[SOLVED] Atheros AR9285 Wifi

lkraemer · 10-02-2012, 03:23 PM

I've removed my SATA Hard Drive, and installed a new Hard Drive. I then
installed Slackware 14 on the Hard drive from the DVD (ISO). (I've verified
the MD5SUM of the DVD.)

After the install I've run startx and XFCE 4.10 comes up as expected. But,
now I can't get my Atheros AR9285 Wifi functional. There are no AP's
available and ifconfig & iwconfig don't show anything associated. lsmod
shows ath9k is installed.

Is there something I am missing, or is the AR9285 Hardware supported?
Searches of the forum don't find anything that is of help.

Thanks.

Larry

Didier Spaier · 10-02-2012, 04:09 PM

If ath9k is installed but not automatically loaded at boot, i.e. if "lsmod | grep ath9k" returns nothing, first try to load it manually with "modprobe ath9k". If your wifi adapter works after that, just do as root:

Code:

echo "/sbin/modprobe ath9k" > /etc/modprobe.d/wifi.conf

so that the module be loaded at boot time.

If that doesn't work, maybe your adapter is not supported by the module. To check type:

Code:

lspci -nnk|grep -A3 Net

This will confirm you the driver in use (if any) as well as the kernel module(s) usable with your adapter. In addition this will give you both the vender and device IDs in the form [VVVV

DDD] at the end of the first line. For instance here:

Code:

bash-4.1$ lspci -nnk|grep -A3 Net
00:19.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation 82566MM Gigabit Network Connection [8086:1049] (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Lenovo ThinkPad T61 [17aa:20b9]
	Kernel driver in use: e1000e
	Kernel modules: e1000e
--
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection [8086:4230] (rev 61)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1011]
	Kernel driver in use: iwlagn
	Kernel modules: iwlagn

So my Wireless controller has vendor #8086 and device #4230.

Knowing that

Code:

modinfo <module name>|grep -i <device #>

should tell you if this device is supported or not. For instance here:

Code:

bash-4.1$  modinfo iwlagn|grep -i "4230"

returns one line:

Code:

alias:          pci:v00008086d00004230sv*sd*bc*sc*i*

which shows that my adapter is supported.

EDIT post edited to include the "-i" or "ignore case" option of grep command as the device #, being written in hexadecimal characters, can include letters. Thanks to dr.s for noticing.

lkraemer · 10-02-2012, 07:57 PM

Didier Spaier,
I've booted the Slackware Installed drive......again.

I executed the following as root:

Code:

lspci

The Display shows:

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 18)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 18)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev 06)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 06)
02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
04:00.0 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. SD/MMC Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.2 SD Host controller: JMicron Technology Corp. Standard SD Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. MS Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.4 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. xD Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.5 Ethernet controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMC250 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 03)
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 05)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 05)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 05)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 05)
ff:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 05)
ff:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 05)

Wifi.conf does not exist at: /etc/modprobe.d/wifi.conf

I executed:

Code:

lsmod | grep ath9k

and I got the following:

Code:

ath9k                  76483  0 
ath9k_common            1526  1 ath9k
ath9k_hw              335026  2 ath9k_common,ath9k
ath                    11983  3 ath9k_hw,ath9k_common,ath9k
mac80211              202703  1 ath9k
cfg80211              145277  3 mac80211,ath,ath9k

So, I executed:

Code:

lspci -nnk|grep -A3 Net

And the following was displayed:

Code:

02:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002b] (rev 01)
	Subsystem: AzureWave AW-NE785 / AW-NE785H 802.11bgn Wireless Full or Half-size Mini PCIe Card [1a3b:1089]
	Kernel driver in use: ath9k
04:00.0 System peripheral [0880]: JMicron Technology Corp. SD/MMC Host Controller [197b:2382] (rev 80)

So, I executed:

Code:

modinfo ath9k|grep "002b"

and I got no response.

Making me think that my Atheros Wifi isn't supported. Really!

Thanks, for your detailed information.

I guess my XFCE Distro search will continue until I locate a Distro that has Wifi Functionality built in and working.

Ideas/Suggestions?

Larry

dr.s · 10-02-2012, 09:48 PM

Hi lkramer, could this be due to a (mis)configuration issue? I have the exact same chip on my laptop, it's supported and works very well. Try the grep command with the ignore case option:

Code:

modinfo ath9k |grep -i "002b"

or

Code:

modinfo ath9k |grep "002B"

This is what I get here:

Code:

# modinfo ath9k |grep -i "002b"
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000002Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*

lkraemer · 10-02-2012, 10:26 PM

dr.s,
I used slackware vs darkstar for the hostname. I used example.net for the domain name. I just have a Cable Modem (Charter) and a Wifi Router (Airlink 525W). I didn't assign any Domain in previous
installs of Debian. My Router doesn't have a Domain name assigned. And I just hit ENTER for the DHCP. What other Wifi (mis)configuration issue could I have?

I did find that my Atheros is supposed to be supported by using the "-i" switch.

Thanks for responding.

Larry

Paulo2 · 10-03-2012, 09:44 AM

It seems that Slackware has found the wireless interface,
since the module is loaded.

I configure my wireless this way using wpa, hope it help you.
Configuration is different if you use wep.

As root
iwconfig
to see the wireless nic, can be wlan0

wpa_passphrase netname passphrase >> /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
will append a section with 'netname' in the config file

ifconfig wlan0 up
bring up wireless nic

wpa_supplicant -Dmadwifi -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
try to establish communication

wait about ten seconds and if you get ip from dhcp, launch the dhcp client
dhclient wlan0

ping google to see if all is working
ping -c4 www.google.com

Didier Spaier · 10-04-2012, 04:34 PM

I assume that you miss the firmware ar92721.fw, not included in Slackware 14. If I am right you can downloading it from git with this link. Put it in /lib/firmware and please make us aware of the outcome.

EDIT I saw after posting that this thread is marked [SOLVED] so probably « j'arrive après la bataille ». Would that be the case, could you please say if you installed this firmware (or maybe if it was already installed in some place I didn't look at)?.

EDIT2 I just saw that this file is in /lib/firmware in Slackware 14. Sorry for the noise