ASUS N550JV

ASUS N550JV - this article covers hardware specific configuration. All topics covered can be performed after an installation of Arch Linux has been finished and the machine rebooted into it.

Hardware	PCI/USB ID	Working?
Intel		Yes
Nvidia		Yes
Ethernet		Yes
Wireless		Yes
Audio		Yes
Touchpad		Yes
Camera		Yes
Card Reader		Yes
Bluetooth		Yes

For a general overview of laptop-related articles and recommendations, see Laptop.

Configuration

Drivers

See Intel Graphics, Hardware Acceleration and NVIDIA Optimus.

Brightness

In order to be able to adjust the screen brightness using Fn+F5 and Fn+F6 you need to set the kernel parameter acpi_osi=  (the space is required).

Audio

Install PulseAudio.

After installation, reboot the laptop to ensure all modules are loaded. Check if the fallback device is correctly set to Built-in Audio Analog Stereo with pavucontrol. See PulseAudio/Troubleshooting#Fallback device is not respected for more information. Also check for muted devices:

$ alsamixer -c PCH

Note: alsa-utils provides alsamixer and amixer shell programs.

Brightness

Key mappings Fn+F3 and Fn+F4 should work with most desktop environments out of the box. If not, install asus-kbd-backlight^AUR, load kernel module asus-nb-wmi to control hotkeys, then start and enable the .

Now you can control the keyboard backlighting using:

$ asus-kbd-backlight up
$ asus-kbd-backlight down
$ asus-kbd-backlight max
$ asus-kbd-backlight off
$ asus-kbd-backlight night
$ asus-kbd-backlight 2
$ asus-kbd-backlight show

Incorrectly mapped buttons

Media and buttons are not mapped correctly. It is not necessary to remap shortcut, because it works without any additional configuration.

Install , which provides app xmodmap. Generate a xmodmap config file if you have not done it already:

$ xmodmap -pke > ~/.Xmodmap

Then open it and locate keycode 234:

Now move text on the empty keycode 248 and leave keycode 234 empty:

Optionally, for give some value on keycode 253.

The next step is apply changes:

$ xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

Test with xev or try to bind something on media button. should be controlled by hardware and switch display without any additional configuration. Also, if you are satisfied, put the command above to Xinitrc.

Touchpad

Install libinput. If there are any problems, try Touchpad Synaptics.

Troubleshooting

Dual boot

If you boot your laptop right after Windows to Linux, sound might only work through headphones jack, but not through speakers and subwoofer. The quick fix is to suspend your laptop and resume it back.

Bug

The internal speakers seems not to play any sound until volume is being increased significantly. This also occurs on Windows operation system as well as on Linux.

Sound pops twice during shutdown and sleep

Create and enable the following two services:

Crackling sound

Add to pulseaudio config file as per instructions at PulseAudio/Troubleshooting#Glitches, skips or crackling.

Failed to initialize the NVIDIA GPU

If you receive error similar to this Failed to initialize the NVIDIA GPU at PCI:1:0:0 (GPU fallen off the bus / RmInitAdapter failed!), see here.

Messages during console login

After booting up, when Linux asks you to enter your login and password, some messages might appear similar to these:

Nouveau E[    PBUS][0000:01:00.0] MIMO write of 0x00000002 FAULT at 0x4188ac [ IBUS]
Nouveau E[    DRM] Pointer to TMDS table invalid
Nouveau E[    DRM] Pointer to flat panel table invalid

To resolve, refer to #Drivers.

USB devices and sleep

Hibernate via systemd works out of the box when the swap space or file is correctly identified in the resume kernel parameter. However, even though the system suspends properly it will lock up when resuming. This is due to the USB controller not properly turning off on its own. Create two the following files as shown:

/etc/systemd/system/root-suspend.service

[Unit]
Description=Local system suspend actions
Before=sleep.target

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=-/usr/bin/rmmod ehci_pci ; /usr/bin/rmmod ehci_hcd ; /usr/bin/rmmod xhci_pci ; /usr/bin/rmmod xhci_hcd

[Install]
WantedBy=sleep.target

Then enable and as root.

Battery charging issues

This battery in this laptop can only be accessed by removing the bottom of the entire laptop, which requires removing 10 TORX-5 screws. That there appears to be a power issue related to the recharging USB port (the USB port with a lightning bolt) under Linux. When an externally powered device is plugged into the charging USB port and the system is power cycled, the battery indicator will begin flashing orange and the system no longer recognizes or charges the battery. One way to reset the charging circuit is to force shutdown by holding the power button for a few seconds. See this thread at the Ubuntu forums for other possible solutions.

Card reader does not detect cards

Due to unknown reasons, card reader does not detect cards. To resolve this, quickly pull out the card and insert it back for several times (leave inserted afterwards) and after few seconds card will be detected in your system.

Tips and tricks

Fan control

See Fan speed control.

Here is a configuration file, which was tested on Asus N550JV and was used with asus-nb-wmi kernel module. It however might need some tweaking:

Here is a configuration file, which was tested on Asus N550JV and was used with kernel module. It however might need some tweaking:

Enable full performance of GPU

If you have BIOS 208 or 207 installed and tried to play something heavy, you noticed that for a few seconds game runs for 60fps, but most of the time - 20-40fps. This is strange behaviour, which happens on Windows as well as on Linux. Even if the temperature limit is set to 90c, GPU throttling occurs at 75c or even all the time (with a feeling that GPU only runs at 60-70% of its full potential).

To fix this, flash bios 206. If your BIOS version is newer than this, you must follow this guide, which requires you to have Windows installed on this laptop.

Special keys for window managers

If you prefer using a Window manager rather than a Desktop environment, most settings will not work out of the box, so you might need to manually bind every single FN button combination. How to bind, see Extra keyboard keys in Xorg.

Buttons	Output
Media Button	XF86AudioMedia (xmodmap)
Fn+F3
Fn+F4
Fn+F5
Fn+F6
Fn+F7	(xmodmap)
Fn+F8
Fn+F12
Fn+c
Fn+Left
	XF86AudioStop