New Lappy No Wifi Please Help

[Hootiegibbon]

hootiegibbon, moving ahead under the assumption that the modprobe.conf I posted earlier was OK, here's the additional konsole info you asked for:

lsmod |grep ath:

ath9k                 244435  0
mac80211              137463  1 ath9k
ath                     7007  1 ath9k
cfg80211               98416  3 ath9k,mac80211,ath
led_class               2696  1 ath9k

lspci |grep Atheros:

08:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)


What do you think?

quinne

What the above tells me is

A> the hardware is recognized

B> the correct module is loaded (ath9k)

The above along with the note that the wireless led is orange (although in Linux they do not always turn blue on HP laptops) is pretty much an indication that the switch is in the 'off' position

The front end to the wireless control at this stage is unlikly to influence things.

Reading http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath9k/bugs it seems that there are one or two known issues

can you post the results of 'uname -a' please as this will give more information that just the -r option.

Jase


 

[Hootiegibbon]

quinne,

Additional task time, try the following in a konsole

iwlist wlan0 scanning

and post the results

ps, the button idea is a good one, but bare in mind you may need to reboot (to get it recognised) after pressing it once with no responce after 3 minutes.

Jase

[DeBaas]

I did'nt have the chance to check this out, but did you think about the software rfkill switch ?
I cannot test this but it's all over the internet with WiFi problems on net/notebooks.
Something to do with changing an option in a rf_kill file
Guru somewhere ?
(EDIT) found this on:
http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/mandriva-30/enable-the-rf-kill-switch-for-ipw2200-592920/
I have been trying to fix my wifes ACer and have run into the same rf switch problem. She will NOT be able to log in as SU.
Anyways. I read the sourceforge.net/README.ipw2200 and under: 1.4.2 Device Level Sysfs Helper Files I found something about the rf switch.:

rf_kill
read -
0 = RF kill not enabled (radio on)
1 = SW based RF kill active (radio off)
2 = HW based RF kill active (radio off)
3 = Both HW and SW RF kill active (radio off)
write -
0 = If SW based RF kill active, turn the radio back on
1 = If radio is on, activate SW based RF kill

In the following link (on my computer) /sys/bus/pci/driver/ipw3945/0000:05:00:0 I found the file called rf_kill
It had the value 2. As root I changed it to 0 and now the whole thing works. Also after a reboot.

[coffeetime]

AFAIK ath9k AR9285 only works with WEP, but I could be wrong. Google says it's quite unfriendly Linux wireless card. I had a chance to test similar or the same lappy [can't remember anymore] a while ago and it was very unstable. Reconnection/reassociation was a nightmare.
Maybe we will have to look later on in wpa_supplicant...

[Duvid]

Installing a new kernel also has worked for me. I am not sure if it was that it gave it another chance to recompile the modules, or if there were new modules introduced. I did this after resetting my router and going through its reinstall process without  any encrpytion. I basically threw everything I could think of at the problem ....and it worked. I left the why and how for another time. I also have run into the problem where it was necessary to hold the wifi button down for about 15 seconds.

[quinne]

Thanks for all the thinking you've done on this, folks.  Hootiegibbon, I'll try as you suggest to generate additional info in konsole, but before I do, I want to report that upon boot I noticed an 'unknown error 132' in relation to wlan0.  I very brief search suggests it has to do with what DeBaas is talking about with the rf_kill file.  I have to go out for awhile, but will check back in this evening, posting more results from konsole.  Much gratitude to all of you!

[Joble]

This would be funny if it all did really finally come down to the switch.  I HATE Switches!

Maddogf16:  Do you see this?  Chasing our tails again over a freakin switch!  I HATE Switches!   

[jimwilk]

qunne

First of all, I should advise you that I am running PCLinuxOS 2009.2 so my experience may or may not be relevant here.

My laptop is an HP Pro 59LE-2 with an Atheros wifi chip. Whenever I tried to set up the wireless in PCC Control Centre, I got the message that it was looking for ndiswrapper or similar. However, I found in a thread somewhere on the forum, that the Atheros wifi chip is handled by changing the kernel. I went searching for kernel 2.6.27.31.tex5 in the repositories and after reloading the repositories, found it.

 I installed that kernel and then, when I went to PCC Control Centre > Network and Internet > Setup new network interface > wireless, there, lo and behold, it was referring to the  Atheros chip.

Another point, I have had more reliable use of wireless by configuring it to manual rather than automatic via DHCP

To do this, in one window, from a terminal, I typed in ifconfig - a and found the addresses recorded for the wifi interface. Then in the second window, I inserted those addresses into the configuration. From then on, reliable wireless via the Belkin router > ADSL modem.

Someone, more knowledgeable than I am, might be able to pick something out of my post that could assist you.

Jim

[quinne]

Hootiegibbon, here are the konsole results you asked for:

[root@localhost ~]# uname -a
Linux localhost.localdomain 2.6.32.11-pclos2.bfs #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Apr 7 13:33:19 CDT 2010 i686 AMD Turion(tm) II Ultra Dual-Core Mobile M620 GNU/Linux


[root@localhost ~]# iwlist wlan0 scanning
wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

Coffeetime, no there isn't an actual button.  The controls above the keyboard are all touch-sensitive (except the power switch which is also there.)

I'm off to explore the rf_kill file...

[quinne]

Well, not much success in that direction, rf_kill doesn't seem to be present on pclos...

Further search on 'unknown error 132' for wlan0 seems to be a fairly common problem.  I'll keep reading...I'm pretty convinced at this point that it's some kind of internal software switch...Not that I know anything much at all.  I continue to be open to all of your thoughts on the matter.

You folks are great!

[quinne]

Does anyone know if a) there's a way to install rfkill on pclos, or b) if there's another utility with a similar function?  Unless one of you knows of some other way to deal with this:

[root@localhost ~]# ifup wlan0
RTNETLINK answers: Unknown error 132

Found the above konsole command on another thread with this issue.  This is the same msg I get during boot.  On yet another thread I read, someone said that to install rfkill after the problem is already an issue doesn't work...Don't know if that's true or not.  

It's been mentioned on this thread more than once, that perhaps I should change kernels.  What do you think?  If that's the answer, I'm more than willing...

And Joble, if your comment means you've torn your hair out over switches in the past, I can see why!

[denoobifyme]

Pure speculation here, but -- just a theory -- I'm beginning to suspect Joble hates switches.

I think there's another command, from terminal as root:

ath0 up

or wlan0 up  (maybe "down" first just to purge the command string)

[Duvid]

This is a website  that I have referred to  when I needed wireless commands. I have used dhclient and ifup and ifdown with good success. The CLI has worked many times when a GUI has failed

             http://wirelessdefence.org/Contents/LinuxWirelessCommands.htm#iwconfig%20Commands

[Duvid]

Here's more stuff from my cheat sheet I used when I ran into wireless problems last year:

           Useful Commands

ifconfig - lists IP address (similar to ipconfig in Windows)
iwlist scan - shows wireless networks that are available in the area along with basic encryption information
lshw -C network - Shows interface and driver associated with each networking device
lspci -nn - Shows hardware connected to the pci bus
lsusb - Shows USB connected hardware
lshw -C usb - Additional info on USB related hardware (good for USB dongles)
cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist - List modules that will not be loaded by the Operating System at boot time
lsmod - lists currently loaded kernel modules. (Example usage - lsmod | grep ndiswrapper)
route -n - Lists kernel IP routing table -- Good for troubleshooting problems with the gateway (netstat -rn = equivalent command)
 route add default gw 192.168.1.1 - Example of how to set the default gateway to 192.168.1.1
 route del default gw 192.168.1.1 - Example of how to delete the default gateway setting
 modprobe ***** - Loads the kernel module **** . (Example usage -  modprobe ndiswrapper,  modprobe r818x,  modprobe ath_pci)
ifup/ifdown <interface> - Brings up/down the interface and clears the routing table for the specified interface
ifconfig <interface> up/down - Brings up/down the interface for the specified interface dhclient <interface> - Request IP address from
dhclient -r <interface> - Release IP address associated with specified interface
iptables -L - Lists firewall rules
dmesg | more - Lists boot log -- good for troubleshooting problems with modules/drivers not being loaded
uname -r - Displays kernel version


EDIT:Please enter these commands in the terminal as root

[quinne]

Hi Folks,  Thanks for the additional replies.  Denoobifyme, I will try your terminal commands, you too, Duvid.  I confess I tried loading a different OS, and lo and behold, the wireless worked right off the bat (at least we know it does indeed work!).  It's not an OS I really care for though, and don't plan on sticking with it, if I don't have to.  The problem is, I need this lappy to up and running for my work.  However, now that you guys have given me something more to work with, I'll get back into PCLOS and give it another try.  (PS:  As an aside, even though the other OS had no prob with the wireless -- the sound doesn't work!  Sheesh...)