I installed the bcm43xx-firmware_1.3-1ubuntu2_all.deb

dunno if this firmware is in portage, when I boot the laptop with the live cd I got this kind of error on the wireless...

bcm43xx: Error: Microcode "bcm43xx_microcode5.fw" not available or load failed.

bcm43xx: core_up for active 802.11 core failed (-2)

But anyway, if it works in ubuntu and suse, it has to work in gentoo...  :Very Happy: 

I'll try it this afternoon...

P.D. Sorry for my bad englishLast edited by micro_mx on Wed Aug 08, 2007 10:53 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## danky

You have an acer aspire 5050?  I know mine has an atheros wifi chipset.  Here is what I get when I do an lspci:

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. Unknown device 001c (rev 01)

Everything I have read says that the wifi is software controlled and you need this to even turn it on.  Most of the other acers run fine with acer_acpi but the aspire 5050's are a bit different and are not supported by acer_acpi yet. 

If you figure it out let me know I would love to get it working on mine too.  I have been using a hawking pcmcia card for wifi.

----------

## micro_mx

yup, it's an acer aspire 5050, but I dont have an atheros wifi... this one is a broadcom...

08:04.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

im just installing right now...  :Very Happy: 

----------

## micro_mx

well, it seems that everything it's working fine, the only thing that gave me problems was the acer_acpi, the one from portage didn't load well, so I download the latest version from http://code.google.com/p/aceracpi/ that one compiled and loaded just fine...  :Very Happy: 

Ill keep informing...

----------

