Laptop wireless button

tallmtt · 02-25-2008, 11:07 PM

I have an Acer 4315 for which I guess both ndiswrapper works with the XP driver and a specific madwifi patched driver.

I have installed both - and now I have come across what I think is the issue: I read that with other laptops, to make sure your wireless card is ON in windows before using it in linux.

Well, this particular laptop seems to have a software based button for the power of the card. Ndiswrapper and ath_pci each recognize the hardware (I only enable one at a time), but neither is able to turn it on.

Ndiswrapper leaves with some error -22
ath_pci driver fails to load ath_rate_sample

I think the card is actually off and that is why the drivers are not able to work it. Anyone have ideas on how to keep this card on? How would I go about turning it on software-wise in linux?

Simon Bridge · 02-25-2008, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Ndiswrapper leaves with some error -22
ath_pci driver fails to load ath_rate_sample

Quote exact errors.

Acer Aspire 4315-100508Ci laptops have Ubuntu 7.10 pre-installed (yes... from Acer). These have intel wireless, so there's no problem. (DSE NZ$700) Note that the full model number is important.

Please provide output of lspci for your wireless card.

Meanwhile - I see you use Ubuntu? There is a howto for gutsy here. It indicates that the RDM misidentifies the wifi card and, so, installs the incorrect driver. Particularly liks this to the wifi button not responding.

tallmtt · 02-26-2008, 06:25 AM

Thanks for your quick reply. I will post the errors this evening when I get home from work.

I know the card is Atheros AR5007EG (the same that works in Asus EEE) and one I got to work in a friends Toshiba. Both ndisrapper and the atheros drivers recognize the hardware exists (through dmesg which I will post later as well).

I actually have installed Gentoo on this laptop, but I have heard others having issues with this "button" even with Ubuntu. I am considering switching out the minipci card to one I can turn on or off in linux!

b0uncer · 02-26-2008, 07:48 AM

If it's the same sort of button that is on Acer 4003, then it doesn't matter much - by that I mean that prior to the driver being loaded to kernel it's all the same how much you press the button, it won't do anything. After you load the driver (either trough ndiswrapper, or by using some other driver) the card should come up right away, and light the button up (if it has light). After that if you press the button, chances are it powers off the wireless card, and a re-press powers it on. But if you use a distribution like Ubuntu that uses NetworkManager, you don't need to press the button ever, because you can simply click on the NetworkManager icon and choose to either disable wireless networking, or disable networking completely. Re-enabling them brings the card back up, and it's possible that pressing the button doesn't do much, except for maybe get NetworkManager confused and force you to unload-reload the kernel module for the card to get things right (I managed to get into a situation where NetworkManager said I have wireless disabled when light was on, and vice versa - it sort of lost idea of when the card is up and when down, after I pressed on the physical button a few times..heh)

tallmtt · 02-28-2008, 09:55 PM

Sorry it took a few days - I work as a resident in a hospital and have been very busy.

I hope this gives someone a bright idea to help me out!

First - the result when typing lspci:

Code:

04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5006EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

This is expected as this particular card is known to be misidentified as AR5006EG instead of the AR5007EG (ar5bxb63)that it is. (The card is identified in Vista as AR5007EG and labeled on the computer as ar5bxb63)

After typing "modprobe ath_pci" I get this with "dmesg | grep ath":

Code:

ath_hal: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.
ath_hal: 0.10.2.2-ATHEROS (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, AR5416, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413, RF2133, RF2425)
ath_pci: 0.9.4.5 (svn r2756)
ath_pci: switching rfkill capability off
Unable to load needed module: ath_rate_sample; no support for automatic module loading
Error loading module "ath_rate_sample"

lsmod:

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
ath_pci                96040  0 
wlan                  174128  1 ath_pci
ath_hal               277600  1 ath_pci

iwconfig:

Code:

eth0   no wireless extension.

lo   no wireless extension.

sit0   no wireless extension.

-----Transition to ndiswrapper-------rmmod all modules

------

Make sure ndiswrapper has the right driver installed and is installed correctly and recognizes the hardware:
ndiswrapper -l:

Code:

net5211 : driver installed
	device (168C:001C) present (alternate driver: ath_pci)

After loading the module - to show that it is the only module loaded:
lsmod:

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
ndiswrapper           139008  0

When I type dmesg (and edit out the previously existing data):
dmesg:

Code:

ndiswrapper version 1.50 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no)
ndiswrapper: driver net5211 (,06/10/2005,4.1.2.76) loaded
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:04:00.0[A] -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:04:00.0 to 64
ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:191): log: C0001389, count: 4, return_address: f8a30b74
ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:194): code: 0xeff61000
ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:194): code: 0x28
ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:194): code: 0xf884d000
ndiswrapper (NdisWriteErrorLogEntry:194): code: 0xf884d000
ndiswrapper (mp_init:216): couldn't initialize device: C000009A
ndiswrapper (pnp_start_device:439): Windows driver couldn't initialize the device (C0000001)
ndiswrapper (mp_halt:259): device eff83500 is not initialized - not halting
ndiswrapper: device eth%d removed
ndiswrapper: probe of 0000:04:00.0 failed with error -22

iwconfig:

Code:

eth0   no wireless extension.

lo   no wireless extension.

sit0   no wireless extension.

Like I said - I hope someone can help troubleshoot. My thoughts are that since I believe I have installed the drivers correctly, and I see the message that they cannot initialize the device - I think the problem is the button on the keyboard to turn the device on. Maybe I need to configure the button somehow to power the card???

When I press the button, I get this from dmesg:

Code:

atkbd.c: Unknown key pressed (translated set 2, code 0xd5 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e055 <keycode>' to make it known.
atkbd.c: Unknown key released (translated set 2, code 0xd5 on isa0060/serio0).
atkbd.c: Use 'setkeycodes e055 <keycode>' to make it known.

Did I lose anyone?

I will attempt to respond as soon as possible to any suggestions. Thanks in advance.

Simon Bridge · 02-29-2008, 08:40 AM

http://www.yasker.org/en/blog/specif...ading-order-36
... there's your issue.

tallmtt · 02-29-2008, 09:27 PM

Simon Bridge - you have managed to find the answer to the problem that has had me questioning my abilities and choice of laptop. You correctly found my problem. Thank you. This issue is now solved!

Simon Bridge · 03-02-2008, 12:33 AM

Hah! Been there myself.

You were on the right track, you just missed a turning. Easy to do.
Laptops are hard to pick - in general, research the model first. An interesting approach is to take a live distro into the shop with you.

Simon Bridge · 04-04-2008, 01:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Simon Bridge

Quote exact errors.

Acer Aspire 4315-100508Ci laptops have Ubuntu 7.10 pre-installed (yes... from Acer). These have intel wireless, so there's no problem.

Simon, you are an ignorant soandso - you have one of these sitting in front of you right now and it is clearly not intel wireless but Atheros like everyone says. Why don't you listen?!

Personally I'd like to get the acer-e and wifi leds to work.
Also trying to map the wifi button to toggle-disable for the touchpad. However, it doesn't seem to be sending any keypress events.

If anyone knows how to use a connexant winmodem when it is integrated into a soundcard, please speak up.

Thank you.