[SOLVED] No WiFi on Sony Vaio w / AR5001X and Minime 2010

[frazelle09]

Well, finally got this thing installed and running from the hd.  It now has task-management and the printer utils as well as OOo.  i had to download all the above through Ethernet connection because previous installs would freeze the compu when i tried to set up Wireless.

After installing all needed programs and updating through Synaptic i tried wireless again.  While booting it just freezes the computer.  If i turn off wireless with the switch on the front of the laptop and plug my Ethernet back in, it recognizes it very well and brings it up just fine.

With wireless enabled it won't boot into the desktop.  Have tried both kernels .32 and .33  Have Googled until i've run out of pages to review.

If i go to Control Center, Manage System settings, and Starting wlan, this of course freezes my system but at least it produces some sort of error output...

etc/wlan/shared: line 71: [:too many arguments
/etc/wlan/shared: line 71: [:too many arguments
Shutting Down WLAN Devices: Shutting Down WLAN Devices: wlanctl-ng: Operation not supported FATAL: Module p80211 not found
[OK]
/etc/wlan/shared: line 71: [: too many arguments
Starting WLAN Devices: FATAL: Module p80211 not found.
Failed to load p80211.o.

Perhaps this also might be of some help...

cat /etc/modprobe.conf
install ide-controller /sbin/modprobe ide_generic; /bin/true
install usb-interface /sbin/modprobe ehci_hcd; /sbin/modprobe ohci_hcd; /bin/true
options snd-ac97-codec power_save=1
alias pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001468sd00000406bc02sc00i00 ath5k
alias wlan0 ath5k

Any ideas?  Have a great evening and congrats to all who worked on this great distro!  

[frazelle09]

Am sorry to report that after most recent upgrades we are still unable to connect with this laptop.  It was working just fine under 2009.

Have a great evening! 

[frazelle09]

Does no one have any idea as to how to fix this?  It looks like a program that might be in the kernel.  i installed the full KDE version of 2010 and am still getting the same problem.  This version has the .32 kernel.  Does anyone think it might be good to go back to the .27 kernel i was using?  Is this possible.  i haven't checked the repos yet so i don't even know if it still exists.

Here are the results of some relevant commands...

Code: [Select]

[frazelle09@lindaslinux ~]$ sbin/lspci -vnn
bash: sbin/lspci: No such file or directory
[frazelle09@lindaslinux ~]$ /sbin/lspci -vnn
bash: /sbin/lspci: No such file or directory
[frazelle09@lindaslinux ~]$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS200/RS200M AGP Bridge [IGP 340M] (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc PCI Bridge [IGP 340M]
00:03.0 Modem: ALi Corporation M5457 AC'97 Modem Controller
00:04.0 Multimedia audio controller: ALi Corporation M5451 PCI AC-Link Controller Audio Device (rev 02)
00:06.0 Bridge: ALi Corporation M7101 Power Management Controller [PMU]
00:07.0 ISA bridge: ALi Corporation M1533/M1535/M1543 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV/V/V+]
00:09.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. Atheros AR5001X+ Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
00:0a.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI7420 CardBus Controller
00:0a.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI7x20 1394a-2000 OHCI Two-Port PHY/Link-Layer Controller
00:0a.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCI7420/7620 Combo CardBus, 1394a-2000 OHCI and SD/MS-Pro Controller
00:0c.0 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43)
00:0c.1 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB (rev 43)
00:0c.2 USB Controller: NEC Corporation USB 2.0 (rev 04)
00:0f.0 IDE interface: ALi Corporation M5229 IDE (rev c4)
00:12.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
01:05.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon IGP 330M/340M/350M

Code: [Select]

[frazelle09@lindaslinux ~]$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
snd_usb_audio          64903  0
snd_hwdep               4802  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_usb_lib            13750  1 snd_usb_audio
snd_rawmidi            16323  1 snd_usb_lib
af_packet              14122  2
ipv6                  222865  16
arc4                    1073  2
ecb                     1575  2
snd_ali5451            13560  2
snd_ac97_codec         89701  1 snd_ali5451
ac97_bus                 946  1 snd_ac97_codec
ath5k                 107421  0
radeon                512305  2
snd_seq_dummy           1266  0
snd_seq_oss            22774  0
mac80211              141784  1 ath5k
snd_seq_midi_event      5464  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                40753  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
ttm                    43956  1 radeon
ath                     7377  1 ath5k
snd_seq_device          5214  4 snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
8139cp                 14031  0
drm_kms_helper         23890  1 radeon
snd_pcm_oss            29040  0
8139too                16325  0
cfg80211              102726  3 ath5k,mac80211,ath
drm                   144784  5 radeon,ttm,drm_kms_helper
mii                     3885  2 8139cp,8139too
sr_mod                 11640  0
i2c_ali1535             4216  0
i2c_ali15x3             4489  0
alim1535_wdt            2749  0
cdrom                  28716  1 sr_mod
i2c_algo_bit            4134  1 radeon
snd_pcm                58835  4 snd_usb_audio,snd_ali5451,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              15794  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_mixer_oss          11096  1 snd_pcm_oss
led_class               2692  1 ath5k
pcspkr                  1382  0
i2c_core               18062  6 radeon,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_ali1535,i2c_ali15x3,i2c_algo_bit
snd                    46351  17 snd_usb_audio,snd_hwdep,snd_usb_lib,snd_rawmidi,snd_ali5451,snd_ac97_codec,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss
sg                     21491  0
soundcore               5680  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          6506  1 snd_pcm
shpchp                 23804  0
pci_hotplug            22676  1 shpchp
pcmcia                 26801  0
yenta_socket           17237  1
rsrc_nonstatic          7981  1 yenta_socket
binfmt_misc             5590  1
pcmcia_core            28857  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
cpufreq_ondemand        7009  0
cpufreq_conservative     8144  0
cpufreq_powersave        698  0
tifm_sd                 6941  0
freq_table              3091  1 cpufreq_ondemand
mmc_core               48349  1 tifm_sd
tifm_7xx1               3369  0
tifm_core               5575  2 tifm_sd,tifm_7xx1
nvram                   5352  0
ohci1394               22696  0
sbp2                   16049  0
ieee1394               69727  2 ohci1394,sbp2
fuse                   49640  0
dm_mod                 55894  0
ppdev                   4676  0
sony_laptop            25051  0
parport_pc             26661  0
rfkill                 13919  2 cfg80211,sony_laptop
parport                28094  2 ppdev,parport_pc
battery                 8252  0
processor              29811  1
ac                      2650  0
thermal                10903  0
container               2086  0
button                  4713  0
ohci_hcd               17664  0
ehci_hcd               27778  0
usbcore               124240  5 snd_usb_audio,snd_usb_lib,ohci_hcd,ehci_hcd
joydev                  7351  0
rtc_cmos                6929  0
evdev                   6341  14
video                  17141  0
output                  1735  1 video
ide_generic             1035  0 [permanent]
ata_generic             2315  0
ide_pci_generic         2306  0
pata_acpi               2303  0
alim15x3                4581  0
ide_gd_mod             19349  0
ide_core               85822  4 ide_generic,ide_pci_generic,alim15x3,ide_gd_mod
pata_ali                7095  3
libata                145416  3 ata_generic,pata_acpi,pata_ali
sd_mod                 27621  4
scsi_mod              132368  5 sr_mod,sg,sbp2,libata,sd_mod
crc_t10dif              1195  1 sd_mod
ext3                   98204  2
jbd                    39246  1 ext3
[frazelle09@lindaslinux ~]$
Note also the dmesg_output.txt file

