Not Finding Networks, Atheros AR9285 (Solved, maybe)

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heywoodj
Posts: 85
Joined: Sun 15 Mar 2009, 04:39

Not Finding Networks, Atheros AR9285 (Solved, maybe)

#1 Post by heywoodj »

I'm running FatDog 620 in a full install on a Lenovo G585 laptop (1.3 GHz, 2 GB), dual booting with Win8.

When I first installed FatDog, the wireless worked fine. Then I dabbled with different localizations to get the Japanese fonts working, though I am now back to US English (en_US.UTF-8 ).

Since my localization trials, the Network Wizard recognizes the wlan0 as Atheros (ath9k), but when scanning for active networks, sees none. There are active networks because I'm using one now on a different laptop. And the Atheros network card sees and connects to networks in Win8. I can connect via wired ethernet.

The wpa_gui does no better.

I tried manually setting the country code as in:

http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic. ... 965#562965 by making a .conf file in /etc/modprobe.d/ with

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options ath9k override_eeprom_regdomain=33608
(32768+840=33608, 840 is the code for US)
Still no connection.

In my dmesg:

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ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a direct regpair map 
ath: Country alpha2 being used: 00
from lspci -nn:

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06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:002b] (rev 01)
and iwlist wlan0 channel:

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wlan0     13 channels in total; available frequencies :
          Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
          Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
          Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
          Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
          Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
          Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
          Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
          Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
          Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
          Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
          Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
          Channel 12 : 2.467 GHz
          Channel 13 : 2.472 GHz
What next to fix this? Is there something different to try for FatDog?
AFAIK, there is no switch for the wifi radio on this machine.

Thx, HJ.
Last edited by heywoodj on Wed 29 May 2013, 23:49, edited 1 time in total.

jamesbond
Posts: 3433
Joined: Mon 26 Feb 2007, 05:02
Location: The Blue Marble

#2 Post by jamesbond »

The solution offered by tempestuous won't work because it requires a *specially modified* ath9k driver.

But where are you located anyway, I mean what regulatory country do you need to use? The messages seem to imply that you are in the US and thus needs to enable US regulatory domain, and Japan's regulatory domain coverage is actually wider than the US one so it shouldn't matter. (disclaimer: I'm not a wireless expert, perhaps others can explain more).

The simplest solution at the time being is probably to start over with a new savefile.
Fatdog64 forum links: [url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=117546]Latest version[/url] | [url=https://cutt.ly/ke8sn5H]Contributed packages[/url] | [url=https://cutt.ly/se8scrb]ISO builder[/url]

heywoodj
Posts: 85
Joined: Sun 15 Mar 2009, 04:39

#3 Post by heywoodj »

Thanks for your response. I am indeed in the US.

So if I were to make a new savefile, do I lose the contents of the current mounted /aufs/devsave, the whole partition? Just so I know so I can prepare in advance.

But just for the record,does it seem I'm on the right track as to the reason for not finding the networks? Or is this just another false trail?

Thanks, HJ.

Edit: Rebooting FatDog64 "without savefile" option still gives the same "no networks detected" outcome. What should i try next?

jamesbond
Posts: 3433
Joined: Mon 26 Feb 2007, 05:02
Location: The Blue Marble

#4 Post by jamesbond »

heywoodj wrote:Edit: Rebooting FatDog64 "without savefile" option still gives the same "no networks detected" outcome. What should i try next?
That's odd :shock: Was the network ever worked in Fatdog before? Do you still have this file: /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf ? When you type "iwlist wlan0 scanning" does it detect your AP at all (or any other network, for that matter)? What does "rfkill list all" show?
Fatdog64 forum links: [url=http://murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=117546]Latest version[/url] | [url=https://cutt.ly/ke8sn5H]Contributed packages[/url] | [url=https://cutt.ly/se8scrb]ISO builder[/url]

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01micko
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#5 Post by 01micko »

What happens when you run:

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ifconfig wlan0 up
If you get an error, run this:

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rfkill list
If that shows that anything is hard blocked you need to find the switch for wireless and either press it or switch it off and on, then run:

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rfkill unblock all
Try again with;

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ifconfig wlan0 up
This is a kernel bug that I have experienced with ath9k and some (not all) kernels, this is also just a hunch. :wink:

Sometimes the switch isn't enough and you have rest the machine either in BIOS or unplugging the power supply and removing the battery.

HTH
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cthisbear
Posts: 4422
Joined: Sun 29 Jan 2006, 22:07
Location: Sydney Australia

#6 Post by cthisbear »

"Sometimes the switch isn't enough and you have rest the machine either in BIOS or

>>unplugging the power supply and removing the battery. "

And also >> hold the power on button down for 30 seconds.

Had this happen to my wife >> on Windows 7...ha! ha!

on my dreaded Dell Studio XPS.

Even Slacko couldn't see the wireless on a reboot before I did the above.
So I knew it was hardware....
and tough love was needed.

Sounds stupid....but draining the lappy of residual power often works.

Chris.

heywoodj
Posts: 85
Joined: Sun 15 Mar 2009, 04:39

#7 Post by heywoodj »

Well, thanks for all your inputs. Now that I changed locations, it's started working again! Weird.

The score now is 3-2, with 3 working networks and 2 that I just couldn't connect to with this machine. And I'm still using the same savefile.

For the record, rfkill list shows "no" for all 6 blocking possibilities -- software and hardware for phy0, ideapad_wlan and bluetooth.

And the Japanese fonts are still working, which is where this all seemed to start., but maybe unrelated. It's dangerous to jump to conclusions based on things that seemed to happen at about the same time.

I suppose I should mark this "Solved".

Addendum: Well, maybe I found the real cause. On this current working connection, about 5 feet from the router, I move to a different room, about 20 feet away, I suddenly lose connection. In name of science, I found that Win8 will connect at that distance.

Back again right next to the router, I'm connected again. Maybe the 2 non-working routers would have been OK had I been right next to the router.

So, how can the OS change the distance performance of the internal wifi card? I see that all the times this wifi worked, I was near the router.

Thanks again, all.

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