Asus X205TA hardware support in Ubuntu

[harryharryharry]

Yeah thats pretty weird. Since you can't connect with an iso known to have working wifi out of the box, paired with your earlier post describing you can't even connect with (open?) public wifi networks (given that that signal also is strong enough), I think maybe there is something is wrong with the chip, or it is indeed a regulatory domain issue.

Did you ever get wifi working with this device (For example under Windows) ? Did you just obtain the laptop ?

[ludburgh]

Yeah thats pretty weird. Since you can't connect with an iso known to have working wifi out of the box, paired with your earlier post describing you can't even connect with (open?) public wifi networks (given that that signal also is strong enough), I think maybe there is something is wrong with the chip, or it is indeed a regulatory domain issue.

Did you ever get wifi working with this device (For example under Windows) ? Did you just obtain the laptop ?

I bought this laptop second-hand a while ago; we've just recently switched routers ( from a Buffalo WHR-1166DHP to an Elecom WRC-2533GHBK ) and that's when I noticed I couldn't connect to our new Elecom router when my other devices could (which is when I tried to go out to a nearby cafe and connect to their public wifi instead and noticed it didn't work either). I haven't tested with Windows yet; I'll try testing the wifi on Windows 10 (32-bit) tonight.

Edit: Sorry for the delay, was trying to find a way to boot Windows without having to wipe the linux installation on my eMMC, everything I've tried has failed so far so I guess my only choice is to image my eMMC and directly install Windows on that.
I did find something out while I was playing around though, I copied over the brcmfmac43340-sdio.txt from the iso2usb repository and using that I can connect to my router's 5 GHz network, but still can't connect to the 2.4 GHz network. If all else fails I guess 5 GHz is my only choice

[ludburgh]

Okay so I've installed Windows 10 Home (April 2018 Update) (32-bit) and I'm able to connect to my 2.4 GHz home network without any issues (and using the built-in drivers! No keyboard or touchpad however) so it's definitely some kind of strange issue on the linux side of things.

Is there any information I can obtain from Windows 10 to try and rectify the issues on linux?

[harryharryharry]

Kudos on finding the right way to install windows, because I think it would be tantamount to blasphemy to give instructions on how to do that here . Really odd behaviour it seems, but I think you are narrowing down the possible causes in any case.

So there's nothing wrong with the chip or with the router signal. Linux can connect to 5ghz but not to 2.4ghz (also not to 2.4ghz from the buffalo-router ?) although it can find them. Since connecting to open networks is also problematic, that imo rules out possible key exchange (encryption) issues. I wouldn't really know what to point the finger to though, maybe the nvrams or firmware blobs we are using don't work well with 2.4ghz networks in Japan (with it's regulatory settings).

While you are on windows, you could save a couple of nvrams from C:/Windows/system32 (or possibly the drivers subdir) for later use/experimenting with linux. From my earlier endeavours I've found 2 files named bcm94330fcbga_McLaren.txt and bcm943341wlagb.txt to also work under linux when renamed to /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43340-sdio.txt , maybe you'll have any luck finding and using those files.

Meanwhile I've found a recent patch that hasn't been merged into mainline that seems to have some common ground with your issue/our device. I'm compiling a kernel right now to see if it affects behaviour of the wifi chip:
https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-...msg171359.html
(although from what I'm reading I think it will just let the brcmfmac module use the nvram from /sys/firmware/efi/efivars directly so there will be less options to experiment with different nvrams...)

[ludburgh]

Kudos on finding the right way to install windows, because I think it would be tantamount to blasphemy to give instructions on how to do that here . Really odd behaviour it seems, but I think you are narrowing down the possible causes in any case.

So there's nothing wrong with the chip or with the router signal. Linux can connect to 5ghz but not to 2.4ghz (also not to 2.4ghz from the buffalo-router ?) although it can find them. Since connecting to open networks is also problematic, that imo rules out possible key exchange (encryption) issues. I wouldn't really know what to point the finger to though, maybe the nvrams or firmware blobs we are using don't work well with 2.4ghz networks in Japan (with it's regulatory settings).

