What's the best way to disable one of two wireless adapters?

[diablo75]

I have a small computer (Zotac Mag Mini All-in-One Giant) that has a built in wireless adapter that barely works (poor signal), so I'm using an external USB adapter instead. I would like to disable the adapter inside the PC so that in the future the computer doesn't try to reconnect to the network using the "wrong" interface.

Edit: This edit is for users who are looking for the solution to the same problem I described above. I decided to summerize what I found out in this thread here so you wouldn't have to scroll through it.

There are two ways that I've discovered to disable a network interface (or place higher priority of one over another). The best one I learned about (in this post (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=10432612&postcount=2)) is the following:

"First, obtain the MAC code of the device you want to connect. Then right-click on the NM applet icon > Edit connection > Wireless tab > highlight your connnection > edit > Wireless tab > add the MAC address to the 'Device MAC address' field > click apply button. Then, when you start up, network manager will only use the wireless device with that MAC address."

A quick way to find the MAC address of any interface is to open a terminal and type "ifconfig". All interfaces will have their MACs listed in there somewhere.

The second (not as good) solution is to determine the kernel module being using by the unwanted interface and blacklist it. I'm not going to detail this here; just scroll down to see what's involved with that. The glaring flaw in this technique is the question: What if both interfaces use the same modules? Blacklisting wouldn't work in that scenario.

[t4thfavor]

Step 1: go on ebay and pay 4USD for a set of laptop antennas that will fit your internal card.
Step 2: Tape them to the inside of the zotac case.
Step 3: Use the internal card instead of the USB one.

This works with my net top which uses a laptop style mini PCI-E card with the really small antenna plugs.

Option 2:

If the internal card uses a fixed antenna, and cannot use an aftermarket one..

Find out what driver the internal card uses, and then add that module to the /etc/blacklist file.

This will only work if you have a USB card that has a different chipset than the internal because you are essentially stopping that driver from loading.

[diablo75]

Uh, no, I'd rather just use this USB adapter; it works great and I don't need it for any other computer/laptop.

Isn't there some kind of setting somewhere that I can check off that will disable the unwanted wireless device? Or a command I can put into a terminal window that will shut it off and keep it off so it doesn't come back upon restarting?

[MartyBuntu]

Poke around in the BIOS. You might be able to disable from there.

[diablo75]

Poke around in the BIOS. You might be able to disable from there.

Did my best but there was no wireless feature listed in the BIOS (probably because it's on a PCI-E slot)...

[wep940]

If it's in a PCI-E slot, it's not truely "built-in". Just power down and remove the card.

[diablo75]

I hate to be a troll about this, but....

IN WINDOWS all I would have to do is open Control Panel>Network (interfaces), then Right-Click on the unwanted interface and select Disable.

Is there no way to disable an interface in Linux? Why should I have to bust the case of a brand new computer open (voiding the warranty) when I should be able to shut the interface off in software?

[Schuby007]

I'm trying to figure out the same thing. LOL at your bit on Windows... it's soo true.

I'm finding out that you still have to pay for "good" software...

[walt.smith1960]

I did just this. No, there's not a Linux equivalent of Control Panel that I know of, unfortunately. As others have said, find out the name of the module your built-in WiFi adapter uses. In my case the chipset was an intel 3954ABG and the module name was wl3954. Navigate to etc/modprobe.d and edit the file 'blacklist.conf'. Add the line "blacklist name_of_the_module_you_want_to_block, save & reboot.

How to determine the name of of the module you want to blacklist? I used dmesg. You might want to post the output of the command
lspci. Perhaps someone will recognize the device and know the module name.

[cascade9]

I hate to be a troll about this, but....

IN WINDOWS all I would have to do is open Control Panel>Network (interfaces), then Right-Click on the unwanted interface and select Disable.

Is there no way to disable an interface in Linux? Why should I have to bust the case of a brand new computer open (voiding the warranty) when I should be able to shut the interface off in software?

A better question is 'why would a hardware manufacturer put a wireless card in that has poor singal strength?

From what I know, opening the case doesnt void your warranty. At least here (.au) it doesnt, maybe for once we've got better consumer protection laws. :lolflag:


I'm trying to figure out the same thing. LOL at your bit on Windows... it's soo true.

I'm finding out that you still have to pay for "good" software...

Blacklist the wireless adapter. Its not rocket science.

Just because you already know how to do something in windows, and dont know how to do it with linux doesnt mean that linux is worse, or windows is better....

[eriktheblu]

Not on Ubuntu right now, but isn't there an option for this in the default panel network applet?

I would personally go with the BIOS. If it's only listed as a port, than just disable the port if you can't remove the card.

[Schuby007]

Blacklist the wireless adapter. Its not rocket science.

Just because you already know how to do something in windows, and dont know how to do it with linux doesnt mean that linux is worse, or windows is better....

