Hi Anyone tried using linux on Acer Aspire 3 a315-59-71HF?

pendragonscode

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So here is the full context:
So I got a really weird [12th Gen Intel i7-1255U] Acer Aspire 3 A315-59-71HF(Silver) 15.6 Inches FHD IPS Laptop | 16GB RAM I 512GB SSD laptop and there are a few weird things.

  1. The network adapter (based on the info from lspci), tells me that the thing is a mt7663, mediatek device 7633, it seems to have the right driver installed and all after the 5.8 kernel support but it cannot connect to 5Ghz networks. I can see it on nmcli, but I cannot connect to it, despite having the right password and SSID.
  2. The touchpad has a tendency to just. not respond, suddenly. Like on my 3rd install (trying to solve network issues first) , in an xfce and gnome environment, it would just stop working halfway when im using firefox or something.
  3. webcam, just does not work, I have tried literally everything. (LSUSB gives me a Quanta computer, Inc. Acer HD User Facing)
I know the details here I have provided are not very complete, but should there be more that would be needed, I will try my best to answer. Documentation of using linux on this device is scarce and I'm hoping to find more info, thank you! Also Arch was the first distro I tried with mint and arch being distros with least issues. ubuntu can't pick up the drivers for the touchpad at all and seems to have weird display outputs (Cannot adjust size correctly? can't tell what went wrong.)
 


Welcome I will try and address your Wi-fi, unless they have change Mediatek use Realtek chipsets for their wi fi, to point you in the right direction we need to know which one,
install INXI from the software manager [if not already installed], then run in a terminal inxi -Nn copy and paste back the report
webcam to start with from a terminal inxi --u so we can see what sort of webcam you have alternative you can give us all the information on your machine by using inxi -Fnxxz and pasting back the result
 
```
woonpc@woonpc-Aspire-A315-59:~$ inxi -Nn Network: Device-1: MEDIATEK driver: mt7615e IF: wlp42s0 state: up mac: 9c:2f:9d:5f:8e:47 Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet driver: r8169 IF: enp43s0 state: down mac: 08:8f:c3:64:cd:c8 woonpc@woonpc-Aspire-A315-59:~$ inxi -Fnxxz System: Kernel: 5.15.0-52-generic x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 11.2.0 Desktop: Xfce 4.16.0 tk: Gtk 3.24.23 wm: xfwm dm: LightDM Distro: Linux Mint 21 Vanessa base: Ubuntu 22.04 jammy Machine: Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire A315-59 v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required> Mobo: ADL model: Callisto_ADU v: V1.08 serial: <superuser required> UEFI: Insyde v: 1.08 date: 04/25/2022 Battery: ID-1: BAT1 charge: 30.1 Wh (72.2%) condition: 41.7/42.2 Wh (99.0%) volts: 12.9 min: 11.6 model: SMP AP18C7K serial: <filter> status: Charging CPU: Info: 10-core (2-mt/8-st) model: 12th Gen Intel Core i7-1255U bits: 64 type: MST AMCP arch: Alder Lake rev: 4 cache: L1: 928 KiB L2: 6.5 MiB L3: 12 MiB Speed (MHz): avg: 432 high: 509 min/max: 400/4700:3500 cores: 1: 504 2: 509 3: 477 4: 463 5: 400 6: 400 7: 400 8: 400 9: 400 10: 400 11: 434 12: 400 bogomips: 62668 Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx Graphics: Device-1: Intel vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel ports: active: eDP-1 empty: DP-1,DP-2,HDMI-A-1 bus-ID: 0000:00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:4628 Device-2: Quanta ACER HD User Facing type: USB driver: N/A bus-ID: 3-7:4 chip-ID: 0408:4033 Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 1.21.1.3 compositor: xfwm v: 4.16.1 driver: X: loaded: modesetting unloaded: fbdev,vesa gpu: i915 display-ID: :0.0 screens: 1 Screen-1: 0 s-res: 1920x1080 s-dpi: 96 Monitor-1: eDP-1 model: BOE Display res: 1920x1080 dpi: 142 diag: 394mm (15.5") OpenGL: renderer: Mesa Intel Graphics (ADL GT2) v: 4.6 Mesa 22.0.5 direct render: Yes Audio: Device-1: Intel Alder Lake PCH-P High Definition Audio vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: sof-audio-pci-intel-tgl bus-ID: 0000:00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:51c8 Sound Server-1: ALSA v: k5.15.0-52-generic running: yes Sound Server-2: PulseAudio v: 15.99.1 running: yes Sound Server-3: PipeWire v: 0.3.48 running: yes Network: Device-1: MEDIATEK vendor: Lite-On driver: mt7615e v: kernel port: N/A bus-ID: 0000:2a:00.0 chip-ID: 14c3:7663 IF: wlp42s0 state: up mac: <filter> Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 0000:2b:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 IF: enp43s0 state: down mac: <filter> Bluetooth: Device-1: Lite-On Wireless_Device type: USB driver: btusb v: 0.8 bus-ID: 3-10:5 chip-ID: 04ca:3801 Report: hciconfig ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: down bt-service: enabled,running rfk-block: hardware: no software: no address: <filter> RAID: Hardware-1: Intel Volume Management Device NVMe RAID Controller driver: vmd v: 0.6 bus-ID: 0000:00:0e.0 chip-ID: 8086:467f Drives: Local Storage: total: 476.94 GiB used: 18.21 GiB (3.8%) ID-1: /dev/nvme0n1 vendor: Micron model: 2450 MTFDKBA512TFK size: 476.94 GiB speed: 63.2 Gb/s lanes: 4 serial: <filter> temp: 30.9 C Partition: ID-1: / size: 465.29 GiB used: 17.94 GiB (3.9%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/dm-1 mapped: vgmint-root ID-2: /boot size: 1.61 GiB used: 268.3 MiB (16.3%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/nvme0n1p2 ID-3: /boot/efi size: 511 MiB used: 5.2 MiB (1.0%) fs: vfat dev: /dev/nvme0n1p1 Swap: ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 980 MiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) priority: -2 dev: /dev/dm-2 mapped: vgmint-swap_1 Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 27.8 C mobo: N/A Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A Info: Processes: 292 Uptime: 49m Memory: 15.34 GiB used: 1.34 GiB (8.7%) Init: systemd v: 249 runlevel: 5 target: graphical.target Compilers: gcc: 11.3.0 alt: 11 Packages: apt: 2359 Shell: Bash v: 5.1.16 running-in: xfce4-terminal inxi: 3.3.13 woonpc@woonpc-Aspire-A315-59:~$
```
Here is what I got, hopefully this helps, thank you!
 
