I put Slack on my laptop after putting it on my desk for fulltime usage. Everything went great, nothing out of the ordinary. However, when I tried to ping google I received the host not found error. Looking here http://docs.slackware.com/slackware:beginners_guide, it said: If that tool (iwconfig) reports ”no wireless extensions” for all your network interfaces then the kernel does not have a driver for your wireless card and you'll have to find one online. How would I go about finding a driver that supports my network card? Where would I start?

That doesn't necessarily mean you're missing a driver, it's more indicative of you failing to find a DNS server. Try piningin 173.194.115.6 (googles IP) like this:

ping -c3 173.194.115.6

If you can ping it by IP, it's probably a dns setting. If you post the output, we'll try to help you.

Received network is unreachable.

please provide the following diag info:

bash-4.2# echo uname: && uname -a -m -p && echo lspci: && lspci && echo
lsusb: &&
> lsusb && echo lsmod: && lsmod && echo ifconfig: && ifconfig && echo
uname:
Linux host 3.10.17 #2 SMP Wed Oct 23 16:34:38 CDT 2013 x86_64 AMD
Athlon(tm) II P340 Dual-Core Processor AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux
lspci:
00:00.0 Host bridge: AMD [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] RS880 Host
Bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Sony Corporation Device 9602
00:04.0 PCI bridge: AMD [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] RS780/RS880 PCI
to PCI bridge (PCIE port 0)
00:07.0 PCI bridge: AMD [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] RS780 PCI to PCI
bridge (PCIE port 3)
00:11.0 SATA controller: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode]
00:12.0 USB controller: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.2 USB controller: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB controller: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.2 USB controller: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] SBx00 SMBus
Controller (rev 42)
00:14.1 IDE interface: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 IDE Controller (rev 40)
00:14.2 Audio device: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] SBx00
Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller (rev 40)
00:14.4 PCI bridge: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] SBx00 PCI to
PCI Bridge (rev 40)
00:14.5 USB controller: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI2 Controller
00:15.0 PCI bridge: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB700/SB800/SB900 PCI to PCI bridge (PCIE port 0)
00:16.0 USB controller: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:16.2 USB controller: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.]
SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller
00:18.0 Host bridge: AMD [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] Family 10h
Processor HyperTransport Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: AMD [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] Family 10h
Processor Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: AMD [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] Family 10h
Processor DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: AMD [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] Family 10h
Processor Miscellaneous Control
00:18.4 Host bridge: AMD [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] Family 10h
Processor Link Control
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices,
Inc.] RS880M [Mobility Radeon HD 4225/4250]
01:05.1 Audio device: AMD/ATI [Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.] RS880 HDMI
Audio [Radeon HD 4200 Series]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
RTL8111/8168 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 06)
09:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless
Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
lsusb:
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 04f2:03f5 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 0bda:0186 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Card Reader
Bus 004 Device 003: ID 1bbb:0001 T & A Mobile Phones
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
lsmod:
Module Size Used by
rndis_host 5898 0
cdc_ether 4708 1 rndis_host
usbnet 19461 2 rndis_host,cdc_ether
cdc_acm 17433 0
ipv6 292446 18
cpufreq_ondemand 8799 2
lp 9851 0
ppdev 5862 0
parport_pc 19332 0
parport 30389 3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
fuse 73848 3
usb_storage 46020 1
uvcvideo 71742 0
videobuf2_vmalloc 2912 1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops 1879 1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_core 27437 1 uvcvideo
videodev 102061 2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
i2c_dev 5843 0
radeon 807879 2
joydev 9751 0
ttm 63381 1 radeon
sp5100_tco 5040 0
acpi_cpufreq 7230 0
drm_kms_helper 35118 1 radeon
drm 229054 4 ttm,drm_kms_helper,radeon
mperf 1163 1 acpi_cpufreq
i2c_piix4 8415 0
video 11451 0
processor 27543 1 acpi_cpufreq
thermal 8644 0
k10temp 3010 0
thermal_sys 22993 3 video,thermal,processor
agpgart 27267 2 drm,ttm
ath9k 87291 0
i2c_algo_bit 5351 1 radeon
ohci_hcd 23924 0
i2c_core 20936 7
drm,i2c_dev,i2c_piix4,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,radeon,videodev
r8169 57775 0
freq_table 2628 3
cpufreq_ondemand,acpi_cpufreq,thermal_sys
sony_laptop 42850 0
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 29622 1
hwmon 1337 3 k10temp,radeon,thermal_sys
ath9k_common 1951 1 ath9k
snd_hda_codec_realtek 34792 1
ath9k_hw 369458 2 ath9k_common,ath9k
mii 3955 2 r8169,usbnet
ath 15545 3 ath9k_common,ath9k,ath9k_hw
shpchp 25417 0
snd_hda_intel 34861 2
snd_hda_codec 143196 3
snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 6388 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 76009 3
snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc 7098 2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer 18614 1 snd_pcm
snd 58630 11
snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
mac80211 429423 1 ath9k
cfg80211 380228 3 ath,ath9k,mac80211
rfkill 15522 3 cfg80211,sony_laptop
ehci_pci 3688 0
ehci_hcd 39275 1 ehci_pci
soundcore 5354 1 snd
psmouse 81058 0
evdev 10032 10
serio_raw 4585 0
battery 11579 0
ac 4311 0
button 4696 0
kvm_amd 50191 0
kvm 363491 1 kvm_amd
microcode 13140 0
loop 18479 0
ifconfig:
eth0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
ether 54:42:49:2f:48:93 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING> mtu 65536
inet 127.0.0.1 netmask 255.0.0.0
inet6 ::1 prefixlen 128 scopeid 0x10<host>
loop txqueuelen 0 (Local Loopback)
RX packets 380 bytes 28520 (27.8 KiB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 380 bytes 28520 (27.8 KiB)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0


