In Ubuntu it really does try to detect your Atheros chip. In Ubuntu 7.10 the wireless on my laptop was detected as the AR5006EG and I use ndiswrapper and the net5416.inf driver. On Ubuntu 8.04 my wireless was detected as the AR242x and I was able to download ndisgtk (in the repos) and use the net5211.net driver, (the ndisgtk is just a graphical interface for ndiswrapper, very easy and very nice!). This time (Ubuntu 8.10) it wasn’t detected as the AR5006EG, it was however detected as the AR242x BUT I couldn’t use ndisgtk as before. I’m thinking it’s because they updated the network manager in 8.10. Either way here is how I got it working.
Remember TAB is your friend in the terminal!
To check what you wireless is detected as just run the following in the Terminal:
lspci | grep Wireless
These steps are done using Ethernet, if it is unavailable, just go to any computer with Internet and download the mad wifi snapshot shown in these steps. Just follow the step from there once you have gotten the file.
1) First disable Ubuntu’s Atheros HAL driver if loaded:
Click ‘System’ –> ‘Administration’–> ‘Hardware drivers’ then deactivate support for the Atheros 802.11 wireless driver
I rebooted just to make sure there was no chance it was running.
Everything else is done in the Terminal
2) Get the Ubuntu built essentials package, this will allow the program to compile:
sudo apt-get install build-essential
**if this is a new install of 8.10 you MUST do “sudo apt-get update” (without quotes) to update your repositories
3) Download the madwifi snapshot:
wget http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
4) Untar (unzip) the newly downloaded file:
tar xvf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
5) Go into the newly created directory:
cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3879-20081204
6) Then compile the package:
make
7) The install the package:
sudo make install
Then load the newly created module:
sudo modprobe ath_pci
if yours is like mine you may not get a wifi light, in that case you won’t know if the card is on, just try pushing the button to toggle it (on the Acer 4720Z it’s a picture of a satillite)
9) If your wireless is working after this when you reboot the computer it won’t to fix it, you must add it to the kernel boot modules list:
In the terminal type “sudo gedit /etc/modules”(without quotes) and add “ath_pci”(again without quotes) to the bottom of the list if you don’t have anything in the list just add it to the bottom. Click ‘Save’ and that’s it. ::PER Joe Purdy “DO A REBOOT”::
FYI: If there is ONLY one reason you want to update to Ubuntu 8.10, it’s for the boot-up time. It’s supa-speedy.
November 2, 2008 at 2:51 am
hi man, i have a toshiba satellite pro l3ooD with atheros AR242X in ubuntu 8.10 kernel 2.6.27-7 but nothing works, i’m thinking in mandriva 2009 on this laptop.
grettings!
November 2, 2008 at 8:43 am
That’s the same kernel I’m using and same chip set. when you run lspci | grep Wireless Does your card show Atheros Communications Inc, AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01). I am just curious if it matches mine.
November 2, 2008 at 7:58 pm
Thanks!!! It works for me! Have tried 1000 guides! But this finaly work. (I run a Fujitsu Siemens Li1718)
Had to correct the guide a little bit. Minor errors for copy/paste…
*******************************************
5) Go into the newly created directory:
cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3861-20080903.tar.gz
plz change to:
cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3861-20080903
********************************************
7) The install the package:
sudo makeinstall
plz change to:
7) The install the package:
sudo make install
November 2, 2008 at 8:21 pm
Thank you! I didn’t catch those before. Changes Made
November 5, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Thanks for this guide,
its works perfect for me!!
November 7, 2008 at 3:16 am
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
I found your blog after 2 hours of pain and NDISWRAPPER HELL.
November 7, 2008 at 1:49 pm
thank you so much i have a compaq presario c700 with this card and it was so easy to get going thanks again!
November 7, 2008 at 2:18 pm
thx for guide. it works on my toshiba tecra a10.
November 9, 2008 at 6:51 am
Hello!
Thank for yout instruction, but it didn`t work on my Samsung R460((…I followed you step by step, but no wireless connection appeared in network connection menu. Please, tell me how get I cheack if the driver was installed correctly? I`ve been using Ubuntu just for a week…
November 10, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Hey man thank you so much. Like many I’ve been working on this for a while.
Just to add something that may help some people. Don’t freak out if it doesn’t immediately work. Follow all the directions, change the /etc/modules and then DO A REBOOT. After you reboot you will be able to see all your available wireless networks by clicking on the network icon beside the system time. Sorry if this seemed obvious to the rest of you.
