Atheros wireless does work

As you have probably guessed from my previous posts, I'm running Kubuntu w/ KDE 3.5.5 and kernel 2.6.17.10-generic. The device is recognized in System Settings but I cannot connect in the Wireless assistant to my WPA-SPK enabled network. I found that I need to install the Mad Wifi driver package but its a tarball and I have no idea how to install tarballs. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

install the network-manager application from the apt-get repositories, and that should install your WPA- PSK compatible connections. Google around on the ubuntu forums, they have all this information and more.

 

So Kubuntu does not support WPA-PSK when freshly installed. Thanks. Does Kubuntu come with madwifi drivers on board or do I have to install them? Since my card is the Atheros 5004G I think I need it.

 

you will need an extra package because of the license that madwifi comes under.

do not bother with .tar archives for now, always go to the synaptic package manager and use the search function. this way you won't run into problems with not having the correct dependencies for whatever program you're trying to install. what I usually do is read up on a program that I would like, then try a synaptic search.

I would recommend you open synaptic and hit the search button and search for madwifi. You'll want the linux-restricted-modules-2.6.17-10-generic package.

I replied to your other thread on how to enable WPA-PSK encryption using network-manager

 

I just realized that you may not have all the repositories enabled yet.

In your system admin menu/panel (I don't use KDE, so where ever your system settings are,) look for something called "Software Sources" you should make sure that the main, universe, multiverse and restricted repositories are all enabled.

just wanted to mention that it's cool that you're sticking with it and getting things resolved.

 

You have to open up the adept package manager, then go to the options and enable the repositories, and add "multiverse" to any lines that include "universe" in them. Just separate them with a space.

 

Thanks for the help. Everything but the wireless is working, but I have no complaints. It even installed video drivers for me.

 

have you tried getting the linux-restricted-modules package yet?

 

Yes I have, so I have the madwifi driver already installed. I'm trying the network manager right now but unfortunately it has only detected "Wired Devices", I don't have a wireless connection. I tried using KWifimanager but it did not detect any networks even though I'm sitting beside the router. I've also tried disabling WPA-PSK encryption but the connection still failed.

On the other hand the wireless assistant 0.5.5 (default wireless manager for Kubuntu) also seems to have a bug, one that causes connection problems, which hopefully will be fixed soon. More on it here:

https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/wlassistant/+bug/64841

"Latest news are that a patch as been prepared. An update to Wlanassistant will be made available after a seven day waiting period."

I'm really running out of options. This problem can be fixed, I just don't know what to do. At this point, unless you guys have more suggestions, I can only hope that this fix will get my Atheros wireless moving, but I'm not too confident about that seeing as its a fix for a program and not a driver. Here is some more info (sudo ifconfig) on the hardware I'm running:
ath0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:11:F5:1E D:59
inet6 addr: fe80::211:f5ff:fe1e:dd59/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0F:B0:38:3A:00
inet addr:192.168.1.5 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20f:b0ff:fe38:3a00/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:11950 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:7634 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:16307090 (15.5 MiB) TX bytes:839281 (819.6 KiB)
Interrupt:193 Base address:0x6800

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:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

wifi0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-11-F5-1E-DD-59-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:106 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:199
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:5247 (5.1 KiB)
Interrupt:201 Memory:dcb60000-dcb70000

 

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/W...head-2e426b202454e898950d58705107ed41c99dc25b

try working through this guide... it should be thorough enough.

 

Woah! That ought to keep me busy for a while! Thanks, I'll work on it. Do you think the Wireless Assistant fix might solve my problem?

 

actually, I just thought of two things you could check

1) it may sound silly, but is there a wifi enable/disable button on you laptop and is it enabled?

2) type iwconfig in a terminal and post the output.

 

iwconfig lo
no wireless extensions.

wifi0
no wireless extensions.

ath0
IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"Michael"

Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated

Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power:16 dBm Sensitivity=0/3

Retry ff RTS thr ff Fragment thr ff

Power Management ff

Link Quality=0/94 Signal level=-95 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm

Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0

Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

eth0
no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

 

well, that at least confirms that the hardware is working properly.

is "Michael" the SSID of your router's wifi connection? I'm guessing this is a problem with WPA... maybe try going into your router's configuration and temporarily disabling any security to see if you can connect at all wirelessly.

actually, try this series of commands in a terminal:

Code:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install wpasupplicant

sudo apt-get install knetworkmanager network-manager

sudo kwrite /etc/network/interfaces

Comment out everything other than “lo” entries in that file and save the file

Create a file called /etc/default/wpasupplicant, add entry ENABLED=0 and save the file

sudo kwrite /etc/default/wpasupplicant

Reboot your system or use the following command

sudo /etc/init.d/dbus restart

 

How do I add the entry? How do I enter the root file system?

