just replaced an older ASUS laptop with one of these:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=710_577_1199&item_...
and working my way through the inevitable configuration issues with a new (and fully-updated) fedora 23. so far, two issues i'd like to resolve.
first, not sure how to turn on the keyboard backlight for the laptop's keyboard. i typically use an external USB keyboard, and i use "xset led 3" to get backlighting for that, but i haven't figured out how to do the same for the laptop keyboard.
and second, i added a M.2 format 512G ADATA SSD in one of the two available slots for that form factor:
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=179_1229_1296&item...
but f23 doesn't see the device at all -- nothing from "lsblk". anyone know the configuration or driver needed for that kind of SSD?
thank you kindly.
rday
Hello Robert,
A few of us are experiencing a few issues with these laptop (I have the same exact model); it will be best to file a bug for this.
Do you mind sharing what you have done to get it to this state, I have tried kernel 4.3.x from the testing repo and the laptop will not boot. I went ahead an try kernel 4.4.x (rawhide) and the laptop boot only once and after that I have only been getting a blank screen. I am currently using kernel 4.2.300 (obsolete soon) and have to append i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 to the kernel argument; however, the touch pad works.
I have only file a bug for kernel 4.3 from the testing repo, but I hope to file all these bugs within a day or two.
Quoting Earl A Ramirez earlaramirez@gmail.com:
Hello Robert,
A few of us are experiencing a few issues with these laptop (I have the same exact model); it will be best to file a bug for this.
Do you mind sharing what you have done to get it to this state, I have tried kernel 4.3.x from the testing repo and the laptop will not boot. I went ahead an try kernel 4.4.x (rawhide) and the laptop boot only once and after that I have only been getting a blank screen. I am currently using kernel 4.2.300 (obsolete soon) and have to append i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 to the kernel argument; however, the touch pad works.
I have only file a bug for kernel 4.3 from the testing repo, but I hope to file all these bugs within a day or two.
i can file a bug as well, or just "me, too" on yours. first, though, i want to make sure i'm not overlooking something trivially easy for this laptop to see the M.2 512G SSD drive i added.
so, again, anyone have some advice on how to get fedora 23 to see this M.2-format SSD drive in my new ASUS laptop?
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=179_1229_1296&item...
"dmesg" doesn't seem to see it, and neither does "lsblk" or "lshw". any suggestions?
rday
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 09:03:16 -0500 Robert P. J. Day wrote:
"dmesg" doesn't seem to see it, and neither does "lsblk" or "lshw". any suggestions?
This sounds almost like it has no power. Maybe something isn't making a good connection. Is there another machine you could try it in? If you are dual booting, does the other OS see it?
Quoting Tom Horsley horsley1953@gmail.com:
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 09:03:16 -0500 Robert P. J. Day wrote:
"dmesg" doesn't seem to see it, and neither does "lsblk" or "lshw". any suggestions?
This sounds almost like it has no power. Maybe something isn't making a good connection. Is there another machine you could try it in? If you are dual booting, does the other OS see it?
no dual booting, and i have no other box to try it in, nothing else i own has slots for that form factor of SSD. i'm trying to figure out if there is some sort of H/W switch i need to throw. if anyone else has a laptop that accepts that form factor, did you need to do anything special to see it?
rday
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 09:33:29 -0500 "Robert P. J. Day" rpjday@crashcourse.ca wrote:
Quoting Tom Horsley horsley1953@gmail.com:
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 09:03:16 -0500 Robert P. J. Day wrote:
"dmesg" doesn't seem to see it, and neither does "lsblk" or "lshw". any suggestions?
This sounds almost like it has no power. Maybe something isn't making a good connection. Is there another machine you could try it in? If you are dual booting, does the other OS see it?
no dual booting, and i have no other box to try it in, nothing else i own has slots for that form factor of SSD. i'm trying to figure out if there is some sort of H/W switch i need to throw. if anyone else has a laptop that accepts that form factor, did you need to do anything special to see it?
rday
Does the computer firmware see it? You didn't mention that so thought I'd ask.
Quoting Fred Erickson fredferickson@gmail.com:
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 09:33:29 -0500 "Robert P. J. Day" rpjday@crashcourse.ca wrote:
Quoting Tom Horsley horsley1953@gmail.com:
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 09:03:16 -0500 Robert P. J. Day wrote:
"dmesg" doesn't seem to see it, and neither does "lsblk" or "lshw". any suggestions?
