AR928X detected by Ubuntu, but no access points are visible.

Zerimas · 01-04-2009, 09:48 PM

The Ubuntu hardware tester claims my wireless card (Atheros AR928X) exists, as does lspci

Code:

03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

and lshw -c Network

Code:

 *-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: wmaster0
       version: 01
       serial: 00:15:af:cd:ed:33
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k latency=0 module=ath9k multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn

However I cannot see my university's wireless networks (which are not hidden)

Code:

dan@Syndev:~$ iwlist scan
lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0  Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0     No scan results

pan0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

I've tried the "echo" on/off fix seen here to no avail. What is the last step in getting my wireless card to work? My network manager is WICD, by the way.

EDIT: I should mention I am running Ubuntu 8.10 with the 2.6.27-9 kernel.

Mega Man X · 01-04-2009, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zerimas

The Ubuntu hardware tester claims my wireless card (Atheros AR928X) exists, as does lspci

Code:

03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

and lshw -c Network

Code:

 *-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: wmaster0
       version: 01
       serial: 00:15:af:cd:ed:33
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k latency=0 module=ath9k multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn

However I cannot see my university's wireless networks (which are not hidden)

Code:

dan@Syndev:~$ iwlist scan
lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0  Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0     No scan results

pan0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

I've tried the "echo" on/off fix seen here to no avail. What is the last step in getting my wireless card to work? My network manager is WICD, by the way.

Hi there,

I've a similar card on my laptop:

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

And I also thought Ubuntu was detecting it correctly (the drivers were even enabled on the restricted drivers), but I don't think it was working at all. I simply could not scan for any AP. I managed to get it to run and I will post the steps here. However, keep in mind that while our hardware is similar, I am not sure it will work for you. I can't even guarantee it won't screw things up even further, but... here it goes:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...24&postcount=6

That is the post which saved my day

Regards! (and good luck)

Mega Man X · 01-04-2009, 10:02 PM

Quick copy and paste from that forum here, for keeping it simple. All credits to the author. Besides, that link changed once and I could not find it when I needed it for a second time...

Re: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01

Thanks so much to those above for figuring this out for me. Let me spell out the installation in a little more detail to save those after me some time.

I did this on a fresh Ubuntu 8.04 install on a Compaq Presario C770US Laptop with an ethernet cable plugged into my router.

The device string displayed by lspci -v was as follows:

Code:

01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Unknown device 137a
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
	Memory at 91300000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>

First under System/Administration/HarwareDrivers disable both the Atheros HAL and the Atheros wireless thing and then reboot.

The kernel headers and the compiler are needed to build this driver so I started by installing build-essential. In a terminal window (Applications/Accessories/Terminal) enter:

Code:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

The driver code will be downloaded with the subversion source code manager so I installed subversion:

Code:

sudo apt-get install subversion

I needed a place to put the driver source without mixing it up with other stuff so I changed directory to my home directory:

Code:

cd ~

Created a directory:

Code:

mkdir madwifi

And changed to the new dirctory:

Code:

cd madwifi

Use subversion to download (checkout) a copy of the code:

Code:

svn co https://svn.madwifi.org/madwifi/branches/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6

The above command failed for me at first because subversion couldn't find svn.madwifi.org
Madwifi will probably have their DNS problems worked out by the time you read this. But if not then see the section at the bottom of this post titled "Cant find svn.madwifi.org" for a solution before continuing.

After the driver code is downloaded by subversion, change to the directory, which should be madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6

Code:

cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6

Run the make script to have the compiler build the driver:

Code:

make

Install the driver

Code:

sudo make install

Add the Atheros kernel module to the list of modules to be automatically loaded at boot by adding "ath_pci" (without the quotes) to the end of the /etc/modules file. I used the vi editor which I won't describe here. Gedit is probably easy to use so try:

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/modules

Now you can reboot and it should work. To get it working without a reboot you need to load the module manually:

Code:

sudo modprobe ath_pci

That should do it. The little wireless button seems to always stay lit orange. When I press it it seems to disable the wireless but it still stays lit orange. WPA works for me. I assume WEP will also. I haven't tried WPA2

CANT FIND svn.madwifi.org

If subversion has a hard time finding svn.madwifi.org then add it's IP address to your hosts file. I found this page http://madwifi.org/ticket/1982 at madwifi.org that gives the IP address 217.24.1.142 of svn.madwifi.org in one of the last messages. I tried just giving subversion the command to connect to the IP address instead of the domain name, but it failed before finishing the checkout. Edit the file /etc/hosts and add "217.24.1.142 svn.madwifi.org" (without the quotes). I added it just after the 127.0.1.1 line

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/hosts

Now you can continue with the subversion checkout. You should probably remove this line from your hosts file when you're done with this so that if you want to go back there some day and they've moved it then DNS will give the most recent IP address.

