Ubuntu

Atheros wireless not working

Asked by GregVN

Hopefully one of the Linux gurus can assist with my issue. Along with many posters on multiple forums for Ubuntu, my Atheros wireless is not working on my Toshiba L305 laptop. I had multiple problems when I was running 8.10 but these all disappeared when I reloaded with 9.04. Unfortunately I performed a kernel update a few days ago which required a reboot. I didn't want to upgrade and I definitely didn't want to reboot as previously wireless would always require tweaking to work upon every reboot. So I really didn't want to reboot but I did and yes my wireless is now dead. I have tried a couple of different methods to restore it but all have failed. I have tried using the steps in 73108, 74211 on this web site and post 5711824 on the Ubuntu forum with no luck. Below are the normal commands that have been asked to try and remedy this issue.

ggreg@greg-laptop:~$ sudo iwlist scanning
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wifi0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

ath0 No scan results

pan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

greg@greg-laptop:~$ nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected

- Device: eth0 [Auto Ethernet] ------------------------------------------------
  Type: Wired
  Driver: r8169
  State: connected
  Default: yes
  HW Address: 00:1E:33:62:7E:C5

  Capabilities:
    Carrier Detect: yes
    Speed: 100 Mb/s

  Wired Properties
    Carrier: on

  IPv4 Settings:
    Address: 172.19.69.104
    Prefix: 24 (255.255.255.0)
    Gateway: 172.19.69.1

    DNS: 205.152.37.23
    DNS: 205.152.132.23
    DNS: 192.168.1.1

- Device: ath0 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type: 802.11 WiFi
  Driver: ath_pci
  State: unmanaged
  Default: no
  HW Address: 00:00:00:00:00:00

  Capabilities:

  Wireless Properties
    WEP Encryption: yes
    WPA Encryption: yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes

  Wireless Access Points

greg@greg-laptop:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wifi0 no wireless extensions.

ath0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"" Nickname:""
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power:16 dBm Sensitivity=1/1
          Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=0/70 Signal level=-96 dBm Noise level=-96 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

pan0 no wireless extensions.

greg@greg-laptop:~$ sudo lshw -C network
[sudo] password for greg:
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:1e:33:62:7e:c5
       size: 100MB/s
       capacity: 100MB/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full ip=192.168.1.100 latency=0 link=yes module=r8169 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: wifi0
       version: 01
       serial: 00:21:63:5a:b8:ab
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath_pci latency=0 module=ath_pci multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Ethernet interface
       physical id: 1
       logical name: pan0
       serial: c6:60:57:f9:7c:12
       capabilities: ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion=2.3 firmware=N/A link=yes multicast=yes

greg@greg-laptop:~$ lspci -nn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a40] (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a42] (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a43] (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2937] (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2938] (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:293c] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2940] (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:2942] (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 [8086:2948] (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:2934] (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:2935] (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:2936] (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 [8086:2939] (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 [8086:293a] (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller [8086:2919] (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller [8086:2929] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:2930] (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) Thermal Subsystem [8086:2932] (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 02)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter [168c:001c] (rev 01)

greg@greg-laptop:~$ lsusb
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 046d:c51b Logitech, Inc.
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:0158 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. Mass Stroage Device
Bus 001 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 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

greg@greg-laptop:~$ uname -a
Linux greg-laptop 2.6.28-15-generic #49-Ubuntu SMP Tue Aug 18 18:40:08 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux

greg@greg-laptop:~$ dmesg | grep ound
[ 1.096481] ACPI: No dock devices found.
[ 1.126533] pnp: PnP ACPI: found 7 devices
[ 17.799188] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.0: found MSI capability
[ 17.799401] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.1: found MSI capability
[ 17.799606] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.4: found MSI capability
[ 18.165106] isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
[ 20.832099] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 20.852099] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 20.852437] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 20.852703] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 20.852966] hub 5-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 20.853232] hub 6-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 20.853505] hub 7-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 20.853768] hub 8-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 20.880349] device-mapper: multipath round-robin: version 1.0.0 loaded
[ 20.882936] BIOS EDD facility v0.16 2004-Jun-25, 0 devices found
[ 21.385703] usb-storage: device found at 2
[ 27.538434] iTCO_wdt: Found a ICH9M TCO device (Version=2, TCOBASE=0x0460)
[ 28.251858] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
[ 28.857650] wifi0: Atheros AR2425 chip found (MAC 14.2, PHY SChip 7.0, Radio 10.2)

greg@greg-laptop:~$ dmesg | grep illswitch
greg@greg-laptop:~$

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
Mark Rijckenberg Edit question
Solved by:
GregVN
Solved:
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Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Bhavani Shankar (bhavi) said : 		#1

hello

did you read this link?

http://ubuntumanual.org/posts/185/install-atheros-ar242x-802-11abg-wireless-driver-in-ubuntu

Regards

Revision history for this message
GregVN (gvannatten) said : 		#2

Yes and it didn't work.

Revision history for this message
Mark Rijckenberg (markrijckenberg) said : 		#3

You say in the issue description "I had multiple problems when I was running 8.10 but these all disappeared when I reloaded with 9.04"

So your wireless should work, if you simply boot into the original kernel that was provided with the Ubuntu 9.04 default install.

You probably need to press the <ESC> key right after starting your pc to be able to access the grub boot menu and choose the original Linux kernel that was installed with Ubuntu 9.04

Can you try that?

If that does not work, I suggest trying this installation procedure:

http://www.ubuntugeek.com/how-to-get-atheros-ar5007eg-or-ar242x-wireless-cards-may-be-other-models-working-in-ubuntu-810-intrepid-ibex.html

If that does not work either, I suggest reinstalling Ubuntu 9.04 and not upgrading the kernel until Ubuntu 9.10 comes out (in 2 months from now)

Revision history for this message
GregVN (gvannatten) said : 		#4

Already tried the original kernel step. That was the first thing I did. The step you provided didn't work either so I will go ahead and reinstall Windows, oops, Ubuntu. Yes that was intentional as I have had this laptop less than 6 months and this will be the third time I have had to re-install the OS from scratch. I hate Windows with a passion but Linux, Ubuntu is right up at there with it. Time for me to try another flavor of Linux and see what happens. They need to add another radio button to this web page for questions, "Problem NOT solved, but Don't Need an Answer!"