This sounds almost like it has no power. Maybe something isn't making a good connection. Is there another machine you could try it in? If you are dual booting, does the other OS see it?
no dual booting, and i have no other box to try it in, nothing else i own has slots for that form factor of SSD. i'm trying to figure out if there is some sort of H/W switch i need to throw. if anyone else has a laptop that accepts that form factor, did you need to do anything special to see it?
rday
Does the computer firmware see it? You didn't mention that so thought I'd ask.
by "firmware", do you mean BIOS? no, it doesn't. the BIOS sees both the primary (regular) hard drive, and the CD/DVD device. that's it.
or do you mean something else?
rday
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 10:25:00 -0500 "Robert P. J. Day" rpjday@crashcourse.ca wrote:
Quoting Fred Erickson fredferickson@gmail.com:
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 09:33:29 -0500 "Robert P. J. Day" rpjday@crashcourse.ca wrote:
Quoting Tom Horsley horsley1953@gmail.com:
On Sun, 17 Jan 2016 09:03:16 -0500 Robert P. J. Day wrote:
"dmesg" doesn't seem to see it, and neither does "lsblk" or "lshw". any suggestions?
This sounds almost like it has no power. Maybe something isn't making a good connection. Is there another machine you could try it in? If you are dual booting, does the other OS see it?
no dual booting, and i have no other box to try it in, nothing else i own has slots for that form factor of SSD. i'm trying to figure out if there is some sort of H/W switch i need to throw. if anyone else has a laptop that accepts that form factor, did you need to do anything special to see it?
rday
Does the computer firmware see it? You didn't mention that so thought I'd ask.
by "firmware", do you mean BIOS? no, it doesn't. the BIOS sees both the primary (regular) hard drive, and the CD/DVD device. that's it.
or do you mean something else?
rday
I don't have a machine with UEFI firmware only BIOS. But, if BIOS/UEFI doesn't see a drive, the OS isn't going to be able to see it either.
Allegedly, on or about 17 January 2016, Robert P. J. Day sent:
by "firmware", do you mean BIOS? no, it doesn't. the BIOS sees both the primary (regular) hard drive, and the CD/DVD device. that's it.
Are the other drive ports enabled in the BIOS? And are they set to detect a drive?
Quoting Earl A Ramirez earlaramirez@gmail.com:
Hello Robert,
A few of us are experiencing a few issues with these laptop (I have the same exact model); it will be best to file a bug for this.
Do you mind sharing what you have done to get it to this state, I have tried kernel 4.3.x from the testing repo and the laptop will not boot. I went ahead an try kernel 4.4.x (rawhide) and the laptop boot only once and after that I have only been getting a blank screen. I am currently using kernel 4.2.300 (obsolete soon) and have to append i915.preliminary_hw_support=1 to the kernel argument; however, the touch pad works.
I have only file a bug for kernel 4.3 from the testing repo, but I hope to file all these bugs within a day or two.
for my own benefit, i started a wiki page to keep track of issues i run across with this laptop:
http://www.crashcourse.ca/wiki/index.php/F23_on_ASUS_G752VL
and i'll post solutions there as well as they come up. feel free to let me know if i should add other issues, or if you have solutions and i'll add them.
rday
On 01/18/16 20:08, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
for my own benefit, i started a wiki page to keep track of issues i run across with this laptop:
http://www.crashcourse.ca/wiki/index.php/F23_on_ASUS_G752VL
and i'll post solutions there as well as they come up. feel free to let me know if i should add other issues, or if you have solutions and i'll add them.
With regards to the SSD issue. You said the BIOS isn't detecting it? The specs seem to indicate that the interface is SATA III but it doesn't mention if it is backwards compatible. I ask this since I could not find the SATA spec for your ASUS laptop.
For this issue, wouldn't it be best to contact Asus Support?
Quoting Ed Greshko ed.greshko@greshko.com:
On 01/18/16 20:08, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
for my own benefit, i started a wiki page to keep track of issues i run across with this laptop:
http://www.crashcourse.ca/wiki/index.php/F23_on_ASUS_G752VL
and i'll post solutions there as well as they come up. feel free to let me know if i should add other issues, or if you have solutions and i'll add them.
