[SOLVED] help, wireless stopped working

**rma88** · 09-02-2009

Hey everyone, I've been using my wireless cards (intel 3945abg and atheros) to connect to my schools wpa network for the last few weeks. now for some reason i cannot connect, it just tries and tries and eventually fails. here is the line that syslog continually spits out at me :

Sep 2 11:16:46 mdtop NetworkManager: <info> Old device 'wlan1' activating, won't change.

It just repeats that over and over, for both the intel (wla1) and the atheros (ath0). I'm not really sure what happened, as it's been working fine for a few weeks. Any help is greatly appreciated, i live through wireless lol.

Thanks!

**odcheck** · 09-02-2009

1st of all why do you use two wlan cards?
I guess that the atheros is the one that's no build in'
next I guess it's a pcmcia card.
If am correct so far please give me an output of lspci -v and
lsmod, also /etc/modules and from /etc/network/interfaces

What happens if you remove the atheros card and you only give the minipci card a try?

- other solution would be remove the network-manager and install wicd as kind of test suite. (replacement for network-manager)

**rma88** · 09-03-2009

Thanks for the responce.

I use 2 cards for many, many things...
Yes atheros is the one that's not built it, no it's not pcmcia. It's minipci as well.

I might give wicd I try since I've always used network-manager; however, that might be a workaround rather than a fix.

Okay, well the output for those commands fairly long, but here ya go :
lspci -v

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
	Memory behind bridge: ed000000-efefffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000d0000000-00000000dfffffff
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
	Memory at efffc000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: HDA Intel
	Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=0b, subordinate=0b, sec-latency=0
	Memory behind bridge: ecf00000-ecffffff
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=0c, subordinate=0c, sec-latency=0
	Memory behind bridge: ece00000-ecefffff
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=0d, subordinate=0e, sec-latency=0
	I/O behind bridge: 0000e000-0000efff
	Memory behind bridge: ecc00000-ecdfffff
	Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000e0000000-00000000e01fffff
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: pcieport-driver
	Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
	I/O ports at bf80 [size=32]
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
	I/O ports at bf60 [size=32]
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
	I/O ports at bf40 [size=32]
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
	I/O ports at bf20 [size=32]
	Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd
	Kernel modules: uhci-hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 20 [EHCI])
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 20
	Memory at ffa80000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
	Kernel modules: ehci-hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1) (prog-if 01 [Subtractive decode])
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
	Bus: primary=00, secondary=03, subordinate=03, sec-latency=32
	Memory behind bridge: ecb00000-ecbfffff
	Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt, intel-rng

00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller (rev 01) (prog-if 80 [Master])
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 17
	I/O ports at 01f0 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 03f4 [size=1]
	I/O ports at 0170 [size=8]
	I/O ports at 0374 [size=1]
	I/O ports at bfa0 [size=16]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ata_piix
	Kernel modules: ata_piix

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 17
	I/O ports at 10c0 [size=32]
	Kernel driver in use: i801_smbus
	Kernel modules: i2c-i801

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G72M [GeForce Go 7400] (rev a1) (prog-if 00 [VGA controller])
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 4
	Memory at ed000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
	Memory at ee000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
	[virtual] Expansion ROM at ef000000 [disabled] [size=128K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel modules: nvidiafb, nvidia

03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Dell XPS M1210
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 64, IRQ 17
	Memory at ecbfe000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: b44
	Kernel modules: b44

03:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (prog-if 10 [OHCI])
	Subsystem: Dell Device 01d7
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 19
	Memory at ecbfd800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ohci1394
	Kernel modules: ohci1394

03:01.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 19) (prog-if 01)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 01d7
	Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 18
	Memory at ecbfd400 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: sdhci
	Kernel modules: sdhci

03:01.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C843 MMC Host Controller (rev 0a)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 01d7
	Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9
	Memory at ecbfd500 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ricoh-mmc
	Kernel modules: ricoh_mmc

03:01.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 05)
	Subsystem: Dell Device 01d7
	Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 9
	Memory at ecbfd600 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
	Capabilities: <access denied>

03:01.4 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev ff) (prog-if ff)
	!!! Unknown header type 7f

0b:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
	Subsystem: Giga-byte Technology Device e913
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
	Memory at ecff0000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: ath_pci
	Kernel modules: ath5k, ath_pci

0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)
	Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 1020
	Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 219
	Memory at eceff000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
	Capabilities: <access denied>
	Kernel driver in use: iwl3945
	Kernel modules: iwl3945

Here is lsmod :

