Area-51m, Realtek driver issue on Linux?

Question

Ok, so I installed CentOS 7 on a new Alienware a51M. After battling many things, it’s in a state where CentOS is installed, NVIDIA drivers are installed, and the track pad works. However I can’t get the Ethernet controller to work. lspci just says Realtek semiconductor and then the device ID. It doesn’t say what the model is. On Dell’s webpage it says that it should be equipped with a Killer E3000 2.5 GbE device. Either way I’m stuck. Suggestions?

speedstep · Answer

Best way would be to shrink the OS partition and install ubuntu SIDE BY SIDE along with windows 10.

CENTOS is not supported here.

You can also make a live usb flash drive with casper persistence file.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBAF24BPdXc

18.04 LTS is the current version.

http://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04/ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso

Linux isn't supported on these models by Dell. Not supported does not mean not working just not supported. Alienware’s new Area-51m brings a new design, RTX GPUs, and 9th-gen Intel chips. So you have to be specific about exactly which model you mean.

Alienware Area-51m (i9-9900K, RTX 2080) for example.

Alienware 17 R5
Alienware 17 R4
Alienware 15 R4
Alienware 15 R3
Alienware Area-51 m15x

http://www.robotthoughts.com/2018/11/18/installation-notes-for-kubuntu-18-10-on-the-alienware-17-r5-laptop/

There are issues with synaptics

Start with Kubuntu 18.10 - stock Ubuntu's gnome has multiple problems with the laptops chipsets.
You'll need a USB mouse to do the install as the touchpad doesn't work by default. To fix it once you've installed follow these simple instructions
You need to start with 18.10 in order to get a recent enough kernel to have the laptop's wifi supported, and you'll also need to install the Nvidia binary drivers because the FLOSS nouveau driver has crippling bugs that will crash your laptop to the ground. You can achieve this a number of ways but I used the "Install additional third party drivers" through Software Update option, but you can probably also choose the "Use third party drivers" option at install time as well.

sudo su
echo 'blacklist i2c_hid' >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf
depmod -a
update-initramfs -u

and reboot

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/official-alienware-area-51m-owners-lounge.826831/page-211

Rdelux · Answer

I have a similar issue. My OS is Ubuntu 18. My A51M laptop's ethernet cable connection is not working, I think it's a driver issue. You may be able to check the ethernet card info by:

lspci | grep -i net

Linux General

Area-51m, Realtek driver issue on Linux?

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