I’m using my wireless to write this. Thank you again!
November 10, 2008 at 5:29 pm
PS. I have an Acer Aspire One
November 29, 2008 at 6:29 am
Worked and it was easy.
Thanks!
December 6, 2008 at 1:04 am
I have followed the instructions given here for the Toshiba Satellite A215 S4767, and would like to let you know that it worked. Thank you very much.
However, I have detected a bug. If you switch your wireless off - that is physically on your notebook - the wireless software still operates. Once you have switched it off via software, and if your physical switch is off, and switch it on again by software it will stay off until the physical switch is turned on. In short, it appears, the software driver is not written to support the turned off switch event, it just examines it when the driver is loaded. Its a minor bug, but I thought you’d like to know.
Once again thank you very much.
Regards,
Dorian
December 18, 2008 at 6:15 pm
This link points to the latest version of the file
http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
December 19, 2008 at 2:57 pm
thank you SO much! i’ve been trying to get my internet started since wed and i’ve tried literally everything. your guide was so helpful!
December 19, 2008 at 5:26 pm
please update the madwifi project link. THanks!
December 19, 2008 at 5:41 pm
great guide dude!!!! please just update that madwifi package address and also, folder name. thanks!!!!
December 20, 2008 at 1:32 pm
cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current
bash: cd: madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current: No such file or directory
…………
COuld you please get rid of the clutter on your blog, so that everything would be just clear and straight? thanks!
December 20, 2008 at 6:52 pm
Sorry about that! I fixed it the folder is actually madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3879-20081204 I corrected the blog to reflect that and got rid of the old snapshot to make it a little less confusing. Hope that helps.
December 27, 2008 at 11:07 am
thanks a lot!
after 2 days of bloody tears, i finally get it with my aspireone.
this guide rules!
December 29, 2008 at 10:04 am
Following this howto exactly I got wireless working on my Acer Travelmate 6252 running Ubuntu Intrepid. However the wireless button on the computer does not light up as it does under Windows.
I’m typing this with wireless connection. Thanh you very much!
December 30, 2008 at 12:27 am
Thanks! This FINALLY fixed the problem!
December 30, 2008 at 4:21 pm
thanks !!!!!
December 30, 2008 at 10:00 pm
thanks a lot!!!
it really works!!!!
.: malaysian ubuntu rookie:.
December 31, 2008 at 7:43 am
Thanks!!!! Finally wifi works on my ACER-laptop with Ubuntu installed. I don’t know how many tries I’ve made before this
Thanks again!
January 2, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Hi there,
Sadly this didn’t work for me. When I run lspci | grep Wireless I still get this: 02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01) so I assume that’s my issue.
I have a Toshiba Satellite A100 laptop.
And yes, I followed your steps and I never got any errors.
January 3, 2009 at 11:11 am
Thanks so much for the guide! I’m a linux newbie, and still got my wireless network running within ten minutes!
January 3, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Thanks you it worked .. I have Acer Aspire one GZ5 w/ 8.10 installed via WUBI. I tried installing the windows inf file, but no go.
I followed your instructions…. Works fine.
I appreciate your efforts.
JFS
January 7, 2009 at 1:50 am
Thanks very much for the tip. It worked beautifully in my laptop:
HP dv5, AMDTurion64, Atheros AR242x, Ubuntu 2.6.27-7-generic
Happy New Year !!
January 7, 2009 at 2:05 am
Thanks, it works great on my Asus X51L
January 8, 2009 at 7:55 am
This worked with kernel 2.6.27-7, but with (from the top of my head) 2.6.27-9 I got strange timing issues, pings to my router varying from about 30ms upto 30 seconds, and after a short while buffer issues. I connected an external Wifi adaptor to get the laptop (Acer 5715Z) finally running with KUbuntu 8.10. Mandriva and OpenSuse didn’t help either.
Evert
January 9, 2009 at 3:18 am
It just worked… what should i say. thank you.
January 9, 2009 at 6:07 pm
You sir, are full of win. For all toshiba users: worked well on my satellite u300.
January 9, 2009 at 6:13 pm
it worked for me. thanks a lot!!
January 10, 2009 at 3:42 pm
Hey man thanx a lot, i’m a linux noob and i pulled this off… the tutrioal is great and worked like a charm on my Aspire 5520G. You’re the best !
