AcerAspire4520
Contact: SteveChurch
Re-edited by: Gaurang Arora
Make: ACER
Brand: ASPIRE
Model: 4520-5458
Website: http://us.acer.com/
Current Issues
(Not for Jaunty) Built-in bluetooth doesn't work, but a cheap bluetooth dongle works flawlessly. Splash screen does not display unless a video mode is specified in the kernel arguments (e.g. include vga=791 in the defoptions line in /boot/grub/menu.lst).
Sometimes machine does not power off on halt unless the user hits "Enter" or the "Power Button" after the splash screen progress bar empties and the hard drive activity light chokes out one final flash.
The 4520 is affected by the HDD cycle count issue as observed frequently in many laptops. (This is an issue afflicting Windows, too, although it's we Linux propeller heads who actually do something about it.) Long story short, frequent head parking on a laptop hard drive can decrease the life of the drive. However, infrequent head parking causes the drive to run hot, as well as making the drive less guarded against bumps. My solution to this is a crontabbed bash script. The script can be found here.
System Info
system-manufacturer: ACER
system-product-name: ASPIRE 4520
Hardware details
Screen & Monitors |
|||
Device |
Works? |
Bug # |
|
in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy) |
in Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) |
||
Screen |
Pretty |
Pretty |
|
Correct resolution? |
YES |
YES |
|
Correct refresh rate? |
YES |
YES |
|
3D Acceleration |
YES (with restricted driver installed) |
YES (same) |
|
External monitor works? |
Untested |
Yes |
|
External monitor - mirrors |
Untested |
Yes |
|
External monitor - extend desktop |
Untested |
Yes |
|
S-Video output |
Untested |
Untested |
|
Console Mode 791 |
YES |
YES |
|
Power Management |
|||
Battery detected? |
YES |
YES |
|
Hibernates? |
Untested |
Yes (Special Notes Below) |
|
Suspend |
YES |
Not all the time (Special Notes Below) |
|
Dim monitor on battery |
YES |
YES |
|
Blank monitor on inactivity |
YES |
YES |
|
Lid Close |
YES |
YES |
|
Cpu frequency scaling |
YES |
YES |
|
Sound |
|||
Sound works? |
YES |
YES |
|
Correct volume? |
OK (open volume control and increase PCM volume to max) |
YES |
|
Hardware volume switch |
YES |
YES (see HOWTO for Xubuntu) |
|
Headphone jack |
YES |
Yes |
|
Mic jack |
Untested |
Yes |
|
Integrated Mic |
NO |
YES |
|
Networking |
|||
Wired NIC |
YES |
YES |
|
Wireless NIC |
Yes, with a patched madwifi |
YES!!! Finally! (No LED indicator. But using ndiswrapper resolves LED issue) |
|
Express Card/54 NIC |
Untested |
Untested |
|
Firewire |
Untested |
Untested |
|
Bluetooth |
NO |
Yes |
|
Modem |
Untested |
Yes (agrsm driver. But receiving Faxes hangs the system) |
|
Infrared |
Untested |
No (lirc-module does not load) |
|
Touchpad & Mice |
|||
Touchpad |
YES |
YES |
|
Touchpad - Doubletap = double click |
YES |
YES |
|
Touchpad - Scroll down side |
YES |
YES |
|
External mouse - USB |
Untested |
Yes |
|
External mouse - Serial |
Untested |
Untested |
|
Docking Station/Port Replicator |
|||
AC through replicator |
Untested |
Untested |
|
USB |
Untested |
Untested |
|
Serial |
Untested |
Untested |
|
Parallel |
Untested |
Untested |
|
External Monitor - VGA |
Untested |
Untested |
|
External Monitor - DVI |
Untested |
Untested |
|
Modem |
Untested |
Untested |
|
NIC |
Untested |
Untested |
|
PS/2 |
Untested |
Untested |
|
Additional Hardware |
|||
CD/DVD drive |
YES |
YES |
|
Express Card/54 cards |
Untested |
Untested |
|
Parallel Ports |
Untested |
Untested |
|
Card reader(s) |
YES |
YES |
|
LED indicators (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, e-mail, etc) |
NO |
YES (See Below) |
|
Webcam |
OK (see notes below) |
YES |
|
Function and other keys |
|||||
Fn key |
Operation |
Keycode |
Works? |
Bug # |
|
in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy) |
in Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) |
||||
+ F1 |
Help |
|
YES |
YES |
|
+ F2 |
Get Pac-Man Drunk? |
|
NO |
NO |
|
+ F3 |
Check your Fish Hooks? |
|
NO |
NO |
|
+ F4 |
Suspend / Hibernate |
|
YES |
Yes |
|
+ F5 |
Mirror to External Display? |
|
Untested |
No |
|
+ F6 |
Turn LCD Backlight off?* |
|
Yes |
Yes |
|
+ F7 |
Toggle Touch Pad |
|
YES |
Yes |
|
+ F8 |
MUTE |
|
YES |
YES (see HOWTO for Xubuntu) |
|
+ F11 |
Num Lock |
|
YES |
Yes |
|
+ F12 |
Scr Lock |
|
Untested |
Yes |
|
+ Home |
Play / Pause |
|
Untested |
Yes |
|
+ Pg Up |
Stop |
|
Untested |
Yes |
|
+ Pg Dn |
Rew |
|
Untested |
Yes |
|
+ End |
FF |
|
Untested |
Yes |
|
+ Arrows |
Display Brightness |
|
YES |
YES |
|
Other special keys |
|||||
Key |
Operation |
Keycode |
Works? |
Bug # |
|
in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Hardy) |
in Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty) |
||||
Wi-Fi |
Toggle Wi-Fi Radio |
none |
YES (LED does not illuminate) |
YES |
|
Browser |
Launch Default Web Browser |
none |
YES (LED does not illuminate. ndiswrapper let's illuminate) |
Untested |
|
Launch Default E-mail Client |
none |
YES (LED does not illuminate) |
Yes |
|
|
Bluetooth |
Toggle Bluetooth Radio |
none |
NO |
Yes(LED works) |
|
\o/ |
Toggle lights in a house in Germany |
none |
Unknown (LED does not illuminate) |
Unknown (LED does not illuminate) |
|
| |
|||||
/ \ |
|||||
Empowering Key (big green "e") |
? |
159 |
Registers in xev |
Yes (I've bound it to my Media Player) |
|
Notes
The wireless NIC in this laptop uses an Atheros AR5007 chipset. In Hardy, the kernel misidentifies it as an AR5006. Unknown how Jaunty identifies the chipset, but wireless just works in Jaunty.
Jaunty: The greatest problem is that of Suspend and Resume. After the suspend command, once the screen goes blank and the processes sleep(look our for HDD Led to go steady), one has to keep pressing the power button until the power LED goes from constant Green to Blinking Orange. There is no fixed number of times that you need to press the power button. Sometimes it's one. The maximum I have pressed for a succesful suspend is 14.
Jaunty: Hibernation works well. (very slow, though). At times, the laptop does not power itself off completely. After the OS is halted, the screen continues to be lit, and the power LED continues to blink orange. Closing the Lid and waiting for a few seconds ensures successful hibernation. Waking up from Hibernation is usually fine most of the times. But occasionally, the boot up stops half way, just before the gui shows. Pressing any key on the keyboard a few times will revive the processes. I use one of the arrow keys.
The webcam works with Kopete and Cheese, but not Gyache or its derivatives, nor with other older apps which rely on old versions of Linux Video
LaptopTestingTeam/Old/AcerAspire4520 (last edited 2010-02-27 13:27:30 by 94)