Ubuntu Karmic on an Acer Aspire 5536 laptop

I recently bought an Acer Aspire 5536 laptop. I then installed Ubuntu Karmic (64-bit) on it, and most things worked out-of-the-box. However, I have so far discovered three problems, and I found the solutions that worked for me on the Internet. I’ve put them up here with a bit more detail for people new to the terminal.

Issue #1: The ‘weak’ wifi connection.

After a standard install of Ubuntu Karmic (64-bit), the wifi is recognised and works, but it receives the signal less well than it should and it occasionally cuts out, leading to the need to re-boot to get it working again. This is annoying. It seems that this is down to the new drivers in Karmic (and other recent distros).

The following procedure solved the problem for me:

1. Go to a terminal (Applications –> Accessories –> Terminal) and enter:
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf

You’ll have to enter your password here.

2. Comment out (put a # in front of) the line:
blacklist ath_pci

So that now it looks like:
# blacklist ath_pci

3. Save the file.

4. Then, in a terminal (Applications –> Accessories –> Terminal), type:
echo ath9k | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

5. Then, in a terminal (Applications –> Accessories –> Terminal), type:
sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-karmic linux-backports-modules-wireless-karmic-generic

6. Then re-boot and it should work!

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Issue #2: Trackpad can scroll down but not up!

The following procedure solved the problem for me:

1. Open a terminal (Applications –> Accessories –> Terminal) and type:

sudo modprobe -r psmouse

You will probably need to enter your password here.

2. Then type:

sudo modprobe psmouse proto=imps

3. Then type:

cd /etc/modprobe.d/

4. Then type:

sudo gedit options

5. In the editor, type:

options psmouse proto=imps

6. Save it, and now the change will activate every time your re-start your system.

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Issue #3: The built-in microphone won’t pick up sound! (Note: this microphone shows up as ‘Microphone 2’ in the ‘Sound Input’ of System –> Preferences –> Sound.)

The following procedure solved the problem for me:

1. Open a terminal (Applications –> Accessories –> Terminal).

2. Type:
gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base.conf

3. Copy the following and enter it into the bottom of the editor file that opens:

# Code to get the microphone working
options snd slots=snd-hda-intel
# u1Nb.Z0J4Co96n9E (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller
alias snd-card-0 snd-hda-intel
options snd-hda-intel model=auto

4. Re-boot and go to ‘Microphone 2’ in the ‘Sound Input’ of System –> Preferences –> Sound in order to check that it’s working. It should work!

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Those are the only problems I’ve run into with this laptop, and I am thankful to the people out there in forums and blogs who figured out how to solve them. There are lots of other ‘solutions’ out there, but these worked for me. I thought I’d just put it all together here.

(In future I shall give proper credit to my sources, but I did not expect to write this and have forgot the three different sources for the information here! Apologies to the original authors.)