ASUS N550JV

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

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.

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

Configuration

Video

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.

Keyboard

Brightness

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

Incorrectly mapped buttons

Media and Fn+F7 buttons are not mapped correctly. It is not necessary to remap Fn+F7 shortcut, because it works without any additional configuration.

Install xorg-xmodmap, 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:

~/.Xmodmap
...
keycode 233 = XF86MonBrightnessUp NoSymbol XF86MonBrightnessUp
keycode 234 = XF86AudioMedia NoSymbol XF86AudioMedia
keycode 235 = XF86Display NoSymbol XF86Display
...

Now move XF86AudioMedia NoSymbol XF86AudioMedia text on the empty keycode 248 and leave keycode 234 empty:

~/.Xmodmap
...
keycode 234 = 
...
...
...
keycode 247 =
keycode 248 = XF86AudioMedia NoSymbol XF86AudioMedia
keycode 249 =
...

Optionally, for Fn+F7 give some value on keycode 253.

~/.Xmodmap
...
keycode 252 =
keycode 253 = XF86Launch0 NoSymbol XF86Launch0
keycode 254 =
...

The next step is apply changes:

$ xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap

Test with xev or try to bind something on media button. Fn+F7 should be controlled by hardware and switch display without any additional configuration. Also, if you are satisfied, put the command above to Xinitrc.

~/.xinitrc
{ sleep 10; xmodmap ~/.Xmodmap; } &

Touchpad

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

Troubleshooting

Audio

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:

/etc/systemd/system/beep-disable.service
[Unit]
Description=Unloads audio module to prevent beep on shutdown
DefaultDependencies=no

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'rmmod snd_hda_intel'

[Install]
WantedBy=shutdown.target suspend.target
/etc/systemd/system/beep-disable-wakeup.service
[Unit]
Description=Load sound module back on system resume
After=suspend.target
Wants=local-system-resume.service
Before=local-system-resume.service

[Service]
Type=oneshot
ExecStart=/bin/sh -c 'modprobe snd_hda_intel'

[Install]
WantedBy=suspend.target

Crackling sound

Add tsched=0 to pulseaudio config file as per instructions at PulseAudio/Troubleshooting#Troubleshooting buffer underruns (glitches, skips, 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

Note: You might experience USB devices (e.g. mouse) are not being turned on immediately after wake up. Current 4.9 kernel (and probably further versions) does not have this issue and below fix might not be required

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
/etc/systemd/system/root-resume.service
[Unit]
Description=Local system resume actions
After=suspend.target

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

[Install]
WantedBy=suspend.target

Then enable root-suspend.service and root-resume.service 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:

/etc/fancontrol
INTERVAL=10
FCTEMPS=/sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=/sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/temp1_input
FCFANS= /sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=/sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/fan1_input
MINTEMP=/sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=50
MAXTEMP=/sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=80
MINSTART=/sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=40
MINSTOP=/sys/devices/platform/asus-nb-wmi/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=10

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

/etc/fancontrol
INTERVAL=10
FCTEMPS=/sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=/sys/devices/platform/coretemp.0/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/temp1_input /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm2=/sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/temp1_input
FCFANS=/sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=/sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/fan1_input /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm2=/sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/fan2_input
MINTEMP=/sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=50 /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm2=45
MAXTEMP=/sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=80 /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm2=90
MINSTART=/sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=40 /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm2=40
MINSTOP=/sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm1=10 /sys/devices/platform/asus_fan/hwmon/hwmon[[:print:]]*/pwm2=10

Enable full performance of GPU

Note: This only applicable if you have BIOS 207 or BIOS 208 installed. BIOS 206 and earlier are not affected.

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.

Note: If you get error while installing WinFlash that this is only supported on Asus notebooks - first you need to install ATKACPI driver.

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+F1 XF86Sleep
Fn+F2 XF86WLAN
Fn+F3 XF86KbdBrightnessDown
Fn+F4 XF86KbdBrightnessUp
Fn+F5 XF86MonBrightnessDown
Fn+F6 XF86MonBrightnessUp
Fn+F7 XF86Launch0 (xmodmap)
Fn+F8 XF86Display
Fn+F9 XF86TouchpadToggle
Fn+F10 XF86AudioMute
Fn+F11 XF86AudioLowerVolume
Fn+F12 XF86AudioRaiseVolume
Fn+c XF86Launch1
Fn+v XF86WebCam
Fn+Space XF86Launch6
Fn+NumEnter XF86Calculator
Fn+Left XF86AudioPrev
Fn+Right XF86AudioNext
Fn+Up XF86AudioStop
Fn+Down XF86AudioPlay
Fn+Delete Ins