I'm using "good" in this context to refer to simplicity or ease of use. I don't think it's uncommon for people to install Ubuntu on older laptops that maybe only have a G card and then install an N card for improved speed and signal strength (that's what I did). And I don't want my old card eating up battery searching for SSIDs when I'm solely using the new card. As well, I shouldn't have to dig around on the internet or go through the console for such an obvious feature. Ubuntu prides itself as being "Linux for humans"... It's almost in it's 11th version and I can't simply go into "Network Connections" and there be a hardware tab. It's frustrating.

[sbrandon]

Schuby - what is the USB adapter you are using? Did it work right out of the box?

[sbrandon]

Schuby - what is the USB adapter you are using? Did it work right out of the box?

[Schuby007]

It's a DWA-652 connected to the cardbus (PCMCIA).
EDIT: Yes, Ubuntu detected it automatically and it works perfectly. According to this forum:
http://www.backtrack-linux.org/forums/old-wireless/6587-d-link-dwa-652-a.html it's an Atheros AR5416 chipset which supports monitoring mode so I can use it to sniff wireless network traffic :D

I see I'm not the only one having trouble with Ubuntu forums duplicating posts :P

[wep940]

Just EDIT you extra posts, delete the text, and put in "Duplicate", and then at least no one would have to read it 3 or 4 times. They are aware of the problem - some of it comes from waiting so long for the server to respond when making a post, assuming something is amiss, and clicking "Submit Reply" again - many of us are guilty of that, myself included.

[DOSIX]

best way to disable the wireless is by blacklisting the module. you don't have to poke around in the bios or any of that stuff. lspci should tell you the name of the card, then you can use lsmod to find the name of the module. then just go to the blacklist file and type the names of the modules you want to keep the kernel from loading. in this way, the kernel will never load the modules, and thus ubuntu will never use the wrong interface.

if anything, post the output of


lspci

and


lsmod

and i'll be happy to help you out. i just finished going through a driver problem myself, so i ended up learning a bit about modules and just how the kernel works with them.

[DOSIX]

Open Accessories -> Terminal
Type in:

lsmod
'lsmod' lists all the installed modules that the kernel (the core of the operating system) is using.
Find the module that corresponds to the device you don't want to use. Once you have that, all you need to do is add it to the blacklist file. This will keep the kernel from loading the module, and ultimately disable the device.



sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

sudo requires you to type in your password. Asterisks don't show, just type it in and press enter.
Just copy and paste the name(s) of the module you need blacklisted all the way at the end of the file.

[DOSIX]

double post.

[DOSIX]

double post

[DOSIX]

Open Accessories -> Terminal
Type in:

lsmod
'lsmod' lists all the installed modules that the kernel (the core of the operating system) is using.
Find the module that corresponds to the device you don't want to use. Once you have that, all you need to do is add it to the blacklist file. This will keep the kernel from loading the module, and ultimately disable the device.



sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

sudo requires you to type in your password. Asterisks don't show, just type it in and press enter.
Just copy and paste the name(s) of the module you need blacklisted all the way at the end of the file.

[oldsoundguy]

google sez that you can remove the card by removing the mother board .. but that will void your warranty.

LOTS of complaints about the existing Wi-Fi, so see your problem is not unique.

[oldsoundguy]

sorry!

[diablo75]

google sez that you can remove the card by removing the mother board .. but that will void your warranty.

LOTS of complaints about the existing Wi-Fi, so see your problem is not unique.

Huh, glad I didn't follow the suggestions of others and attempt to bust the case open to attempt to remove a card that... allegedly cannot be removed.

The computer I posted this thread about is not my own and I can't access it right now, so I can't do any module black listing right now.

From the amount of froth this thread has generated I can only assume that blacklisting the correct module is the "best" way to tackle this problem at the present time. Although I can't help but remark that this "solution" is not intuitive and sounds like a hack.

[DOSIX]

every fix you make on ubuntu is a hack! that's the beauty of linux.

[BruisedQuasar07]

Diablo75,

Do not toss Linux due to this experience. Believe me,you are still better off with it over Windows.

I have a similar issue. I use Ethernet because its faster and less troublesome for me. I only
use wifi when I'm at a library or otherwise away from my home.

I've used primarily Linux four years now. I tested and played with the major Linux distros for 15
years. I am amazed at how far certain practical minded Distro project teams like Ubuntu, LinuxMint,
Simply Mepis & Puppy Linux have advanced Linux user friendliness over the last three years.

You would not believe the time investment Linux required only four years ago. Just two years ago,
many Linux newbies gave up trying to get wifi to work in their computer and many fled back to Windows
when they encountered two issues: Getting their printer to work and getting Wifi to work.