January 11, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I am incredibly grateful for this walkthrough–I have spent hours upon hours trying to get my wireless working on the Acer Extensa 5620Z (with the Atheros a5007eg card) to no avail. However, on a fresh install of Ubuntu 8.10, this walkthrough got it working the first time through. THANK YOU!
January 15, 2009 at 4:53 pm
I wanna thank you SO MUCH for this guide! i tried alot getting wireless to work on this laptop with no success, so glad I finally got it.
MILLIONS OF THANKS!
January 17, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Thanks a million… I had to reload the system, because of all the other things I tried…
AT LEAST IM POSTING THIS WIRELESSLY…
Thanks again.
jw
January 21, 2009 at 10:56 am
Thanks a lot for this article. Worked perfectly for me. I am on a Compaq Presario CQ60 104TU.
January 21, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Help! I followed this step-by-step, got wireless working, added it to the /etc/modules list, but when I reboot it isn’t detecting any networks! Under the drivers list it says another driver is in use, and it is still in the /etc/modules file. What can I do to get it working again?
January 21, 2009 at 11:00 pm
May sound stupid but did you make sure to disable the Hal driver in Ubuntu that is usually loaded automatically (Usually you will find it in the restricted drivers) Also if it was working before you restarted and loaded it in to modules chances are the driver was working fine try to run through the steps again and see if you can get it working again. if so Double check your edited /etc/modules correctly. Linux has a nasty habit of creating a text file when you say you want to edit one that doesn’t already exists, handy but for newer (even older) people can confuse the mess out of you.
January 23, 2009 at 9:30 pm
It worked for me! Thank’s!
Placa de rede sem fio Atheros AR242x no Ubuntu 8.10.
January 24, 2009 at 11:15 am
What am I doing wrong? DO I need to place the downloaded file in a certain place?
robbie@geek ~ $ tar xvf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
robbie@geek ~ $ cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3879-20081204
bash: cd: madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3879-20081204: No such file or directory
I feel daft as I am the only one not getting this to work
January 24, 2009 at 4:01 pm
odd. When you extract it type ls and make sure it created that specific folder. also so it’s not a cut and copy error start typing cd madwifi then hit the TAB button and allow it to auto complete what you are typing that way no numbers are missed and there is no spaces accidentally copied over
January 24, 2009 at 6:48 pm
Thank you for the reply but no joy still, pressing TAB after cd madwifi does not complete the string, is it not unpacking?
robbie@geek ~ $ ls
Desktop madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz Pictures Videos
Documents Music Projects
robbie@geek ~ $ tar xvf madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz
robbie@geek ~ $ cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3879-20081204
bash: cd: madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3879-20081204: No such file or directory
It’s an odd one
January 24, 2009 at 7:19 pm
ya it looks like it didn’t unpack, is this Ubuntu or something else
January 24, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Linux Mint
which is based on ubuntu 8.10 So I guessed this would be the same, starting to look like I guessed wrong eh?
January 24, 2009 at 11:00 pm
that should be fine I was just curious, I would try to extact it with a GUI the built in one would be fine just to see if it will extract it ok…I’ve never had tar not work to extract a file unless it was a real odd ball
January 25, 2009 at 7:22 am
Hello me again!
it turns out that despite downloading from the link 5/6 times yesterday, each time was a duff download. I tried again this morning and it worked exactly how you described above, thank you very much for this thread, it’s truly improved my Linux experience
January 25, 2009 at 11:01 pm
dude, thx very much for ur guide… it’s really work on my Acer Aspire One 110… thx a lot
January 26, 2009 at 12:32 am
It’s been said before, but I’m definitely gonna say it again: THANK YOU! This was driving me CRAZY! This solution worked perfectly.
January 26, 2009 at 5:20 pm
hey, thanks for the guide. i had to run through it twice in order to get it to work, but i got it. thanks a million, i’m new to ubuntu and linux in general. nice to know i can find help
~Jebus~
January 27, 2009 at 1:36 am
Thanks a lot! Worked Perfect the first time around! Excellent help.
January 28, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Hi, this looks like it should really work, but this is what I get instead
waakow@waakow-laptop:~$ cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3879-20081204
bash: cd: madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3879-20081204: No such file or directory
waakow@waakow-laptop:~$
January 29, 2009 at 12:15 am
Wow, never mind. I just had to type part of the “cd madwifi” then hit tab and it filled in the appropriate file and everything, now everything works great! I guess I’m just a bit slower then everyone else. Thanks! You’re a genius!
