Updates

**02-24-2009** Instructions for fix after update to kernel 2.6.27-11-generic below.  This how to uses compat-wireless-2009-02-24.tar.bz2. It was tested on (K)Ubuntu 8.10 KDE 4.1.2. Kernel version 2.6.27-7-generic & 2.6.27-9-generic

For instructions on getting the AR242x to work on 8.04 click here.

Introduction

You could see this as part 3 in the series: How To Get Atheros AR242x Wireless To Work
It’s with disappointment that I have to report the following:

I started with a fresh install of Kubuntu 8.10, the reason for this is simple I wanted to make sure that nobody could say “you should have done a clean install”. On a clean install out of the box the AR242x doesn’t work.

What I Tried First

So I started to search for solutions. There a several solutions out there here is a quick list:

The last option worked the best for me so that is what I’ll go with for this how to. Let me clarify that ath_hal, ath5k and ath9k are all developed by madwifi so props to them for doing such a great job of developing the drivers that make wireless for the AR242x work under Linux.

How To Get The AR242X To Work

Okay let’s get to the how to. I found this solution on the Ubuntu forums and credit goes to Malet for provinding the information in the first place.

Disclaimer:
The Package we’re about to use is as far as I know in beta. Installing this package might make your installation of Kubuntu(or Ubuntu) unstable. I am not responsible for any problems that arise after installing this package. But do feel free to post a comment for help if something doesn’t work right I will respond back and try to work with you to fix it. I am NOT responsible for damage to hardware as a result of applying anything you find on this website.

This how to uses Terminal (Konsole) and nano the best small text editor for terminal.

If you had linux-restricted-modules installed please completely remove these by running the following commands:

sudo update-rc.d -f linux-restricted-modules-common remove

Let’s make sure you have the right wireless adapter run this command in Terminal:

lspci | grep Atheros

If the result of that command is something like this:

05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

This solution might also work for your wireless chipset so feel free to try it but no guaranty’s there.

First Let’s make sure we are on the desktop in Terminal:

cd ~/Desktop

Then let’s download the new driver (in Linux mostly called Module):

If re-running this after the Kernel update to 2.6.27-11-generic then run this line — and skip the next one — otherwise skip this and go to line below.

wget -c http://madberry.org/wp-content/compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2

Please bare with me as I now have to manually change the file to the next date every night at 10pm. If you get a 404 then please change the date part in the file below to the next day. Example if it says 2009-01-26 and you get a 404 then change it to 2009-01-27 in the file to be downloaded below.

I will have to keep doing this until the universal file that I was using before is updating again. Thank for you patience.

wget -c http://wireless.kernel.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/compat-wireless-2009-02-24.tar.bz2

Now untar:

tar xvf compat*.tar.bz2

Go into the directory:

cd compat*

Let’s install the new Module:
First get the build-essential package installed:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install build-essential

Then run the following:

make

sudo make install

sudo make unload

sudo make load

The sudo make load command might produce some errors don’t worry about this it loads the ath5k module just fine.

Now reboot you’re box.
You should have wireless after rebooting just run:

iwconfig

The result could look like this:

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:”linksys”
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:16:B6:AA:AF:58
Bit Rate=24 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
Power Management:off
Link Quality=93/100 Signal level:-43 dBm Noise level=-103 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

pan0 no wireless extensions.

If so then you can now configure your wireless settings please don’t forget to post a comment below to tell us it worked.

If there is no wlan0 and you have to run the make load command every time you boot then this might be because the ath5k module is not loading on boot. In this case run this command:

echo ath5k | sudo tee -a /etc/modules

This will add ath5k to the modules to be loaded at boot. Thank you HL for figuring this one out.

Sudhir had the problem that some of you seem to have as well. The driver didn’t find any networks. Here is his solution:

Originally Posted By Sudhir Thalore
But no wireless networks were getting detected by the network manager. After some more googling I disabled Bluetooth using system->administration->services and voila – wireless is now working like a champion.

If it didn’t work then please post a comment below include the results of the following commands:

uname -a

cat /etc/issue

iwconfig

iwlist wlan0 scanning

In Closing

Please use the pastebin and post the link you get in the comment. I want to keep the comments readable.

As always if something changes I will update this post. This means if there is a Kernel update and this solution doesn’t work any more then this is the place where you will find how to fix it.

I can’t stress enough how important your comments are even if the solution works for you. The comments are used by people with similar chipsets on different computers so if it works or not please leave a comment.

If this page helped you out at all then please donate. Donations will go towards the hosting cost for this website.
Thanks for donating.

