Linux freezes in Acer aspire one

[HaPK]

Hey everyone,

I'm having a very weird issue with a new computer.

I recently bought an Acer aspire one 720 for my mom. the people who sold it
to me installed Windows 7 on a partition and left some free space so that I
could install some other distro on it.

I tried several different distros (mint, fedora, zorin, archbang, and
ultimately ubuntu) and they all worked fine on their live versions. lastly
decided to install Linux mint with KDE, so that I'd try the netbook plasma
interface on that small 11.6 inch screen. initially it worked fine, but
then the updates made gtk based applications to look bad and I couldn't
make it look fine again; also the desktop lacks some important interaction
and accessibility features.

So I decided to install ubuntu in it. once I tried installing ubuntu,
after the partitioning table step, the installer popped up an error saying
that it would be impossible to install and that this was caused by a faulty
CD or DVD medium. Obviously I was installing from a pen drive so I found
this error message to be weird. Anyway, I went to wipe the pen drive and
reinstall the distros on it, I use multi system, and tried this time.

When the live CD loaded it looked fine, but when I connected to the
wireless network the computer froze. I tried a second time and it was the
same thing, it froze right when trying to connect to the network. I tried
with mint and the same happened. I even tried with fedora and the same,
freezing right when trying to connect. even when I turn off and on the
wireless, with the fn+F3 key combination, the desktop freezes. I also tried
with a different pen drive and using ubuntu's boot installer and the same
still happened.

I was able to install ubuntu in it, but whenever I log in the desktop
freezes.

when I log in into Windows everything works fine, even the wireless. I
don't know what happened, the only weird operation I did was resize the
Windows partition, using mint KDE's installer.

the only thing I can conclude here is that there's something in the
hardware of the computer that's making Linux freeze.

I'd appreciate any help you can give me with this.

Thanks.

--
Hazan P?rez
Twisto Creative
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[Tommy Trussell]

Post by HaPK
I recently bought an Acer aspire one 720 for my mom. the people who sold
it to me installed Windows 7 on a partition and left some free space so
that I could install some other distro on it.
I tried several different distros (mint, fedora, zorin, archbang, and
ultimately ubuntu) and they all worked fine on their live versions. lastly
decided to install Linux mint with KDE, so that I'd try the netbook plasma
interface on that small 11.6 inch screen. initially it worked fine, but
then the updates made gtk based applications to look bad and I couldn't
make it look fine again; also the desktop lacks some important interaction
and accessibility features.
So I decided to install ubuntu in it. once I tried installing ubuntu,
after the partitioning table step, the installer popped up an error saying
that it would be impossible to install and that this was caused by a faulty
CD or DVD medium. Obviously I was installing from a pen drive so I found
this error message to be weird. Anyway, I went to wipe the pen drive and
reinstall the distros on it, I use multi system, and tried this time.
When the live CD loaded it looked fine, but when I connected to the
wireless network the computer froze. I tried a second time and it was the
same thing, it froze right when trying to connect to the network.

I cannot find that exact model Acer (are you sure it's a model "720"?) but
apparently some of the Acer models use the ath9k driver and some freeze
under certain conditions. You listed some specific distros that did and
didn't work, but the other distros may use a different version of the
driver. (Could be newer OR older.)

Here is one of several results from a Google search.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/38043/system-freeze-caused-by-ath9k-driver

You might want to check to find the EXACT model information of your laptop
and search for it. There may be some more up-to-date recommendations and
workarounds.
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[HaPK]

Post by Tommy Trussell

Post by HaPK
I recently bought an Acer aspire one 720 for my mom. the people who sold
it to me installed Windows 7 on a partition and left some free space so that
I could install some other distro on it.
I tried several different distros (mint, fedora, zorin, archbang, and
ultimately ubuntu) and they all worked fine on their live versions. lastly
decided to install Linux mint with KDE, so that I'd try the netbook plasma
interface on that small 11.6 inch screen. initially it worked fine, but then
the updates made gtk based applications to look bad and I couldn't make it
look fine again; also the desktop lacks some important interaction and
accessibility features.
So I decided to install ubuntu in it. once I tried installing ubuntu,
after the partitioning table step, the installer popped up an error saying
that it would be impossible to install and that this was caused by a faulty
CD or DVD medium. Obviously I was installing from a pen drive so I found
this error message to be weird. Anyway, I went to wipe the pen drive and
reinstall the distros on it, I use multi system, and tried this time.
When the live CD loaded it looked fine, but when I connected to the
wireless network the computer froze. I tried a second time and it was the
same thing, it froze right when trying to connect to the network.

I cannot find that exact model Acer (are you sure it's a model "720"?) but
apparently some of the Acer models use the ath9k driver and some freeze
under certain conditions. You listed some specific distros that did and
didn't work, but the other distros may use a different version of the
driver. (Could be newer OR older.)
Here is one of several results from a Google search.
http://askubuntu.com/questions/38043/system-freeze-caused-by-ath9k-driver
You might want to check to find the EXACT model information of your laptop
and search for it. There may be some more up-to-date recommendations and
workarounds.
--
ubuntu-users mailing list
ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

Oh, you are right, it's actually a 722 model, not a 720. I followed
the second suggestion on the link you shared and it turns out it
worked! I'm writing this right now from said computer. Just to
summarize: In the BIOS menu, put net start as the first item in the
boot menu, then reboot. It's weird, apparently the BIOS has to load
it's built-in net driver so that when the kernel loads it can load
correctly the ath9k driver...

Now what bothers me is that all the distros I tried in their live
versions, at first, worked fine, it was later that this problem
appeared...

This workaround worked, now to find a real fix :)