January 30, 2009 at 12:44 am
I just ran through the guide, to no avail. Running a Toshiba Satellite L305. I’m using WICD instead of Network Manager with 8.10.
January 30, 2009 at 12:47 am
Nevermind, just had to add ath0 to the wireless interface in WICD. Other than my own mistake, great guide thank you!
February 3, 2009 at 9:47 pm
you’re the man!
worked great on my thinkpad r51e!
great walkthrough. keep it up!
February 4, 2009 at 9:21 pm
thank you! worked on my compaq presario cq-50.
February 7, 2009 at 10:24 pm
Thanks for the tutorial!
This sequence worked flawlessly for my MSI GX-710 running Ubuntu 8.10amd64
February 11, 2009 at 7:43 am
hello, can you help me compiling acer_acpi on ubuntu 8.10 (if you know)??? i have the build-essential and linux-headers installed…
thank you
February 11, 2009 at 8:13 am
What are the errors you are getting?
February 13, 2009 at 9:14 pm
Works flawlessly on my SL 400. Thanks a ton!
February 13, 2009 at 11:27 pm
YOU ROCK
February 15, 2009 at 1:26 am
For those that had it working on 7, then updated and not working on 11, this is what to do. You need to go to etc/module and if you see NIDISWRAPPER, put a # in front of it and save it. If it will not let you save it, open terminal, type in sudo nautilus, and then repeat, it should let you save then. Then reboot and it will work. NDISWRAPPER is confligting with ath pci
February 15, 2009 at 12:43 pm
Is there a way to make the changes permanent. I have to run modprobe everytime i reboot the machine. Thanks!
February 15, 2009 at 1:21 pm
you have to add it to etc/module
February 16, 2009 at 5:56 am
Hi, please help…
tim@tim-laptop:~$ cd madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205/
tim@tim-laptop:~/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205$ make
cd: 1: can’t cd to /lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/build
Makefile.inc:66: *** /lib/modules/2.6.27-11-generic/build is missing, please set KERNELPATH. Stop.
What should i do? what am i doing wrong?
February 16, 2009 at 11:58 am
YOU ARE GOD dude….
Thank you so much…..:D
February 17, 2009 at 11:24 am
Thanks thanks thanks! A lot of thanks, it works for me!
February 19, 2009 at 6:21 am
great man thx a lot for the guide
February 24, 2009 at 9:59 am
Thanks for the easy install guide. Have been searching high and low for making my wireless work on Compaq Presario C733TU. (Same wireless card)
Regards,
Jaggu
February 25, 2009 at 9:03 am
Looks like it should now be ath_hal, not ath_pci; also it’s now madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205, for newest update
February 25, 2009 at 5:03 pm
If this works for everyone please let me know and I will update the tutorial
February 26, 2009 at 9:54 am
Tim, do this:
sudo apt-get install linux-headers-2.6.27-11-generic
February 27, 2009 at 5:23 am
hi I just can’t seem to get this to work can someone explain this to me in really simple steps?
February 27, 2009 at 5:06 pm
Thank you very much!
Finally got it working!
February 28, 2009 at 11:45 pm
Well its in there. Everything compiled with no errors. I added it to etc/modules. It shows wireless is up in network manager.
Problem is, It doesnt show any wireless networks? What am I missing?
March 1, 2009 at 4:52 am
Correction, Works fine. seems as though with compaq laptops if you turn the wireless off in windows, reboot into linux your wireless wont work until you reboot back into windows and press the f@king button. Took my entire weekend. DO NOT BUY COMPAQ IF USING LINUX.
March 1, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Hi. I followed every instruction (well, I had to change bits and bobs myself so it got the newest version of Madwifi etc) and everything looked as though it was going to work, I had no errors or anything. The thing that is confusing and frustrating me, is that before I rebooted there was no sign of Wireless (as I had anticipated as it says to reboot) but after I rebooted, still no wireless. I’m using Wicd instead of Network Manager. I’m running a Fujitsu Siemens V5515 (useless thing) and when I typed in “lspci | grep Wireless” I had the same outcome as you yourself did.
The only bit that I think I may have messed up is the “sudo gedit /etc/modules” and the “ath_pci” I did that whilst it had all the stuff about Madwifi next to my username stuff in the terminal
Oh yeah, I am a complete noob at this but I’ve tried adding as much detail as I can.
Would there be a reason why it doesn’t work?
