LinuxQuestions.org - wireless Connection

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wireless Connection

Ok installed Ubuntu 8.10 on laptop a direct connection to my modem works but I cannot pick up a wireless signal. I have a Toshiba satellite, from reading different posts I guess I need a driver so that the wireless card inside my laptop will work with Linux.
Any suggestions links to a driver I can download would be great. Thanks
zpr

Welcome to LQ.

To answer your question we first need to know which wireless card you have. So please send us the output of following command:

Code:

sudo lspci

typed in a terminal. Or even better:

Code:

sudo lspci -k

well here is both
the first code output is

Quote:

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 Host Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (Internal gfx)
00:04.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Device 7914
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 1)
00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 2)
00:12.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 Non-Raid-5 SATA
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI0)
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI1)
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI2)
00:13.3 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI3)
00:13.4 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI4)
00:13.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB Controller (EHCI)
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 14)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 IDE
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 PCI to LPC Bridge
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS690M [Radeon X1200 Series]
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
05:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05)
05:06.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
05:06.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 12)
05:06.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)
05:06.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev ff)

and the second code output

Quote:

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 Host Bridge
Kernel modules: ati-agp
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (Internal gfx)
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:04.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc Device 7914
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 1)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:06.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 2)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
Kernel modules: shpchp
00:12.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 Non-Raid-5 SATA
Kernel driver in use: ahci
Kernel modules: ahci
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI0)
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
Kernel modules: ohci-hcd
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI1)
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
Kernel modules: ohci-hcd
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI2)
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
Kernel modules: ohci-hcd
00:13.3 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI3)
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
Kernel modules: ohci-hcd
00:13.4 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB (OHCI4)
Kernel driver in use: ohci_hcd
Kernel modules: ohci-hcd
00:13.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 USB Controller (EHCI)
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
Kernel modules: ehci-hcd
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 14)
Kernel driver in use: piix4_smbus
Kernel modules: i2c-piix4
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 IDE
Kernel driver in use: pata_atiixp
Kernel modules: pata_atiixp
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB600 PCI to LPC Bridge
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
Kernel driver in use: k8temp
Kernel modules: k8temp
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RS690M [Radeon X1200 Series]
Kernel modules: fglrx
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
Kernel driver in use: r8169
Kernel modules: r8169
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
Kernel modules: ath_pci
05:06.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05)
Kernel driver in use: ohci1394
Kernel modules: ohci1394
05:06.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
Kernel driver in use: sdhci-pci
Kernel modules: sdhci-pci
05:06.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 12)
Kernel driver in use: ricoh-mmc
Kernel modules: ricoh_mmc
05:06.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)
05:06.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev ff)

the next step is

Code:

sudo lsusb

and check whether the suggested driver for the atheros mentioned in the
output of lspci -k is loaded. ...

is this where I am looking

Quote:

04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
Kernel modules: ath_pci

if that is then it is not in the lsusb output

Yes, this is the card we were looking for.

I think there was a typo in Tinkster's answer. Anyway, please type:

Code:

lsmod|grep ath

and give us the results.

If you have the 64-bit version of the Ubuntu installed, the "stock" driver supplied by Ubuntu will not work on your system.

If this is the case, you'll need to download and compile the newer (so far unreleased) madwifi driver. This is fairly easy to do, but not worth describing here if it's not your problem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zpress (Post 3476378)

is this where I am looking

if that is then it is not in the lsusb output

My apologies ... very tired and having a blonde moment.
Of course I meant lsmod, not lsusb *sigh*

/me crawls back to the sofa

no problem here is the output

Quote:

ath_pci 99096 0
wlan 211952 1 ath_pci
ath_hal 198864 1 ath_pci

Then it should -- or at least could ;) work: you seem to have the needed drivers loaded.

Now to check the wireless signal, we first need to know what is your card's interface name, so please type in a terminal following commands:

Code:

sudo ifconfig

sudo iwconfig

and send the output of both.

First

Quote:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1e:33:4a:19:cc
inet addr:192.168.2.2 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21e:33ff:fe4a:19cc/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:93234 errors:0 dropped:1466430178 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:45891 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:140517166 (140.5 MB) TX bytes:2931467 (2.9 MB)
Interrupt:220 Base address:0x8000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:242 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:242 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:15132 (15.1 KB) TX bytes:15132 (15.1 KB)

Second

Quote:

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

pan0 no wireless extensions.

This output shows that your card is not claimed by an active driver for now.

I did some googling with following search string :
ubuntu Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

I have founded a lot of answers.

My guess is that you have a 64 bit version of Ubuntu and somehow the driver versions shipped in your distribution are not the good ones for your card.

Here are some links which could be useful:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php...24&postcount=6
http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/atheros_ar5007eg #sorry, it's in French ;)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=902860

Hope this helps,

the first one worked great
told me how to do everything step by step
thanks for the help
-zpress