SOLVED:WiFi not working, mint 14 32bit cinnamon/atheros chip

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J5isalive

SOLVED:WiFi not working, mint 14 32bit cinnamon/atheros chip

Post by J5isalive »

Hi,
Since I have had mint installed wifi does not work correctly, I cannot manually even turn the wifi button on, on the computer anymore, I can turn it on with in network settings but then everything goes all wacky. the wifi button on my machine flashes blue/orange/blue/orange.....etc... turning wifi on and off constantly and it will not connect to my network. When this is happening my cable modem and router start acting up and i lose wifi in my house for all my devices...phone/ipad/ps3...etc. At first i thought it was just the modem/router acting up but when i disable wifi in network settings on my laptop everything does back to normal and my wifi devices all reconnect and stay connected with no issues (I been testing it the last couple days to see). Its really weird, and i didnt even think that was possible for a device to screw with my modem/router. I have searched the forums and have been trying different things to get this fixed and cannot solve it. I am very new to linux so please try and help. I had no problems with my wireless connections before switching from vista to mint but ever since its been madness.. other than that i love the mint os. oh, and I can connect to my modem and internet no problem via usb, thats what im using now but I hate being stuck to one room on my laptop.

computer: hp g60-243dx notebook
os: linux mint 14 cinnamon 32 bit
router: netgear rangemax wpn824 v2
modem: webstar by scientific atlanta

hopefully this helps:

~ $ inxi -N
Network: Card-1: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller driver: r8169
Card-2: Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) driver: ath5k
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catweazel
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Location: Australian Antarctic Territory

Re: wifi linux mint problems, its killing all wifi in my ho

Post by catweazel »

J5isalive wrote:hopefully this helps:

~ $ inxi -N
Network: Card-1: Realtek RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller driver: r8169
Card-2: Atheros AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) driver: ath5k
Yes, it helps a lot, thank you.

Try enabling the Ubuntu backports PPA then install the linux-backports-modules-cw specific to your kernel version and architechture. You should also check, perhaps first, if the backport is in the current repositories. I see it in my list but I have all sorts of PPAs enabled. I think it's coming from the quantal-proposed repo.

See this: http://askubuntu.com/questions/237004/a ... asus-n56vm

Read this, it's important: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuBackports

The first link isn't specific for your card but the information generally applies. Did I tell you to make certain you install the correct version for your kernel?

Code: Select all

uname -r
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
J5isalive

Re: WiFi not working, mint 14 32bit cinnamon/atheros chip

Post by J5isalive »

thank you for your help. I went into software sources and clicked on the backported packages tab (like the link you gave me told me to to enable backports). I dont know if i enabled backports ppa..I dont know even what a ppa is. How do I install the ux-backports-modules-cw and where do i find them? Im really new to this and have no clue. i know my kernaL Is linux 3.5.0-17-generic (i686)
J5isalive

Re: WiFi not working, mint 14 32bit cinnamon/atheros chip

Post by J5isalive »

Ok, ignore that last question. I figured it out. I cant find the right backports modules for my kerneln in the software manager. I have 3.5.0-17 generic....there is 18,19,20 etc. but not one for 17.
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catweazel
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Posts: 9763
Joined: Fri Oct 12, 2012 9:44 pm
Location: Australian Antarctic Territory

Re: WiFi not working, mint 14 32bit cinnamon/atheros chip

Post by catweazel »

J5isalive wrote:How do I install the ux-backports-modules-cw and where do i find them? Im really new to this and have no clue.
If it were me, I'd read the links I was given.
"There is, ultimately, only one truth -- cogito, ergo sum -- everything else is an assumption." - Me, my swansong.
J5isalive

Re: WiFi not working, mint 14 32bit cinnamon/atheros chip

Post by J5isalive »

I did..... hence the "ok, ignore that last question". it still doesnt help that there is no linux-backports-modules-cw for my version of kernel, and since you stressed to make sure it was for my version of kernel it kind of puts me at a loss.
J5isalive

Re: WiFi not working, mint 14 32bit cinnamon/atheros chip

Post by J5isalive »

now i just flat out cant turn wifi on at all and when i restart computer it says im in airplane mode, so i take it out and still cant turn wifi on through network settings ( the gray bar just slides back to off). Before anyone asks, the actually computers wifi is turned on not off, so its not hardware. I really need help or im going have to go back to my vista hard drive and i dont want that, i like mint alot but cant have a machine that doesnt run wifi.
J5isalive

Re: WiFi not working, mint 14 32bit cinnamon/atheros chip

Post by J5isalive »

Ok, i did everything catweasel suggested (everything I could do at least) and now I can connect to my neighbors unsecured wireless network but when I try to connect to my secure network, it just keeps asking me for my password...then tries to connect and asks me for my password again, as if it thinks I'm typing in the wrong one but I'm not. It is the correct password. Any thoughts?
J5isalive

Re: SOLVED:WiFi not working, mint 14 32bit cinnamon/atheros

Post by J5isalive »

The problem ended up to be really simple... My router was set on WPA1 and The Mint network settings were set on WPA1 and WPA2. Network settings in mint doesnt have an option for just WPA1 so I set the router to the WPA1 and WPA2 security setting and it works fine now.
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