Help would be appreciated =)
Cheers.
March 1, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I’m doing this on Hardy Heron (8.04 LTS (Obviously)) but I don’t see why it should make any difference. I tried other Tutorials before this and it didn’t work, this is the best one I believe. If you have one on Hardy Heron please may you post a link.
Thanks
March 1, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Man, I wish this worked. Linux n00b here and used Wubi to install Intrepid Ibex on my Asus Eee Pc (Atheros). On step 4 I get the following error in terminal:
madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205/hal/public/ap51.opt_ah.h
madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205/hal/public/wisoc.inc
madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205/hal/public/sparc-be-elf.hal.o.uu
madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205/hal/public/xscale-be-elf.hal.o.uu
madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205/hal/public/xscale-le-elf.hal.o.uu
madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205/hal/public/alpha-elf.hal.o.uu
tar: Skipping to next header
gzip: stdin: invalid compressed data–crc error
gzip: stdin: invalid compressed data–length error
tar: Child returned status 1
tar: Error exit delayed from previous errors
Any ideas?
March 1, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Thanx man!! It took me 2 days before i got this and it worked great even with wicd!
Im also using a compaq and i didnt need to go to windows to click the button
March 1, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Dan: As I stated above: “On Ubuntu 8.04 my wireless was detected as the AR242x and I was able to download ndisgtk (in the repos) and use the net5211.net driver, (the ndisgtk is just a graphical interface for ndiswrapper, very easy and very nice!” I never wrote up a how-to but once you installed ndisgtk and download the drivers for the AR242x, it pretty easy to add them to Ubuntu actually easier then using mad wifi.
March 1, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Juelze: not sure why you got that I would try to redownload the file
March 1, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Thank you for this article. My wireless is working just fine now.
March 2, 2009 at 8:13 am
Cheers Andy, i’ve decided just to update to Intrepid. Once I did that i did everything again and it worked =)
Thanks a lot =)
March 4, 2009 at 3:46 am
hye,after command “sudo modprobe ath.pci” should something comes out?
because i don’t really know if this is working.
March 4, 2009 at 8:28 am
kaka: no not really if you don’t get an error it worked but it’s only temporary if you reboot you loose it. You just have to toggle the wireless at that point, I don’t get a light on mine so you have to see if you have wireless networks after you try it.
March 4, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Andy, it works for me on 9.04 too. Thanks a lot.
March 5, 2009 at 7:42 pm
i have been trying forever to get my atheros wireless to work, and i have tried several distro’s. thanks you so much for this guide, because now i finally have it up and running. you have no idea how grateful i am. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
March 6, 2009 at 4:00 am
Great Blog!
Here is one more thing to add that will help a few of you. With this chipset some laptops will freeze on booting. So before following the excellent directions above..
1. Shut down the laptop and physically remove the wireless card. (don’t be scared its just a screw or two)
2. Boot back into your distro and blacklist the current ath driver by doing the following “sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist” without the quotes.
add these lines to the bottom of the file….
blacklist ath_hal
blacklist ath_pci
3. Shutdown your system and secure your wireless card back into place.
4. Now start Mr. Hyperandy’s instructions and your all set
March 6, 2009 at 4:05 am
Hyperandy. I am unable to find your email listed here. We love your blogs. If you ever need a webhost let us know, free for life with us buddy! Great Work!
March 6, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Does anyone know if this works with 64-bit Ubuntu 8.10?
March 6, 2009 at 1:14 pm
I would also like to know if any one has tried this in 64-bit, it sucks to hear you have to do this in 9.04 as well, I was hoping the opening of some of the Atheros Software would have killed off this fix
March 6, 2009 at 6:55 pm
hyperandy I can’t tell you how happy I am that this worked! Currently I have the 32-bit Ubuntu 8.10 installed and your steps worked flawlessly, which is incredible! Thanks for all your help. I may try the same method later with the 64-bit version.
BTW I have an HP DV 7 1264nr. For all you HP DV ? owners out there, give this method a try.
March 7, 2009 at 7:39 am
hi,hyperandy!
