Tag Archives: 1001ha

eee 1001ha and linux (EasyPeasy 1.6) and WiFi problems

Computer Aid Posted on by

Based on my last post, you will know that I am now configuring a new Asus EEE 1001HA laptop.

My customer wants linux, so after some investigation, I decide that EasyPeasy linux is a good choice for a netbook.

Luckily, the 1001ha has the 160Gb drive split into 2 80Gb partitions (ordinarily I would be annoyed at this, and merge the 2 partitions, but this means I’ll be able to dual-boot Linux and XP).

First I download EasyPeasy, and configure it onto a 2Gb SD card,

Then, I boot from the SD card, so that I’m running EasyPeasy in live-CD mode.

I run the HDD installation within EasyPeasy, I select the non-XP partition, but I’m worried that it will delete the MBR, such that I will not be able to boot XP anymore…

Well, here is pleasant surprise: The MBR is overwritten, but the “Grub” boot menu includes Windows XP… So Easy Peasy was smart enough to detect XP, and added it to the boot menu. Very nice.

EasyPeasy is easy to learn, but I found 1 major problem with the eee 1001HA: I couldn’t get WiFi to work.

Apparently, the 1001ha uses the RT3090 WiFi chip (which supports the new 802.11N standard), but the Linux drivers are very patchy in this area.

I found a forum that suggested using the WiCD Network manager… I tried it, but that didn’t work either.

I eventually discovered that there is a bug with the driver for the RT3090 chip… but I also found a workaround at: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/541620

Post 21 shows what to do:

As root:

mkdir -p /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/
touch /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/RT2860STA.dat

It seems like the driver is expecting to find the file RT2860STA.dat in a specific folder (that doesn’t exist in EasyPeasy).

Oh well, I’ve done lots of grumbling about Microsoft… I guess this is my first complaint about Linux… it can have poor programming standards.

Asus eeepc CPU heating effects on the keyboard

Computer Aid Posted on by

A customer was specifically after an eeePC laptop.

After I got it from my supplier, I noticed a few strage things: the cursor would sometimes move automatically… and sometimes dialog boxes would automatically get “clicked”.

The annoying part is that it was intermittent.

I decided to do a bios update, and a complete set of windows XP updates… but the problem was still there.

It seems like pressing any key near the “Enter” key, would make the keyboard act like the Enter key was being depressed… and with auto-repeat that happens when the enter key is pressed, the effects were really unusual.

Since it was a new laptop, I took it back to the supplier, who did some tests, and found that there actually was a fault with the keyboard and replaced it promptly.

I was told (I’m not sure if its true), that the CPU is under the Enter key, so once the CPU warms up, the keyboard is more likely to “act up”.