Ubuntu Wiki

• Contact: Nemti & F3000

• Make: Acer
• Brand: Extensa
• Model: 5220

• Website: Product Introduction Text

Current Issues

• Headphone jack doesn't work with Feisty, works with hardy.
• Suspend doesn't work properly with stock kernel and old bios, see notes.

• Sound doesn't work after coming back from hibernation -- See Notes -> Sound, works in hardy.

• WLAN LED is inverted (lights when WLAN is off, dark when WLAN is on) -- See Notes -> WLAN

• LiveCD requires all_generic_ide parameter at bootup (when LiveCD boot menu loads, press F6 and add all_generic_ide to the prompt then press ENTER). -- Needs confirmation, reported in question #14966 (in Russian). -- Parameter is not needed with 7.10 (gutsy) or hardy.

• Careful with BIOS v. 1.34. After installing it I could no longer use Suspend to RAM. Rather use v. 1.31.

System Info

• system-manufacturer: Acer
• system-product-name: Extensa 5220
• system-version: 0100

Hardware details

Notes

Keys

Del key not working in Hardy: Fix http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=766204

3D Acceleration

You can test if 3D acceleration runs with the game Planet Penguin Racer (if it shows graphics normally or frame-by-frame)

• Feisty (u7.04): Install the package xserver-xorg-video-intel. Then change 'Driver "i810"' to 'Driver "intel"' in /etc/X11/xorg.conf. A more recent driver for Feisty can be found at http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=494943

• Gutsy (u7.10): xserver-xorg-video-intel is automatically installed and "intel" automatically configured in /etc/X11/xorg.conf but it's not enough for success. This seems to be related to bug #136598.

  • Solution 1: Running sudo aptitude purge xserver-xgl. However, be aware, as a consequence you won't be able to run things like Beryl until this bug is fixed. Removing xserver-xgl also fixes an issue where only the logout button is shown on the shutdown dialog (possibly bug #136598).

  • Solution 2: Install first Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty) and solve the 3D acceleration with the Feisty procedure. Then upgrade the Ubuntu version to 7.10 (Gutsy). At the moment (2007.12.19) visual effects cannot be activated.

• Hardy (u8.04): Working out of the box, including visual effects.

• Hardy (u8.04): 2d/3d works much better when acceleration is switched to XAA: http://linux-tipps.blogspot.com/2008/06/operaintel-x-shared-memory-problem.html .

"can't access tty" error on Feisty startup

• To boot on LiveCD: when boot menu loads, press F6 and write all_generic_ide to the prompt. Then press ENTER.

• To boot on installed system: edit /boot/grub/menu.lst as root, locate the kernel(s) line, and append it with a space and all_generic_ide

• Alternative procedure (Bug #106864): Do modprobe piix && exit. I'm not sure how to fix this permanently, so you'll need to do this every startup.

This issue seems to be fixed in gutsy. The initramfs shell still appears, but a simple ctrl+D is all that is needed.

WLAN

Install bcm43xx-fwcutter. Post-installation configuration may fail due to a 404 error, if so, change http://boredklink.googlepages.com/wl_apsta.o to http://xeve.de/down/wl_apsta.o in /usr/share/bcm43xx-fwcutter/install_bcm43xx_firmware.sh, and run sudo dpkg-reconfigure bcm43xx-fwcutter

If you'd prefer to use a native windows driver with ndiswrapper (as this method sometimes works better), you can use the guide at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/bcm43xx/Feisty_No-Fluff following step 2b when you get to it.

WLAN works "out of the box" in Gutsy and Hardy (using restricted driver).

Hardware Switch/LED: The switch on the front side of the laptop which enables and disables WLAN works, but the LED which indicates WLAN state is inverted. It lights when WLAN is disabled and is dark when it's enabled. Loading bcm43xx with option noleds=1 does not help, neither does the acerhk module: Setting the WLAN state through acerhk simply does not work. Note: It works exactly the same in Vista (LED is off, when WLAN is activated and on when WLAN is disabled), so perhaps this is a new Acer "policy" or design decision...

F-3000: My experiences (at 4.12.2007): I haven't had similar effects regarding Vista and that LED. Although, first time when I was able to successfully install the (restricted) drivers, the led worked inverted for a short time, and since then, it's been dark with Kubuntu. I'll do further examining once I get my hands on the laptop.

Card reader

In order to use the card reader, you may need to do sudo modprobe tifm_sd && sudo modprobe mmc_core. This is no longer an issue in gutsy.

Note: Even Gutsy doesn't recognize every card (formats), like Memory Stick. (this might be old info, I'll confirm this once I get my hands on the laptop. -F)

Suspend & Hibernate

The system goes into both of these states successfully, however problems arise when coming out. After hibernation, the power button continues flashing and WLAN does not work. When trying to come out of suspension, the system powers off.

In Gutsy, suspend still does not work. Hibernate works, but sound does not work after coming back from hibernation. It works again only after rebooting. (F-3000: Doing the trick mentioned in Sound-section below doesn't fix that hibernation & sound-problem for everyone? Something needs to be corrected either at this point, or at the Sound below, as there's conflicting info.)

F-3000: My experiences (at 27.11.2007): Both suspend and hibernate works well when entering into those states, but when awakening from suspend, problems arise, as it ends up to unix mode with flashing cursor and yellow word "Linu" after it. Hibernate seems to work otherwise 100%, but simply shutting down and starting up the laptop is actually faster.

Djtm2: Got it working fine. At first it shut down and never awoke again. Then I upgraded my Bios from 1.21 to 1.31 -- and my kernel to 2.6.24.1-vanilla. Then my harddrive did not work after resume, IO-errors only. After a bit of tweaking I found out that the kernel parameter combined_mode=libata did fix that for me. Now almost everythings working for me, except the use of the power-saving C2-state, which is used only after suspend/resume.

sportember: In Hardy, suspend and hibernate still does not work. Actually, installing a vanilla kernel and upgrading Bios seems a bit much effort for achieving working suspend and hibernate. In 04.2008 I also tried a 2.6.25.x Fedora, and suspend worked without Bios upgrade just fine. I will experiment with some slight reconfiguration of the stock Hardy kernel.

External Monitor

With an installed Feisty, if your system doesn't detect any CD or DVD inserted on the drive, you need to add the parameter 'all_generic_ide' to the kernel. It can be done editing the /boot/grub/menu.lst : adding a space and all_generic_ide to the "defoptions" string, and do the same at the end of the kernel line.

Sound Devices

Actiu: I've installed linux-backports-modules-generic and linux-backports-modules-2.6.20.16-generic with an Ubuntu 7.04, but the headphone jack doesn't run.

Webcam

F-3000: This problem with unability to start the laptop is more of an experience with a single laptop. (If anyone else has had equal experience(s) with same model, please let me know, and I can remove this line)

External Links