Device-2: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 3000 bus-ID: 0000:2b:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 IF: enp43s0 state: down mac: <filter>
your wi-fi is down, first make sure there is no hard block set [some call it flight mode] Acer usually have a dedicated wi-fi switch, if not you will find a key combination in the manual to switch it on/off, make sure its on. if it is and still not working,you may have to install a different driver
Device-2: Quanta ACER HD

This is a known problem device, there are specialist drivers but not guaranteed to work
 
Brian, an error, I think, it appears to me that his wifi is up but Ethernet is down, can you recheck that?

Wiz
 
Chris, [ device 1 should be the Ethernet and device 2 the wi-fi on inxi] anyway as far as I can see the problem is MediaTek's integration, with the rtl, the mt7615e driver integrates and controls the wi-fi and its speed, It has been a problem for some time, I have been searching but haven't as yet found a simple fix, it may come down to compiling the latest rtl driver set from gilthub
 
addendum
the RTL8111/8168/8411 normally works fine with Kernel 5.3 or higher, I will do some more poking around later in my day, out this morning
 
After an hour or so of ploughing through the various problems with this particular RTL chip set, the best solution I have found is to uninstall the r8169 drivers and replace with r8168. There is no guarantee this will work for you

GitHub - mtorromeo/r8168: Linux device driver for Realtek Ethernet controllers (unofficial mirror)

Linux device driver for Realtek Ethernet controllers (unofficial mirror) - GitHub - mtorromeo/r8168: Linux device driver for Realtek Ethernet controllers (unofficial mirror)
github.com
github.com
 
With the OP asking about 3 issues, they might be better split into 3 Threads, but for now, I will follow, as with Brian @Brickwizard and just deal with the Wifi.

Which was

1. The network adapter (based on the info from lspci), tells me that the thing is a mt7663, mediatek device 7633, it seems to have the right driver installed and all after the 5.8 kernel support but it cannot connect to 5Ghz networks. I can see it on nmcli, but I cannot connect to it, despite having the right password and SSID.


A summary of the outputs provided so far indicates as follows:
  • The OP is using Linux Mint 21 'Vanessa' here
  • His WiFi is working (the OP could confirm this, please) but only for 2.4 GHz connections, not 5Ghz
  • The OP has a MediaTek mt7663 for wifi
  • The OP has not connected to, or has no, Ethernet connection
To settle any issues, and irrespective of the order of the Devices for WiFi

wlp42s0 is for Wifi and the device is Up
enp43s0 is for Ethernet and the device is down / not connected.

