AR242x 802.11 abg is not detected

MTheory · November 2, 2008, 12:06am

Hi guys!

I know its a lot discussed and I know some of you have sure answered this question 100 times so i am very sorry to ask you again but I tried all what I found on this site and the rest of the hole internet .

I installed the Madwifi drivers like its described here:
Atheros madwifi - openSUSE

But when i am looking in YaST Control Center > Network Devices > Network Settings my wireless card is not configured/connected and the kernel device is not present…


lsmod |grep ath

ath_pci               113056  0
wlan                  216780  1 ath_pci
ath_hal               208208  1 ath_pci

Please help me! Thanks in advance!

swerdna · November 2, 2008, 5:58am

1: What’s the wireless device? (make, model and ‘lspci -nn’ or ‘lsusb’, depending on type)
2: Please return ‘iwconfig’

deltaflyer44 · November 2, 2008, 9:07am

Not only what Swerdna says, but, if you post in the wireless section, it may get more attention

Andy

MTheory · November 2, 2008, 11:28am

1: What’s the wireless device? (make, model and ‘lspci -nn’ or ‘lsusb’, depending on type)


lspci -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)                                                                                                   
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2834] (rev 03)                                                                                                             
00:1a.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2835] (rev 03)                                                                                                             
00:1a.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:283a] (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)      
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 [8086:2841] (rev 03)      
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 [8086:2843] (rev 03)      
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 4 [8086:2845] (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)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express [14e4:1713] (rev 02)
06:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter [168c:001c] (rev 01)

2: Please return ‘iwconfig’


iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

Not only what Swerdna says, but, if you post in the wireless section, it may get more attention

Andy

OK, thank you for the tip Andy! I will do that next time or if the problem will not be solved. But now is swerdna helping me here I think.

M-Theory

swerdna · November 2, 2008, 2:31pm

Hi again
Thanks for the info. I wanted to check your device at the Madwifi site but unfortunately it’s down ATM.
So:
You’ve got ath_pci so you’ve installed madwifi. Let’s just check the versions. can you enter these two commands in a console and return the results here:

rpm -qa | grep madwifi (wait 20 secs for full response)
uname -r

We’ll double check the installation, but assuming the correct RPMs are there, you should proceed to configure the device in Yast following one of several tutorials. Seems you’ve used this one already:
Atheros madwifi - openSUSE

Maybe try another one on the second go round. It has some screenshots to help you along. First do modprobe ath_pci then proceed to Yast as per the following:
Madwifi or Ndiswrapper Wireless Network Drivers - Suse/openSUSE 10, 11 - LAN & Internet access

MTheory · November 2, 2008, 2:58pm

Hi swerdna! Here what you wanted.

You’ve got ath_pci so you’ve installed madwifi. Let’s just check the versions. can you enter these two commands in a console and return the results here:

rpm -qa | grep madwifi (wait 20 secs for full response)

uname -r


rpm -qa | grep madwifi

madwifi-kmp-pae-0.9.4_2.6.25.5_2-1
madwifi-0.9.4-1


uname -r

2.6.25.18-0.2-pae

Thanks, M-Theory

swerdna · November 2, 2008, 9:27pm

Great, can’t fault you so far. So try the config in Yast according to the tutorial
Madwifi or Ndiswrapper Wireless Network Drivers - Suse/openSUSE 10, 11 - LAN & Internet access
skip around the ndiswrapper parts and the installing of RPMs (already done) and go to the config. I still can’t get to the Madwifi site to check the card so either it will work or it won’t.

converted · November 2, 2008, 10:29pm

My ability to troubleshoot/fix a wireless hardware/driver problem is limited to following someone else’s procedure, so bear that in mind as you read what I’ve written below.

Having said that, I spent several hours over the course of a couple of days trying to get my AR242x working on my HP laptop – trying numerous things that were suggested on the forums here.

In the end, this is the only thing that worked for me, which incidentally is exactly what I was doing on the same laptop under Ubuntu.

Read beyond the OP, as I added a bit of info that was non-obvious to a noob like me. (dunno what your skill level is)

[Solution]Atheros AR242x - Suse11 - pae kernel - openSUSE Forums](http://forums.opensuse.org/network-internet/wireless/396325-solution-atheros-ar242x-suse11-pae-kernel.html)

MTheory · November 2, 2008, 11:22pm

Hello guys!

@swerdna
I followed your guide to configure my wireless card swerdna, but there is something different. In Pic#3 is only your wired card listed.

Here (http://chaoztheoryclan.ch.funpic.de/images/yast2.png) are things a little different. Please have a look.

