Wireless Apdapter issues, Please someone help

[Adrastos]

Hi and firstly i would like to say how grateful i am that ubuntu is available and free it totally rocks my computing experience, much love. Anyways I have - in the past hour installed the latest version on my Toshiba Satelite L350 - 203 laptop works amzingly! However i cannot get my wirless to work.
I have configured with the correct ssid wepkey etc i used terminal to get this info. P.S I'm a complete newbie so be gentle.

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.5 IDE interface: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E 2 port SATA IDE Controller (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller (rev 02)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

[Adrastos]

bumpzilal!
I have searched in the meantime and currently have 283 package files downloading through update manager!!? is this norma?l and will my wifi issue be fixed in these or is there more to do? Oh and my fan won't turn off and its noisy :P

[waterhead]

I hope that you are just updating!

The one thing that Ubuntu is not so great with is Atheros wireless. You can install the package that has the wireless drivers for most Atheros cards, but there is no way to know if your card will work. Run this command from the terminal.

sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-`uname -r`

You then need to start this program from the main menu:

System-->Administration--> Hardware Drivers

Look for the Atheros or Madwifi driver, and enable it. Then use NetworkManager to connect to a wireless network. It is found in the taskbar, next to the Date/Time.

[D-cat]

This is actually very common. You'll need to be connected via an Ethernet cable until you have installed the Ath5k driver required for your Atheros card. Here are my generic instructions (compiled from various sources):

----------

You're wireless card is Atheros. This is a well know issue. Here's the instructions. Note: you need to be connected to the Internet.

Step one, make sure your backports are enabled:
Press [Alt + F2], in the box, type gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list In the next box type your password.

In gedit, look about half way down for the backports section. If there is a comment (#) in front of the two lines directly below beginning with deb, remove them. It should read something like

deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-backports main restricted universe multiverse

If you removed the comments, save the file. Exit.

Step 2: Install the ath5k backport
Open a terminal window. Type the following:

sudo apt-get update
Password: (your password (if it asks), doesn't echo)

sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-intrepid

Step 3: Blacklist the non-functioning MadWiFi drivers

gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

When gEdit come up, add the following lines to the end of the file:

blacklist ath_hal
blacklist ath_pci

Check to see if there is an entery for ath5k. If there is, comment it out (add a "#" in front of it, so it reads
# blacklist ath5k); if not, don't add anything else.

Save and exit.

Step 4: Restart the system.

When your computer comes back up, you should have full wireless support.

[Adrastos]

Thank you so much. It sort of worked and now doesn't so were on the right tracks. I did all you asked and wireless functionality was available, However it hangs when trying to connect, (it hangs for a while so i reebooted) after resart i try to connect and it just automatically disconnects. 'wireless networks' is greyed out i cant click it and other networks dont show and they did before reeboot. Um i don't know now what? Again thanks for the help.

[D-cat]

Really? interesting.

In the terminal window, type lsmod | grep ath

Also, which version of Ubuntu are you using? My instructions may need adjustment.

[Adrastos]

lsmod | grep ath gave me:
ath_pci 99096 0
wlan 211952 1 ath_pci
ath_hal 198864 1 ath_pci

please note since your last post I have completly reinstalled ubuntu 8.10 just incase i may have done one too many wrong things

i am now getting all the critical updates.. then i will repeat your steps?

[D-cat]

Yeah. You're currently using the MadWiFi drivers, which are getting better, but are still shoddy on the 242x series of Atheros cards. Once you're done with your update, if you can't connect wireless, use my instructions above. The commands are correct for intrepid (8.10), so it should work. Ath5k was written for several models of Atheros, including yours.

[Adrastos]

Ok that has worked. no issues so far. Thanks D-Cat kudos to you sir.

::SOLVED::