I know the difficulties Microsoft causes for Linux developers. They pressure hardware makers not to
cooperate with Linux project teams. Those road blocks leave me amazed at how in most cases Ubuntu
10.10 can automatically install laptop Wifi and printers. Just a year ago it took some knowledge and
work to get most printers up and running.

When I installed Ubuntu 10.10 in my 2010 model Thinkpad Edge wifi was working. It took seconds
to get my printer running. I only had an input issue. But it was a computer USE killer. I got some
dumb (dumb because negative) remarks when I tried to get help with the input issue. Genius replies
like "it doesn't do that in my laptop", the implication being the dishonest one that they too have an
Edge and Ubuntu works perfectly for them. Fortunately, I've been computing since Apple began. I tried
several major distros
and got the same input problem.

I knew the problem was a Linux driver problem with some new hardware in my Edge. Finally I realized
with the help of a mature young Edge owner at Linuxquestions forum that his Thinkpad X series had the same
hardware as my Edge and he found the issue was not the keyboard, AMD P529 Turion or the Graphics chipset as
I presumed. (I was kicking myself for forgetting my Linux rule to never get the latest hardware & to make
sure before I buy new that the laptop & all its hardware works in the newest distro releases. I just
continued to use my Thinkpad T-60 until I found an answer. It came a month later. I know from experience
it would just take some time. I could have been a "real man" and invested hours and hours into
pinning down the problem and the solution but I would also have lost thousands of dollars and some
fun using my time that way. This dummy earns a good living from home by studying and investing in
stocks. I'd rather USE my laptop researching to make sure I am correct that Wallstreet is wrong about
Apple and Steve Jobs and make several thousand in one day)

It was the new lenovo touchpad. Its too sensitive for existing Linux drivers. disabling the scroll pad
solved the issue.

Having said this I must point out how dramatically improved the Linux community is compared to just five to
eight years ago. I had nearly given up on linux ever being a real alternative to goofy Windows
because the community (12 or more years ago seemed dominated by socially challenged power users who spent more
time in Linux and much less using their computers than with living a real life. They intentionally
spoke in Code and shorthand so non-Linux obsessed people could not comprehend them and then insulted them when they
asked for a normal English language explanation and told them to get back to Windows when they objected to the rank
incivility.

It was not that long ago that the founders of Ubuntu, Puppy Linux, Mepis, & LinuxMint changed the basic attitude of
Linux communities.

So, hang in there. Your issue is not a huge one, nor is mine. Its just a nuisance (certainly mine is), having to
disable wireless each time I boot up.

You are absolutely correct in thinking disabling your internal wifi should be a simple menu option, I think there is
a simple solution.I find it hard to believe that the user friendly Ubuntu project team is so thick they did not know
to make it easy to disable an internal wifi card.

Meanwhile, there have always been Linux power users who want to convince Newbies they are thick or need to learn scripting
and code in order to use Linux, the conclusion being "whats a matter you? Not man enough to invest 10 hours of reading
and study for every 30 minutes of computer USE?" To that I say "What, you mean a real man mechanic invests hours into
studying his screw drivers for every hour of work?"

I could be just as ridiculous and say: "What? You want Russian "War and Peace" and ancient Chinese "Art of War"
translated into English so you can enjoy them? A real man would learn Russian and Chinese first or like many
narcissistic math professors "Its easy" and write the exact obtuse math procedure that is in the textbook on the
blackboard, implying: 'only a lazy idiot doesn't get it.' Sort of reminds me of the Americans I used to see in Asia
(1960s) who would speak English very loud and slow to a speaker of Chinese, calling him stupid when he still didn't
understand.

Pose your question @ linuxquestions.org and maybe one other appropriate section here. I will look
around too and post what I find.

--Bruised

[DOSIX]

what he says is true. ubuntu is way better than windows. for starters, how long would you have to be on the phone with an indian tech support phone operator reading a script to you to have gotten even half the information you've gotten out of this thread? the community is awesome.

[diablo75]

You guys don't need to do any preaching to convince me to stick with Linux; I've been a fan of it for several years. Though I have to express minor annoyances about it from time to time when it comes to things that I've been spoiled with since Windows 95, like disabling a network interface via the GUI with four mouse clicks. A lot else about Ubuntu is right on the ball and holds great potential for attracting mainstream OS users to an open-source platform... it's just really surprising to run into this one problem that I naively expected would have been just a strait forward and apparent as it has been in other OSs for... well, a very long time.

Anyway I'll mark this solved for now.

[diablo75]

Well I gave it my best shot but I apparently don't know what I'm doing.

So here is all the information I can muster about this system. Hope someone else can tell me what I'm forgetting to black list. I've added:

ath
ath9k
ath9k_hw
ath9k_common

To /etc/modprobe.d

But the internal wireless adapter still works just fine. Perhaps I've got too many things in this list or something. What I want is for the external, USB adapter to work and for the internal one to be disabled.

