AsusF5N

Revision 19 as of 2008-03-02 21:30:10

Clear message

Current Issues

  • My ISP requires VPN to connect to the Internet, so "pptp-linux" and "network-manager-pptp" must be installed as well. The package "network-manager-pptp" is not included with the Desktop CD, which is unfortunate.
  • 8.04 Beta 4 Hardy only: Synaptics touchpad does not work (the driver is there by default, but no entries in xorg.conf)
  • 8.04 Beta 4 Hardy only: No video driver in xorg.conf
  • 8.04 Beta 4 Hardy only: Scroll Lock LED does not work
  • Fails to resume from hibernate mode (gray screen with 4 vertical stripes)
  • Shut down works but restart does not

  • Switching active users produces white screen due to nvidia-glx-new bug in nVidia proprietary binary code. See [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24/+bug/160264 Bug #160264]

  • 8.04 Beta 4 Hardy only: Wireless and Bluetooth LEDs are constantly on, even with wireless turned off (and there is no bluetooth adapter present on this model)
  • Brightness goes up to max unexpectedly when on AC power - this is by design, you have to set brightness in Power Preferences
  • Testing 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon 32-bit and 8.04 Hardy Beta 4 64-bit desktop CD images.
  • As of today, this laptop is totally unusable with current Ubuntu release (8.04 alpha 4). It works good with 7.10 though, and touchpad right side corners are working as they should. They never did under Other OS, which made me believe that was Asus' hardware problem. Now with Ubuntu 7.10 this laptop pleases me. There are still issues with wireless, web camera, and buttons, as well as suspend and hybernation. I look forward to those to be fixed before recommending this otherwise great laptop to anyone.

System Info

  • system-manufacturer: ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
  • system-product-name: F5N
  • system-version: 1.0

  • NVIDIA GeForce 7000M / nForce 610M chipset

  • AMD Turion(tm) 64 X2 Mobile Technology TL-58
  • 2GB DDR-2 667MHz RAM

  • 128MB integrated video: nVidia Corporation GeForce 7000M (rev a2)

  • 120GB 5400RPM SATA drive
  • 15.4" LCD 1280x800 WXGA

  • Synaptics TouchPad

  • NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller (built-in Ethernet Adapter)
  • Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5007EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
  • Built-in software modem
  • Built-in USB 1.3 Megapixel Chicony CNF6131 (OEM Syntec D-MAX STK-1135) Web Camera
  • Built-in PCI Express card reader
  • CD/DVD rewritable drive

Hardware details

Screen & Monitors

Device

Works?

Comment

Screen

No

Yes

in 7.10, configure xorg with vesa driver to get graphic display

Correct resolution?

No

No

7.10 Gutsy Gibbon: 1280x768 @ 60Hz with vesa driver. 8.04 Hardy: 800x600 @ 61Hz; No video driver in xorg.conf, Screens & Graphics control panel is empty (no screen, no resolution, no refresh rate, no video driver, no selection options). Screen & Graphics crashes when clicking "Test" button

Correct refresh rate?

Yes

Yes

3D Acceleration

Yes

Untested

sudo apt-get install "nvidia-glx-new" OR use Restricted Drivers Manager to enable

External monitor works?

Untested

Untested

External monitor - mirrors

Untested

Untested

External monitor - extend desktop

Untested

Untested

Power Management

Battery detected?

Yes

No

8.04 Hardy: Shows 2 batteries instead of one. Battery applet disappears when on AC Power (only when booted in English - weird)

Hibernates?

No

Untested

Fails to resume from hybernation

Suspend

Yes

Untested

Dim monitor on battery

Yes

Yes

Blank monitor on inactivity

Yes

Yes

Lid Close

Yes

Yes

Cpu frequency scaling

Yes

Yes

800MHz - 1.6GHz - 1.9GHz

Sound

Sound works?

No

No

No sound; Fix for 7.10 is in the notes below

Correct volume?

