What to do about wireless?

English Network/Internet
#1

Using openSUSE 11.4 64 bit on Compaq Presario CQ60

I ran these commands and got these answers (showing only what seemed relevant to wireless):

/sbin/lspci
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

/sbin/lspci -n
07:00.0 0200: 168c:001c (rev 01)

dmesg | grep -i ‘firmware’
0.044196] [Firmware Bug]: ACPI: BIOS _OSI(Linux) query ignored

dmesg | grep -i ‘wlan’
53.991263] A link change request failed with some changes comitted already. Interface wlan0 may have been left with an inconsistent configuration, please check.

/usr/sbin/iwconfig
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=off
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off

/usr/sbin/iwlist scan
wlan0 Failed to read scan data : Network is down

I went to the web and got:

madwifi-r4144-1.1.x86_64.rpm (one click install, from openSUSE/Downloads). Ran it (using Yast). The only difference is that now the command

dmesg | grep -i ‘wlan’

returns nothing. I looked up the wireless adaptor in the device list (Hardware Information in Yast, under PCI) and it shows ath5k. The adaptor is atheros AR5001.

One interesting detail is that the wireless adaptor goes on automatically when I boot linux (if I boot Windows XP I have to press it by hand, but then it works!

I am totally lost on this, have put in tons of time to no avail. Thanks in advance,

Otto.

PS For some reason some 'o’s look like smilies.

#2

Your device is listed here
HCL:Network (Wireless) - openSUSE

Posting the result of

/sbin/lspci -nnk

may help us

Also check this:
Getting Your Wireless to Work

](http://en.opensuse.org/HCL:Network_(Wireless)#Atheros)

#3

PS For some reason some 'o’s look like smilies.

Use code tags ‘#’ (with advanced editor) for your output.

/usr/sbin/iwconfig
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSIDff/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=off
Retry long limit:7 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Power Managementff

The above suggests that your wireless device may be disabled. You can use ‘rfkill’ to check

/usr/sbin/rfkill list

I remember this thread concerning the same chipset.

#4

Thanks for your replies. Have not been able to get to my home computer in over two weeks, too much work.

>Your device is listed here
>HCL:Network (Wireless) - openSUSE

I looked at that list, but it seems to suggest that I need to downgrade to 11.2. Well, there may be no choice.

> Posting the result of
> Code:
> /sbin/lspci -nnk
>
> may help us

I ran it, didn’t tell me much, but I am no expert…

/sbin/lspci -nnk | grep -A 4 -i ‘atheros’
07:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter [168c:001c] (rev 01)
Subsystem: Hewlett-Packard Company Device [103c:137a]
Kernel driver in use: ath5k

Also check this:
Getting Your Wireless to Work

I did check this, even before writing, but have not been able to make work.

That command did not work. I tried to find it, but to no avail.

/usr/sbin/rfkill list
bash: /usr/sbin/rfkill: No such file or directory

I tried reading through the thread you proposed, but I am still digesting it.

I looked at the wireless device through Windows (I have xp installed in the same computer, I hope that is not the issue here). Windows thinks it is AR5006 instead of AR5001. The wireless does work from windows. Here is what xp says about this device:

07 / 00 / 00 PCI-X Ethernet Atheros Communications Inc AR5006 family 802.11abg Wireless NIC Hewlett-Packard Company

Property Value
Vendor 168Ch Atheros Communications Inc
Device 001Ch AR5006 family 802.11abg Wireless NIC
Subsystem Vendor 103Ch Hewlett-Packard Company
Subsystem Device 137Ah
Name Atheros AR5006X Wireless Network Adapter
Command 0147h I/O Access, Memory Access, BusMaster, Parity Error Response, System Errors
Status 0010h Has Capabilities List, Fast Timing
Revision 01h
Header Type 00h
Bus Latency Timer 00h
Self test 00h Self test not supported
Cache line size 32 Bytes (8 DWords)
PCI Class 02h Network
PCI Class Type 020000h Ethernet

DeviceDesc Atheros AR5006X Wireless Network Adapter
LocationInformation PCI bus 7, device 0, function 0

Thanks for all the help. Otto.

#5

That command did not work. I tried to find it, but to no avail.

/usr/sbin/rfkill list
bash: /usr/sbin/rfkill: No such file or directory

Install rfkill first

su -c "zypper in rfkill"

Then run the following command again

/usr/sbin/rfkill list

If you find your wireless soft blocked, identify the device no (eg 2), then unblock it with

su -c "rfkill unblock 2"

*Make sure you use the numeric reference listed concerning your wireless device.

#6

Thanks. Installing the package helped. Which one do I unblock now, they both say ‘wireless LAN’?

/usr/sbin/rfkill list
0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no

#7

On 08/01/2011 06:16 PM, linsuain wrote:
>
> Thanks. Installing the package helped. Which one do I unblock now, they
> both say ‘wireless LAN’?
>
> /usr/sbin/rfkill list
> 0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: yes
> Hard blocked: no
> 1: phy0: Wireless LAN
> Soft blocked: yes
> Hard blocked: no

sudo /usr/sbin/rfkill unblock all

#8

There is quite a bit of progress, but still no connection. Maybe I do not know how to activate this in Yast…
This is still showing that the Power is off (even though the little external LED shows the wireless is on)

/usr/sbin/iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID : off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit : 7 RTS thr : off Fragment thr : off
Power Management : off

But this looks better:

/usr/sbin/iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address:
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=58/70 Signal level=-52 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID :
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=
Extra: Last beacon: 3537ms ago
IE: Unknown:
IE: Unknown:
IE: Unknown:
IE: Unknown:
IE: Unknown:
IE: Unknown:
IE: Unknown:
IE: Unknown: