Atheros 242x/542x not connecting

[ChristopherAdams]

Recently, I installed the Ubuntu mini.iso on my Acer Aspire One, and I can't get the wireless function to work. Here are the specifics:

1. Machine make & model: Acer Aspire One

2. Wireless Brand, Model and Wireless Chipset:

The command 'lspci | grep 'Wireless Brand' ' returns nothing.

'lspci' returns: Ethernet Controller [0200:] Atheros Communications, Inc., AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)

3. Result of 'iwconfig wlan0':

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID: off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=0 dBm
Retry long limit: 7 RTS thr: off Fragment thr: off
Encryption key: off
Power Management: on

4. The command 'lsmod | grep 'wlan_module_name'' returns nothing. The command 'lsmod' returned the following lines:

Module Size Used By
ath5k 145127 0
aht 19387 ath5k

5. The command 'dmesg | grep 'wlan' returns nothing.

6. The command 'lshw -C network' returns:
*-network DISABLED
Description: Wireless Interface
Product: AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
Vendor: Atheros Communications, Inc.

7. The command 'iwlist scan wlan0' returns:
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down.

8. The command 'lsb_release -d' returns:
Description: Ubuntu 12.04.1 LTS

9. The command 'uname -mr' returns:
3.2.0-32-generic-pae i686

10. The command 'sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart' returns:
Running etc/init.d/networking restart is deprecated because it may not enable again some interfaces.
* Reconfiguring network interfaces ...

After that, the command 'iwlist scan wlan0' still returns:
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

From all this I gather that Ubuntu recognizes the Wireless card as an Ethernet card, and therefore can't make any connections, thinking that the connection is simply down.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Chris Adams.

[chili555]

From all this I gather that Ubuntu recognizes the Wireless card as an Ethernet card, and therefore can't make any connections, thinking that the connection is simply down.

Interesting, but probably not the case. Let's see:

rfkill list all

[ChristopherAdams]

When I run the command 'rfkill list all', I get:

0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no

[chili555]

No hardware switch problem....we then wonder why:

*-network DISABLED
Description: Wireless Interface
Product: AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
Vendor: Atheros Communications, Inc.

Please detach the ethernet cable and reboot so we have a clean slate and run and post:

dmesg | grep ath

You may then reconnect with ethernet to post the result.

[ChristopherAdams]

chili555 wrote:

Please detach the ethernet cable and reboot so we have a clean slate and run and post:

dmesg | grep ath

OK, here is the result:

[    8.345273] ath5k 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
[    8.345303] ath5k 0000:03:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[    8.345458] ath5k 0000:03:00.0: registered as 'phy0'
[    8.849231] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x65
[    8.849239] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a direct regpair map
[    8.849248] ath: Country alpha2 being used: 00
[    8.849252] ath: Regpair used: 0x65
[    8.903635] Registered led device: ath5k-phy0::rx
[    8.903734] Registered led device: ath5k-phy0::tx
[    8.903771] ath5k phy0: Atheros AR2425 chip found (MAC: 0xe2, PHY: 0x70)

[chili555]

Very interesting. There is nothing obviously wrong we can see to fix. Let's have a look at a few things. First, are all the dependencies loaded:

lsmod | grep -e ath -e 80211

Second, is a wireless interface created:

iwconfig

Next, is Network Manager in exclusive control:

cat /etc/network/interfaces

Now, is there a problem with the PCI bus to whick the card is attached:

lspci -nn | grep 0280

Part of the data retuned is the bus number; for example, from my machine:

chili@LAPTOP410:~$ lspci -nn | grep 0280
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6200 [8086:4239] (rev 35)

We'd like you to find out the bus number and check dmesg for problems:

dmesg | grep 03:00  <--substitute your finding here

Last, we wonder if there is an error or warning in dmesg that prevents your PCI device from starting:

dmesg | grep -i -e warn -e error