While you are on windows, you could save a couple of nvrams from C:/Windows/system32 (or possibly the drivers subdir) for later use/experimenting with linux. From my earlier endeavours I've found 2 files named bcm94330fcbga_McLaren.txt and bcm943341wlagb.txt to also work under linux when renamed to /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43340-sdio.txt , maybe you'll have any luck finding and using those files.

Meanwhile I've found a recent patch that hasn't been merged into mainline that seems to have some common ground with your issue/our device. I'm compiling a kernel right now to see if it affects behaviour of the wifi chip:
https://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-...msg171359.html
(although from what I'm reading I think it will just let the brcmfmac module use the nvram from /sys/firmware/efi/efivars directly so there will be less options to experiment with different nvrams...)

Instructions to install Windows on a linux forum?! No way!

Also, oops, sorry for any misunderstanding, I'm not very good at communication;
Linux can connect to the Buffalo router's 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz networks with some issues (e.g. asking for my key 3 times before connecting, I made sure it's correct in a text editor and copied it over so it definitely isn't because I'm entering it wrong); it can also connect to the Elecom router's 5 GHz network with the same issue, but the Elecom router's 2.4 GHz network fails to connect completely; even though it detects all of them.
Also; open public wifi networks succeed in connecting, at least the ones I've tried. What I meant was that some public wifi networks, public as in random other routers in a public area, but those that still have password protection, will also sometimes fail to connect.

Meanwhile on Windows; it's able to connect with all networks without issues; asking for my key only one time and it connects just file at full speed

I couldn't find any .txt files with "bcm" in the system at all actually, I found a load of bcm433* files; but they were .HCD file type and I couldn't open them with notepad (All that appeared was broken characters); so I tried installing the official broadcom drivers from asus' website but still couldn't find anything, maybe it's from a different version?

Just to make sure I checked my region in linux to make sure it's correct and it is;
(output from $ iw reg get)

global
country JP: DFS-JP
    (2402.000 - 2482.000 @ 40.000), (20.00), (N/A)
    (2474.000 - 2494.000 @ 20.000), (20.00), (N/A), NO-OFDM
    (4910.000 - 4990.000 @ 40.000), (23.00), (N/A)
    (5030.000 - 5090.000 @ 40.000), (23.00), (N/A)
    (5170.000 - 5250.000 @ 80.000), (20.00), (N/A), AUTO-BW
    (5250.000 - 5330.000 @ 80.000), (20.00), (N/A), DFS, AUTO-BW
    (5490.000 - 5710.000 @ 160.000), (23.00), (N/A), DFS
    (59000.000 - 66000.000 @ 2160.000), (10.00), (N/A)

so I don't know what else to look for ...

[harryharryharry]

Hmm it might still be a key exchange issue then (although it would be weird if it was, given that the issue also occurs with (5ghz) networks where eventually connection is successful).
I retrieved the nvram-files I mentioned from a win8 installation, so they may not be available anymore on win10.

With regards to the patch I mentioned earlier, as I expected it does indeed load the nvram directly from the efivars directory which is of course nice (wifi works out of the box with a kernel with this patch) but the nicest part is that when the nvram is directly loaded from the efivars directory it also supports 5ghz (which I didn't expect because without using this patch, when I copy that same nvram file from the efivar directory to /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43340-sdio.txt the wifi works but only 2.4ghz networks can be found). This makes me think that the nvram file is somehow loaded in a different way when directly loaded from the efivar directory. It may be worth a shot to test a kernel with this patch, maybe this difference solves your issue. I've uploaded a new version (34) with the patch. (you need to (re)move /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43340-sdio.txt so the kernel actually has to load the nvram from the efivars directory.)

