[SOLVED] ath5k wireless driver problem

[theTimes]

Hi all,

I am using a Winstron CM9 pci card. The Debian installation I have already has the ath5k driver included. I can scan for networks, I can run a routing protocol using my wireless interface. But most odd of all l cannot read any values for noise etc:

iw dev wlan0 survey dump

it fails:

command failed: Operation not supported (-95)

I thought that iw supported this command survey dump.

any help is greatly appreciated.

[atreyu]

I had a similar problem once before with the iwconfig tools which was fixed by updating the package. Anyway your command works on my system okay.

# iw --version
iw version 3.3

# ethtool -i wlan0
driver: ath9k
version: 3.3.7-1.fc17.i686.PAE
firmware-version: N/A
bus-info: 0000:02:00.0
supports-statistics: no
supports-test: no
supports-eeprom-access: no
supports-register-dump: no
supports-priv-flags: no

# modinfo ath9k
filename:       /lib/modules/3.3.7-1.fc17.i686.PAE/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ath9k.ko
license:        Dual BSD/GPL
description:    Support for Atheros 802.11n wireless LAN cards.
author:         Atheros Communications
alias:          platform:ar934x_wmac
alias:          platform:ar933x_wmac
alias:          platform:ath9k
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000034sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000033sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000032sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000030sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000002Esv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000002Dsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000002Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000002Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd0000002Asv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000029sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000027sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000024sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v0000168Cd00000023sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        ath9k_hw,ath9k_common,mac80211,cfg80211,ath
intree:         Y
vermagic:       3.3.7-1.fc17.i686.PAE SMP mod_unload 686 
parm:           debug:Debugging mask (uint)
parm:           nohwcrypt:Disable hardware encryption (int)
parm:           blink:Enable LED blink on activity (int)
parm:           btcoex_enable:Enable wifi-BT coexistence (int)

[theTimes]

Hi atreyu

this post was extremely helpful. However the solution required both an update of the iw package and my driver. I had installed the update of iw and still had issues, so I ran one of the commands you posed : modinfo, only to discover that for my distribution (I am using 2.6.32 - for amd geode processors- I am running an Alix pc engine) the ath5k driver was verion 0.6 experimental. So I got the latest compat-wireless package and installed it and now everything works fine, I will post the following in case another poor soul has the same issue as me:

compat-wireless-2012-09-18

iw-3.3

I downloaded them on my computer and then just copied them across to the CF card. then I did the following:

remountrw
rebind on
chroot /ro

apt-get install libnl-dev
apt-get purge iw
cd /iw3.3/
make
make install

cd /compat-wireless-2012-09-18/
./scripts/driver-select atheros
make
make install
make wlunload wireless modules
modprobe ath5k

history -c ; exit
rebind off
remountro

shutdown -r -t secs 0

Once the Alix has booted you can check system info:

ethtool -i wlan0 //this might need to be installed

modinfo ath5k

Now the command iw dev wlan0 survey dump, works:

Survey data from wlan0
frequency: 2412 MHz
noise: -95 dBm
channel active time: 0 ms
channel busy time: 0 ms
channel receive time: 0 ms
channel transmit time: 0 ms


Regards
Dominic

[theTimes]

I should clarify that the lines:

remountrw
rebind on
chroot /ro
...
history -c ; exit
rebind off
remountro

Are used only for Alix boards, as these commands allow you to access the CF card memory which is otherwise set to be read only. You can omit them safely if you are using a debian distribution on a common pc/laptop etc.