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**10-23-2008** This how to still uses madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz And has been tested by me and works for (K)Ubuntu 8.0.4.1(both x86-64 and i686) with kernel 2.6.24-21-generic. And once again every one who has problems please re-try the how to.

**09-17-2008** Thanks to Gideon, who told me the links weren’t working any more. This how to now uses madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz As always this revision has been tested by me and works for (K)Ubuntu 8.0.4.1(both x86-64 and i686) with kernel 2.6.24-19-generic. And once again every one who has problems please re-try the how to.

**09-03-2008** This How to now uses the newest snapshot madwifi-hal-2008-08-15-r3862-20080903.tar.gz. As always this revision has been tested by me and works for (K)Ubuntu 8.0.4.1(both x86-64 and i686) with kernel 2.6.24-19-generic.

**09-01-2008** This How to now uses the newest snapshot madwifi-hal-2008-08-15-r3851-20080829.tar.gz. If you posted a comment to say it isn’t working then please re-run everything. And report back to verify that the solution is now working for you. As always this revision has been tested by me and works for (K)Ubuntu 8.0.4.1 with kernel 2.6.24-19-generic.

This is a revision of my original post using the solution provided by Madwifi it’s been tested by me and it works.

Windows drivers are here

If you own the same laptop as I do, a Toshiba A205-S5825, then you probably have the same problem, if you are using Hardy or Gutsy with the newest Kernel(2.6.24-19-generic) or older, the wireless doesn’t work out of the box.

It cost me about an hour to solve this mainly because no one knew anything about this particular chipset.

So here is the solution for the AR242x. If you have a chipset in the A5700 series then this could work for you too.

The solution is quite simple and only takes you a couple of minutes to apply and then you can use your wireless.

For this How to you do need wired internet to the computer.

Disclaimer:
The Package we’re about to use is as far as I know in beta. Installing this package might make your installation of Kubuntu(or Ubuntu) unstable. I am not responsible for any problems that arise after installing this package. But do feel free to post a comment for help if something doesn’t work right I will respond back and try to work with you to fix it. I am NOT responsible for damage to hardware as a result of applying anything you find on this website.

First let’s make sure your computer uses the same chipset(or something similar) run in terminal:

lspci | grep Atheros

If the result is as follows or something similar then you are able to use this fix.

05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

If the result of the command ran is nothing the you don’t have an Atheros chipset and your read on this page stops here. Please go to the forums on Ubuntu and Kubuntu there is a big community there to help you solve your problem or try Google.

Before we start we need to make sure that already installed modules are not “in use”. Click on the Kubuntu start button go to system and click on the “Hardware Drivers Manager” this is where you will find all proprietary drivers. But we’re looking for everything that has Atheros in it. Tick the box behind of “Atheros Hardware Access Layer(HAL)” and “Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards” and restart the computer.

In Terminal go to your desktop:

cd ~/Desktop

Then download the Madwifi driver needed for this How to:

wget -c http://snapshots.madwifi-project.org/madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6-current.tar.gz

Untar the Image file(don’t worry it will create a new folder):

tar xvf madwifi*.tar.gz

Go into the just created folder:

cd madwifi*r*

Because we are going to compile from source code we need to make sure the essentials to do so are installed.

sudo apt-get update && sudo aptitude install build-essential

Now run:

make

sudo make install

sudo modprobe ath_pci

sudo modprobe wlan_scan_sta

If you get any errors running the modprobe commands you probably forgot to switch off the modules in the first place go back to this and then try modprobe again.

As noted by “TheGreatGonzo” you might have to restart here. Before you can enable the proprietary drivers again.
As noted by “Choval” in case it doesn’t work after a restart:

blacklist ath_hal
(on /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist)
Reboot, and voila… works like a charm =)

Now the same as we did before:
Click on the Kubuntu start button go to system and click on the “Hardware Drivers Manager” this is where you will find all proprietary drivers. But we’re looking for everything that has Atheros in it. Tick the box in behind of “Atheros Hardware Access Layer(HAL)” and “Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards” and restart the computer.

Now you have wireless.

Keep in mind that every time the Kernel gets updated you have to run these commands again:

sudo apt-get update && sudo aptitude install build-essential

Now run:

make clean

make

sudo make install

sudo modprobe ath_pci

sudo modprobe wlan_scan_sta

Off course in the madwifi folder. You might want to move the folder to your home folder because we’ll need it again after a Kernel update.

To get your wireless back up that is until they fix the problem in the Kernel and wireless works after restarting with the new Kernel.

