Lenovo G480 / Atheros AR8162 woes: unable to initiate wired/dsl

[sanhing]

It was time to retire the Lenovo G430 that had run happily with 10.04/10.10/11.04. Out with old, in with the new: Lenovo G480. It's loaded with Windows 7. Nuked Windows 7 and installed 11.04 via a cd. Everything hunky dory, except unable to fire up dsl on ubuntu.

I came here two weeks ago, to no avail. Since when I have installed Windows 7, which does give me DSL. But having now installed as dual boot 12.04, I am still unable to go wired/dsl.

I have been all over the forums. And made a beginning thanks to the sticky on Absolute Begiiners Page: "Linux Command Line Learning Resources". But still not found a solution.

Can someone help me, please.

For starters:

ifconfig
jem@ubuntu:~$ ifconfig
lo Link encap: Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:24 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1456 (1.4 KB) TX bytes:1456 (1.4 KB)
----
That's it, that's all.
----

Here's lshw -C network
jem@ubuntu:~$ sudo lshw -C network
*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Ethernet controller
product: AR8162 Fast Ethernet
vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
version: 08
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm pciexpress msi msix bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=0
resources: memory:d3500000-d353ffff ioport:2000(size=128)
*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
product: BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 01
serial: 08:ed:b9:98:d6:39
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=brcmsmac driverversion=3.2.0-23-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
resources: irq:17 memory:d3400000-d3403fff
jem@ubuntu:~$
---

Are there any clues there? Is there something else you need to sort out the problem?

You see, I am sure this is solvable. But not by me alone. I am hoping someone out there may help! I have really grown to love ubuntu. I really don't want to have to continue dual booting and choosing Windowz. Cheers!

[chili555]

First, we need to associate a driver with your ethernet card; it currently has none:

*-network UNCLAIMED
description: Ethernet controller
product: AR8162 Fast Ethernet
vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.

In order to figure out what driver we need, we need more information. Please run and post:

lspci -nn | grep 0200

The pipe symbol | is on the right side of my US keyboard on the same key with \. Thanks.

[sanhing]

First, we need to associate a driver with your ethernet card; it currently has none:In order to figure out what driver we need, we need more information. Please run and post:

lspci -nn | grep 0200

The pipe symbol | is on the right side of my US keyboard on the same key with \. Thanks.

Hi, chili555.
Here:
jem@ubuntu:~$ lspci -nn | grep 0200
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR8162 Fast Ethernet [1969:1090] (rev 08)
jem@ubuntu:~$

[chili555]

Atheros Communications Inc. AR8162 Fast Ethernet [1969:1090]

Your device works with the elusive driver alx. My long delay in responding was because I was working out how and where to get it working. It will require big downloads and we'll need to get your wireless working first. Do you have an available wireless network you can connect to?

*-network DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
product: BCM4313 802.11b/g/n Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
logical name: wlan0
<snip>
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=brcmsmac driverversion=3.2.0-23-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
resources: irq:17 memory:d3400000-d3403fff

You have the driver in place and I assume the wireless is disabled because the switch is set to OFF. Confirm:

rfkill list all

Flip it to ON and get an internet connection. Then open a terminal and do:

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-generic build-essential
wget http://www.orbit-lab.org/kernel/compat-wireless-3-stable/v3.5/compat-wireless-3.5.1-1-snpc.tar.bz2
tar -xf compat-wireless-3.5.1-1-snpc.tar.bz2
cd compat-wireless-3.5.1-1-snpc
./scripts/driver-select alx
make
sudo make install
sudo modprobe alx

Your wired ethernet should now be working.

[sanhing]

[QUOTE=chili555;12206393]Your device works with the elusive driver alx. My long delay in responding was because I was working out how and where to get it working. It will require big downloads and we'll need to get your wireless working first. Do you have an available wireless network you can connect to?

Chili555,

Wireless not available here; that's why I need wired/dsl.

FYI, in BIOS I can enable/disable 'wireless', but no such option available for ethernet or suchlike.

It's past midnight here on a little island in the South China Sea. I am logging out. Will check in on Friday as today on my old laptop.. In the meantime, many thanks for your assistance.

[chili555]

Wireless not available here; that's why I need wired/dsl.

That's too bad. Installing the driver alx will be challenging without it. If you can download the packages to your Windows partition and then transfer them on a USB key, CD or similar, then we can get the job done. First, let's get build-essential: http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/build-essential

Download the package as appropriate to your architecture; either i386 (32-bit) or amd64 (64-bit). Find out which you have with this command:

arch

32-bit will report as i686 and 64-bit as x86_64.

