Wireless kubuntu + Battery Monitor

[ncik_w]

Getting really annoyed with my wireless now so decided to post a question.
I have seemingly read every topic about getting my wireless to work but nothing has managed it, does anyone have any ideas? Please ask for any commands that I can run to help give you clever people an idea of what is wrong

Also the battery life is really strange. It drops from 100% to 0% in about 45 mins. This is a lot shorter than it did when I was running windows about a year ago, but I put it down to the battery being low. However I was recently on a long flight so took my laptop and turned of all settings that would turn it off or hibernate because the battery was low. Sure enough after about 50mins it turned off without warning just as if the battery had died. However when I plugged it in when I landed After it booted up the battery monitor said charging but already with 60% charge. I unplugged it from charge and it managed about 40mins. So I don't know what that was about but I wondered if there was some way of configuring the battery that I did know about.

Sorry for the horrifically long post.

Thanks.

[reed9]

For your wireless, open konsole and post the output of

lspci -vnn
lsmod
dmesg | grep firmware

KDE power manager is handled by PowerDevil. I haven't used KDE on a laptop for some time, so I'm not sure what all the configurations are, but check out that.

You can also install a program called powertop that can help identify if you're sucking battery life.

[ncik_w]

Thanks for the reply dude.

ick@nick-laptop:~$ lspci -vnn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a00] (rev 0c)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: agpgart-intel
Kernel modules: intel-agp

00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a02] (rev 0c)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 29
Memory at fc000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Memory at d0000000 (64-bit, prefetchable) [size=256M]
I/O ports at 1800 [size=8]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: i915
Kernel modules: i915

00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a03] (rev 0c)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Memory at fc100000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1M]
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2834] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 16
I/O ports at 1820 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2835] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 21
I/O ports at 1840 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1a.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:283a] (rev 03) (prog-if 20)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
Memory at fc504800 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:284b] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 22
Memory at fc300000 (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 [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:283f] (rev 03)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=02, subordinate=03, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00002000-00002fff
Memory behind bridge: f6000000-f7ffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000f0000000-00000000f1ffffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:2841] (rev 03)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=04, subordinate=05, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00003000-00003fff
Memory behind bridge: f8000000-f9ffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000f2000000-00000000f3ffffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 [8086:2843] (rev 03)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=06, subordinate=07, sec-latency=0
I/O behind bridge: 00004000-00004fff
Memory behind bridge: fa000000-fbffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 00000000f4000000-00000000f5ffffff
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
Kernel modules: shpchp

00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:2830] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
I/O ports at 1860 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:2831] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
I/O ports at 1880 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:2832] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
I/O ports at 18a0 [size=32]
Kernel driver in use: uhci_hcd

00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 [8086:2836] (rev 03) (prog-if 20)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 23
Memory at fc504c00 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=1K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd

00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev f3) (prog-if 01)
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=08, subordinate=0c, sec-latency=32
I/O behind bridge: 00005000-00005fff
Memory behind bridge: fc200000-fc2fffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: 0000000080000000-0000000083ffffff
Capabilities: <access denied>

00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller [8086:2815] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel modules: iTCO_wdt

00:1f.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller [8086:2850] (rev 03) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 19
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 1810 [size=16]
Kernel driver in use: ata_piix

00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller [8086:2829] (rev 03) (prog-if 01)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0, IRQ 28
I/O ports at 1c00 [size=8]
I/O ports at 18d4 [size=4]
I/O ports at 18d8 [size=8]
I/O ports at 18d0 [size=4]
I/O ports at 18e0 [size=32]
Memory at fc504000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ahci
Kernel modules: ahci

00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:283e] (rev 03)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: medium devsel, IRQ 10
Memory at 84000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
I/O ports at 1c20 [size=32]
Kernel modules: i2c-i801

02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8039 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller [11ab:4353] (rev 15)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 27
Memory at f6000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
I/O ports at 2000 [size=256]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: sky2
Kernel modules: sky2

06:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter [168c:001c] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Foxconn International, Inc. Device [105b:e000]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 18
Memory at fa000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ath5k
Kernel modules: ath5k

08:03.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller [104c:8039]
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 16
Memory at fc204000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Bus: primary=08, secondary=09, subordinate=0c, sec-latency=176
Memory window 0: 80000000-83fff000 (prefetchable)
Memory window 1: 88000000-8bfff000
I/O window 0: 00005000-000050ff
I/O window 1: 00005400-000054ff
16-bit legacy interface ports at 0001
Kernel driver in use: yenta_cardbus
Kernel modules: yenta_socket

