[Solved] Help please! Wifi card (Atheros AR5B93) Not connect

[Music Guy123]

Hi there,

I have just installed linux mint cinnamon 13. Now I have to say I love it! But I can't connect to the internet.. ! I connected to a router in one place fine, that internet speed was in excess of 100mbps and was wonderful! Have just come home and now my linux mint won't connect to my home router...! I'm currently on windows 7 and this is absolutely fine, the internet is connected fine. I had this problem when I first installed ubuntu by running the following commands:

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sudo ifconfig wlan0 down
sudo rmmod -f ath9k
sudo modprobe ath9k nohwcrypt=1
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up

However, this fix didn't help me with mint ! Anyway, I came to post, noticed the readme saying to run a certain python script. So I ran it and here are my results:

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laptop@linux-mint ~ $ sudo /usr/lib/linuxmint/mintWifi/mintWifi.py
[sudo] password for linuxlaptop:
-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
  -- Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)
      ==> PCI ID = 168c:002a (rev 01)
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"Home-Router" 
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: CC:5D:4E:7C:7F:D1   
          Bit Rate=24 Mb/s   Tx-Power=15 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=36/70  Signal level=-74 dBm 
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:10   Missed beacon:0

eth0      no wireless extensions.

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:26:22:55:30:ee 
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:19

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:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:1920 (1.9 KB)  TX bytes:1920 (1.9 KB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:22:5f:f8:be:8d 
          inet6 addr: fe80::222:5fff:fef8:be8d/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:5 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:531 (531.0 B)  TX bytes:310 (310.0 B)

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

laptop@linux-mint ~ $


Anyway, as you can see, I think it got stopped as I wasn't connected to the internet!

Ah well, I really hope someone can help me in my plea! I'm very desperate, I can't wait to be able to continue using mint and start installing stuff!

All the best and any help would be much appreciated,

Music Guy

[remoulder]

If it connects elsewhere then we know it's configured ok and the nohwcrypt option fixed it before so the question is what's different? What version of ubuntu did you have before as the drivers may have changed, and also what security is your router's wifi set to?

[Music Guy123]

Security is WPA.

It was Ubuntu 12.04 lts. It was running gnome 3 if that makes any difference...

It's intermittant. the other day, It took a little while to connect to the router but when i was connected it was fine. Now, it just won't connect at all... Don't know why! I did disable iPV6 if that makes any difference again.

Thank you once again for your help. It is very much appreciated!

All the best,

Music guy

[remoulder]

The most obvious things to try is signal level, is there anything that could be blocking it, but from your description that doesn't sound like a problem. That leaves the channel, have you tried changing it to something else in case there are other signals interfering? You could also try changing the security to wpa2 or as a test just disabling it to see if you constantly get a connection? You should also try the nohwcrypt option again. Good luck.

[Music Guy123]

Signal is about 50%. It's not great but it should still connect. Channel I could change but tbh, I don't think it's going to make that much difference. It works perfectly fine with windows. I'll try removing the password temporarily. That could be interesting!! Anyway, thank you very much again for all you help. It is much appreciated!

All the best,

Music Guy

P.S. A quick question! Linux Mint 14. I've only just installed mint 13 and now 14 comes out...typical! Anyway, what's the easiest way to upgrade without losing data? And should I upgrade or should I stick to 13 whilst a few teething issues are sorted??

[remoulder]

the easiest way to upgrade

Basically backup data and do a fresh install, see http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/2. Might be worth trying a live DVD of 14 to see if it connects to your router. As to whether to upgrade, 13 is a long term support version (5 years) and 14 only has 18 months so it's your call.

[Music Guy123]

Thank you, I'll think about it but I think for now I'll stick to mint 13!

Anyway, back to my origiinal problem. I still can't connect...I'm sitting right next to my router but nothing...! I just don't know what to do ! And I'm can't change the router password, the router isn't mine and I don't feel right asking for permission etc.

Is there anything you think I can do to get this sorted?

I hope someone can help, it'll be much appreciated.

All the best,

Music Guy

[OSNovice17]

The problem is NOT your router, but the fact that the MINT OS install does not have a driver for this newer Atheros ethernet card.

The reason you were able to connect using Ubuntu 12.04 is because Ubuntu has a package for it.

To get connectivity in Mint all you need to do is install the appropriate driver for Atheros, and your problem should be solved.

I have been struggling with something very similar for my Atheros card as well.

Please read my earlier post about how I solved this issue >> viewtopic.php?f=53&p=653935#p653935

Some background on Linux wireless drivers is here >> (http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/Atheros)

For wireless you will need the ath9k driver

[Music Guy123]

Why thank you my good sir! Very much appreciated! I'll look into those and get them sorted! I'll let you all know how it goes.

Thank you very much again, all the best,

Music Guy

[Music Guy123]

Hmm...I seem to have a slight spot of bother! Can someone please point out what I'm doing wrong! I followed those instructions, got to the make bit, typed in 'make' and got this:

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Makefile:61: *** "The path to this compat-wireless directory has spaces in it." "Please put it somewhere where there is no space". Stop.


Can someone please point out what I've done wrong? I've extracted it with a file manager, then ran the driver select, then make and got that problem!

Hope someone can help, all help appreciated.

All the best,

Music guy

[OSNovice17]

Can you provide the exact path where your driver files are ?

It might be unlike Windows directories cannot have white space..

You can rename the directory to not have any spaces..

[remoulder]

the MINT OS install does not have a driver for this newer Atheros ethernet card...you will need the ath9k driver

This is nonsense, he already has the ath9k driver which is a standard driver in both ubuntu and therefore ubuntu based mint.

@Music Guy123, if you want to try compat wireless for mint 13, all you need to do is

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apt install linux-backports-modules-cw-$(uname -r)

If you get a not found error, you may need to add deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ precise-backports to your Software Sources.

[Music Guy123]

Thanks for all the help everyone!

I must admit, i did think the driver would come with the os. I did the driver install and it appears to have worked (touch wood) I'll continue testing tomorrow but so far looks good!!

Anyway thank you everyone, i'll report back after tomorrow's testing!

All the best,

Music Guy

[Music Guy123]

Well, so far, seems to have worked (touch wood again!).

My wifi now connects instantly which it never used to do! So it seems fine. Thanks for all the help everyone, much appreciated!

All the best,

Music Guy