Here is the output of lsmod:


Module Size Used by
aes_i586 7280 1
aes_generic 26875 1 aes_i586
parport_pc 26058 0
ppdev 5556 0
snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi 13615 1
snd_hda_codec_realtek 218492 1
binfmt_misc 6599 1
snd_hda_intel 22203 0
snd_hda_codec 87552 3 snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda _intel
snd_hwdep 5040 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 71475 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq_midi 4588 0
arc4 1165 4
rt73usb 22442 0
crc_itu_t 1383 1 rt73usb
nvidia 9329739 38
snd_rawmidi 17783 1 snd_seq_midi
ath9k 88756 0
snd_seq_midi_event 6047 1 snd_seq_midi
rt2x00usb 9779 1 rt73usb
snd_seq 47174 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
rt2x00lib 27275 2 rt73usb,rt2x00usb
ath9k_common 5982 1 ath9k
ath9k_hw 292297 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath 8153 2 ath9k,ath9k_hw
snd_timer 19067 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 5744 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
mac80211 231959 4 ath9k,rt2x00usb,ath9k_common,rt2x00lib
snd 49038 9 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec, snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,sn d_seq_device
lp 7342 0
shpchp 29886 0
parport 31492 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
soundcore 880 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 7120 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
led_class 2633 2 ath9k,rt2x00lib
i2c_nforce2 5179 0
agpgart 32011 1 nvidia
psmouse 59033 0
cfg80211 144694 5 ath9k,ath9k_common,rt2x00lib,ath,mac80211
serio_raw 4022 0
joydev 8767 0
hid_logitech 8971 0
ff_memless 4393 1 hid_logitech
usbhid 36882 1 hid_logitech
hid 67742 2 hid_logitech,usbhid
ahci 19198 2
forcedeth 49433 0
libahci 21728 1 ahci

Output of lspci:


00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Host Bridge (rev b1)
00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 LPC Bridge (rev b2)
00:03.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.2 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SMBus (rev b1)
00:03.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)
00:03.5 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Co-processor (rev b1)
00:04.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b1)
00:04.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev b1)
00:06.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b1)
00:06.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev b1)
00:08.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP79 High Definition Audio (rev b1)
00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Bridge (rev b1)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Ethernet (rev b1)
00:0b.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SATA Controller (rev b1)
00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:15.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:16.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:17.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
00:18.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)
03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation ION VGA (rev b1)
04:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)


Output of lsusb:


Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 046d:c517 Logitech, Inc. LX710 Cordless Desktop Laser
Bus 003 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 001 Device 003: ID 13b1:0020 Linksys WUSB54GC v1 802.11g Adapter [Ralink RT73]
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub


Any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

[diablo75]

Bump.

[DOSIX]

you added it to the wrong file. can you show the output of:


ls /etc/modprobe.d

[YesWeCan]

No one has mentioned 'ifdown'.
http://linux.die.net/Linux-CLI/c8319.htm

If you are running Network Manager it will try to be helpful by automatically bringing up the primary wireless interface whenever wired is not available. I guess there is a way to configure it not to or to disable it and specify your own preferences in /etc/network/interfaces
http://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/setting-up-an-network-interfaces-file/

[DOSIX]

I think this might be your answer. I didn't even know that existed. Thanks a million YesWeCan.

[diablo75]

you added it to the wrong file. can you show the output of:


ls /etc/modprobe.d



alsa-base.conf blacklist-modem.conf
blacklist blacklist-oss.conf
blacklist-ath_pci.conf blacklist-watchdog.conf
blacklist.conf intel-5300-iwlagn-disable11n.conf
blacklist-firewire.conf ndiswrapper.conf
blacklist-framebuffer.conf nvidia-graphics-drivers.conf


Edit: I've come to realize that the "blacklist" file was created by me, but I only entered exactly the command you asked me to in a previous post on page 2:


'lsmod' lists all the installed modules that the kernel (the core of the operating system) is using.
Find the module that corresponds to the device you don't want to use. Once you have that, all you need to do is add it to the blacklist file. This will keep the kernel from loading the module, and ultimately disable the device.



sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist



So just to cut to the chase, exactly what file am I supposed to edit and exactly what modules do I need to declare blacklisted? There seem to be 4 different modules that have the letters "ath" at the beginning of the name so I can only assume them all to be involved. But do I need to black list them all?

[DOSIX]

yeah you gotta black list them all. but i think that i made a mistake in what file i told you to place the blacklisted drivers in. it seems to me like they should be put in the blacklist-ath_pci.conf file.

[diablo75]

yeah you gotta black list them all. but i think that i made a mistake in what file i told you to place the blacklisted drivers in. it seems to me like they should be put in the blacklist-ath_pci.conf file.

This did the trick. Thanks.

[DOSIX]

alright no problem.