[SOLVED] Persistant Wireless Problem. Please assist!

[jkwilborn]

Hello, read the intro to the and previously posted in the Debian forum, but only had a couple replies that didn't resolve anything. Hoping to hear something that makes it a final fix. Most of the problems that I have is because I can't get this Linux box on-line (currently running Windows . The device is the last device in the 'lspci' output. The drivers appear to be there ('ath9k') as the chipset is Atheros 93xx.

Here is the output from the script:
============ lspci ============
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0150] (rev 09)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:7752]
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:0152] (rev 09)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:2111]
00:14.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e31] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:7752]
Kernel driver in use: xhci_hcd
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e3a] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:7752]
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e2d] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:7752]
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e20] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:d752]
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e10] (rev c4)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e12] (rev c4)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e16] (rev c4)
Kernel driver in use: pcieport
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e26] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:7752]
Kernel driver in use: ehci_hcd
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e44] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:7752]
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e02] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:7752]
Kernel driver in use: ahci
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation Device [8086:1e22] (rev 04)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:7752]
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller [10ec:8168] (rev 06)
Subsystem: Micro-Star International Co., Ltd. Device [1462:7752]
Kernel driver in use: r8169
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9300 Wireless LAN adaptor [168c:0030] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Atheros Communications Inc. Device [168c:3112]

============ lsusb ============
Bus 003 Device 003: ID 154b:005d PNY
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 05ac:1297 Apple, Inc. iPhone 4
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 9e88:9e8f
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 05ac:024f Apple, Inc.
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 058f:6366 Alcor Micro Corp. Multi Flash Reader
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 046d:c408 Logitech, Inc. Marble Mouse (4-button)
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05ac:1006 Apple, Inc. Hub in Aluminum Keyboard
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

============ lsmod ============
Module Size Used by
nls_utf8 1208 1
nls_cp437 5817 1
isofs 27432 0
vfat 7836 1
udf 66996 1
fat 39990 1 vfat
crc_itu_t 1307 1 udf
ip6table_filter 2384 0
ip6_tables 14883 1 ip6table_filter
iptable_filter 2258 0
ip_tables 13691 1 iptable_filter
ebtable_nat 1588 0
ebtables 13901 1 ebtable_nat
x_tables 12685 3 ip6_tables,ip_tables,ebtables
parport_pc 18855 1
ppdev 5030 0
lp 7462 0
parport 27682 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
sco 7225 2
bridge 39534 0
stp 1440 1 bridge
bnep 9347 2
l2cap 24752 3 bnep
crc16 1319 1 l2cap
bluetooth 41731 5 sco,bnep,l2cap
rfkill 13028 3 bluetooth
acpi_cpufreq 5571 0
cpufreq_conservative 5162 0
cpufreq_userspace 1992 0
cpufreq_powersave 902 0
cpufreq_stats 2740 0
binfmt_misc 6399 1
kvm_intel 38194 0
uinput 6376 1
kvm 215263 1 kvm_intel
fuse 50732 1
ext2 52889 0
dm_crypt 10664 0
loop 11623 0
ipheth 5535 0
ftdi_sio 34403 0
psmouse 49985 0
video 17349 0
evdev 7352 17
output 1692 1 video
usbserial 27644 1 ftdi_sio
wmi 4275 0
serio_raw 3752 0
processor 29871 5 acpi_cpufreq
button 4650 0
pcspkr 1699 0
ext3 106534 1
jbd 37077 1 ext3
mbcache 5050 2 ext2,ext3
raid10 17665 0
raid456 44276 0
async_raid6_recov 5170 1 raid456
async_pq 3367 2 raid456,async_raid6_recov
raid6_pq 77179 2 async_raid6_recov,async_pq
async_xor 2478 3 raid456,async_raid6_recov,async_pq
xor 4380 1 async_xor
async_memcpy 1198 2 raid456,async_raid6_recov
async_tx 1734 5 raid456,async_raid6_recov,async_pq,async_xor,async _memcpy
raid1 18239 0
raid0 5469 0
multipath 5915 0
linear 3423 0
md_mod 73312 6 raid10,raid456,raid1,raid0,multipath,linear
dm_round_robin 2228 2
dm_multipath 13184 3 dm_round_robin
scsi_dh 4640 1 dm_multipath
dm_mirror 10859 0
dm_region_hash 6680 1 dm_mirror
dm_log 7381 2 dm_mirror,dm_region_hash
dm_mod 53594 27 dm_crypt,dm_multipath,dm_mirror,dm_log
btrfs 375517 0
zlib_deflate 17746 1 btrfs
crc32c 2560 1
libcrc32c 1026 1 btrfs
sg 23893 0
usbhid 33276 0
hid 63209 1 usbhid
sr_mod 12250 1
sd_mod 29697 5
cdrom 28567 1 sr_mod
crc_t10dif 1276 1 sd_mod
usb_storage 40121 3
xhci 34025 0
r8169 36840 0
fan 3346 0
ahci 32886 5
mii 3210 1 r8169
libata 133264 1 ahci
ehci_hcd 32081 0
scsi_mod 126261 6 scsi_dh,sg,sr_mod,sd_mod,usb_storage,libata
usbcore 122983 8 ipheth,ftdi_sio,usbserial,usbhid,usb_storage,xhci, ehci_hcd
nls_base 6377 7 nls_utf8,nls_cp437,isofs,vfat,udf,fat,usbcore
thermal 11610 0
thermal_sys 11942 4 video,processor,fan,thermal

