Acer Aspire E 14 - no WLAN

[hape]

Hi,

i try to install latest stable Majaro on a Acer Aspire E 14 (E5-411-P23Y). I cant manage to get Wifi working. Do i need to install some proprietary driver? For now i work from a USB stick, does this make a difference to a full install?

Here some more info:

inxi -Fx

System:    Host: manjaro Kernel: 4.19.28-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.2.1 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.13.2git-UNKNOWN Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire E5-411 v: V1.08 
           serial: <root required> 
           Mobo: Acer model: EA41_BM v: Type2 - A01 Board Version serial: <root required> 
           UEFI: Insyde v: 1.08 date: 06/20/2014 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 18.5 Wh condition: 52.4/55.9 Wh (94%) model: SANYO AL14A32 
           status: Discharging 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Pentium N3540 bits: 64 type: MCP 
           arch: Silvermont rev: 8 L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 17332 
           Speed: 500 MHz min/max: 500/2666 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 500 2: 500 3: 500 
           4: 500 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: intel unloaded: modesetting 
           resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Bay Trail v: 4.2 Mesa 18.3.4 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.28-1-MANJARO 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 1000 
           bus ID: 01:00.0 
           IF: enp1s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: c4:54:44:cf:f5:76 
           Device-2: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM43142 802.11b/g/n vendor: Foxconn 
           driver: N/A port: 1000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 991.28 GiB used: 143.6 MiB (0.0%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABD100 size: 931.51 GiB 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Ultra size: 57.84 GiB 
           ID-3: /dev/sdc type: USB model: -Pretec 02GB size: 1.92 GiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 2.80 GiB used: 61.9 MiB (2.2%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 38.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:      Processes: 177 Uptime: 17m Memory: 3.74 GiB used: 652.9 MiB (17.1%) 
           Init: systemd Compilers: gcc: 8.2.1 Shell: bash v: 5.0.0 inxi: 3.0.32 

lspci

System:    Host: manjaro Kernel: 4.19.28-1-MANJARO x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 8.2.1 
           Desktop: Xfce 4.13.2git-UNKNOWN Distro: Manjaro Linux 
Machine:   Type: Laptop System: Acer product: Aspire E5-411 v: V1.08 
           serial: <root required> 
           Mobo: Acer model: EA41_BM v: Type2 - A01 Board Version serial: <root required> 
           UEFI: Insyde v: 1.08 date: 06/20/2014 
Battery:   ID-1: BAT1 charge: 18.5 Wh condition: 52.4/55.9 Wh (94%) model: SANYO AL14A32 
           status: Discharging 
CPU:       Topology: Quad Core model: Intel Pentium N3540 bits: 64 type: MCP 
           arch: Silvermont rev: 8 L2 cache: 1024 KiB 
           flags: lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx bogomips: 17332 
           Speed: 500 MHz min/max: 500/2666 MHz Core speeds (MHz): 1: 500 2: 500 3: 500 
           4: 500 
Graphics:  Device-1: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series Graphics & Display 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: i915 v: kernel bus ID: 00:02.0 
           Display: x11 server: X.Org 1.20.4 driver: intel unloaded: modesetting 
           resolution: 1366x768~60Hz 
           OpenGL: renderer: Mesa DRI Intel Bay Trail v: 4.2 Mesa 18.3.4 
           direct render: Yes 
Audio:     Device-1: Intel Atom Processor Z36xxx/Z37xxx Series High Definition Audio 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel bus ID: 00:1b.0 
           Sound Server: ALSA v: k4.19.28-1-MANJARO 
Network:   Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet 
           vendor: Acer Incorporated ALI driver: r8169 v: kernel port: 1000 
           bus ID: 01:00.0 
           IF: enp1s0 state: up speed: 100 Mbps duplex: full mac: c4:54:44:cf:f5:76 
           Device-2: Broadcom and subsidiaries BCM43142 802.11b/g/n vendor: Foxconn 
           driver: N/A port: 1000 bus ID: 02:00.0 
Drives:    Local Storage: total: 991.28 GiB used: 143.6 MiB (0.0%) 
           ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Toshiba model: MQ01ABD100 size: 931.51 GiB 
           ID-2: /dev/sdb type: USB vendor: SanDisk model: Ultra size: 57.84 GiB 
           ID-3: /dev/sdc type: USB model: -Pretec 02GB size: 1.92 GiB 
Partition: ID-1: / size: 2.80 GiB used: 61.9 MiB (2.2%) fs: overlay source: ERR-102 
Sensors:   System Temperatures: cpu: 38.0 C mobo: N/A 
           Fan Speeds (RPM): N/A 
Info:      Processes: 177 Uptime: 17m Memory: 3.74 GiB used: 652.9 MiB (17.1%) 
           Init: systemd Compilers: gcc: 8.2.1 Shell: bash v: 5.0.0 inxi: 3.0.32 

Everything else seems to work. Any help is welcome.

HP

[tbg]

@hape

BCM43142

I hate to have to be the one to break it to you, but that adapter is often next to impossible to get working properly.

I'll post a link for you to try installing the broadcom-wl-dkms driver. However, I wouldn't have high hopes of getting it working properly. Some do manage to get it working, but with very poor connectivity.

Follow these steps to hopefully resolve your broadcom driver issues.

Broadcom wifi driver fails to install properly

If your Broadcom wireless adapter driver is detected as "bcma-pci-bridge" or "b43-pci-bridge", your driver has likely been installed incorrectly. Examples: Kernel driver in use: bcma-pci-bridge Kernel modules: bcma Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge Kernel modules: ssb If your WiFi connection is not working correctly you will need an alternate means to connect to the internet. You can use a wired LAN connection if your computer has a wired NIC (and a connection is available). The other…

Good luck.

[rodneyck]

I have an Acer Swift laptop with the same network device. What distro "flavor" are you trying to install, out of curiosity?

I have installed Manjaro Gnome, Budgie and KDE on it, currently KDE (installed about a week ago,) and have had no issues, excellent internet speeds.

Edit to add: BTW, Acer's have a function usually on their laptop keyboard to enable/disable wifi. Make sure this is enabled.

[tbg]

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, but if you search the forum for your adapter you will find many issues, with very few positive resolutions for this adapter. For some reason there are a few here and there that don't seem to have issues with this adapter, but they are in the vast minority.

That is why I included the link to install the broadcom-wl-dkms driver. It is possible that this user could be one of the lucky ones (as you are) to get it working properly.

If you don't mind me asking, which kernel are you running. It's possible new improvements in the kernel have improved this adapters usability recently.

[rodneyck]

Yep, totally not discrediting your points. As you say, I may be just one of the lucky subset.

I am currently running 4.19 kernel under KDE. When I was on Gnome, I used both the 4.19 and 5.0, both again worked well.

[hape]

Thanks for the hints. Guess what, after installation, the WLAN started working without further configurations.

However, not all is perfect. Now, occasionally, the mouse stops working for left mouse clicks which makes the GUI almost unusable. Both for touchpad and external mouse. I'm using XFCE and kernel 4.19.32-1. I will look into this issue and eventually open a new question.

HP