Acer Aspire 4715z - No Wifi - Wifi Button Not Recognized

I just purchased a brand-new ACER ASPIRE 4715Z without any operating system installed. Just DOS.

This belongs to ACER's new model line-up where there is no manual wifi switch.

The only thing to turn-on the wifi is a "button" on the lower left side of the keyboard. If it is turned-on, it is supposed to light-up. Apparently, when I press this button, there is no reaction at all. Most likely this wifi button is considered a "key" or part of the keyboard and that is why it is not being recognized by 10.3.

Please note that I have not tried this laptop with windows since it did not come with windows.

Is there a way to turn-on wifi without using the keyboard button?

Please let me know because I really want this new ACER model to run on 10.3.

Are there others out there with a similar model? It might be that this model, due to the button placement on the keyboard, might now be suitable (as of yet) for Linux?

I just purchased a brand-new ACER ASPIRE 4715Z without any operating system installed. Just DOS. This belongs to ACER's new model line-up where there is no manual wifi switch. .... Is there a way to turn-on wifi without using the keyboard button?[/b]

My research indicates that this Acer has a "Built-in Acer InviLink Wireless LAN (802.11b/g)". Can you confirm that?

It was not clear to me from your post as to what you tried .... Have you installed openSUSE-10.3 on this laptop? The chance of finding an openSUSE user also with an Acer Aspire 4715Z on this forum is slim, hence you may need to solve this on your own (with some help). For example, I saw no reference to your model Aspire on this page: http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Laptops/Acer

If you have installed openSUSE-10.3, did you try to configure this wireless with YaST > Network Devices > Network Card (when you were in range of a wireless WAN that you were authorized to use)? Did you have any success?

If no success, could you provide more information, by providing the wireless specific output of typing the following in a konsole(with root permissions):
lspci -vv

I seriously doubt that I will be able to help, but I think the Linux users on this forum, who do understand wireless, will need that "lspci -vv" information.

Good luck.

Hi.

Thank you for the fast response.

I am definitely within wifi range because my other laptop, a Toshiba, is working well using XP. I wanted another laptop to run pure Linux.

The Acer model can be found herehttp://www.acer.com.ph/notebook.php?pkey=93

It came with Linpus Linux (a Taiwan Linux) which I could not also connect to wifi with.

Well, the store where I purchased this was also trying to sell me Windows XP which I refused to buy of course since I want to migrate away from Windows.

Based on looking at forum posts, "wifi connecting" seems to be an initial hurdle. Everything works except wifi... but wifi is the most important thing to be able to do updates or get drivers etc.

Right now, not able to use YAST since I would need to manually connect to the internet... without wifi.

The Acer model can be found herehttp://www.acer.com.ph/notebook.php?pkey=93[/b]

nice Laptop

It came with Linpus Linux (a Taiwan Linux) which I could not also connect to wifi with. [/b]

If you still have Linpus Linux installed, you still could try typing in a konsole/xterm (with root permissions):
<span style="font-family:Courier New">lspci -vv</span>

(In case you did not know, to get root permissions in an xterm/konsole, first type "su" (no quotes, and enter root password).

That "lspci -vv" command only gets information. It will NOT configure anything. Please post the wireless (WLAN) specific information from that command.

Based on looking at forum posts, "wifi connecting" seems to be an initial hurdle. Everything works except wifi... but wifi is the most important thing to be able to do updates or get drivers etc. [/b]

Sometimes (not always) this can be a function of your Linux and wireless knowledge. Like for example - user andrewd18 on this forum could likely get wireless working on a laptop in a small fraction of the time it would take me. But then he understands this stuff. :lol:

Right now, not able to use YAST since I would need to manually connect to the internet... without wifi.[/b]

I don't understand this. If openSUSE is installed, you can run YaST at any time.

could you provide more information, by providing the wireless specific output of typing the following in a konsole(with root permissions):
lspci -vv[/b]

To explain why typing "lspci -vv" might be useful, for example, I saw one reference where an Acer 4715Z had an Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG (dual-band dual-mode 802.11/b/g).
http://thesabeltuto.blogspot.com/200...1_archive.html

For all I know, the Acer InviLink Wireless LAN (802.11b/g) may be a licenced version of that Intel wireless, and hopefully the "lspci -vv" command will provide us that confirmation. But there could be different versions of the Acer-4715Z, and the different versions might have different wireless devices/codecs.

If it is an Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG, then there is information available that may help. For example this thread:
http://www.suseforums.net/index.php?showto...236&hl=3945

Now its possible this is not the case, and the Acer InviLink Wireless LAN uses a different chipset. But I believe this is something that needs to be determined. ..... (And its possible the wireless experts on this forum already know the answer to this - ... I don't know).

Thanks for the response.

The Linpus is just a livecd. It says on the cd:

"Resource CD Aspire 4315/AS4715Z Series - For Distribution Only With an Acer Pc"

And it does not want to boot. I think it may be a defective cd.

I've seen this same laptop being sold with Ubuntu 7.10 (instead of Linpus). And you are correct, there are different versions of this Acer Aspire 4715Z being sold here in the Philippines.

I've seen so far 4 versions using:

T2080
T2130
T2330
T2370

Using a livecd, how do I check for the chip version?

I am going to another store that sells this with an Ubuntu and will see if their wifi button works. I actually called the store up and asked if I can check the wifi... their answer "wifi has not yet been tested". But my main point is if the wifi indicator "light" lights-up when pressed. So I will have to go there personally to check their demo unit.

I suspect that these shops intentionally "downgrade" or do not exactly answer linux questions because their aim is to sell microsoft software for these "only DOS" machines.

On the box of my unit, under LAN, it says "10/100 Base T" but I do not know what it means.

I have found my exact unit ACER ASPIRE 4715Z-3A0508Mi on the internet with the specs:
http://www.cooltoyzph.com/viewitem.php?iid=622

And apparently, this store declares that it comes with "Linux as default" but to try the features of the laptop, they can "pre-load a trial version of Windows XP"

Does it mean that the laptop does not support Linux "out of the box" and that is why they are hinting on using XP to try it out?

Strange.

The Linpus is just a livecd. It says on the cd: "Resource CD Aspire 4315/AS4715Z Series - For Distribution Only With an Acer Pc" And it does not want to boot. I think it may be a defective cd.[/b]

Try downloading either Sidux, or Knoppix, or Kanotix (or even Ubuntu) Live CD(s) and boot from one of those live CDs. Then try the "lspci -vv" command I suggested. And post the output here that is specific to your wireless device.

On the box of my unit, under LAN, it says "10/100 Base T" but I do not know what it means.[/b]

10/100baseT refers to the wired Ethernet. 10 means 10 MBits/sec compatible, and 100 means 100MBits/sec compatible. .. BaseT means twisted pair wiring.