I have tried disabling WPA and connecting again, but it didn't work.

 

OK BigV, here are the results of my troubleshooting. It's long, but it's pretty thorough:

Troubleshooting Wireless Under Kubuntu Linux​

This troubleshooting process was done according to a Wiki article for Ubuntu 6.10LTS on fixing wireless. The link is provided by BigV. The underlined titles below denote the troubleshooting area. <> symbols denote commands. The plain text below the command is the output. The bold text makes suggestions based on output information.
Initial conditions to note:
Wireless Assistant detects the network Michael, so does Network Manager.

Additional information according to Network Settings:
ESSID: Michael
Connection Config: DHCP
Password type: plain (ASCII)
Host Name: cleopatra (laptop name)
Domain name: none
DNS Servers: 192.168.1.1

Here we go...

Seeking Network
<sudo iwlist ath0 scan>

Cell 11 Address:
00:14:6C:46:5A:FE
ESSID:"Michael"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=38/94 Signal level=57
dBm Noise level=95 dBm
Encryption key n
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

This indicates that the device and driver are probably working properly.
MadWifi is installed in a modular pack w/ video and audio drivers. All drivers are looking good.


Pinging
<ping c 4 192.168.1.1>
connect: Network is unreachable
Failed to get response from network router.

<ping c 4 192.168.3.1>

Turned on spare router for second test. Failed to get response.

<sudo route add default gw 192.168.1.1 dev ath0>
SIOCADDRT: Network is unreachable

Static IP ping failed.

Device Recognition
<lshw>

*network:
0
description: Wireless interface
product: AR5212 802.11abg NIC
vendor: Atheros Communications, Inc.
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@02:02.0
logical name: wifi0
version: 01
serial: 00:11:f5:1e:dd:59
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath_pci multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g
resources: iomemory:e8200000e820ffff irq:201

Device found.

<lspci>

*network:
0
description: Wireless interface
product: AR5212 802.11abg NIC
vendor: Atheros Communications, Inc.
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@02:02.0
logical name: wifi0
version: 01
serial: 00:11:f5:1e:dd:59
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wire
less
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath_pci multicast=yes wirele
ss=IEEE 802.11g
resources: iomemory:e8200000e820ffff irq:
201

Device recognized successfully.

<sudo pccardctl ident>
Socket 0:
no product info available

“If you get no output then the memory on the card cannot be read which could be the problem.”

No device output; the device is recognized, but not responding.

Router MAC Addresses
<iwlist accesspoints>

Peers/AccessPoints in range:
00:12:17:40:80:AA : Quality=14/94 Signal level=81 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:16:B6:E6:69:5E : Quality=16/94 Signal level=79 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:14:BF:4B:1B:0E : Quality=5/94 Signal level=90 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:14:6C:46:5A:FE : Quality=37/94 Signal level=58 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:14:BF:20:EA:16 : Quality=9/94 Signal level=86 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:18:39:8C:23:18 : Quality=19/94 Signal level=76 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:04:E2:91:74 A : Quality=13/94 Signal level=82 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:12:17:1C:6A B : Quality=4/94 Signal level=91 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:06:25:76:44:15 : Quality=7/94 Signal level=88 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:16:B6:19:98:24 : Quality=7/94 Signal level=88 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:09:5B:C9:1A:2C : Quality=5/94 Signal level=90 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:16:B6:E6:65:3E : Quality=4/94 Signal level=91 dBm Noise level=95 dBm
00:12:17:1A:3B:FD : Quality=1/94 Signal level=94 dBm Noise level=95 dBm

Network router (00:14:6C:46:5A:FE) among these detected signals.

Encryption
<iwlist encryption>
lo no encryption keys information.

wifi0 no encryption keys information.

ath0 3 key sizes : 40, 104, 128bits 4 keys available :
Error reading wireless keys (SIOCGIWENCODE): Operation not permitted
Authentication capabilities :
WPA
WPA2
CIPHER TKIP
CIPHER CCMP
Current key_mgmt:0x3
Current cipher_pairwise:0x10
Current cipher_group:0x4

eth0 no encryption keys information.
sit0 no encryption keys information.