For your reference, this is my output for iw reg get:

sudo iw reg get
global
country 00: DFS-UNSET
    (2402 - 2472 @ 40), (N/A, 20), (N/A)
    (2457 - 2482 @ 20), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-IR
    (2474 - 2494 @ 20), (N/A, 20), (N/A), NO-OFDM, NO-IR
    (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-IR
    (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-IR
    (5490 - 5730 @ 160), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, NO-IR
    (5735 - 5835 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), NO-IR
    (57240 - 63720 @ 2160), (N/A, 0), (N/A)

(I live in Europe)

[ludburgh]

Hmm it might still be a key exchange issue then (although it would be weird if it was, given that the issue also occurs with (5ghz) networks where eventually connection is successful).
I retrieved the nvram-files I mentioned from a win8 installation, so they may not be available anymore on win10.

With regards to the patch I mentioned earlier, as I expected it does indeed load the nvram directly from the efivars directory which is of course nice (wifi works out of the box with a kernel with this patch) but the nicest part is that when the nvram is directly loaded from the efivars directory it also supports 5ghz (which I didn't expect because without using this patch, when I copy that same nvram file from the efivar directory to /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43340-sdio.txt the wifi works but only 2.4ghz networks can be found). This makes me think that the nvram file is somehow loaded in a different way when directly loaded from the efivar directory. It may be worth a shot to test a kernel with this patch, maybe this difference solves your issue. I've uploaded a new version (34) with the patch. (you need to (re)move /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43340-sdio.txt so the kernel actually has to load the nvram from the efivars directory.)

For your reference, this is my output for iw reg get:

sudo iw reg get
global
country 00: DFS-UNSET
    (2402 - 2472 @ 40), (N/A, 20), (N/A)
    (2457 - 2482 @ 20), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-IR
    (2474 - 2494 @ 20), (N/A, 20), (N/A), NO-OFDM, NO-IR
    (5170 - 5250 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), AUTO-BW, NO-IR
    (5250 - 5330 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, AUTO-BW, NO-IR
    (5490 - 5730 @ 160), (N/A, 20), (0 ms), DFS, NO-IR
    (5735 - 5835 @ 80), (N/A, 20), (N/A), NO-IR
    (57240 - 63720 @ 2160), (N/A, 0), (N/A)

(I live in Europe)

Ooh, that sounds promising
I'm going to reimage my laptop with linux and install that kernel, hopefully that solves the issue!

Edit: Sorry to bother you, but I went to download the file before I reimaged my laptop but I couldn't find it on the file server ( I cleared my cache and rechecked but it still isn't there ), which is weird because the only thing that's been updated is the sha256sums file which does list kernel-64bit-4.16.17-sound-34.tar; maybe the file upload didn't go through?

Edit edit: Tried to download the file manually (by appending kernel-64bit-4.16.17-sound-34.tar to the URL ) and got a 403 - Forbidden response, it seems like the file server doesn't have access to the file? ( or at least, I don't )

Triple edit: I'm able to download it now

[harryharryharry]

Oops, fixed it; selinux playing tricks on me again . Btw don't get your hopes up too high, it's just a hunch the patch might do something for you.

[ludburgh]

Oops, fixed it; selinux playing tricks on me again . Btw don't get your hopes up too high, it's just a hunch the patch might do something for you.

Oh that tricky little SELinux, it keeps our systems safe but might also occasionally stab us in the back

Anyways; I've installed the kernel and booted into it ( confirmed that I'm running it via $ uname -r ), removed /lib/firmware/brcm/brcmfmac43340-sdio.txt and rebooted and can confirm that 5 GHz networks now work without needing that file; horray!

... however I still cannot connect to my home router's 2.4 GHz network . If I try using wpa_supplicant again it has the exact same output as before!

I guess my only choice is to use only the 5 GHz network, which I guess isn't too bad. Thanks for all of your help though I really appreciate everything you've done for me and other users of the X205TA,
it's such a neat little laptop but it's a shame that its hardware is so weird ( and unsupported by the manufacturer(s) ), this just goes to show why linux is so great, not necessarily because of linux itself but because the community is so cool

[harryharryharry]

Bummer. Well at least 5GHz is working, that's something. Meanwhile you can play around with some different settings on the 2.4GHz band, like different channel/channel width/encryption. Maybe if you create a new thread solely for this issue, some more knowledgeable people that won't see your posts here can chime in and give you advice.