No

No

Hardware volume switch

Yes

Yes

Sound Up/Down and Mute buttons work fine

Headphone jack

Untested

Untested

Mic jack

Untested

Untested

Networking

Wired NIC

Yes

Yes

Wireless NIC

No

No

http://madwifi.org/ticket/1679 This fix worked for me in 7.10 32-bit: 1. Disable MadWifi Atheros driver in Restricted Drivers Manager; 2. Follow these instructions: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/atheros-5007eg-with-madwifi-on-i386-platform.html 3. After this Restricted Manager fails to start on my machine but at least wireless works

PCMCIA NIC

Untested

Untested

This laptop supports ExpressCard only (not compatible with PCMCIA cards)

Firewire

N/A

N/A

Bluetooth

N/A

N/A

Modem

Untested

Untested

Infrared

N/A

N/A

Touchpad & Mice

Touchpad

Yes

No

Works great in 7.10 - two thumbs up! in 8.04, Synaptics driver package is installed by default but is not configured into xorg.conf; touchpad is way too sensitive and produces faulse clicks (with "mouse" driver)

Touchpad - Doubletap = double click

Yes

Yes

Touchpad - Scroll down side

Yes

No

in 8.04 Beta 4, edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf to enable touchpad driver

External mouse - USB

Untested

Untested

External mouse - Serial

Untested

Untested

Docking Station/Port Replicator

AC through replicator

Untested

Untested

USB

Untested

Yes

plugging in external hard drive is no problem

Serial

N/A

N/A

Parallel

N/A

N/A

External Monitor - VGA

Untested

Untested

External Monitor - DVI

N/A

N/A

Modem

Untested

Untested

NIC

Yes

Yes

PS/2

Untested

Untested

Additional Hardware

Buil-in Webcam

No

No

Unsupported model

CD/DVD drive

Yes

Untested

PCMCIA cards

Untested

Untested

This laptop supports ExpressCard only (not compatible with PCMCIA cards)

Parallel Ports

N/A

N/A

Card reader(s)

Yes

Untested

Function and other keys

Fn key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Comment

in Ubuntu 7.10?

in Hardy (current development)?

+ Space

Change power profile

0x92 in 7.10, not reported by "showkey" in 8.04

No

No

in 7.10, blanks the screen

+ F1

Suspend

Yes

Yes

+ F2

Wireless on/off

not reported by "showkey"

Yes

No

in 7.10, turns wireless LED on and off

+ F5

Brightness down

Yes

Yes

goes back to max after a while if on AC power

+ F6

Brightness up

Yes

Yes

+ F7

Backlight off/on

Yes

Yes

+ F8

Switch to external monitor

Untested

Untested

LCD screen stays on

+ F10

Sound Mute

Yes

Yes

+ F11

Volume down

Yes

Yes

+ F12

Volume up

Yes

Yes

+ Ins

NumLock

Yes

Yes

+ Del

ScrollLock

ScrLk

No

No

The button is recognized but Scroll Lock LED does not come on. Option to turn on Scroll Lock LED on alternate keyboard layout in Gnome keyboard layout preferences doesn't work either

+ C

Asus Splendid Utility (screen brightness/colour/gamma presets)

not reported by "showkey" or Keyboard Shortcut dialog

No

No

This key has no special mark on it, and can be used to do whatever. On my Dell Inspiron 5000 I have the similar "secret" Fn + Q key which I use to hybernate.

+ V

Web camera

not reported by "showkey" or Keyboard Shortcut dialog

Untested

No

This key has a camera icon on it and is supposed to launch web camera application

Other special keys, located at the top row next to keyboard LEDs

Key

Operation

Keycode

Works?

Bug #

in Ubuntu 7.10

Hardy (current development)

Movie/Music

Media Player

not reported by "showkey" or Keyboard Shortcut dialog

No

No

Running Power Man

Power Profile

0x92 in 7.10, not reported by "showkey" or Keyboard Shortcut dialog in 8.04

No

No

Blanks the screen in 7.10

Jupiter

Web Browser

0xb2 in 7.10, not reported by "showkey" or Keyboard Shortcut dialog in 8.04

Yes

No

Crossed out touchpad

Touchpad off/on

not reported by "showkey" or Keyboard Shortcut dialog

No

No

Power sign

Power on/off

Yes

Yes

Notes

Features that are not working out of the box and are not present in Ubuntu repositories are marked as "No" in the table above. Instructions on how to fix them are given in "Comment" column and are provided below. The only problem that I have no clue as how to fix it that this laptop fails to reboot. Kernel parameter reboot=b (use BIOS for reboot) does not help. It did reboot right after initial system install was completed, so something must stopped working during system upgrade I suppose.