The red dots indicate that the package build-essential depends on dpkg-dev, g++, gcc, libc6-dev or libc-dev and make. Download those packages also.

Now for linux-headers: http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?ke...se&section=all As you can see, you can download linux-headers-generic or linux-headers-generic-pae. Find out which you need with:

uname -r

This package depends on the headers matching your running kernel. That means that, in addition to the 'generic' or generic-pae' package, you'll also need linux-headers for your kernel. For example, if the uname -r command shows that you are running 3.2.0-23-generic, you will need linux-headers-3.2.0-23-generic.

Once you have all these on a USB key or CD, drag and drop these on to the desktop of your Ubuntu installation. Open a terminal and do:

cd Desktop
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

The wildcard * means to install every .deb package on your desktop. We hope there are no missing dependencies, but if so, go here, download and install them, too: http://packages.ubuntu.com/

Now for compat-wireless. Download this package and transfer it to your Ubuntu desktop. http://www.orbit-lab.org/kernel/comp...1-snpc.tar.bz2

Then install it:

cd Desktop
tar -xf compat-wireless-3.5.1-1-snpc.tar.bz2
cd compat-wireless-3.5.1-1-snpc
./scripts/driver-select alx
make
sudo make install
sudo modprobe alx

Post back any errors or problems; I'll be glad to help.

We are many timezones apart, so I will look for your post early tomorrow morning.

[sanhing]

That's too bad. Installing the driver alx will be challenging without it. If you can download the packages to your Windows partition and then transfer them on a USB key, CD or similar, then we can get the job done. First, let's get build-essential: http://packages.ubuntu.com/precise/build-essential

Download the package as appropriate to your architecture; either i386 (32-bit) or amd64 (64-bit). Find out which you have with this command:

arch

32-bit will report as i686 and 64-bit as x86_64.

The red dots indicate that the package build-essential depends on dpkg-dev, g++, gcc, libc6-dev or libc-dev and make. Download those packages also.

Now for linux-headers: http://packages.ubuntu.com/search?ke...se&section=all As you can see, you can download linux-headers-generic or linux-headers-generic-pae. Find out which you need with:

uname -r

This package depends on the headers matching your running kernel. That means that, in addition to the 'generic' or generic-pae' package, you'll also need linux-headers for your kernel. For example, if the uname -r command shows that you are running 3.2.0-23-generic, you will need linux-headers-3.2.0-23-generic.

Once you have all these on a USB key or CD, drag and drop these on to the desktop of your Ubuntu installation. Open a terminal and do:

cd Desktop
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

The wildcard * means to install every .deb package on your desktop. We hope there are no missing dependencies, but if so, go here, download and install them, too: http://packages.ubuntu.com/

Now for compat-wireless. Download this package and transfer it to your Ubuntu desktop. http://www.orbit-lab.org/kernel/comp...1-snpc.tar.bz2

Then install it:

cd Desktop
tar -xf compat-wireless-3.5.1-1-snpc.tar.bz2
cd compat-wireless-3.5.1-1-snpc
./scripts/driver-select alx
make
sudo make install
sudo modprobe alx

Post back any errors or problems; I'll be glad to help.

We are many timezones apart, so I will look for your post early tomorrow morning.

Chili555, many thanks for all you have done. I have followed your (easy-to-follow) instructions and now downloaded all the stuff.
However, some years ago I vowed I would never again do any major installations at night. After a long day, tiredeness can lead ot snafusI So, if you don't mind, I will wait until daylight on Saturday to install. And let you know the result soon after. Again, many thanks for all your help.

[chili555]

So, if you don't mind, I will wait until daylight on Saturday to install.

No problem at all. I will look forward to your success!

[sanhing]

Chili555 (and everyone else), I am delighted to report that thanks to your know-how and easy-to-follow instructions I am now connected via wired/dsl to the interwebs. Life looked bleak and now it's bright again. Many, many thanks!

[chili555]

Woo hoo! That is awesome news! Great job.

As with any driver or module that's compiled from source code, it was compiled against your running kernel version only. When you get updates and get a newer kernel version, also known as linux-image, you will need to recompile:

cd Desktop/compat-wireless-3.5.1-1-snpc
make clean
./scripts/driver-select alx
make
sudo make install
sudo modprobe alx

You might copy these instructions to your desktop so you'll recall when the time comes.

The alx driver is a new arrival and you've worked out a successful install. So the searchers can find the fix, please use thread tools at the top and mark Solved.