I followed your every instructions!,but when I ‘make’ there are a lot of problems as followed
( my kernel is 2.6.27-7-generic,my chipset is Atheros AR5001X+ Wireless Network Adapter.):
gcc -g -O2 -W -Wall -c ath_info.c
ath_info.c: In function ‘main’:
ath_info.c:2847: warning: ignoring return value of ‘fwrite’, declared with attribute warn_unused_result
gcc -g -O2 -W -Wall -o ath_info ath_info.o
make[2]: Leaving directory `/home/daiwei/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205/tools/ath_info’
gcc -o athstats -g -O2 -Wall -I. -I../hal -I.. -I../ath_hal -I../ath athstats.c
athstats.c: In function ‘main’:
athstats.c:289: warning: format not a string literal and no format arguments
athstats.c:291: warning: format not a string literal and no format arguments
athstats.c:311: warning: format not a string literal and no format arguments
athstats.c:313: warning: format not a string literal and no format arguments
athstats.c:348: warning: format not a string literal and no format arguments
gcc -o 80211stats -g -O2 -Wall -I. -I../hal -I.. -I../ath_hal 80211stats.c
80211stats.c: In function ‘main’:
80211stats.c:287: warning: format not a string literal and no format arguments
gcc -o athkey -g -O2 -Wall -I. -I../hal -I.. -I../ath_hal athkey.c
gcc -o athchans -g -O2 -Wall -I. -I../hal -I.. -I../ath_hal athchans.c
gcc -o athctrl -g -O2 -Wall -I. -I../hal -I.. -I../ath_hal athctrl.c
gcc -o athdebug -g -O2 -Wall -I. -I../hal -I.. -I../ath_hal athdebug.c
gcc -o 80211debug -g -O2 -Wall -I. -I../hal -I.. -I../ath_hal 80211debug.c
gcc -o wlanconfig -g -O2 -Wall -I. -I../hal -I.. -I../ath_hal wlanconfig.c
wlanconfig.c: In function ‘list_keys’:
wlanconfig.c:779: warning: ignoring return value of ’system’, declared with attribute warn_unused_result
wlanconfig.c: In function ‘ieee80211_status’:
wlanconfig.c:895: warning: ignoring return value of ’system’, declared with attribute warn_unused_result
gcc -o wpakey -g -O2 -Wall -I. -I../hal -I.. -I../ath_hal wpakey.c
make[1]: Leaving directory `/home/daiwei/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3942-20090205/tools’
Any way ,thank you for your blogs and your help!
March 9, 2009 at 7:21 am
I have done all the steps up to point 9. But when I type “sudo gedit /etc/modules” in the terminal I get the reply “command not found”
What am I doing wrong?
Dala
March 9, 2009 at 7:40 am
are you using gnome? if not try using sudo nano /etc/modules or emacs
March 9, 2009 at 9:05 am
I use Xfce.
And thanks to you, now it works.
THANK YOU SO MUCH.
Now my problem is to connect to the WEP wireless at my work.
The next big issue.
Asus eee 900. Xubuntu 8.10
March 9, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Not being a downer but WEP is really bad security, I would go to WPA if possible…but if you need to use WEP try removing the security and testing it and then re-add it, sounds stupid, but it sometimes works. Although this might prove to be difficult being at work if you don’t have access to do it
March 9, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Hello, I can’t understand how to add your blog in my rss reader
————————
internet signature: http://werato.ru/
March 9, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Thanks! This worked perfectly for me on Ubuntu 8.04.2 AMD64.
March 10, 2009 at 8:05 am
Etessscekly: the RSS link is http://blog.hyperandy.com/feed/ although I don’t update as much as I like, I try.
March 10, 2009 at 6:26 pm
worked like a charm
up to the very last line, when i try the sudo gedit/etc/modules line, i get “command unknown”…
any idea ?
i run PC/OS, which is basedon Ubuntu
at least you gave me lots of hope
March 10, 2009 at 7:43 pm
aethel: it should read sudo gedit /etc/modules a space after gedit although I don’t believe gedit is installed in PC Linux OS which is what I think you are refering to. just type sudo nano /etc/modules when you are done you should be able to hit Crtl+X I believe and it will ask you to save changes and just hit yes. nano is installed (as far as I have found) in most Ubuntu based OS’s if not it’s only an apt-get away
March 11, 2009 at 10:14 am
hey, the “nano” bit worked !
although there are no lists..
do I just type
ath_pci
and save ?