@converted
I tried to follow your solution too but when i type “make” is outputs the following:


make
Makefile.inc:91: *** KERNELCONF: /lib/modules/2.6.25.18-0.2-pae/build/.config does not exist..  Stop.

I am also pretty new to Linux and I don’t know where the problem is. “Make” and everything else to compile is installed. I can compile programs. But it seems to be something with the Kernel.

Thanks for your help guys!
M-Theory

converted · November 2, 2008, 11:44pm

I got that error as well until I installed kernel-syms. Try installing that then trying again.

[Solution]Atheros AR242x - Suse11 - pae kernel - openSUSE Forums](http://forums.opensuse.org/network-internet/wireless/396325-solution-atheros-ar242x-suse11-pae-kernel.html#post1890257)

MTheory · November 3, 2008, 1:03am

It works!!!

Thanks to swerdna your Website and your help are great.

Thanks to converted and bbqau, you both made a very good guide.
The only thing that was missing for compiling was kernel-syms. After installing it everything went fine.

@converted
You said in your guide that you had problems without installing kernel-syms probably you can add the error that we got so that everyone knows how to solve that. I had no idea that I have to install this for solving this special error.

Great work!

Best regards
M-Theory

converted · November 3, 2008, 3:08am

I’m so glad you got it working! I’ll add that error to bbqau’s thread…

I see you mentioned you are new to Linux – after a year and a half of near total Linux immersion I’m still completely ignorant in many areas. Don’t worry though, it’s a great experience. Have a bit of patience in the beginning and you’ll really be rewarded.

– Joe

MTheory · November 3, 2008, 2:01pm

Hi again!

OK, I have to get on your nerves one more time. But I think this could be important for other too. After my wireless card was detected yesterday I wanted to etablish a connection today. For maximal security I switched to “Broadcast SSID off” in my router settings. With this setting I cant neither etablish a connection with the YaST configuration nor with KNetworkManager. For testing purposes I changed the setting to “Broadcast SSID on” everything went fine. But then after rebooting (I don’t know what I did that this could happen.) my wireless card was not detected again. The old profile (was working before)was still in the overview but now there was like original the old one that said not detected. No I was unable to make wireless connetions. OK, I deleted the profile that said “detected” because i didn’t worked and now I was at the point that this picture

http://chaoztheoryclan.ch.funpic.de/images/yast2.png shows.

To get things working again I wanted to reinstall everything. First I deinstalled madwifi in YaST. I also wanted to deinstall madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-r3861-20080903 but I didn’t know how and didn’t do it (Just for the future can you tell me how to? In YaST it’s not listed). Then I restarted my system and the wireless card was detected again without installing “madwifi” again. I’m a little bit confused now. :\

Another question is: Why do I have to configure my wireless card in YaST. I mean the connection relevant settings. I even have to do it in KNetworkManager that it works!?

How can I see if a connection was established if I set:
YaST > Network Settings > Global options > Traditional method wit ifup (What’s ifup?) like swerdna told in his guide Madwifi or Ndiswrapper Wireless Network Drivers - Suse/openSUSE 10, 11 - LAN & Internet access ?

I would be very thankful for answering my questions!
Thanks in advance!

M-Theory

converted · November 3, 2008, 4:24pm

Well, I’m probably out of my depth here, but I’m going to suggest that you try it again. It sounds from your post as if you may have left the repo-installed madwifi on your system when you did it the first time around, which I did NOT do, and which I’d have guessed would have caused a problem at some point.

So, my suggestion leave the repo-madwifi uninstalled (or uninstall it and reboot if you’ve reinstalled it) and then try bbqau’s method again.

FWIW I did not configure my wireless card via YAST, I did it via KNetworkManager.

Also, just FYI, hiding your SSID is not especially useful from a security standpoint, so if that proves to be the sticking point for you after trying it again, I suggest you just turn on SSID broadcast and leave it that way.

MTheory · November 3, 2008, 4:34pm

I think you understood me wrong. I said first it worked than not and then after deinstalling madwifi everything was fine again.

I don’t mean the madwifi repo I mean the one under YaST Software Management. This one was installed as it worked the first time and as it didn’t worked I deintalled madwifi and then it worked again.

I also used now KNetworkManager to configure my card. I also tried it with only YaST but this didn’t worked.

Thanks!
M-Theory

converted · November 3, 2008, 4:48pm

^^ OK then sorry to have misunderstood!

MTheory · November 3, 2008, 9:25pm

No, no it was my bad. I expressed it no very well!

Thanks for your great help!
M-Theory