Audio drivers, bluetooth drivers and wifi drivers don't work
Matthew Harrington 
I know you may think that this question has been answered in other threads. But the point is that I tried almost all things are said in all of these kind of threads and didn't work for me. I installed Ubuntu 17.04 in my Asus-x205ta laptop (which has been horrible, many problems with grub errors and UEFI) and now neither WIFI drivers nor audio drivers nor Bluetooth drivers work. Another interesting thing I found is that in "Software and updates", in the additional drivers section, I can choose one privative driver for the CPU, but not for Wifi, Bluetooth or audio.
The most important problem for my needs is the WiFi problem. As I said, I tried different things to solve the problem, that is to say, the most common ways to solve these problems.
Also I have read that this netbook has a lot of problems with Linux.
This is the output for iwconfig:
sergio@sergio-X205TA:~$ iwconfig
enx0050b61c7199 no wireless extensions.
lo no wireless extensions.And this is the output for lscip:
sergio@sergio-X205TA:~$ lsipc
RESOURCE DESCRIPTION LIMIT USED USE%
MSGMNI Number of message queues 32000 0 0,00%
MSGMAX Max size of message (bytes) 8192 - -
MSGMNB Default max size of queue (bytes) 16384 - -
SHMMNI Shared memory segments 4096 7 0,17%
SHMALL Shared memory pages 18446744073692774399 5248 0,00%
SHMMAX Max size of shared memory segment (bytes) 18446744073692774399 - -
SHMMIN Min size of shared memory segment (bytes) 1 - -
SEMMNI Number of semaphore identifiers 32000 0 0,00%
SEMMNS Total number of semaphores 1024000000 0 0,00%
SEMMSL Max semaphores per semaphore set. 32000 - -
SEMOPM Max number of operations per semop(2) 500 - -
SEMVMX Semaphore max valueAnd this is the output for lsusb:
sergio@sergio-X205TA:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 6557:5500
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 0b95:772b ASIX Electronics Corp. AX88772B
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04f2:b483 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub2 Answers
I have Xubuntu on my Asus X205TA (I used to use Debian then Lubuntu but they had a few oddities on the X205TA so I made the switch), here is what I did to get mine working with Xubuntu:
The prep work needed:
- Have 2 USB drives (We will call them B1 and B2), an Ubuntu 14.04 64bit ISO, and a Xubuntu 64bit ISO and another computer (not the X205TA)
- Use Rufus on the computer to make a Ubuntu 14.04 Live USB on the first USB drive (B1)
- Boot up the computer with the 14.04 Live USB (B1)
- Use the "startup disk creator" to make a Xubuntu Live USB with persistence on the second USB drive (B2)
- Add this file to /EFI/BOOT directory of the Xubuntu flash drive (B2)
- Shut down the computer
- Ensure that the laptop is plugged in and charging
- Plug the Xubuntu Live USB drive (B2) into the laptop
- Plug in your internet access device
- Boot the laptop & press ESC as it is booting (this will give you the boot order screen)
- Select "enter setup"
- Disable Secure Boot
- Save and exit the BIOS
- Press ESC as it is booting (this will give you the boot order screen)
- Select your Xubuntu Live USB drive (B2) drive from the list
- Select "Try Xubuntu" when prompted
- Open the "Terminal Emulator" program
Type in the following commands (or you could copy and paste them)
- sudo apt update
- sudo apt install gnome-disk-utility
Then do the following:
- Open the "Disks" program
- Find the laptops inbuilt storage and format it with a MBR/DOS partition system (top right, the gear)
- Once it is done use the "Install Xubuntu" program on the desktop to install it onto the laptops internal storage, make sure you have internet access on the laptop (USB cell phone tethering works well) and to select the option to install third party software.
- When the installation is complete you can shut-down the laptop & remove the USB Drive (but not your internet access device).
- Boot into your new install and log in
You now should have a semi working laptop, but as Billy Mays often said, "But wait there's more".
Open up the terminal and type in the following commands (or you could copy and paste them)
- sudo apt update
- sudo apt dist-upgrade
- Install any updates shown
- sudo reboot
If you are installing 18.04 then your Wifi and MicroSD card reader should be working fine but if you are experiencing system frezes then use the fix in postscript 1, or Wifi stability issues then use the fix in postscript 4. If you are installing version 17.10 or earlier. then follow postscripts 1, 2, 3, & 4 below.
^1 System freezes.
Open up the terminal and type in the following command
- sudo thunar
- Navigate to "/etc/default/"
- Open the "grub" file
On the line "GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT" needs to be edited to read
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet intel_idle.max_cstate=1"
Save and close the file
- Close the file manager window
Type into the terminal
- sudo update-grub
- Let it run it's course
- sudo reboot
- All going well you should not experience any random system freezes
^2 Wifi driver install for version 17.10 or earlier.
Open up the terminal and type in the following commands (or you could copy and paste them)
- cd /tmp
- wget
- tar xf bcm43341.tar.gz
- sudo mkdir -p /lib/firmware/brcm/
- sudo cp fw_bcm43341.bin /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43340-sdio.bin
- sudo mount -t efivarfs efivarfs /sys/firmware/efi/efivars
- sudo cp /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/nvram-74b00bd9-805a-4d61-b51f-43268123d113 /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43340-sdio.txt
- reboot
^3 Micro SD Card Reader fix for version 17.10 or earlier.
Open the text editor and type the following text (as shown) into it
# Adjustment to make micro SD card reader work
options sdhci debug_quirks=0x8000Save the file as "sdhci.conf" on the desktop
Open up the terminal and type in the following command
- sudo thunar
- Move the "sdhci.conf" file from the desktop to the directory "/etc/modprobe.d"
- Close the file manager window
Type into the terminal
- sudo update-initramfs -u -k all
- Let it run it's course
- sudo reboot
^4 Wifi stability fix for version 17.10 or earlier.
Open the text editor and type the following text into it
blacklist btsdio
Save the file as "fix-wifi.conf" on the desktop
Open up the terminal and type in the following command
- sudo thunar
- Move the "fix-wifi.conf" file from the desktop to the directory "/etc/modprobe.d"
- Close the file manager window
Type into the terminal
- sudo update-initramfs -u -k all
- Let it run it's course
- sudo reboot
- All going well your Micro SD card reader should now be working and the Wifi should not be working erratically
Note: As of the posting of this "how to" the laptops Bluetooth and sound are not supported and will not work, if you need either of them you will need a USB dongle.
The first thing you can try when you have driver issues is to use a more recent kernel. You can install a kernel easily with the Ukuu utility. See the official website.
1
