Wireless Connectivity with Atheros ar242x in Hardy

[jsudekum]

Hey, guys. n00b here.

The problem: Atheros ar242x connectivity on a Compaq Presario C700 in Hardy. The connection is not being recognized at all. Other computers running Windows do not have any problem with this. This laptop also received a strong connection before installation of Ubuntu.

Outputs for...

uname -r:

2.6.24-19-generic

uname -m:

i686

/sbin/lspci:

bash: /sbin/lspci: No such file or directory

iwconfig:

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

lspci | grep "Ethernet":

01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
02:01.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)

I've tried several variants of Madwifi and ndiswrapper, but nothing has solved the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[waterhead]

To get the PCI device information in Ubuntu, you don't put the path.

lspci -nn

The -nn will give the chip ID numbers. (post the output)

Did you modprobe to load the driver after installing it? If you have tried more than one driver, they could both be loading and conflicting with each other. Post the output of this command.

lsmod

[jsudekum]

Heh, yes... This is much more thorough. Thanks for correcting me. Here's the -nn:

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a00] (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a02] (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:2a03] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:284b] (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:283f] (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:2830] (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:2831] (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:2832] (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 [8086:2836] (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller [8086:2815] (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller [8086:2850] (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller [8086:2829] (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:283e] (rev 03)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter [168c:001c] (rev 01)
02:01.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ [10ec:8139] (rev 10)

And here's the lsmod:

Module                  Size  Used by
ipv6                  267780  10 
af_packet              23812  2 
i915                   32512  2 
drm                    82452  3 i915
rfcomm                 41744  2 
l2cap                  25728  13 rfcomm
bluetooth              61156  4 rfcomm,l2cap
ppdev                  10372  0 
acpi_cpufreq           10796  1 
cpufreq_stats           7104  0 
cpufreq_powersave       2688  0 
cpufreq_ondemand        9740  1 
cpufreq_userspace       5284  0 
cpufreq_conservative     8712  0 
freq_table              5536  3 acpi_cpufreq,cpufreq_stats,cpufreq_ondemand
container               5632  0 
sbs                    15112  0 
sbshc                   7680  1 sbs
dock                   11280  0 
iptable_filter          3840  0 
ip_tables              14820  1 iptable_filter
x_tables               16132  1 ip_tables
parport_pc             36260  0 
lp                     12324  0 
parport                37832  3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
joydev                 13120  0 
snd_hda_intel         344728  2 
snd_pcm_oss            42144  0 
snd_mixer_oss          17920  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                78596  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss
snd_page_alloc         11400  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
snd_hwdep              10500  1 snd_hda_intel
snd_seq_dummy           4868  0 
snd_seq_oss            35584  0 
snd_seq_midi            9376  0 
snd_rawmidi            25760  1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event      8320  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
video                  19856  0 
output                  4736  1 video
snd_seq                54224  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              24836  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
psmouse                40336  0 
snd_seq_device          9612  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
ac                      6916  0 
wmi_acer                9644  0 
serio_raw               7940  0 
iTCO_wdt               13092  0 
button                  9232  0 
battery                14212  0 
snd                    56996  15 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_hwdep,snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
intel_agp              25492  1 
iTCO_vendor_support     4868  1 iTCO_wdt
shpchp                 34452  0 
pci_hotplug            30880  1 shpchp
evdev                  13056  7 
pcspkr                  4224  0 
agpgart                34760  3 drm,intel_agp
soundcore               8800  1 snd
ext3                  136712  1 
jbd                    48404  1 ext3
mbcache                 9600  1 ext3
sr_mod                 17956  0 
cdrom                  37408  1 sr_mod
ata_generic             8324  0 
sg                     36880  0 
8139too                27520  0 
sd_mod                 30720  3 
ata_piix               19588  0 
ahci                   28420  2 
pata_acpi               8320  0 
libata                159344  4 ata_generic,ata_piix,ahci,pata_acpi
scsi_mod              151436  4 sr_mod,sg,sd_mod,libata
8139cp                 24704  0 
mii                     6400  2 8139too,8139cp
ehci_hcd               37900  0 
uhci_hcd               27024  0 
usbcore               146028  3 ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
thermal                16796  0 
processor              36872  4 acpi_cpufreq,thermal
fan                     5636  0 
fbcon                  42912  0 
tileblit                3456  1 fbcon
font                    9472  1 fbcon
bitblit                 6784  1 fbcon
softcursor              3072  1 bitblit
fuse                   50708  3

I don't know what I'm really looking for here, but I guess that's why you're the kind cat helping me.

[waterhead]

I don't see any driver modules loading. Try to load the Linux module:

sudo modprobe ath_pci

If you don't get any errors, check the output of lsmod again for the ath_pci module.

Edit: Check the output of this command, I think that you may need firmware for the card

dmesg | grep firmware

Otherwise, download the latest driver snapshot from madwifi and follow these instructions for installing the madwifi driver:
UserDocs/GettingMadwifi - madwifi.org - Trac
UserDocs/FirstTimeHowTo - madwifi.org - Trac

[waterhead]

For more info, I think that this is your wireless chipset:
Compatibility/Atheros - madwifi.org - Trac