Ubuntu Wiki

• Contact: PawełTJochym

• Brand: Asus
• Make : ASUSTek Computer Inc.

• Model: A6Rp

• Website:
• S/N: Community tested

Current Issues

In order to boot from a Live CD, you need to update your notebook's BIOS to version 214. It can be found at http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/A6Rp/A6rp214as.zip

Otherwise, the Hardy, Gutsy, Feisty, Edgy and Dapper do not boot from Live CD at all as the system hangs just after setting up the HPET high resolution timer source. To boot the CD without having updated the BIOS, you need to add hpet=disable to the command line. You have to do it as well for any Ubuntu kernel I've checked.

The ACPI sleep/hibernate functions do not work. The machine just goes to sleep but cannot be woken up.

Wifi works good with Hardy and native b43 driver (must install firmware with b43-fwcutter or just use Restricted drivers manager). For Gutsy and older: The bcm wireless NIC works somewhat with bcm43xx driver and downloaded firmware, however there are still some issues, sometimes it disconnects or can not connect to the AP. Reloading the driver helps. WiFi works great with Ndiswrapper (version 1.44 or higher!) and windows driver - bcmwl5.

Sound works out-of-the-box with Hardy, Gutsy & Feisty (not with Edgy and Dapper).

Update by mario_7:

For Egdy and older: The sound does work but only with this fix which I have created:

1. (see note below) Download Alsa 1.0.13 (driver, library and utilities archives).

2. (see note below) Patch alsa-driver-1.0.13/alsa-kernel/pci/hda/patch_realtek.c file with this patch.

3. Compile Alsa driver, library and utulities, run alsaconf.
4. Restart Alsa if needed.

Note: Beginning with version 1.0.14rc1 there is no need to use the patch described above (it has been applied into Alsa). So download and install newest possible version of Alsa.

System Info

## Put the output of the following command here:
## (cd /var/lib/acpi-support/ ; grep . -r *-*)

bios-version:204
system-manufacturer:ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
system-product-name:A6Rp
system-version:1.0

Hardware details

External links

[1] Notes on installing Ubuntu 6.10 on ASUS A6RP-AP069 notebook - part 1, part 2 & part 3

Notes

[1] Update your notebook's BIOS to version 214 (it can be found at http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/A6Rp/A6rp214as.zip ). Otherwise, press F6 when in LiveCD's boot menu, add hpet=disable to the kernel command line.

[2] Use fglrx driver. For Feisty: add this to the end of xorg.conf file:

Section "Extensions"
        Option      "Composite" "0"
EndSection

[3] In Feisty works out-of-box, for older versions see update above the table

[4] For Hardy: Native driver b43 is good but need firmware to work. Use Restricted drivers manager or manually b43-fwcutter to download and extract firmware. For Gutsy and older: Wireless connection is not very stable with native driver bcm43xx. But it "sort of" works. Ndiswrapper works great (read note above the table)

[5] To make the touchpad work properly add these lines to xorg.conf file (may not be required for Gutsy and Hardy):

Section "InputDevice"
        Identifier  "Configured Touchpad"
        Driver      "synaptics"
        Option      "AlwaysCore"
        Option      "Device" "/dev/psaux"
        Option      "Protocol" "auto-dev"
        Option      "LeftEdge" "1500"
        Option      "RightEdge" "5800"
        Option      "TopEdge" "1500"
        Option      "BottomEdge" "4400"
        Option      "FingerLow" "25"
        Option      "FingerHigh" "30"
        Option      "MaxTapTime" "180"
        Option      "MaxTapMove" "220"
        Option      "VertScrollDelta" "100"
        Option      "MinSpeed" "0.10"
        Option      "MaxSpeed" "0.20"
        Option      "AccelFactor" "0.0020"
        Option      "SHMConfig" "on"
EndSection

Also remember to add

        InputDevice    "Configured Touchpad"

to  Section "ServerLayout" 

[6] For Hardy: Driver stk11xx is installed by default, but newer and more stable version can be downloaded from SyntekDriver. For Edgy and older: this driver requires kernel 2.6.19 or higher. Version 1.1.0 works well on Gutsy.

[7] Fn+F8 switches to the external monitor, but I could not switch back without a reboot.

[8] Only SIR mode works. For Hardy: Install irda-utils package and run sudo dpkg-reconfigure irda-utils answer always Yes and leave default settings when choosing device type during configuration. Add pnpacpi=off to every kernel command line in /boot/grub/menu.lst file. Restart computer and irda0 device should appear (see ifconfig). Use sudo irdadump to find your infrared devices. You can use ircp-tray to transfer files.

For Gutsy and Feisty: Install irda-utils package and edit /etc/modprobe.d/irda-utils file - comment out every line below '# For FIR device'. Then modify /boot/grub/menu.lst just like described above.

[9] Use syndaemon.

[10] The screen turns off and probably nothing more.

[11] If you experience computer lockup problems and your A6Rp has a TSSTcorpCD/DVD TS-L632D optical drive, a firmware upgrade fixes the problem. At the time of writing, no ASUS firmware upgrade is available - must use Samsung SC03 or SC04. See bug for more info.

[12] Will go to sleep but won't wake. Requires hard power down.

[13] If you cannot set volume properly run (it will take a longer while to complete):

sudo apt-get install module-assistant
sudo module-assistant a-i alsa-source

CategoryLaptop