Have a great afternoon! 

[Joble]

Just found this.  I hope I can help, but 2010 is very new to me as well, even though it's already April, seems we are just getting started.....

Coffeetime?
Maddogf16?
Pollo Loco?

Oh darn... Ath... I hate Ath!
Hootiegibbon!

[frazelle09]

Giggle... i was under the impression that Atheros was a pretty common wireless.  Thanks for replying!

Can i add to the list?  How about...

KMart?

Have a great afternoon! 

[Texstar]

Please post the contents of your /etc/modprobe.conf file. How old is your computer? Some AR5001X can't use the ath5k or ath9k driver.  If that is the case you would need to blacklist them then install the dkms-madwifi drivers from Synaptic.

[frazelle09]

Thanks for replying, texstar!

Code: [Select]

install ide-controller /sbin/modprobe ide_generic; /bin/true
alias ieee1394-controller ohci1394
install usb-interface /sbin/modprobe ehci_hcd; /sbin/modprobe ohci_hcd; /bin/true
alias wlan0 ath5k
alias eth0 8139too
alias sound-slot-0 snd_ali5451
options snd-ac97-codec power_save=1
alias pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001468sd00000406bc02sc00i00 ath5k

i don't think this lappy is that old.  It's a Sony Vaio, PCG-K33... and was working just fine under the 2009 PCL.

Hope the above helps and have a great evening! 

[Texstar]

You can try this.

Edit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist and add
blacklist ath5k
blacklist ath9k

Go into the Network Center and delete the wireless connection.
Check /etc/modprobe.conf and make sure the following 2 lines are not present. If so delete them.
alias wlan0 ath5k
alias pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv00001468sd00000406bc02sc00i00 ath5k

Reboot and come up on the wired connection.
Open Synaptic and search for madwifi
install the following 2 packages
dkms-madwifi (This will take a minute or two as it is building the kernel drivers on the fly)
madwifi

Open a konsole terminal, su to root and type modprobe ath_pci
Open the Network Center and configure Wireless.

[frazelle09]

Wow, texstar!  Just as easy as pie!  And it worked right off the bat.

Thanks a million and have a great afternoon! 

Yeah, PCLinuxOS 2010!!!

[Hootiegibbon]

Just saw this,

Joble ya should have PM'd me lol

The card you have is a AR2414 (which identifies itself incorrectly - somthing to do with the pcid's used by a few types of card) which is buggy with ath5k, and as Texstar advised is best to blacklist the ath5k and mac80211 and let madwifi do its thing.

Glad its working

Jase

[coffeetime]

Missed it..

[Joble]

hehe.  Checking on the status of the wifi team.  Bookmarking this.  Will recommend it in the future before I go PMing for help.  Seems wifi is pretty much a done deal and the few issues that crop up are no longer in my realm of experience.

Hello Wifi Team!

frazelle09:  Glad you got it sorted.  Sorry I didn't see it sooner.

[frazelle09]

Thanks, Jase and Joble!  i had noticed that as well but just figured it was equal to the other id.  Was this card then working under Madwifi in the PCL 2009 edition as well or by itself?

Have a great afternoon! 

[Hootiegibbon]

Thanks, Jase and Joble!  i had noticed that as well but just figured it was equal to the other id.  Was this card then working under Madwifi in the PCL 2009 edition as well or by itself?

Have a great afternoon! 

frazelle09,

2009 had the madwifi as standard, and blacklisted ath5k, and was patched for the newer cards, but still struggled on some newer atheros chipsets.

as Ath5k become integrated into the kernel it became more viable, and i find it more stable with 98% of the atheros cards out there, there are exception the AR2414 is one that needs madwifi to be stable

I would hazard a guess that if there are issues wit an atheros chipset that the above approach will sort it out.

Jase

[frazelle09]

Jase -- thanks for the info.  i was wondering what was going on...

Have a great evening!    Our 1,000 post!

fred