08:03.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller [104c:803a] (prog-if 10)
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 17
Memory at fc206000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=2K]
Memory at fc200000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: ohci1394
Kernel modules: firewire-ohci, ohci1394

08:03.2 Mass storage controller [0180]: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD) [104c:803b]
Subsystem: Sony Corporation Device [104d:902d]
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 57, IRQ 18
Memory at fc205000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: tifm_7xx1
Kernel modules: tifm_7xx1



nick@nick-laptop:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
binfmt_misc 6587 1
ppdev 5259 0
joydev 8708 0
snd_hda_codec_realtek 203310 1
arc4 1153 2
fbcon 35102 71
tileblit 2031 1 fbcon
font 7557 1 fbcon
bitblit 4707 1 fbcon
softcursor 1189 1 bitblit
vga16fb 11385 0
vgastate 8961 1 vga16fb
pcmcia 33024 0
snd_hda_intel 21941 5
snd_hda_codec 74201 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 5412 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss 35308 0
snd_mixer_oss 13746 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 70662 4 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 1338 0
snd_seq_oss 26726 0
snd_seq_midi 4557 0
snd_rawmidi 19056 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 6003 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 47263 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_mid i_event
ath5k 121792 0
snd_timer 19098 3 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 5700 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi ,snd_seq
i915 285586 2
tifm_7xx1 3690 0
drm_kms_helper 29297 1 i915
mac80211 205146 1 ath5k
ath 7611 1 ath5k
snd 54148 20 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec, snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_se q_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
tifm_core 6045 1 tifm_7xx1
intel_agp 24119 2 i915
drm 162409 3 i915,drm_kms_helper
cfg80211 126517 3 ath5k,mac80211,ath
led_class 2864 1 ath5k
psmouse 63245 0
serio_raw 3978 0
yenta_socket 20408 1
rsrc_nonstatic 10015 1 yenta_socket
sony_laptop 28248 0
pcmcia_core 32964 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
i2c_algo_bit 5028 1 i915
soundcore 6620 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 7076 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
agpgart 31724 2 intel_agp,drm
video 17375 1 i915
output 1871 1 video
lp 7028 0
parport 32635 2 ppdev,lp
usbhid 36110 0
ohci1394 26950 0
hid 67032 1 usbhid
ieee1394 81181 1 ohci1394
ahci 32200 2
sky2 40775 0




nick@nick-laptop:~$ dmesg | grep firmware
nick@nick-laptop:~$

Thanks.

[reed9]

Well, the wireless looks fine from that. What exactly is the problem you're having with it?

Does this show local networks?

sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
sudo iwlist wlan0 scan

[ncik_w]

There is a couple of things wrong,

1) When I try to connect I get a message to input the pass-phrase, but once I've put this in and hit enter, it doesn't connect. If I hover over the manager it says 'activating' but never goes any further then this message disappears.

2) It seems to struggle signal strength as well, if I'm in the same room as the router the signal strength will be ~30% but when I go downstairs it becomes ~50% like it should (this is about the same as when I use windows in the same spot)

I doubt it is the router because it works on other computers.


nick@nick-laptop:~$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
[sudo] password for nick:
nick@nick-laptop:~$ sudo iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:18:4D:B0B:B0
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=25/70 Signal level=-85 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"SKY78946"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=0000000df3e6a581
Extra: Last beacon: 664ms ago
IE: Unknown: 0008534B593738393436
IE: Unknown: 010882848B0C12961824
IE: Unknown: 030101
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101050003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F 00
IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010024FF7F
Cell 02 - Address: 00:25:69:19:08:73
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=27/70 Signal level=-83 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"SKY02162"
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
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=0000004b25913009
Extra: Last beacon: 1808ms ago
IE: Unknown: 0008534B593032313632
IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
IE: Unknown: 030101
IE: Unknown: 050400010000
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: Unknown: 2F0100
IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
IE: Unknown: DD090010180200F4000000
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Cell 03 - Address: 00:18:4D:41:9E:40
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=21/70 Signal level=-89 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"SKY32902"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=00000019cce28460
Extra: Last beacon: 936ms ago
IE: Unknown: 0008534B593332393032
IE: Unknown: 010882848B0C12961824
IE: Unknown: 030106
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101050003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F 00
IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010024FF7F
Cell 04 - Address: 00:17:3F:A4:7E:C2
Channel:2
Frequency:2.417 GHz (Channel 2)
Quality=16/70 Signal level=-94 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"WIRELESS"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=0000001aa48521b6
Extra: Last beacon: 1232ms ago
IE: Unknown: 0008574952454C455353
IE: Unknown: 010582848B962C
IE: Unknown: 030102
IE: Unknown: 050400010000
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Preauthentication Supported
IE: Unknown: 32080C1218243048606C
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

I really don't know what's wrong with it.