March 11, 2009 at 10:33 am
AMAZING! it found all the wireless networks…
i’m still not connected, it fails at the authentication phase
not sure if that’s something to do with the system or just the connection
anyway
thanks a million !
truly amazing
March 11, 2009 at 10:53 am
ladies and non-ladies, we have a connection !
all i need now is your photo to show to my grandchildren
thanks a million, i went through lots of tutorials, yours was the only one that worked !
thanks again
March 13, 2009 at 10:30 am
I’ve tried many guides but only this work for me. Really thanks
March 22, 2009 at 12:30 am
Thank you so much! I didn’t try to make the switch to full-time Linux until AFTER I purchased my Vista-loaded Acer Aspire 5050. The fact that I couldn’t get wireless working on Ubuntu was the only reason I kept Vista on the machine (I felt dirty every time I booted up into it). Thank you so much for sharing all your work!
March 26, 2009 at 10:45 am
amazing worked perfectly
March 28, 2009 at 9:35 am
You are the best person EVER!
April 6, 2009 at 5:28 pm
Thank you, you’re a genius. I am a linux/ubuntu noob, and been trying to get my wireless for the past 3 days. Your guide was the easiest and the only one that actually works. Screw all those windows driver crap. Now I’m posting wirelessly.
April 11, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Hi Andy. Amazing guide, thank you ever so much. Everything worked perfectly. There is one thing though, thats bugging me, and thus why I’m having to send this wired up =(
I got everything to work, was all wireless and happy, and then I rebooted because of updates and suddenly, poof, nothing. I did everything. I’d added ath_pci to the “etc/modules” I even checked that it was still there which is was. And now also, I can’t figure out what command to type in manually to get it going again =(
Also, I had rebooted a couple of times before hand and the networks were still there, but now nothing. I’m wondering if the updates have done something, but I don’t see why they would.
Help would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers man.
April 14, 2009 at 1:24 am
HP G60-235DX Laptop with Atheros AR242x running Jaunty 9.04 (beta).
This guide worked.. and worked VERY well.
It appears the Hardware Drivers thought the chipset was the 5k.
Instantly after typing the modprobe command the Network Manager recognized the card. I have connected to a wireless network and am typing this message from there.
NOTE: For those of you with Jaunty and miss the KNetworkManager — it is not a Widget that you must currently manually add (beta), called the Network Management widget.
Again, thank you!
April 16, 2009 at 7:52 pm
i love u man it works for me T_T I’m so happy!!!
April 22, 2009 at 1:10 pm
Thanks so much!!! I’m so happy i found your guide !!! It worked from the start (on a fujitsu siemens v5535 dual core laptop).
Good luck!!!
April 23, 2009 at 6:18 pm
Yes!! worked with me. I have the ASUS eee pc 1000HA and now WPA WPA2 works perfectly. The problem was solved!!
I tested in the final release of Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Netbook Remix - UNR
Thanks a lot
May 13, 2009 at 1:19 pm
I have been struggling with this issue for weeks. I was ready to give up on Ubuntu for my netbook. This solved it in 15 mins!! You Rock!!
Thank you!
May 16, 2009 at 6:20 pm
wow. after a long search, I reach this page, and see that I had commented on Jan7th !. I had to reinstall Ubuntu this time, and this time, the network manager did not show the list of wireless networks.
I did iwconfig txpower on, and it started working.
My laptop: HP Pavilion DV5. AMD Turion X2 64. Atheros AR242x.
And, this laptop has a soft-touch-button to control the wifi-card. That is a pain. It doesnt work in Linux, and the LED always remains orange (=off), no matter whats the real status.
Thanks a lot hyperandy. !!
May 19, 2009 at 10:39 am
Thanks!I’m using Ubuntu 9.04 on Acer Aspire 5570Z, my wifi card is Atheros AR242X (lspci command told me that). I just followed this manual step by step and everything’s working.No problem with WPA-PSK security at all. Thank you so much!
May 30, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Dear Andy
I have a Compaq CQ70-201TU, which I believe has the ar5007 card/driver, although I can’t be 100% sure, as the HP website doesn’t give any specifications for this machine. I have installed Ubuntu 9.04, having read somewhere that it would finally solve the problem with Atheros cards; but, of course, it hasn’t. I have follwed your oviously excellent instructions (with a slight modification to update the install directory), and all seemd to go well until the very end, when in response to “sudo modprobe ath_pci” I got “WARNING: All config files need .conf: /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper, it will be ignored in a future release.” I am a complete beginner with Ubuntu, and have no idea what this means or what to do. Needless to say, the wifi is not yet working. Are you able to help?
Many thanks in anticipation.