I would ask of the OP two questions, being
  1. Has this wifi device previously worked with 5Ghz connections, under another Linux and if so which one (or if the same, how long ago)?
  2. If YES to the above, do you have a Grub Menu, with Advanced Options, that you can use to try the Wifi under a previous kernel?
Why I ask the latter is that you say
, it seems to have the right driver installed and all after the 5.8 kernel support but it cannot connect to 5Ghz networks.

The current Linux kernel for Vanessa is 5.15.0-52, with the one prior 5.15.0-50

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
your wi-fi is down, first make sure there is no hard block set [some call it flight mode] Acer usually have a dedicated wi-fi switch, if not you will find a key combination in the manual to switch it on/off, make sure its on. if it is and still not working,you may have to install a different driver


This is a known problem device, there are specialist drivers but not guaranteed to work
Wifi is actually up, it can connect and detect 2.4ghz networks, but cannot connect 5ghz (it can detect 5ghz tho.)
 
After an hour or so of ploughing through the various problems with this particular RTL chip set, the best solution I have found is to uninstall the r8169 drivers and replace with r8168. There is no guarantee this will work for you

GitHub - mtorromeo/r8168: Linux device driver for Realtek Ethernet controllers (unofficial mirror)

Linux device driver for Realtek Ethernet controllers (unofficial mirror) - GitHub - mtorromeo/r8168: Linux device driver for Realtek Ethernet controllers (unofficial mirror)
github.com
github.com
With the OP asking about 3 issues, they might be better split into 3 Threads, but for now, I will follow, as with Brian @Brickwizard and just deal with the Wifi.

Which was




A summary of the outputs provided so far indicates as follows:
  • The OP is using Linux Mint 21 'Vanessa' here
  • His WiFi is working (the OP could confirm this, please) but only for 2.4 GHz connections, not 5Ghz
  • The OP has a MediaTek mt7663 for wifi
  • The OP has not connected to, or has no, Ethernet connection
To settle any issues, and irrespective of the order of the Devices for WiFi

wlp42s0 is for Wifi and the device is Up
enp43s0 is for Ethernet and the device is down / not connected.

I would ask of the OP two questions, being
  1. Has this wifi device previously worked with 5Ghz connections, under another Linux and if so which one (or if the same, how long ago)?
  2. If YES to the above, do you have a Grub Menu, with Advanced Options, that you can use to try the Wifi under a previous kernel?
Why I ask the latter is that you say


The current Linux kernel for Vanessa is 5.15.0-52, with the one prior 5.15.0-50

Cheers

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
5ghz has worked under windows, this device has not ethernet, but has an ethernet port.as this is a new device, it has yet to be used in previous installs.
 
@pendragonscode , I note you have exactly the same questions posed at Reddit, here


Although that one has not received any input yet, I should let you know that that is bad protocol.

They cannot be expected to know what advice we are giving, nor we them.

You should consider sticking with one or the other, and closing down the other one.

Thanks

Chris Turner
wizardfromoz
 
Last edited:
BTW on the webcam, there is this here

https://linux-hardware.org/?id=usb:0408-a061

... which includes the Aspire a315-58 and a315-58G as being compatible with Linux. Although not exactly the same, it appears yours should be able to work on one of the Distros listed there.

Wiz
 
...any new on the network thing?

No, other than that my searches have not turned up anything concrete.

But I was wondering if you have tried MX-21 with the AHS feature. AHS stands for Advanced Hardware Support, and when they first offered it 12 months ago it did not have great support for Intel. I was reading something yesterday that indicated they now have better support for Generations 8, 9, 10, 11 and so on and note that you have a 12th gen i7.

I wonder what they might be like with your wifi?

Wizard
 
No, other than that my searches have not turned up anything concrete.

But I was wondering if you have tried MX-21 with the AHS feature. AHS stands for Advanced Hardware Support, and when they first offered it 12 months ago it did not have great support for Intel. I was reading something yesterday that indicated they now have better support for Generations 8, 9, 10, 11 and so on and note that you have a 12th gen i7.

I wonder what they might be like with your wifi?

Wizard
I see... thank you! I have yet to try it out, how do i work with it?
 
No, other than that my searches have not turned up anything concrete.

But I was wondering if you have tried MX-21 with the AHS feature. AHS stands for Advanced Hardware Support, and when they first offered it 12 months ago it did not have great support for Intel. I was reading something yesterday that indicated they now have better support for Generations 8, 9, 10, 11 and so on and note that you have a 12th gen i7.

I wonder what they might be like with your wifi?

Wizard
seems to appear in a connected state, but disconnects immediately
Also it appears that the acer laptops seem to have a history of bad compatibility with linux, what is up with that?
 
it appears that the acer laptops seem to have a history of bad compatibility with linux
Only the newer ones, my 2020 travelmate and my 2008 ZG% [both 32 bit work fine] I have had problems working on those less than 6 yrs old
 

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