With regards to the SSD issue. You said the BIOS isn't detecting it? The specs seem to indicate that the interface is SATA III but it doesn't mention if it is backwards compatible. I ask this since I could not find the SATA spec for your ASUS laptop.
For this issue, wouldn't it be best to contact Asus Support?
I'll start today by calling Canada Computers where I bought both the laptop and the SSD drive together, and they knew I planned on putting that drive in that laptop so they should at least know whether it was possible. And one of the techie guys there was impressively knowledgeable about Linux so I'm going to start there. It may be something as simple as flipping a setting in the BIOS.
rday
Quoting Ed Greshko ed.greshko@greshko.com:
On 01/18/16 20:08, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
for my own benefit, i started a wiki page to keep track of issues i run across with this laptop:
http://www.crashcourse.ca/wiki/index.php/F23_on_ASUS_G752VL
and i'll post solutions there as well as they come up. feel free to let me know if i should add other issues, or if you have solutions and i'll add them.
With regards to the SSD issue. You said the BIOS isn't detecting it? The specs seem to indicate that the interface is SATA III but it doesn't mention if it is backwards compatible. I ask this since I could not find the SATA spec for your ASUS laptop.
For this issue, wouldn't it be best to contact Asus Support?
ok, someone feel free to weigh on what i was told by the techie guy at the place where i bought the laptop (who seems like a fairly knowledgeable guy and definitely knows a fair bit about linux).
he claims that, after some research, it's a shortcoming in grub2 which doesn't yet have support for M.2 SSD disks (which hang off the PCIe bus). he claims that, based on what he read, that support is "coming", but this laptop is so new, linux just needs a bit of time to catch up with some of the features.
i pointed out that the SSD drive is not being used as the boot disk so i wasn't sure what grub had to do with it, but he claims that, even if it's not the boot disk, grub2 still needs to have the proper support added.
i'm still keeping track of current shortcomings on this laptop at:
http://www.crashcourse.ca/wiki/index.php/F23_on_ASUS_G752VL
and i'm about to add one more. if anyone else is using the same or similar laptop and has other issues, i can add them to the list.
rday
On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 06:18:20 -0500 Robert P. J. Day wrote:
i pointed out that the SSD drive is not being used as the boot disk so i wasn't sure what grub had to do with it
I believe you said it doesn't show up in the device list in the BIOS. That is way before grub2 gets there, so I'd be highly suspicious that grub2 was the problem.
Quoting Tom Horsley horsley1953@gmail.com:
On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 06:18:20 -0500 Robert P. J. Day wrote:
i pointed out that the SSD drive is not being used as the boot disk so i wasn't sure what grub had to do with it
I believe you said it doesn't show up in the device list in the BIOS. That is way before grub2 gets there, so I'd be highly suspicious that grub2 was the problem.
that was actually my response. i'm still not sure where in the BIOS i'd even go looking for the SSD. i'm open to suggestions. it's PCIe, so if someone wants to give me a pointer, i can check for it later this morning. i've already wandered around the BIOS and have seen nothing that seems to be appropriate.
rday
On 01/19/16 19:42, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
Quoting Tom Horsley horsley1953@gmail.com:
On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 06:18:20 -0500 Robert P. J. Day wrote:
i pointed out that the SSD drive is not being used as the boot disk so i wasn't sure what grub had to do with it
I believe you said it doesn't show up in the device list in the BIOS. That is way before grub2 gets there, so I'd be highly suspicious that grub2 was the problem.
that was actually my response. i'm still not sure where in the BIOS i'd even go looking for the SSD. i'm open to suggestions. it's PCIe, so if someone wants to give me a pointer, i can check for it later this morning. i've already wandered around the BIOS and have seen nothing that seems to be appropriate.
I still say the best source of information on these sort of things is the manufacturer. I would call them, and without mentioning Linux, ask them if the plugged in SSD will show up in the BIOS screens and where would that be.
I don't have a laptop such as yours but if the drive is just like any drive I would expect it to show up on the screen where you select the boot order. On my desktop the HD's and Optical Drive are all on SATA so they all show up in the boot order screen.
