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Old 07-01-2008, 11:40 AM   #1
C-Sniper
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Registered: Dec 2006
Distribution: Slackware
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Trying to get ATH5k to work


Hi all,
For the past year or so i have been using the Madwifi drivers to get my Atheros based PCMCIA card to work (i have an integrated broadcom that i use for back up like in this case). I have wanted to move away from the Madwifi drivers and more to the kernel supported ATH5k. I am running kernel 2.6.25.4 and have the required wireless bit set to <y>.

The module loads without a problem but for some reason my card cannot detect any APs.

lspci -vnn
Code:
04:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5212/AR5213 Multiprotocol MAC/baseband processor [168c:0013] (rev 01)
        Subsystem: Atheros Communications Inc. TRENDnet TEW-443PI Wireless PCI Adapter [168c:2051]
        Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 10
        Memory at 44000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
        Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
        Kernel driver in use: ath5k_pci
Dmesg | grep ath
Code:
ath5k_pci 0000:04:00.0: registered as 'phy1'
ath5k phy1: Atheros AR5213A chip found (MAC: 0x79, PHY: 0x45)
ath5k phy1: RF2112A 2GHz radio found (0x56)
ifconfig
Code:
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wlan1     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:14:d1:3a:8d:b0
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wlan2     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:90:4b:ac:b2:e5
          inet addr:10.10.50.25  Bcast:10.10.50.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:4607 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1870 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:1382703 (1.3 MiB)  TX bytes:345333 (337.2 KiB)

wmaster0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-90-4B-AC-B2-E5-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wmaster1  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-14-D1-3A-8D-B0-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
iwconfig
Code:
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan2     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
          Bit Rate=2 Mb/s   Tx-Power=27 dBm
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality=83/100  Signal level=-49 dBm  Noise level=-65 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

wmaster1  no wireless extensions.

wlan1     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Tx-Power=27 dBm
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
the device in question is WLAN1, Wlan2 is my broadcom card.

Any ideas on how to get this working?

Thanks
 
Old 07-02-2008, 08:03 AM   #2
dracolich
Senior Member
 
Registered: Jul 2005
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 1,274

Rep: Reputation: 63
I just discovered the ath5k driver and started using it with my Netgear WG511U. Did you make sure it can find the ap using iwlist?
Code:
iwlist wlan1 scan
Have you tried attaching it to the ap with the iwconfig command?
Code:
iwconfig wlan1 essid=xxxxx
Also, what's the environment like? Are there cordless or cell phones around, microwaves, etc. that could interfere with the signal? Do you have neighbors with wireless networks? Obstacles between the card and the router? I found that my WG511U has a short range and is more sensitive to interference than my other wifi cards. This part of your iwconfig output makes me curious

Quote:
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: XX:XX:XX:XX:XX
Bit Rate=2 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
Why is the bit rate only 2Mb/s? Maybe you need to set your network to a different channel. For example, if it's on channel 6 try channel 1 or 11.
 
Old 07-02-2008, 09:56 AM   #3
C-Sniper
Member
 
Registered: Dec 2006
Distribution: Slackware
Posts: 507

Original Poster
Rep: Reputation: 33
Ok no scan results comming from wlan1 while wlan2 is getting all the APs.
Setting the ESSID and Channel to the correct AP brings no results either.

The last bit you are curious about is just the way the B43 driver works. it defaults to 1mb/s but running 'iwconfig wlan2 rate auto' fixes that
 
  


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