Problems with wireless networking[SOLVED]

bawig1 · Last edited by bawig1 on Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:26 am; edited 1 time in total

Hi Everyone,

Long story short I'm stuck in hospital with nothing but a usb-stick, a netbook, a new laptop(the target) and a Wi-Fi connection which is my only means of getting online. I cannot seem to get my wireless device working. I can boot from the USB stick without a problem and the environment is like the live cd. I have an Atheros Wireless device that needs to use the ath9k driver. Once the system boots I run;

cach0rr0 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 4:54 am Post subject:

two places to look for possible errors

-check dmesg immediately after modprobing ath9k
-do a cat /proc/net/dev after you check dmesg and see if the interface shows up

wont get you a fix, but it'll hopefully give you information (that perhaps if youre stuck will enable us folk to help give a fix)
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bawig1 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:06 am Post subject:

the last 3 lines of dmesg that could relate to the wireless adapter are;

cach0rr0 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:18 am Post subject:

if you rmmod ath9k, and modprobe ath9k, assuming that indeed that's the correct driver for your wireless card, you should see *some* text relating to ath9k being loaded

possible you forgot to rmmod ath9k before modprobing it again? sorry if that's a silly suggestion.

If you can share lspci output that would be helpful. Knock on wood ath9k should be fairly painless to get set up once the problem is clear, easier of the available wifi modules in linux
_________________
Lost configuring your system?
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bawig1 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:32 am Post subject:

from dmesg when I ran rmmod all that was added was;

cach0rr0 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 5:50 am Post subject:

suspecting you're missing ATH_PCI (i think that's the symbol name)
did you do genkernel, or manual config?

just thinking out loud here so bear with me; if i were configuring an ath9k card (i have a laptop with ath9k, but its power cord is shot at the moment) I would, within menuconfig, go to device drivers, network devices, wireless, enable

CONFIG_ATH_COMMON

as module

CONFIG_ATH9K

as module

CONFIG_ATH9K_PCI
ATH9K_RATE_CONTROL

set to =y for enabled

so hrmm...maybe ATH9K_PCI is not enabled in your config?

see what your settings are for those, if missing any, enable, make && make modules_install, reboot (shouldnt need to copy your bzImage i dont think, as we're only adding modules to the kernel)
_________________
Lost configuring your system?
dump lspci -n here | see Pappy's guide | Link Stash

bawig1 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:01 am Post subject:

Thanks for the reply :-)

I haven't got that far in the installation yet. This laptop did have Gentoo running on it before it was factory reset back to Windoze. Last time I had an ethernet connection to download the kernel source and everything else. I'm still (now) at the beginning of the handbook. I cannot get any wireless networking actually going because in the Hospital they only have Wi-Fi for the patients. Could it be a problem with Linux Wireless Extentions? (wext)?
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"If you are new to UNIX, you may be used to clicking something and seeing either an "OK" message, an error, nothing, or (all too often) a pretty blue screen with nifty high-tech letters' explaining exactly where the system crashed" - Michael Lucas

cach0rr0 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 6:56 am Post subject:

ohhhh right, i get ya, so youre trying to get this working on your install media so as to be able to do your actual install-to-disk

i doubt it's WEXT causing an issue.

It could even be an issue with the install medium you're using lacking ATH9K_PCI (but having ath9k) - in fact I *think* I remember the livedvd having this issue a while back, wouldnt surprise me

just as a general aside/suggestion, which may or may not be feasible for you at the moment, if youre doing an install purely over wireless SysRescueCD tends to fare better than the "official" media. Good wireless support, boots off a thumb drive no issue, has a shiny UI so as to be able to use e.g. a browser. You may not be in a position to make that change now, however.

Crux of it:
ath9k is the correct drive for that card. Modprobing it should make wlan0, in a "down" state, but it would still show in /proc/net/dev short of a fault loading the driver (which would be seen in dmesg output). None of these are ringing true, so it'd either be some way way way obscure issue with udev, or far more likely, some ATH piece missing from your install media's kernel

to check?

bawig1 · Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2012 7:25 am Post subject:

yep that's it