============ dmesg-firmware ============

============ kernel version ============
2.6.32-5-amd64

============ ifconfig ============
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr d4:3d:7e:4d:e1:aa
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:27 Base address:0x6000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:560 (560.0 B) TX bytes:560 (560.0 B)


============ iwconfig ============


I appreciate any help in resolving this. Others have stated that they have this card TP-Link TL-WDN4800 PCI, and it works fine under the same version of Debian Linux. I don't know what to do to trouble shoot the issue.

Thanks
Jack

[Rubberman]

Debian does not support "out-of-the-box" network drivers that require either proprietary drivers, or proprietary hardware "blobs" (firmware). Go to Welcome - Linux Wireless for links to the drivers and other cruft you need (and installation instructions) to get your wireless to work.

[jkwilborn]

Rubberman, thanks for the reply. This board 'is' supported by the Debian that I have and a number of people advised me that they installed this SAME card and it works fine on their system. The driver is also in the package, but in a, from what I can determine, a different place in the lib architecture. I tried to move it to where the others reside and reboot but I didn't detect any difference.

The Atheros chip-sets have been supported most of all. The problem that I have is that it doesn't load the module, doesn't complain that it requires another module and if I attempt to load it, it is loaded, but the card doesn't appear to respond. I'm using it now via Windows 8, so I know it works. I would like to have someone help me try to determine why my doesn't detect and load the module and why it doesn't use it when it is loaded.

If it couldn't find the proper module, where would it complain? I had the same problem with a PPC machine and I did find that it said it needed a different module, but I can't seem to find that now. I have looked in the typical and non typical places and find no evidence that it has even tried to load it. Do I have to do a re-install or something to have the OS detect it? I didn't think I did, and wouldn't know what I would gain doing that. I just need someone to point me in the right direction to debug this problem. I have passed it on to the Debian Bug group, I hope.

I just don't know what else to try to get this thing to do something with this hardware. I purchased new hardware expressly to fix this problem from my last machine and since I can't get Linux on-line it hinders lots of things I wish to do.

The only other option I have (and I have worked this also) is that I use an iPhone 4 which has WiFi, Bluetooth and USB connections. The Bluetooth will not stay on long enough to do anything and the USB, which is also supposed to work, causes an error and I get a Kernel exception. So I'm almost stuck trying to get this wireless thing worked out, but don't know how to properly debug it.

Any help would be wonderful!

Thanks

Jack

[Rubberman]

One thing that a lot of people forget, is that for this stuff there are two parts, the driver and the firmware. You need the firmware in order for the driver to communicate with the hardware. Debian distributions usually have packages for each of the driver as well as the firmware.

