Dual booting eventually makes the wireless adapter go missing - Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41

setfan
setfan Member Posts: 3 New User
edited December 2021 in Nitro Gaming
I have a Acer Nitro 5 AN517-41 and have set it up to dual boot Windows 10 and Manjaro.
The problem that occurs is that after a bunch of alternating restarts (around 25) the wireless adapter goes missing in both OS:es
Once it is gone it will only come back after doing this:

1- Power off the machine
2- Unplug the power cable
3- Press the power button for 30s

Both Windows and Manjaro is fully updated.

When the adapter is missing, the Device manager and Network connections looks like this in Windows:




At first I though the hardware was broken as a factory reset of the system did not help, but the power button hold solved it momentarily at least.

When the adapter is back, doing the same alternating rebooting will eventually give the same result with the adapter missing.

I get the feeling that Acer has not tested running this with a dual boot setup at all as it seems reproducible after a bunch of alternating restart.

Any ideas on what the root cause of this issue might be?

​//Edited the content to add model name.   ​

Answers

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 35,055 Trailblazer
    The root cause seems to be that internal USB port that the adapter sits on. You can see the same symptoms without dual booting, though they are fairly rare. What happens is the data on that port gets garbled, so the system can't discover what is connected. Sometime the port just goes away entirely. I've been attributing it to Windows since it happen there most often, but I don't see any reason it wouldn't affect Linux as well. It doesn't seem to be an issue with the WiFi card itself, but rather some sort of mis-configuration of the port.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • setfan
    setfan Member Posts: 3 New User

    Thank you for that answer, so it sounds like this needs to be addressed by Acer in a FW/bios patch.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 35,055 Trailblazer
    Or more likely a Windows driver patch, since that low level stuff is going to be either Intel/AMD or Microsoft. Higher level apps, like what Acer handles, just assume that the port will be there.
    Click on "Like" if you find my answer useful or click on "Yes" if it answers your question.
  • setfan
    setfan Member Posts: 3 New User
    billsey said:
    Or more likely a Windows driver patch, since that low level stuff is going to be either Intel/AMD or Microsoft. Higher level apps, like what Acer handles, just assume that the port will be there.
    That might be the case and it is up to Acer to point out to the relevant party so that it can be fixed in Acers product, I have contacted Acer about this so that they can look into a fix.
    Thanks for the comments around this.
  • Easwar
    Easwar Member Posts: 6,727 Guru
    Hi @setfan,

    Contact acer tech support,

    https://www.acer.com/ac/sv/SE/content/service-contact

    OR book the unit for repair service,

    https://customercare.acer-euro.com/customerselfservice/CaseBooking.aspx?CID=SE&LID=SWE&OP=1

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