[reed9]

Well, couple of possible options.

The simlest: install backported driver modules. There may be a more up to date ath5k driver in there that could work better. I'm assuming 1) you're running the latest Kubuntu 10.04 and 2) you're running the default kernel.

sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-wireless-lucid-generic

Second and more involved. Install the old madwifi atheros drivers. I had a similar experience where the ath5k driver simply wouldn't work for me but madwifi worked fine. (Though ath5k has been working fine for me since about kernel 2.6.31 or so, I think it was.)

Get the necessary packages, build and install module.

sudo apt-get install subversion linux-kernel-headers build-essential libssl-dev checkinstall
svn checkout http://svn.madwifi-project.org/madwifi/trunk/ madwifi-ng
cd madwifi-ng
make
sudo checkinstall

Make the module load at boot

echo ath_pci | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

Prevent conflicting atheros modules from loading

echo "blacklist ath5k
blacklist ath9k" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

Reboot.

You may also in either case want to try wicd over the default networkmanager, which can be flaky.

sudo apt-get install wicd

[ncik_w]

No luck unfortunately, tried the first option first I still couldn't connect but it did show 100% signal strength when I was in the room with the router.

So I tried the second idea, and still no luck connecting.

I've switched over to Wicd but it doesn't find any wireless networks.

[reed9]

Post the contents of the file /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf and the output of

lsmod
sudo iwconfig

Wicd may not be finding networks because you need to change the interface name. It defaults to wlan0, but I believe with madwifi, it will rename your interface to ath0.

[ncik_w]

nick@nick-laptop:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
binfmt_misc 6587 1
ppdev 5259 0
snd_hda_codec_realtek 203310 1
wlan_scan_sta 11842 0
ath_rate_sample 11476 1
joydev 8708 0
fbcon 35102 72
tileblit 2031 1 fbcon
font 7557 1 fbcon
bitblit 4707 1 fbcon
softcursor 1189 1 bitblit
pcmcia 33024 0
vga16fb 11385 0
vgastate 8961 1 vga16fb
snd_hda_intel 21941 6
snd_hda_codec 74201 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 5412 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss 35308 0
snd_mixer_oss 13746 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 70662 4 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 1338 0
snd_seq_oss 26726 0
snd_seq_midi 4557 0
snd_rawmidi 19056 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 6003 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 47263 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_mid i_event
snd_timer 19098 3 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 5700 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi ,snd_seq
ath_pci 193229 0
i915 285586 2
tifm_7xx1 3690 0
wlan 222956 4 wlan_scan_sta,ath_rate_sample,ath_pci
yenta_socket 20408 1
rsrc_nonstatic 10015 1 yenta_socket
drm_kms_helper 29297 1 i915
tifm_core 6045 1 tifm_7xx1
snd 54148 22 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec, snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_se q_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
ath_hal 398604 3 ath_rate_sample,ath_pci
sony_laptop 28248 0
psmouse 63245 0
serio_raw 3978 0
pcmcia_core 32964 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
drm 162409 3 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit 5028 1 i915
soundcore 6620 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 7076 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
video 17375 1 i915
output 1871 1 video
intel_agp 24119 2 i915
agpgart 31724 2 drm,intel_agp
lp 7028 0
parport 32635 2 ppdev,lp
ohci1394 26950 0
usbhid 36110 0
ieee1394 81181 1 ohci1394
hid 67032 1 usbhid
ahci 32200 2
sky2 40775 0

nick@nick-laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig
[sudo] password for nick:
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wifi0 no wireless extensions.

ath0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Channel:0 Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power:0 dBm Sensitivity=1/1
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=0/70 Signal level=0 dBm Noise level=0 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

[reed9]

So that's fine.

Does this now return local networks?

sudo iwlist ath0 scan

Did you find the preferences for wicd and change the interface to ath0?