AR9285 Linux Mint 12 - cannot connect to wireless network

[jereby]

Hello there. I've just installed Linux Mint 12 into my laptop. Wired internet network works like charm, but i can't connect to wireless network. I see the the network try to enter password (i know its correct) but nothing happens, it shows that trying to connect all the time and then after some time it asks me to write password again and so on..

Here are some info:

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jereby@jereby ~ $ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller (rev 12)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor PCI Express x16 Root Port (rev 12)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 12)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio (rev 06)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev 06)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev 06)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev 06)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller (rev 06)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev a6)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 06)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem (rev 06)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation GT218 [GeForce 310M] (rev a2)
03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
04:00.0 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. SD/MMC Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.2 SD Host controller: JMicron Technology Corp. Standard SD Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.3 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. MS Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.4 System peripheral: JMicron Technology Corp. xD Host Controller (rev 80)
04:00.5 Ethernet controller: JMicron Technology Corp. JMC250 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 03)
ff:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers (rev 02)
ff:00.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder (rev 02)
ff:02.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.1 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 (rev 02)
ff:02.2 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)
ff:02.3 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved (rev 02)

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jereby@jereby ~ $ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any 
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=14 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off

Executing mintWifi.py with network cable plugged.

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jereby@jereby ~ $ sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWifi/mintWifi.py
[sudo] password for jereby:
-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
  -- Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
      ==> PCI ID = 168c:002b (rev 01)
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any 
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=14 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
         
-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 48:5b:39:50:3f:1a 
          inet addr:192.168.1.2  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::4a5b:39ff:fe50:3f1a/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:170865 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:96236 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:245606947 (245.6 MB)  TX bytes:7573480 (7.5 MB)
          Interrupt:47

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback 
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:10 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:540 (540.0 B)  TX bytes:540 (540.0 B)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 1c:4b:d6:a9:78:ba 
          inet6 addr: fe80::1e4b:d6ff:fea9:78ba/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:70 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:70 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:9450 (9.4 KB)  TX bytes:10710 (10.7 KB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8)
utility, e.g. service smbd reload

Since the script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an
Upstart job, you may also use the reload(8) utility, e.g. reload smbd
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server:      192.168.1.1
Address:   192.168.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name:   google.com
Address: 209.85.148.102
Name:   google.com
Address: 209.85.148.113
Name:   google.com
Address: 209.85.148.138
Name:   google.com
Address: 209.85.148.139
Name:   google.com
Address: 209.85.148.100
Name:   google.com
Address: 209.85.148.101


Executing mintWifi.py with network cable unplugged.

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jereby@jereby ~ $ sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWifi/mintWifi.py
-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
  -- Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
      ==> PCI ID = 168c:002b (rev 01)
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any 
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=14 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
         
-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 48:5b:39:50:3f:1a 
          inet6 addr: fe80::4a5b:39ff:fe50:3f1a/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:170953 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:96316 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:245634243 (245.6 MB)  TX bytes:7585097 (7.5 MB)
          Interrupt:47

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback 
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:34 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:34 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:2312 (2.3 KB)  TX bytes:2312 (2.3 KB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 1c:4b:d6:a9:78:ba 
          inet6 addr: fe80::1e4b:d6ff:fea9:78ba/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:97 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:97 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:13095 (13.0 KB)  TX bytes:14841 (14.8 KB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached


Btw, i was searching for help in this forum and found that kernel updating may help so i updated it today.

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jereby@jereby ~ $ uname -a
Linux jereby 3.1.1-030101-generic #201111111651 SMP Fri Nov 11 21:52:29 UTC 2011 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux


[Anfield800]

i'm no expert, have you installed any level 3 updates?

[jereby]

No, i disabled them from showing and installing. Is it bad?

[AlbertP]

I think you'd better install all updates (1, 2, 3) if you're having any problem with Mint. When everything works fine feel free to disable updates (apart from security, i.e. level 2).

[Anfield800]

The reason I asked was that I've had similar problems with an old Acer laptop. I finally disabled the level 3 updates after a fresh install and the wifi now works like a charm. There are too many for me to try and identify which one, if any, was causing my problem and I don't have the know how to work it out. The Acer has Atheros wifi card.

[jereby]

I installed all (there was 4) level 3 updates but nothing changed.

[AlbertP]

You can probably install the kernel updates from Synaptic Package Manager: at the left Status > Installed (upgradeable), then select linux-headers (twice) and linux-image for upgrading by right-clicking them.

[jereby]

Today i already upgraded linux kernel to 3.1.1 using this How-to http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=42&t=40185. And now, in Synaptic Package Manager there's no such a thing like "Installed (upgradeable)".

[AlbertP]

It's at the left when you click Status. But when you have 3.1 installed it shouldn't really matter anymore. (Oh yes, you can run uname -r in terminal to confirm you're running 3.1)

[jereby]

Yes, it's 3.1.1.

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jereby@jereby ~ $ uname -r
3.1.1-030101-generic


[AlbertP]

Probably installing a newer wifi driver from compat-wireless will help.

Please download the compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2 file (right under Directly downloading the tarball on http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Downl ... he_tarball). You can connect to wired internet for this - you'll probably also need to get linux-source from the repository to be able to install drivers.
Then please open the file and extract it somewhere. In the folder where it's extracted, please right-click > open in terminal, and run these commands:

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./scripts/driver-select ath9k
make
sudo make install

It'll show you a message about loading/unloading drivers, but you can ignore this - just rebooting should also do the job.

[jereby]

After installation and reboot my Linux Mint doesn't want to start anymore, so i need to reinstall it . Will see maybe that will fix wireless problem

[wewa]

This is the closest topic I have found after a few hours of searching, but I see there is no solution posted.

I am working on a Compaq Presario C762 that has a Atheros wireless but its not clear which model.
It came with Vista, which was a nightmare, so I suggested to my friend we put Ubuntu on it.

Tried Ubuntu on this machine over a year ago, with horrible hardware compatibility.
Ended up formatting and switching to XP six months later.

Now that XP has BSOD' and won't boot, I'm trying to see if Linux Mint 13 Maya has better luck.
Looks like not.

Why the linux community cannot get Atheros to work correctly after 4 years, just dumbfounds me.
Been googling for the past few hours, with no luck whatsoever.

If I can't find a solution by this weekend, I'm gonna have to put back XP for this person, as this is his only computing device, and has no smartphone, so he is waiting for it.

Its working great for the moment, as I type this, but seeing that its a notebook, not a desktop, I don't think telling him to use a ethernet cable all over his house and at work, would be acceptable, in this day and age of ipads, netbooks, and such.
Too bad notebook makers don't label their boxes or specs with exactly what chipsets they have inside. But then they couldn't second source, and that would make it too easy for the linux community to buy the ones that work huh?

-Network Interfaces-
wifi0 0.00MiB 3.29MiB
lo 0.19MiB 0.19MiB 127.0.0.1
eth0 46.27MiB 3.85MiB 192.168.1.6
ath0 0.00MiB 0.00MiB ?

[AlbertP]

Why the linux community cannot get Atheros to work correctly after 4 years, just dumbfounds me.
Been googling for the past few hours, with no luck whatsoever.

99% of Atheros hardware is working. Or do you have an AR5523 or AR9227?

It looks like you installed the Madwifi driver for your Atheros. This driver is deprecated and you should not need it anymore.

Please open a new topic for your problem, run inxi -N and rfkill list in terminal (inxi -N will show what Atheros card you have), and post the output there.