Acer Aspire One AO725 Debianized and Modded


Installing Debian 7.0 (wheezy) on Acer Aspire One AO725

Last updated: 2012/02/03

Default Hardware Specifications of AO725-C7X4KK50:

Hardware Components
Status under Linux
Notes
AMD C-70 1GHz Dual Core (Turbo Core 1.3GHz)
 Works On recent kernel Cool'n'Quiet is supported by acpi-cpufreq
11.6" Display 1366x768
Works LCD brightness control supported in kernel version >= 3.7
RadeonHD 7290
 Works Required a recent kernel for KMS support and non-free firmwares
RAM: 4GB DDR
 Works No special procedure required during installation
HDD: 500GB SATA
 Works No special procedure required during installation
MMC/SD Reader
 Works No special procedure required during installation
Ethernet device
 Works No special procedure required during installation
Wireless device (b/g/n)
 Mostly works Broadcom device, require non-free firmwares.
Wifi LED doesn't work
AMD Hudson Azalia and HDMI
 Mostly Works No special procedure required during installation
VGA external port
 Works No special procedure required during installation
HDMI external port
 Works No special procedure required during installation
USB 2.0/3.0 external ports
 Works No special procedure required during installation
Suspend to RAM
 Works
 Works on recent kernel
Suspend to Disk
 Works
 Works on recent kernel
Fn keys
 Works
 Works all on recent kernel
Touchpad
 Works
 No special procedure required during installation


This netbook is shipped with Windows 8. UEFI boot and secure boot are enabled by default.
A LiveCD/USB image of a recent version of Kubuntu seems to boot also on UEFI.
The BIOS InsydeH2O allows to boot in legacy mode    

Personal installation choices:


Output of lspci -nn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 14h Processor Root Complex [1022:1510]
00:01.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Device [1002:980a]
00:01.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6250/6310] [1002:1314]
00:04.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 14h Processor Root Port [1022:1512]
00:05.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 14h Processor Root Port [1022:1513]
00:10.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH USB XHCI Controller [1022:7812] (rev 03)
00:11.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7801]
00:12.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH USB OHCI Controller [1022:7807] (rev 11)
00:12.2 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 11)
00:13.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH USB OHCI Controller [1022:7807] (rev 11)
00:13.2 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH USB EHCI Controller [1022:7808] (rev 11)
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller [1022:780b] (rev 14)
00:14.2 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH Azalia Controller [1022:780d] (rev 01)
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge [1022:780e] (rev 11)
00:14.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] FCH PCI Bridge [1022:780f] (rev 40)
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 0 [1022:1700] (rev 43)
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 1 [1022:1701]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 2 [1022:1702]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 3 [1022:1703]
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 4 [1022:1704]
00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 6 [1022:1718]
00:18.6 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 5 [1022:1716]
00:18.7 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 7 [1022:1719]
01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 05)
02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Broadcom Corporation BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller [14e4:4727] (rev 01)


Output of lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 04f2:b335 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd


Some (post-install) issues:

1. Wifi LED is always off (feature lack due to the driver)
2. CPU support AMD-V but KVM is disabled by BIOS
3. Some nonsense ACPI errors
4. Some FN keys with wrong configuration (kernel version 3.2)
5. Brightness low
6. Some audio troubles

These are my efforts:

1. I have replaced the Broadcom device with an Atheros AR9485

2. To unlock this feature a modding BIOS is required (see the second part)

3. Some strange errors appears in the dmesg log 
[    5.152319] ACPI: acpi_idle registered with cpuidle
[    5.156540] ACPI: Power Button [PWRB]
[    5.156988] ACPI: Sleep Button [SLPB]
[    5.319238] ACPI: AC Adapter [ACAD] (on-line)
[    5.320557] ACPI: Lid Switch [LID]
[    5.321040] ACPI: Power Button [PWRF]
[    5.363261] ACPI Warning: 0x0000000000000b00-0x0000000000000b07 SystemIO conflicts with Region \_SB_.PCI0.SMBS.SMB0 1 (20120913/utaddress-251)
[    5.363439] ACPI: If an ACPI driver is available for this device, you should use it instead of the native driver
[    5.364455] ACPI: Battery Slot [BAT1] (battery present)
[    5.375825] ACPI Error: [SSZE] Namespace lookup failure, AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20120913/dsfield-211)
[    5.376075] ACPI Error: Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.ACAD._PSR] (Node ffff88010a287c18), AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20120913/psparse-536)
[    5.376315] ACPI Exception: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, Error reading AC Adapter state (20120913/ac-122)
[    5.396032] ACPI Error: [SSZE] Namespace lookup failure, AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20120913/dsfield-211)
[    5.396259] ACPI Error: Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.ACAD._PSR] (Node ffff88010a287c18), AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20120913/psparse-536)
[    5.396509] ACPI Exception: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, Error reading AC Adapter state (20120913/ac-122)
[    5.397385] acpi device:01: registered as cooling_device2
[    5.397607] ACPI Error: [SSZE] Namespace lookup failure, AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20120913/dsfield-211)
[    5.397821] ACPI Error: Method parse/execution failed [\_SB_.ACAD._PSR] (Node ffff88010a287c18), AE_ALREADY_EXISTS (20120913/psparse-536)
[    5.398070] ACPI Exception: AE_ALREADY_EXISTS, Error reading AC Adapter state (20120913/ac-122)
[    5.403195] ACPI: Video Device [VGA] (multi-head: yes  rom: no  post: no)
[    5.407636] ACPI: Marking method _PSR as Serialized because of AE_ALREADY_EXISTS error
I haven't any solution for this, a bugreport has been opened


4. On most recent kernel all Fn combinations works and I would like to point out that

Fn+F4 triggers the suspend to ram
Fn+F5 triggers XF86Display (on KDE by default do nothing)
Fn+F6 power off the screen
Fn+left/right change the brightness of the screen


5. At the boot the brightness visible is set to maximum but /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness contains 0
The first ACPI key event that occurs (for example Fn+right) lowers the backlight.

A solution is to set the /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness at the maximum before to use the machine


6. The support for this sound card is the most problematic drawback.

(a) The two devices are recognized as  "HD-Audio Generic" and by default the HDMI device is enumerated before the analog.

For fix this problem add a parameter "index=1,0" for the snd-hda-intel kernel module

(b) Sometimes, but not always, the audio is stopped to working correctly. When it happens software like speaker-test show this behaviour:

if I run the command
speaker-test -Dplug:front -c2 -twav
I hear only an infinite "front front front front" loop

When it happens, the dmesg always contains an error like this:

hda-intel: azx_get_response timeout, switching to polling mode: last
cmd=0x00df000d

A partial solution is  possible by adding the parameter "enable_msi=0" for the snd-hda-intel kernel module.

After a boot with this option the sound works well until a suspend to ram occurs. When the netbook is back from a suspend to ram the sound doesn't work and has the same problem described above.

(c) This netbook has a combo jack 3.5mm for headphones and microphone, but the external microphone is supported by kernel with a version greater or equals to 3.8-rc5



Summary of the special configurations:

Contact Information, any tips are welcome
Links:

Modding the AO725

1. The HDD has been replaced with a Western Digital WD5000BPKT
2. The wireless card has been replaced with an Atheros AR9485 with ID 168c:0032
3. The bios version 2.04 has been unlocked

Follow this instructions to replace the HDD and the Wireless module

This netbook has a BIOS provided by InsydeH2O. This software has a limited set of options and, probably, a whitelist for a set of allowed wireless card.

In the service manual I have found the list of wireless card used in all variants of this model


It is possible to use a wireless card with a bluetooth module if needed. My choice has been for an Atheros HB125.

After the replacement the Wifi card, I see that LED is working also on Linux



The CPU mounted is an APU C-70 who supports the SVM feature, required by KVM kernel module (used to have a full virtualization support).
Unfortunately the BIOS disable svm by default and there aren't no options to enable it.

For the details about the unlocking see this thread http://www.bios-mods.com/forum/Thread-UNLOCKED-Unlocking-amd-v-for-Aspire-AO725?pid=52813#pid52813

You can download the modded bios (v2.04) here

The procedure to flash the BIOS is described in the service manual



After the upgrade, two new menus are accessible: "advanced" and "power"

Don't worry if you get a warning when enter in the "Advanced -> Video Configuration" menu

In the Power menu the "Thermal Fan Control" must be leaved unchanged (disabled by default)

SVM Support option is available in the "Advanced -> CPU Related setting" menu


Contact Information, any tips are welcome

Links


Other useful links