FS#52960 - [linux] Acer WMI Module Loading on incompatible laptops
Attached to Project:
Arch Linux
Opened by Oldy (Oldy) - Tuesday, 14 February 2017, 06:09 GMT
Last edited by Tobias Powalowski (tpowa) - Saturday, 02 April 2022, 20:12 GMT
Opened by Oldy (Oldy) - Tuesday, 14 February 2017, 06:09 GMT
Last edited by Tobias Powalowski (tpowa) - Saturday, 02 April 2022, 20:12 GMT
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Details
Description:
The module "acer_wmi" is incorrectly auto-loaded upon installation of Arch Linux on some laptops. This breaks the ability to use NetworkManager to configure the laptop's wireless network adapter (although curiously, manually configuring and enabling it using "ip link"/"iw"/"wpa_supplicant"/"wpa_cli" works....), because it believes the adapter is controlled by a hardware on/off switch that is turned off (there is no such switch). Getting to the root cause of this took several days. Searching around on various Linux distro forums eventually leads to this module conflict, which affects numerous distros going back to at least 2010. This second-hand evidence also suggests other models of laptop are affected, including: HP Spectre 13 x2 http://cesg.tamu.edu/faculty/paul-gratz/personal/linux-on-the-hp-spectre-13-x2/) HP Pavilion x360 (various models, including Intel and AMD variants) http://elementaryos.stackexchange.com/questions/10149/wifi-stays-disable-in-hp-x360-i5) https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=220044 Sony VAIO VPCY11S1E (know as Sony Vaio Y series, first model): https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=108881 Various other models (e.g. Toshiba): https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=108084 Additional info: * package version(s) Fresh install of latest Arch Linux (as of 02/13/2017) x86_64 * config and/or log files etc. HP ENVY m6ar004dx Laptop (AMD FX-9800P, Intel 7265AC wireless chipset). Note that many of the models listed above use Intel CPUs, and contain a variety of wlan chipsets, including Intel, Broadcom and Realtek. Steps to reproduce: Install Arch Linux on an affected laptop. Install NetworkManager and attempt to configure WiFi. Both nmcli and the GUI will report WiFi as "Unavailable". If you flip the soft button to "ON" in the GUI, it turns off a 1/2 second later. Intermittently, the adapter may work in NetworkManager, but still reports as "Unavailable" and "Off" (usually, first attempt after manually killing and restarting wpa_supplicant and configuring WiFi manually through other means). Running: lsmod | grep acer shows the offending module is installed. Running: modprobe -r acer_wmi immediately corrects the problem, however, LCD brightness control hotkeys will not function. The acer_wmi module needs to be added to the modprobe blacklist, then the hp_wmi module reloaded (or the machine rebooted). After this, the hotkeys all work again, and the wireless adapter can be configured by NetworkManager. |
This task depends upon
Adding the module to blacklist and rebooting fixes the problem.
Wifi still works with acer_wmi loaded even though I believe Wifi and Bluetooth is provided by the same Network adaptor.
lspci | grep Network shows:
03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
modprobe -R acer_wmi disables they keyboard completely although adding it to the blacklist works fine.
Note: I'm not sure if my issue is exactly the same issue as what is reported in the ticket. Also, I have not had Arch Linux on this laptop for a couple of years so I had to do a fresh install. (So, I am uncertain if/when this was fixed since then but I typically don't unplug this laptop anyway.) Lastly, I did install using archlinux-gui-plasma-2022.04-x86_64.iso instead of vanilla Arch so somethings may be different.