Zerimas · 01-06-2009, 04:52 PM

Thanks for the reply! Before I go and compile the proprietary driver I have a question.

lspci -v displays the following:

Code:

03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Device 1a3b:1067
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
	Memory at fdff0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ath9k
	Kernel modules: ath9k

Is there anyway to get my card to work using the module that is already there?

PTrenholme · 01-06-2009, 06:07 PM

First, that's not a proprietary driver. It (like the ath9k driver you're using) is based on a FOSS release by Atheros.

The point is that the 0.9... MadWifi versions don't support 64bit Linux systems. The 0.10... versions are the "next release" versions.

The instructions above will get you the latest developer release of the new 0.10... release.

If you'd prefer to be less "cutting edge," you could, instead, just download the latest snapshot tarball, unpack it into a directory and do the make / make install / modprobe ath_pci dance described above to get your device working.

Zerimas · 01-07-2009, 05:00 PM

Alright, I followed the instructions above, yet WICD says I still have no wireless access.

I tried "echoing" my card into "on" mode; it made the wifi light on my laptop light up, but still no wireless networks are detected. What am I doing wrong? I feel as if I have tried every fix on the net to get my card working.

PTrenholme · 01-07-2009, 06:00 PM

I think that Ubuntu may install the NetworkManager package by default. Is it possible that you have that package and WICD both running at the same time? I'm guessing here, but there might be some conflict if you have more than one program trying to manage your network connections.

Also, check your process list and the dmesg output to see if you have more than one driver loaded for your wireless card. If you do, you may need to add all but one of them to /etc/modules.d/blacklist.

Zerimas · 01-07-2009, 06:49 PM

WICD doesn't conflict with the GNOME Network manager because WICD removes it as part of its installation. I ran lsmod and found that I had three modules running: ath9k, ath_pci, and ath_hal. I blacklisted ath9k, but left the other two as ath_hal, according to lsmod, uses the ath_pci module. I still don't have any wireless access.

Zerimas · 01-08-2009, 05:23 PM

Bump.

PTrenholme · 01-09-2009, 09:45 AM

Perhaps you should try removing WICD and reinstalling the NetworkManager package.

Another thought: Go to the MadWifi project site and look for ath9k documentation and bugs. Also, go to the wireless driver source code page at kernels.org to see if there's a newer release of the 9k driver available.

I may, in fact, have mislead you above by pointing you to the code that supports the older AR5425 chip set on 64 bit systems. (That was my wifi problem, not yours.) From what I can see, the stock ath9k driver should have worked for you, and, since I have only an older 5425 chip set, I don't think I can offer an more suggestions.

Good luck.

<edit>
Hum. Now here's a curious thing.

After I posted this note, I logged in to my Kubuntu 8.04 installation and noticed that there was a kernel update available, from 2.6.24-21 to 2.6.24-23. So I installed it.

And now I can't get my wireless card to detect any access point, nor can I connect setting the access information by hand.

I do notice that the 0.10.6 Madwifi uses the 2.6.27 kernel wireless.h which is not compatible with the older kernels. But, while the driver I am using on the "-21" kernel compiles and loads on the "-23" kernel, it fails to operate with the same symptoms you reported.

So I now suspect that the Ubuntu group will need to fix the kernel problem.

Alternatively, you could grab a newer kernel from kernel.org and compile your own version. (I think I might grab a 2.6.27 one -- it's supposed to include ext4 support, which might be interesting to try out.)

P.S.: My Fedora 10, with a 64-bit 2.6.26 kernel, works quit well with the Atheros 0.10.6 driver.

P.P.S.: And I'm composing (and sending) this edit on my Kubuntu using the 2.6.24-21 kernel.
</edit>

Zerimas · 01-14-2009, 02:37 PM

Thanks for all the help! I am currently using 2.6.27-9-generic. I see that there is a newer version on Kernel.org. Maybe I will try compiling that?

PTrenholme · 01-14-2009, 03:44 PM

Oops!

I misspoke above. It's the 2.6.28 kernels that include the ext4 implementation. not the 27 ones. (Although you can install the updated e2fs_tools, and get ext4 running on the older kernels if you really have a need for the large volume support and other improvements to ext3.)