LinuxQuestions.org - Madwifi Problems

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Madwifi Problems

I recently obtained a Toshiba Satellite laptop. It uses the Atheros wireless chipset on PCI Express:

Code:

$ /sbin/lspci | grep Atheros

17:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

I installed 12.1 on this laptop & have both the huge & generic kernels. I get the same results with both kernels.
I have installed the madwifi packages from SBo. (I have also tried Alien Bob's packages, with the same results). The modules are loaded on boot:

Code:

$ /sbin/lsmod | grep ath

ath_pci                94752  0

wlan                  194032  1 ath_pci

ath_hal              193488  1 ath_pci

I have tried following the instructions from madwifi.org with this result:

Code:

# wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta

wlanconfig: ioctl: No such device

root@laptop:~

# wlanconfig ath0 destroy

wlanconfig: ioctl: No such device

root@laptop:~

# wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta

wlanconfig: ioctl: No such device

It seems that the device ath0 is not being created. Madwifi.org & Alien Bob's Howto seem to assume that if the modules are loaded, the device is created. What am I doing wrong?
Regards,
Bill

I have Atheros 5212 PCI card and works flawlessly with madwifi. Here's what I have in my rc.inet1.conf. BTW, I've used Alien Bob's slackbuild to make the package.

Code:

IFNAME[0]="ath0"

IPADDR[0]="192.168.1.101"

NETMASK[0]="255.255.255.0"

USE_DHCP[0]=""

DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]=""

WLAN_WPA[0]="wpa_supplicant"

WLAN_WPADRIVER[0]="wext"

I also load the module from rc.modules.

Code:

modprobe ath_pci

This creates the device node and connects to my router using key in wpa_supplicant.conf

Bill,

I didn't get things working until I set up my router with static IP addressing.

Here's the thread I started on what I did to get MadWIFI working. Maybe there's something in there that will be helpful for you.

Regards,

-Drew

Instead of running the unnecessary wlanconfig commands, can you just run

Code:

ifconfig -a

and

Code:

iwconfig

and look at these commands' output for the existence of an ath0 wireless interface?

It may be that your card is not supported by madwifi (which I doubt) or that the card's radio is turned of (there are wiki pages at http://madwifi.org dealing with that issue).

Also inspect /var/log/messages and /var/log/syslog for any signs of module loading errors.

Eric

tuxrules & Lufbery:
I've tried your various suggestions, but the problem is that although the modules are loading, the ath device is not getting created. ifconfig & iwconfig only show eth0 & lo.

Eric:
I downloaded your SlackBuild & the most recent madwifi snapshot & used them to replace the SBo packages. Everything remains the same as in my first post. I'm thinking that the AR242x chip is not supported by madwifi. Is ndiswrapper a possible help? I've never needed ndiswrapper & don't know much about it.
Regards,
Bill

Try this:

Code:

wget http://snapshots.madwifi.org/special/madwifi-nr-r3366+ar5007.tar.gz

tar -zxvf madwifi-nr-r3366+ar5007.tar.gz

cd madwifi-nr-r3366+ar5007

make

checkinstall --fstrans=no -S -y

installpkg madwifi-nr-r3366+ar5007-i386-1.tgz

cd .. 

rm -rf  madwifi-nr-r3366+ar5007*

check the logs:

Code:

dmesg | egrep -i '(ath|wifi)'

and then configure your wireless card.

Thanks to everyone, especially Road-map. I followed his instructions to the letter & am now posting via the wireless adaptor.
Drew: I did not have to use a static IP; this chip worked fine with DHCP, after I entered the "Default Gateway" in rc.inet1.
I do not have security set up yet. Fortunately, I live 15 miles out of town & my nearest neighbor with a computer is about a half mile away. Setting security is my next project.
Thanks again,
Bill

Bill,

I'm glad things are working for you. This place is pretty cool, isn't it?

Regards,

-Drew

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lufbery (Post 3188263)

Bill,

I'm glad things are working for you. This place is pretty cool, isn't it?

Regards,

-Drew

Indeed. It's great to have access to all the resources that are available here. Thanks again to all involved.
Regards,
Bill