Hi, I just installed kubuntu on my ACER aspire O521 netbook for the first time and OS does not see battery , just saying battery not present. what should I do, does anyone know ?

Hello d1m@ and welcome to LQ,

could you please open a terminal and post the output of the commandMarkus

No output in konsole after that command

Well, there are at least two kernelmodules available with support specially for Acer-laptops. This modules are acer_wmi and acerhdf.
You may try to load the modules with the commandif this fails, I'd suggest to look into the repsitories for Kubuntu if there are drivers available. If not, you'll possibly have to rebuild your kernel.

As an explanation: the modules which are available for most laptops support many features which laptops have in addition to desktop machines, for example functional keys, display settings or battery status.

If you want to build you own kernel, the modules are found in "device drivers->X86 Platform specific device drivers" which is the last menupoint in "device drivers".

Markus

Hi markush, thank you for your help, I tried both commands, modprobe acer_wmi did not give any output, not saying that its not a correct command or something else , just nothing , but after putting second command "modprobe acerhdf " this is the output : modprobe acerhdf
FATAL: Error inserting acerhdf (/lib/modules/2.6.35-23-generic/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/acerhdf.ko): No such device

own
So does it mean that I have to make my own kernel module ? but I have never did it , can you tell me how ? thank you in advance

Well, "no output" of modprobe means that this module has been loaded, be aware that you'll have to load it again when the system was rebooted.

The "... no such device" error of modprobe means that the module is not adequate for your device.

Did the module acer_wmi change something at your system?

Markus

I installed both and used GDM to choose which one I felt like using. Since then, I've moved away from UNE to using GNOME Shell. GNOME Shell is a hit-or-miss thing; some love it, some hate it. I love its simplicity.

I dont know acer_wmi changed or not something in a system, how can I find it out was their change or not after that command? as I said after first input of "modprobe acer_wmi" there was no output, you know I am using linux for the first time and now I am just trying to learn it, so I will appriciate if you write to me in detail what to do, if you know solution of course , anyway thank you very much, everything you said is clear

Hi d1m@,

I don't have an Acer-laptop, as far as I have read the acer_wmi module provides support for the functional keys for bluetooth and wireless lan. To remove a module from the system you may use the commandso you can switch between "module loaded" and "module not loaded" (with the modprobe and rmmod command) and check, which functional keys depend on the module. You may also check if the system recognizes the battery when the module is loaded.

Further I'd suggest to look here http://www.linux-on-laptops.com/acer.html

You may also look on the Acer-website if they have additional Linuxdrivers for download.

Markus

Hi markush, I tried to remove module but output is : rmmod acer_wmi.... ERROR: Module acer_wmi does not exist in /proc/modules . what about acer website, I have already searched their before opening thread here, they have no driver, so anyway thank you very much, I will continue to search solution or in worst case will wait till acer makes the driver