Don’t be shy let us know in the comments below if the solution worked or not(in that case I can assist you and get it to work) .

If this page helped you out at all then please donate. Donations will go towards the hosting cost for this website.

Related Posts

• August 10, 2008 -- How to get Atheros AR242x wireless to work. (4)
• August 23, 2008 -- Sound problem fixed. (0)
• November 7, 2008 -- How To Get Atheros AR242x To Work on 8.10 Intrepid Ibex (528)
• August 13, 2008 -- What modules device drivers have got installed (2)
• August 30, 2008 -- fstab demystified how to add partitions and more (0)

Aug 18 2008: This is a The old version and this solution isn’t recommended anymore please use: the solution in my new post it’s been tested by me and it works.

If you own the same laptop as I do, a Toshiba A205-S5825, then you probably have the same problem, if you are using Hardy or Gutsy with the newest Kernel(2.6.24-19-generic) or older, the wireless doesn’t work out of the box.

It cost me about an hour to solve this mainly because no one knew anything about this particular chipset.

So here is the solution for the AR242x. If you have a chipset in the A5700 series then this could work for you too.

The solution is quite simple and only takes you a couple of minutes to apply and then you can use your wireless.

For this How to you do need wired internet to the computer.

Disclaimer:
The Package we’re about to use is as far as I know in beta.  Installing this package might make your installation of Kubuntu(or Ubuntu) unstable.  I am not responsible for any problems that arise after installing this package.  But do feel free to post a comment for help if something doesn’t work right I will respond back and try to work with you to fix it.  I am NOT responsible for damage to hardware as a result of applying anything you find on this website.

First let’s make sure your computer uses the same chipset(or something similar) run in terminal:

lspci | grep Atheros

If the result is as follows or something similar then you are able to use this fix.

05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

If the result of the command ran is nothing the you don’t have an Atheros chipset and your read on this page stops here. Please go to the forums on Ubuntu and Kubuntu there is a big community there to help you solve your problem or try Google.

Thanks to Ubuntugeek for providing the primer for this post.

Here is the difference between the how to’s:

Before we start we need to make sure that already installed modules are not “in use”. Click on the Kubuntu start button go to system and click on the “Hardware Drivers Manager” this is where you will find all proprietary drivers. But we’re looking for everything that has Atheros in it. Tick the box behind of “Atheros Hardware Access Layer(HAL)” and “Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards” and restart the computer.

In Terminal go to your desktop:

cd ~/Desktop

Then download the Madwifi driver needed for this How to:

wget -c http://madberry.org/wp-content/madwifi-ng-r2756+ar5007.tar.gz

Untar the Image file(don’t worry it will create a new folder):

tar xvf madwifi-ng-r2756+ar5007.tar.gz

Go into the just created dir:

cd madwifi-ng-r2756+ar5007

Because we are going to compile from source code we need to make sure the essentials to do so are installed.

sudo apt-get update && sudo aptitude install build-essential

Now run:

sudo make install

sudo modprobe ath_pci

sudo modprobe wlan_scan_sta

If you get any errors running the modprobe commands you probably forgot to switch off the modules in the first place go back to this and then try modprobe again.

Now the same as we did before:
Click on the Kubuntu start button go to system and click on the “Hardware Drivers Manager” this is where you will find all proprietary drivers. But we’re looking for everything that has Atheros in it. Tick the box in behind of “Atheros Hardware Access Layer(HAL)” and “Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards” and restart the computer.

Now you have wireless.

Keep in mind that every time the Kernel gets updated you have to run these commands again:

sudo apt-get update && sudo aptitude install build-essential

Now run:

sudo make install

sudo modprobe ath_pci

sudo modprobe wlan_scan_sta

Off course in the madwifi folder. You might want to move the folder to your home folder because we’ll need it again after a Kernel update.

To get your wireless back up that is until they fix the problem in the Kernel and wireless works after restarting with the new Kernel.

If this page helped you out at all then please donate below. Donations will go towards the hosting cost for this website.

Thanks for donating.

Related Posts

• August 19, 2008 -- How to get Atheros AR242x wireless to work. 2 (125)
• August 23, 2008 -- Sound problem fixed. (0)
• August 7, 2008 -- List Devices in Kubuntu. (0)
• April 6, 2009 -- Took The Plunge Jaunty Jackalope Kubuntu 9.04 On Laptop (0)
• November 7, 2008 -- How To Get Atheros AR242x To Work on 8.10 Intrepid Ibex (528)