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
wlan_wep                5312  1 
vmnet                  33064  13 
vmblock                11332  3 
vmmon                 924772  0 
binfmt_misc             7528  1 
rfcomm                 28272  0 
l2cap                  17248  5 rfcomm
ppdev                   6500  0 
parport_pc             22500  0 
lp                      8164  0 
parport                30988  3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
ipv6                  235364  16 
acpi_cpufreq            6796  1 
cpufreq_ondemand        6476  1 
cpufreq_userspace       3172  0 
cpufreq_conservative     5960  0 
cpufreq_powersave       1856  0 
cpufreq_stats           3776  0 
freq_table              4224  3 acpi_cpufreq,cpufreq_ondemand,cpufreq_stats
ext2                   54504  1 
sbp2                   18572  0 
loop                   12748  0 
joydev                  8480  0 
psmouse                32336  0 
serio_raw               4740  0 
snd_usb_audio          70304  0 
i2c_i801                7920  0 
snd_hda_intel         325688  0 
pcspkr                  2432  0 
snd_usb_lib            13440  1 snd_usb_audio
i2c_core               19828  1 i2c_i801
uvcvideo               45704  0 
compat_ioctl32          1312  1 uvcvideo
videodev               27520  1 uvcvideo
snd_hwdep               6212  1 snd_usb_audio
v4l1_compat            12260  2 uvcvideo,videodev
arc4                    1824  2 
snd_pcm_oss            32832  0 
snd_mixer_oss          12320  1 snd_pcm_oss
hci_usb                12252  2 
bluetooth              44868  7 rfcomm,l2cap,hci_usb
ecb                     2624  2 
snd_pcm                62596  3 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
iTCO_wdt                9508  0 
snd_seq_dummy           2660  0 
rng_core                3940  0 
wlan_scan_sta          11200  1 
video                  16432  0 
output                  2912  1 video
snd_seq_oss            24992  0 
snd_seq_midi            5728  0 
snd_rawmidi            18528  2 snd_usb_lib,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event      6432  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                41456  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              17800  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device          6380  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
battery                10180  0 
iwl3945                78772  0 
mac80211              139712  1 iwl3945
led_class               3908  1 iwl3945
cfg80211               21576  2 iwl3945,mac80211
wmi                     6440  0 
snd                    45604  11 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_intel,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
ath_rate_sample        11008  1 
button                  6096  0 
intel_agp              22556  0 
ac                      4196  0 
ath_pci               202072  0 
wlan                  193104  5 wlan_wep,wlan_scan_sta,ath_rate_sample,ath_pci
agpgart                28776  1 intel_agp
ath_hal               300672  3 ath_rate_sample,ath_pci
soundcore               6368  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          7816  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
dcdbas                  6272  0 
evdev                   8000  10 
ext3                  105512  5 
jbd                    39444  1 ext3
mbcache                 7108  2 ext2,ext3
sha256_generic         11360  0 
aes_i586                7744  2 
aes_generic            29256  1 aes_i586
cbc                     3264  1 
usbhid                 35904  0 
hid                    33184  1 usbhid
ff_memless              4392  1 usbhid
dm_crypt               11172  1 
crypto_blkcipher       15236  4 ecb,cbc,dm_crypt
dm_mirror              15104  0 
dm_log                  8484  1 dm_mirror
dm_snapshot            14340  0 
dm_mod                 46184  19 dm_crypt,dm_mirror,dm_log,dm_snapshot
sg                     26964  0 
sr_mod                 13316  0 
cdrom                  30176  1 sr_mod
sd_mod                 22200  3 
ata_piix               14180  2 
ata_generic             4676  0 
b44                    22288  0 
libata                140416  2 ata_piix,ata_generic
scsi_mod              129324  5 sbp2,sg,sr_mod,sd_mod,libata
dock                    8304  1 libata
ohci1394               24944  0 
sdhci                  13060  0 
mmc_core               39900  1 sdhci
ieee1394               75800  2 sbp2,ohci1394
ricoh_mmc               3680  0 
ssb                    33476  1 b44
pcmcia                 29548  1 ssb
pcmcia_core            31892  2 ssb,pcmcia
firmware_class          6816  2 iwl3945,pcmcia
mii                     4896  1 b44
ide_pci_generic         3908  0 [permanent]
ide_core               96136  1 ide_pci_generic
ehci_hcd               28396  0 
uhci_hcd               18672  0 
usbcore               118224  8 snd_usb_audio,snd_usb_lib,uvcvideo,hci_usb,usbhid,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
thermal                15228  0 
processor              32544  4 acpi_cpufreq,thermal
fan                     4164  0 
thermal_sys            10856  4 video,thermal,processor,fan

Here is /etc/modules :

Code:

loop
sbp2

Here is /etc/network/interfaces :

Code:

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
auto wlan1

Thanks so much, any help is greatly appreciated!

