Not able to authenticate in lubuntu 12.10 with Atheros card in netbook

**sirpatrik** · March 27th, 2013

Hi all, basically, the problem is:
lubuntu finds possible wireless networks, but for all of them it is throwing incorrect password errors. I will include some extra info to speed the process.
Thanks in advance to everyone here.

Easy answers: wired network works, the password I'm typing is correct.

Code:

netbook@netbook-NC20-NB20:~$ lspci -v
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Askey Computer Corp. Device 7130
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 28
	Memory at f5000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ath5k
	Kernel modules: ath5k

Code:

netbook@netbook-NC20-NB20:~$ iwconfig
wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          
lo        no wireless extensions.


eth0      no wireless extensions.

Code:

netbook@netbook-NC20-NB20:~$ cat /etc/resolv.conf
# Dynamic resolv.conf(5) file for glibc resolver(3) generated by resolvconf(8)
#     DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE BY HAND -- YOUR CHANGES WILL BE OVERWRITTEN
nameserver 127.0.1.1

Code:

netbook@netbook-NC20-NB20:~$ rfkill list
0: samsung-wlan: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
1: hci0: Bluetooth
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
	Soft blocked: no
	Hard blocked: no

Code:

netbook@netbook-NC20-NB20:~$ iwlist chan
wlan0     11 channels in total; available frequencies :
          Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
          Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
          Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
          Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
          Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
          Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
          Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
          Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
          Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
          Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
          Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
lo        no frequency information.


eth0      no frequency information.

Code:

netbook@netbook-NC20-NB20:~$ sudo iwlist scan
[sudo] password for netbook: 
wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: C8:64:C7:0E:0E:B2
                    Channel:1
                    Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
                    Quality=26/70  Signal level=-84 dBm  
                    Encryption key:on
                    ESSID:"gatocantropus"
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Mode:Master
                    Extra:tsf=000000163930b2d0
                    Extra: Last beacon: 92ms ago
                    IE: Unknown: 000D6761746F63616E74726F707573
                    IE: Unknown: 010882848B960C121824
                    IE: Unknown: 030101
                    IE: Unknown: 0706415220010D14
                    IE: Unknown: 2A0100
                    IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
                    IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101020003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
                    IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010000FF7F
                    IE: Unknown: DD0A00037F04010000000000


lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.


eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

Code:

sudo lshw
*-network
                descripción: Interfaz inalámbrica
                producto: AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
                fabricante: Atheros Communications Inc.
                id físico: 0
                información del bus: pci@0000:01:00.0
                nombre lógico: wlan0
                versión: 01
                serie: 00:24:d2:6a:b4:86
                anchura: 64 bits
                reloj: 33MHz
                capacidades: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
                configuración: broadcast=yes driver=ath5k driverversion=3.5.0-26-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
                recursos: irq:28 memoria:f5000000-f500ffff

(sorry for the spanish bits)

Code:

netbook@netbook-NC20-NB20:~$ grep ath5k /etc/modprobe.d/*
/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf:# which ath5k cannot recover. To prevent this condition, stop

Code:

netbook@netbook-NC20-NB20:~$ dmesg | grep ath5k
[   12.259619] ath5k 0000:01:00.0: registered as 'phy0'
[   13.491327] ath5k: phy0: Atheros AR2425 chip found (MAC: 0xe2, PHY: 0x70)

Sorry for any useless info, and thanks again!!

**sirpatrik** · March 28th, 2013

Hi again everyone.

If someone there has at least some pointers on what to read, or where to start, that will be really helpful.

Thanks again

EDIT: one last thing, if switching to lubuntu 12.04 may fix the problem, please tell me so cause I'm willing to downgrade if that solves the issue.

**steeldriver** · March 28th, 2013

The ath5k driver has historically had problems with hardware encryption - not sure the current status, but disabling it has worked for me in the past - as a temporary measure you can try

Code:

sudo modprobe -r ath5k
sudo modprobe ath5k nohwcrypt=Y

If that appears to help post back and we can write it into your modprobe conf to make the change persistent

**sirpatrik** · March 28th, 2013

Sadly, the problem persists. The sympton is the same with allo networks, but I found this:

After typing the password (correct or incorrect), the following message appears:
(32) Insufficient privileges.

**steeldriver** · March 28th, 2013

Oops sorry I read your original post quickly and misunderstood the issue

I don't know about Lubuntu specifically but if it's using network-manager then yes typically only privileged users (sudoers) can create new wireless connections easily - is the account you are using a member of the 'sudo' group?

In regular Ubuntu there's a workaround that involves creating the connection and explicitly unchecking the 'Available to all users' box, instead of simply trying to connect from the list of detected networks - if a Lubuntu expert doesn't chime in we can try to see if a similar process will work for you.

**sirpatrik** · March 28th, 2013

Hi again steeldriver, that was the problem. The user involved didn't have permission to add new connections, thus throwing the error mentioned before.
I added the user to this "sudo" group and now everything is working.

Many thanks for your tip

Regards
Patrick