bash-4.2# ifconfig -a: && ifconfig -a && echo iwconfig: && iwconfig &&
echo
ifconfig: option `-a:' not recognised.
ifconfig: `--help' gives usage information.
bash-4.2# resolv.conf: && cat /etc/resolv.conf && echo route: && route
-n && echo
bash: resolv.conf:: command not found
bash-4.2# ping router: && ping -c 1 `route | awk '/default/ {print $2}'`
&& echo
ping: unknown host router:
bash-4.2# ping dns-server: && ping -c 1 `awk '/nameserver/ {print $2}'
> /etc/resolv.conf | head -n 1` && echo ping using ip: && ping -c 1
ping: unknown host dns-server:
bash-4.2# 64.235.229.141 && echo ping using dns: && ping -c 1
www.02144.com

seems like a typo. somehow you left out ifconfig (with no parameters) but i find it hard to beleive that your distro doesnt have a version of ifconfig that supports the parameter -a ?

what distro is it (is it for embedded like busybox) ?

Just a fresh install of Slackware.

just run ifconfig and iwconfig without the switches and post the output.
Good news is you seem to have everything you need to get wireless running if we can configure it.
How are your trying to access your wireless network? Is their a wireless router you're trying to connect to? Do you know it's ip address or the name of the wireless network your trying to access?

09:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless
Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

Okay, first off you have an Atheros wireless card.

As described here:

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath9k

...you should have a fully working module.

There is a problem with some 9285 cards that may require a slight fix (Found from Ubuntu):

Open a terminal and create an ath9k.conf file using this script::

This should hopefully clear up any issues with connectivity.

Did you try this?

chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager

Just a quick note. It's possible for iwconfig to report "No wireless extensions" even if the kernel does have a wireless driver for your card. Newer wireless drivers might only support the nl80211 interface and might have no support for the Wext wireless extensions interface. You should use iw if this is the case (See the iw documentation).

NetworkManager works but dhcpcd should be able to work with the interface regardless.

Make sure the module for the card is loaded.