[jkwilborn]

Rubberman, thanks for the reply. I understand the relationship, as I'm a retired prog/analyst., but some of the debugging of this isn't very clear to me. I'm also not a Linux person, so it's also a learning curve. But Linux aside I still should be able to debug this conundrum. After all, a computer and software is a computer and software, the fundamentals are the same.

What is unclear is that the firmware appears to be here, but the system isn't detecting and installing it properly. Also, I have a number of others, one a programmer with Google that has communicated to me that his Debian (same version as mine) detected and installed and works fine with his system and it is the SAME card, not just the same chipset!

I need to know how to determine which parts are missing as to the drivers being there I have installed a wireless package that has the popular 'iwconfig' and associated software. It also does not detect the hardware, as I suppose these just use API's to the drivers. They all return. expectantly, "no such device", even after I manually load the firmware.

Nobody seems to be able to give me much of a detail of how to debug this problem. Even if I manually load the firmware via modprobe, there is no response from the other software. I understood that when it was part of the Kernel that the API's were already there and the Kernel decided whom to associate with it's current driver and module. It seems this is not the case as there is something completely different on how my machine is configured to fool the installer from detecting this card. It shows up via lspci as the last entry, but there, never the less.

Any suggestions? Since others are actually using this card where do I check?

Anyone else, please pipe up if you have any suggestions, I will do my best to check them out. As it's probably some simple step I'm missing!!

Thanks...

Jack

[Rubberman]

Fair enough. Start by posting the output of the commands "lspci" and "lsmod". If your device is a USB one, then also the output of "lsusb". If you want, use the --verbose option with lspci and lsusb. Also, put the output inside of code blocks so the indents and such are maintained - it makes it a lot easier to read!

[jkwilborn]

Rubberman, if you read the first post, I ran the scrip that whoever posted it does run most of these utilities. The output is listed, I will post the verbose output when I get to re boot back to Linux, without wireless I can't login to the Internet as I only have an iPhone 4 with wireless, Bluetooth and USB. Bluetooth seems to last about one page disconnects and is very slow, the usb causes an unhandled exception and causes a kernel fault, so my only real way will be to get the WiFi working.

As I said look at the first entry and I ran his script (maybe it was yours!) Anyway the output is in my first post. I will give any information that may help solve this. I will do the verbose option as soon as I get to a re boot point and save it for transmission to this forum.

Anything else?

Thanks, your time is appreciated. BTW the last item in the output of lspci shows the card which is an Atheros chipset 93xx series. It's actually a TP-Link TL-WDN4800 PCI card.

Again, Thanks

Jack

[jkwilborn]

Rubberman, again thanks for the time.... I have looked at the script and it uses the -knn option for verbosity when running lspci, so the last two lines of the posted output of the script for the lspci command are what is produced. Here is another oddity..

When I manually (or automatically) load the ath9k.ko module, which is supposed to be the code for the Atheros card I get no errors from modprobe. When I then do a 'modinfo ath9k' I get the following:

filename: /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/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: 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: mac80211,led-class,ath,cfg80211
vermagic: 2.6.32-5-amd64 SMP mod_unload modversions
parm: nohwcryptisable hardware encryption (int)


So it appears like it's loaded, just not talking to the card. As you know am I using this card to talk to the Internet via Windows 8, so the hardware is up! Is this the firmware or the driver? I understand the firmware are like the .ko extension or .o in some cases, so this is firmware, do you know?

I have entered into the /etc/network/interfaces files two lines, one to pre-load the ath9k.ko file and the other to ifup the device. I seem to get no warning from the code although the above output was from after the entry of commands to the interfaces file.

I am also very confused on how this is working on other machines with the same architecture. I will attempt to write others with working cards to get some idea of what's happening...

Thanks, especially if you can add something useful.

Jack

[Rubberman]

Helpful, but please do use code blocks to post the output data, otherwise the smileys obscure the actual data.

[jkwilborn]

Sorry about that, do I just edit them out? I didn't realize they did that, it wasn't in the document that I put in, happened after I clicked on 'post quick reply'! Don't know how I would know to edit them, unless I re-edited the piece after posting?

I was reading about some Atheros devices showing up as media or mass storage devices, anyone clue me in on what the output of something like lspci would indicate or where I would look? Can't say I've ever seen this...

Thanks

Jack