Quoting Ed Greshko ed.greshko@greshko.com:
On 01/19/16 19:42, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
Quoting Tom Horsley horsley1953@gmail.com:
On Tue, 19 Jan 2016 06:18:20 -0500 Robert P. J. Day wrote:
i pointed out that the SSD drive is not being used as the boot disk so i wasn't sure what grub had to do with it
I believe you said it doesn't show up in the device list in the BIOS. That is way before grub2 gets there, so I'd be highly suspicious that grub2 was the problem.
that was actually my response. i'm still not sure where in the BIOS i'd even go looking for the SSD. i'm open to suggestions. it's PCIe, so if someone wants to give me a pointer, i can check for it later this morning. i've already wandered around the BIOS and have seen nothing that seems to be appropriate.
I still say the best source of information on these sort of things is the manufacturer. I would call them, and without mentioning Linux, ask them if the plugged in SSD will show up in the BIOS screens and where would that be.
I don't have a laptop such as yours but if the drive is just like any drive I would expect it to show up on the screen where you select the boot order. On my desktop the HD's and Optical Drive are all on SATA so they all show up in the boot order screen.
at this point, i agree.
rday
Quoting Ed Greshko ed.greshko@greshko.com:
I still say the best source of information on these sort of things is the manufacturer. I would call them, and without mentioning Linux, ask them if the plugged in SSD will show up in the BIOS screens and where would that be.
I don't have a laptop such as yours but if the drive is just like any drive I would expect it to show up on the screen where you select the boot order. On my desktop the HD's and Optical Drive are all on SATA so they all show up in the boot order screen.
*sigh* ... never mind, i believe we have the answer, and i'm embarrassed. the slots in the laptop are clearly labelled "PCIe", and i just checked the specs on the SSD drive and it uses the SATA III interface, which i'm pretty sure is not going to work as explained here:
http://www.kingston.com/en/ssd/s/m2_faq
i'm also a little irked since i bought the laptop and the SSD drive at the same time and specifically mentioned that i was putting that drive in that laptop, and not a single salesperson warned me of the obvious incompatibility.
also irked that subsequent follow-up calls to tech support never once had someone suggest checking that. and it didn't help that the slot format is the same for both interfaces.
grrrrrrrr ...
rday
On 01/19/2016 05:05 AM, Robert P. J. Day wrote:
Quoting Ed Greshko ed.greshko@greshko.com:
I still say the best source of information on these sort of things is the manufacturer. I would call them, and without mentioning Linux, ask them if the plugged in SSD will show up in the BIOS screens and where would that be.
I don't have a laptop such as yours but if the drive is just like any drive I would expect it to show up on the screen where you select the boot order. On my desktop the HD's and Optical Drive are all on SATA so they all show up in the boot order screen.
*sigh* ... never mind, i believe we have the answer, and i'm embarrassed. the slots in the laptop are clearly labelled "PCIe", and i just checked the specs on the SSD drive and it uses the SATA III interface, which i'm pretty sure is not going to work as explained here:
http://www.kingston.com/en/ssd/s/m2_faq
i'm also a little irked since i bought the laptop and the SSD drive at the same time and specifically mentioned that i was putting that drive in that laptop, and not a single salesperson warned me of the obvious incompatibility.
also irked that subsequent follow-up calls to tech support never once had someone suggest checking that. and it didn't help that the slot format is the same for both interfaces.
Yeah, I was just going to mention that...I've never seen an SSD that plugs directly into a PCIe slot. I'm sure they probably exist, but I've only actually seen SATA(I/II/III) units.
Some higher-end laptops have space for a second drive (dunno about yours). If so, the drive COULD be used along with the regular magnetic drive.
<soap> I don't care for SSDs as the OS device. Yes, they're fast and typically use less power, but when they fail it's generally catastrophic and typically without warning. You don't get SMART alerts, it just dies and you are in a world of hurt. We have had to rebuild my boss' Macbook at least 3 times because the SSD decided to crap out (and these were top- of-the-line SSDs). The only saving grace is that we had TimeMachine running on it so we had backups.
I highly suggest that if you use an SSD as your primary storage, back up the beblistered thing as often as you can...preferably to magnetic media. </soap> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, AllDigital ricks@alldigital.com - - AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 226437340 Yahoo: origrps2 - - - - You can lead a horse to water, but if you can teach him to roll - - over and float on his back...you got something! - ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Just an update on these "beast", I added intel_idle.max_cstate=7 to the kernel argument and I was able to boot, more details can be found at the upstream kernel bug [0]
[0] https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=109081