Wireless card (ath0) has failed to read encryption.

<iwpriv ath0 authmode 2>
Interface doesn't accept private ioctl...
authmode (8BE0): Operation not permitted

“Madwifi driver needs to change to authmode 2 when using shared key setting.
• manually from command line iwpriv ath0 authmode 2”

This command configures the MadWifi driver for WPA-PSK encryption. It failed to do so. WTF.

Conclusion​

All the results of this troubleshooter are messed up. The device is recognized and can detect networks, yet it did not respond on command. The network and router have both been detected. It would appear that if anything, the wireless card is to blame. In one of the commands above, it failed to respond. This suggests that it’s “memory cannot be read” according to the troubleshooting guide. At the same time it failed to read the WPA shared encryption. WPAsupplicant software is installed and up-to-date, as are all device drivers including Madwifi. The Atheros card must be the source of the problem.

 

i'll agree that the results don't make much sense, but there's something I noticed which I should have asked first.

network-manager will conflict with any networking settings that are entered in the system settings panels. to try and fix this, do the following.

First, open your network settings panel and delete any manually entered options.

This will make a backup of the configuration, just in case.

Code:

sudo cp /etc/network/interfaces /etc/network/interfaces.old

Now we will open the file for editing.

Code:

sudo kedit /etc/network/interfaces

This should open up a text editor, the contents of which should look something like:

Code:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

auto eth2
iface eth2 inet dhcp

auto ath0
iface ath0 inet dhcp

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp

If it's not exactly the same, that's fine. What you need to do is "comment out" all of the options except the one for the "loopback" interface. What this means is that lines starting with a hash mark (#) are comments in Linux config files, and are ignored when grabbing settings. So, put a hash mark in front of everything but the "lo" interface. When finished, the file should look something like:

Code:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

#auto eth0
#iface eth0 inet dhcp

#auto eth1
#iface eth1 inet dhcp

#auto eth2
#iface eth2 inet dhcp

#auto ath0
#iface ath0 inet dhcp

#auto wlan0
#iface wlan0 inet dhcp

Save the file, and reboot. This will essentially break the functionality of the ifdown and ifup commands, however, it will give control over to network-manager.

 

I think we're getting somewhere! The connection is shown as "active" although I have no internet. The settings are wiped clean and the settings are reset, completely untouched. The network manager has a "Configure Network Settings" option in the little taskbar menu, but it takes me to Network Settings. Is that OK? Can I just start configuring?

Sorry for all the questions, but from the code you gave me it looks like you did wipe clean all the settings, and you've handed over complete control of network settings to the manager alone, correct? So I should do all my configuration from there? Can I use Wireless Assistant? What are these "ifdown" and "ifup" commands?

 

here's the rub, I'm not using KDE unfortunately, so I don't know what the dialogs should look like exactly. when you say network manager, is it a little icon in your system tray? Does it look like the screenshot on this page? http://en.opensuse.org/Image:Knetworkmanager.png

from what I've been able to read, ONLY knetworkmanager will integrate WPA encryption, so you don't want to use wireless assistant.

don't worry about ifup or ifdown, they're programs that allow you to automatically configure your network devices in the terminal based on the settings in the /etc/network/interfaces file.

 

Yes, I have knetwork manager installed. I'm unsure of what to do.

 

when you click on the knetworkmanager icon, what pops up on the menu? anything?

 

when I left-click on the menu, I get the following "devices"
ath0
eth0
wifi0

Clicking on ath0 activates it (I see the wireless health bars in the taskbar icon) but I don't get a connection. And underneath I have the following options "Configure Network Settings" which takes me to the "Network Settings" in "System Settings"

 

hmmm... I'll be honest and say that I'm pretty much stumped.

have you tried changing the router's configuration to no encryption? just do this temporarily to see the problem is with the wifi connection or the encryption.

 

I'm at a loss too. I tried disabling encryption a while ago and it didn't work. But right now the wireless card is not configured, so maybe I can start from the ground up. But for now I'll just have to contemplate it while my laptop is out for repair. It's going to be a few weeks, so I'll bring the topic up again some other time. Thanks for all the help BigV.

 

no prob, hopefully things can get sorted.