**odcheck** · 09-03-2009

This one "ath5k" is not loaded, but however, it gets refereced by "ath_pci"
Just for investigation what does modinfo ath_pci tell you?
And what happens if you issue an modprobe ath5k ?
And what about the Dell BIOS (F2) I mean this Notebook seems like a Stardestroy

two minipci slot's ? Or do you change them all the time? Open the bottom base with a screw driver and so on?
Is it possible that maybe something is turned of within the Bios?
Wireless enabled/disabled, Mini PCI enabled disabled something strange?

**rma88** · 09-03-2009

Originally Posted by odcheck

This one "ath5k" is not loaded, but however, it gets refereced by "ath_pci"
Just for investigation what does modinfo ath_pci tell you?
And what happens if you issue an modprobe ath5k ?
And what about the Dell BIOS (F2) I mean this Notebook seems like a Stardestroy

two minipci slot's ? Or do you change them all the time? Open the bottom base with a screw driver and so on?
Is it possible that maybe something is turned of within the Bios?
Wireless enabled/disabled, Mini PCI enabled disabled something strange?

odcheck, you rock, thanks so much for the help. Okay, I'll try to help you out as best as possible.

modinfo ath_pci :

Code:

filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.26-2-686/kernel/drivers/net/ath_pci.ko
license:        Dual BSD/GPL
version:        svn r3772
description:    Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards.
author:         Errno Consulting, Sam Leffler
srcversion:     5552256905B159E11968545
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00009013sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000024sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000023sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000001Dsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000001Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000001Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000001Asv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000019sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000018sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000017sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000016sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000015sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000101Asv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00001014sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000010B7d00000013sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000A727d00000013sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000013sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000012sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000007sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        ath_hal,wlan
vermagic:       2.6.26-2-686 SMP mod_unload modversions 686 
parm:           beacon_cal:int
parm:           countrycode:Override default country code.  Default is 0. (int)
parm:           maxvaps:Maximum VAPs.  Default is 4. (int)
parm:           outdoor:Enable/disable outdoor use.  Default is 0. (int)
parm:           xchanmode:Enable/disable extended channel mode. (int)
parm:           rfkill:Enable/disable RFKILL capability.  Default is 0. (int)
parm:           hal_tpc:Disables manual per-packet transmit power control and lets this be managed by the HAL.  Default is OFF. (int)
parm:           autocreate:Create ath device in [sta|ap|wds|adhoc|ahdemo|monitor] mode. defaults to sta, use 'none' to disable (charp)
parm:           ratectl:Rate control algorithm [amrr|minstrel|onoe|sample], defaults to 'sample' (charp)
parm:           intmit:Enable interference mitigation by default.  Default is 0. (int)
parm:           ath_debug:Load-time driver debug output enable (int)
parm:           ieee80211_debug:Load-time 802.11 debug output enable (int)

modprobe ath5k executes successfully. no output.

Code:

mdtop:~# modprobe ath5k
mdtop:~#

lol...yes this is the star destroyer, its a dell xps m1210

... several bells and whistles.

Well see as far as the BIOS goes and something being turned off, that could be it; however, my wireless works for WEP and non encrypted networks. BUT, all of a sudden I can no longer connect to my schools WPA network. Now it had been working just fine, now suddenly I simply cannot (thank goodness for a 'public' school network that is unencrypted

) and I receive the :

Code:

Sep  3 11:26:48 mdtop NetworkManager: <info>  Old device 'wlan1' activating, won't change.

Thanks soooooo much though, I really appreciate it. I'm going to create a custom wpa_supplicant.conf file and see if I can't get it to work manually. (Again, that seems like an easy fix, but the fact that it has been working the entire time and now suddenly it stops... that bothers me).

thanks!

**odcheck** · 09-03-2009

Ok so give wicd a try, just for testing so you don't have to setup a wpa-conf

**rma88** · 09-03-2009

Originally Posted by odcheck

Ok so give wicd a try, just for testing so you don't have to setup a wpa-conf

yes! it worked!!!
thanks soooo much odcheck, i really, really appreciate it. i'm back on the schools wpa as we speak

. I'm just going to hold my jaw right so it doesn't happen again lol.

Thanks so much, much appreciated.

**odcheck** · 09-03-2009

glad to hear so marked as solved I guess.
btw. sometime somethings are strange, always...

But It's always like this if something stops working from one moment to an other.
"Yesterday my grandmom watched out of the window..."

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