atheros wireless card problems, madwifi seems fine

[crazynoodle7]

Hi, I am relatively new to linux but in the time I've spent trying to get this wireless card to work, I find that I will be comfortable with anything you guys might throw at me which might be helpful.

First off, I'm currently using mandrake 10.1 with the 2.6.8.1-12smp kernel. I have successfully compiled and installed one of the latest CVS from madwifi and my wireless device is recognized correctly as ath0.

iwconfig shows all the correct information pertaining to my card, yet with a link quality of 0/100

i created ifcfg-ath0 with this

STARTMODE=hotplug
DEVICE=ath0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
ONBOOT=yes
WIRELESS=yes
WIRELESS_MODE=Managed
WIRELESS_ESSID=home
#WIRELESS_ENC_KEY=""
MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=no
WIRELESS_IWPRIV="mode 3"

the system boots and tries to receive an ip, but i suppose it times out after about a minute and fails

i do ifdown on eth0 and lo
also ifdown then ifup on ath0 but it times out with trying to get an ip lease

iwpriv ath0 scan yields "no scan results"

i've tried setting a static ip and manually putting in my router's ip and MAC address, but that does not work either

i have tried ndiswrapper with very similar results.

the strange thing is that i have a boot cd with a live linux version on it called INSERT based on Knoppix which i sometimes use for recovering files after windows crashes. it instantly recognizes my card and im on the network in no time. however, im looking to use linux as part of a dual boot with windows XP, not running from a live cd.

ive tried suse 9.2 and slackware 10 with similar results in that i can get madwifi to show the card correctly, but dhcpcd/dhclient do not get me an ip

i appreciate any help with this problem because i've been trying to get this card to work for about a week now, and my search results always yield the same information containing things which i've already tended to.

thanks!

[pusherd]

I'm in the same boat as you... except that I'm more of a Linux Newbie than you

I'm trying to experiment with Linux (currently have XandrosOC 3 installed)... But the frustrations I'm having with getting my Atheros card working are making me question whether the extra performance is worth the headaches...

I'm running a Uniwill n258Ka5 (aka ABS Mayhem G3). The Atheros Wireless card recognizes fine on Linux boot, (it gives me eth0... pending, ath0...pending) but when I try to use Xandros' connection wizard, it doesn't list the Atheros as an option to connect to the internet.

I've searched forums from head to toe, and tried as many of the suggestions as I could understand, but to no avail.

I'm going to keep my eye on this thread and sit back for an answer.

Thanks

[swemic]

iwconfig shows all the correct information pertaining to my card, yet with a link quality of 0/100

Ok, you've got a NONE link. And you have not enabled WEP or something like this at your AP?
What exactly does your "iwconfig ath0" print out?
Because on the contrary as you, I have not had any problem at all with my Atheros WLAN adapter.

[swemic]

I'm running a Uniwill n258Ka5 (aka ABS Mayhem G3). The Atheros Wireless card recognizes fine on Linux boot, (it gives me eth0... pending, ath0...pending) but when I try to use Xandros' connection wizard, it doesn't list the Atheros as an option to connect to the internet.

AFAIK none what so ever Linux distro have listed the Atheros as a valid WLAN adapter, what you have to look for is the Madwifi driver, if you dont have it with your distro (have never tested the Xandros my self), you'll have to download it from MadWIFI site
And while on it, if you download the source, you have to got a copy of your kernel source as well.

[pusherd]

I've got madwifi installed (probably not correctly ) It still don't get a response...

Thanks, tho.

[crazynoodle7]

my iwconfig reads as follows for ath0

IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"home" Nickname: "laptop"
Mode: Managed Frequency: 2.462GHz Access Point FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF
Bit Rate =54Mb/s Tx-Power: 50dBm Sensitivity: 0/3
Retry: off RTS thr: off Fragment thr: off
Encryption Key: off
Power Management: off
Link Quality: 0/94 Signal level: -95dBm Noise level: -95dBm

if i change the access point value to my router's mac address i get the same readout

as for the WEP key, i turned security on my router off for the time being because i want to be able to connect at all first, then worry about security

my router is set to broadcast as well

any help is appreciated

[swemic]

And the ESSID:home is what you have specified in your AP as well? Remember that SSID is case-sensitive.
It is not so that you have enabled "Turbo-mode" or something like that on your AP? I believe that MadWIFI does not support Turbo-mode. So if you have that set to enable on your AP, disable that.
Have you set your AP to a specific channel?
If you have issue this (example where you have set AP channel = 11)

iwconfig ath0 channel 11

[swemic]

I've got madwifi installed (probably not correctly ) It still don't get a response...

Thanks, tho.

But yo are able to see your adapter from "iwconfig" command?
Try the same as described above.

[crazynoodle7]

i use channel 6, but would it make a difference if i switched both router and card to 11?

[swemic]

No, it would not do.
But your adapter is not on channel 6, so try this then

iwconfig ath0 channel 6

I was not reading your output to well, hmm! So my example was really really bad, becasue your adapter is on Channel 11 right now.