June 1, 2009 at 7:43 am
thanks dude!!!!! you save my day!
wireless network detected after reboot
June 1, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Dear Andy
Thanks. I did as you suggest, and rebooted, ignoring the warning. Now on the Networks icon I see a new greyed-out item “Wireless Networks: device not managed”. Pressing my machine’s wifi button a few times for various periods has no effect. Looks like there is progress, but I’m still not there.
A search under System-Hardware Drivers, which previously produced no result, now yields the result that the Alternate Atheros “madwifi” driver is activated and currently in use.
Can you or others help further?
Thanks again in anticipation …
June 1, 2009 at 6:27 pm
run lspci | grep Wireless again and just see which AR number your wireless card is again..
June 4, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Dear Hyperandy
Thanks again (sorry for delayed response, but I don’t have much time to devote to computer tasks at present).
The response to lspci | grep Wireless is now:
“02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)”
This doesn’t mean much to me. Is it saying that I in fact have the ar242x card, rather than the ar5007 card I thought I had; or could it be that the installed software is wrong for my ar5007 card?
Yoour further help would be much appreciated. Sorry to be so dim!
June 5, 2009 at 7:06 am
no you probably have the AR5007, I have noticed Ubuntu detects the card differently in newer releases. in 7.10 mine was detected as AR5006EG and in all current releases mine is detected as AR242x like yours. don’t feel bad wireless can be super tricky. I am messing around with Sabayon and wireless works great out of the box with this card until you try to connect using WPA then the driver just craps out. I think in order to get it to work I am going to have to give it a kidney. So I understand your pain here. They only other things I can offer you to try at this time, seeing as the madwifi driver doesn’t seem to be working is to try the ndiswrapper. Also are you running 64bit or 32bit. I have heard of varying success with different drivers in 64bit. I wrote and tested this guide with 32bit although I might give 64 a try on it, to see what is different. also your card maybe a little different due that you believe it is a AR5007 and mine originally was a AR5006EG. If I come up with anything I will e-mail you or post it. In the mean time I would suggest trying ndiswrapper with the most current driver for your card and see if you can get anywhere with that. I know it is a pain, it seems to be one of the last remaining thorns for new user installations. I am hoping when the ath5k driver gets updated in 9.10 we will see this issue disappear.
June 6, 2009 at 9:47 pm
Dear HyperAndy
I had already tried the ndiswrapper route with the latest Windows Vista driver update for my card, in accordance with the procedure advised in Ubuntu Help. It failed, and that’s why I embarked on this search through the Ububtu forums.
I had read that the Atheros wifi problem had been resolved with Ubuntu 9.04, but obviously it has not. Thus I am extremely sceptical that the forthcoming version 9.10 will achieve resolution, but I must retain some modicum of hope that those who are preparing this update will read this, and other similar, correspondence, and make resolution a top priority. This issue is the only thing forcing me to continue to adhere to the appalling Windows Vista.
I will monitor this thread from time to time to follow your further expert advice. Meantime, many thanks for your trouble in responding to my problems.
June 7, 2009 at 12:28 am
I’m sorry for your troubles, I hope you can find a fix, Don’t let this issue be the end of you trying linux, I have installed tons of distros with this chipset with varying success (Atheros just didn’t want to play nice with other at first), the Ubuntu Forums are excellent, I wish I had more advice at this time (or more time to work on this for you), I do believe 9.10 (closer to release) will help this issue, if not, completely get rid of it, only because I have seen amazing changes in driver/hardware support in such a short time (of course I have seen some stuff break along the way, INTEL VIDEO!!!). I was messing around with different distros on my laptop and Fedora 11 worked great with my wireless and everything else, it’ll will be a full release I believe on Tuesday 06/09/09. It is looking to be an incredible release. I always found Ubuntu and Fedora quite level when it came to drivers and stuff but this release blows ubuntu 9.04 out of the water with hardware support in my applications. Of course it does use RPM instead of DEB, and I haven’t given the apt for rpm a spin yet to see if it’s any good, but I got my feet wet back with Fedora 4 core and always had a place for it, the only reason I switched, was back then the Yum package manager was about 100 times slower then Ubuntu’s Apt-get…we’ll have to see how that stack up now.
June 22, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Dear HyperAndy
Thanks for your further advice, and sorry for the very delayed reply. Looks like I should have a go at Fedora (of which I had not previously known) after the release of version 11 in September - when I hope to have more time for experiment than I have at present. I’ll keep you posted in due course, especially in the event of success.