Ubuntu 7.10 Sound Fix

These instructions are based on the original instructions found on [https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HdaIntelSoundHowto Ubuntu Community Documentation] page. Please note that you do not have to update ALSA driver in order to fix the sound problem. Just add two lines at the bottom of /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base file as shown below.

  • options snd-hda-intel enable=1 index=0 model=lenovo

    alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel

Reboot and you should have your sound working!

Ubuntu 7.10 Webcam Installation

These instructions are based on the original instructions I found [http://www.zer0.net/#2420624065135683357 here] (The Dec.14 2007 post) and copied over from [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LaptopTestingTeam/AsusF3SV Asus F3SV page] for your convenience. F3SV has Syntec STK-1125 webcam while F5N comes with Syntec D-MAX STK-1135 webcam. Colours are wrong compared to what I get in Vista but the webcam works as follows.

First download version 1.2.3 of the drivers from http://syntekdriver.sourceforge.net/ to your home dir. Now open a terminal (Applications>Accessories>Terminal) and type in the following:

Now the drivers should be loaded properly. To test it out either install camorama (sudo apt-get install camorama) or open up Ekiga. If you use Ekiga you'll have to go through the configuration Druid. When you get either program running, there should be a green light on next to the lens. And you should see a video in the proper window.

Ubuntu 7.10 Hibernation Note

Hibernation works fine if no X is running (that is, there is no graphic screen). This is an indication that hibernation problem is related to the above mentioned [https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24/+bug/160264 nVidia binary code bug]. Wait for nVidia drivers update.

Notes concerning 8.04 Beta 4 release:

  • Immediately after booting from Desktop CD the message appears: "jockey_gtk closed unexpectedly"
  • In Network Manager, Point to point connection should be renamed to Modem connection, as PPPoE and GPRS are essentially modem connections; then add VPN connection as a separate option, so that one has a choice between wired, modem, and VPN.
  • It would also be nice if Network Manager could handle configurations like ISP assigned address on eth0, home LAN static IP on eth0:1, and VPN to ISP. It should then be able to make Internet available to other computers on home LAN.
  • Fix sensitivity for Synaptics touchpad, and make Synaptics driver to install properly.
  • It make sense to leave US keyboard in when booting in other language than English. For instance, when I choose to boot into Russian desktop, I want to see "us,ru" with ",winkeys" layout and "grp:toggle" option in my xorg.conf file. While toggle preferences may vary, keyboard layout is always the same. As to the keyboard detection, PC105 is correctly autodetected for this laptop. It may not be the case for US model, as my Dell Inspiron 5000 has PC104 keyboard, which Ubuntu detects as PC105. Also, without proper xorg.conf file Gnome keyboard layout preferences don't work as expected. When I boot into Russian desktop, add US keyboard to the list and then choose Right Alt to switch layouts and Scroll Lock LED as an indicator, Ctrl key all of a sudden changes layouts while pressed (so I cannot use Ctrl-C and other combinations in the Terminal). Not to mention that Scroll Lock LED never comes on.
  • Not sure how to make special keys work when they generate no keycode. But I would like to help on this issue as well. It's nice to have special keys working on a laptop.
  • Fix the battery aplet so that only one battery is displayed.
  • Fix resuming from suspend mode

  • Fix "no video driver" - it should be either nvidia or nv or vesa with the list available in Screens & Graphics control panel (it was in Ubuntu 7.10)

  • Fix audio - the system recognizes audio (and modem as audio device, which is correct) but there is currently no sound. Built-in microphone doesn't work either.
  • Fix webcam - there is no video input device currently detected.

CategoryHardware CategoryLaptop