# emachine D620 ath5k AR5006 and AR2425

## figueroa

### With Updates ###

The purpose of this report is to help others (and me) using similar hardware.  Let the discussion begin!

I have the new emachines D620 notebook ($299 on sale last week at BestBuy).  The computer appears to be made by Acer though the warranty appears to be from Gateway (??).  I'm very pleased with it and it's high degree of Linux compatibility.  Everything works - especially with the Linux Mint and Xubuntu.  (BTW, performance under the installed Vista was terrible.)

My preferred OS is Linux and my preferred distribution is Gentoo.

Atheros wifi is as follows according to Gentoo - lspci:

05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5006EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

Under Mint or Ubuntu it shows up in lspci as the AR242x

Gentoo dmesg shows: ath5k phy0: Atheros AR2425 chip found (MAC: 0xe2, PHY: 0x70)

With both Mint (5-r1 fully updated with Mint Update and running Kernel 2.6.24-21) and Xubuntu x86 8.10, the wireless works perfectly after installing the backports and accepting the new Atheros 5xxx driver (ath5k module) and unselecting the madwifi related modules.  No other manual tweaking required.

Getting this running under Gentoo (x86) was much more difficult and still not perfect, but I'm using it now.

I initially tried the madwifi modules, which I'm familiar with and the stable kernel 2.6.25-gentoo-r8.  This didn't work.  The modules loaded but would not provide wireless extensions.  ath5k from the kernel also didn't work.  ### ndiswrapper in the Debian-based distributions and Gentoo loaded fine, but using the drivers from the installed Vista didn't provide any wireless extensions. ###

As a shot in the dark, I emerged the latest unstable kernel.  ath5k from the current unstable kernel 2.6.27-gentoo-r3 (also -r2) works pretty well .  However, upon first bringing up the interface, after a little delay I need to run "iwconfig wlan1 rate 11M" manually (hint found at bugs.launchpad.net), after which I get a stable interface with no packet loss and good speed.  It's not enough to include the line "iwconfig wlan1 rate 11M" in the /etc/conf.d/net preup actions.  However, authentication and association using wpa_supplicant with wpa-psk is automatic.  Just the initial rate drops to 1M shortly thereafter.

### by adding 

```

sleep 5

iwconfig wlan1 rate 11M
```

I no longer have to manually enter "iwconfig wlan1 rate 11M" to stabilize the rate.  I also noted that the reported rate with Linux Mint and Xubuntu backports ath5k module wander all over the place between 54M and 1M, but at least does not get stuck at 1M.  Perhaps the NetworkManager application is somehow managing the rate issue.  Under Gentoo, I'm just using the startup scripts with wpa_supplicant manage networking.  My Gentoo desktop in this case is XFCE4.###

So, the current ath5k kernel driver seems to be having trouble setting and holding the rate initially.  I'm looking forward to upcoming kernel releases.

I've also tried compiling my own ath5k module from the Linux Wireless compatibility package site, but those modules caused kernel panic when bringing up the wlan interface, even though the modules would load without error.

----------

## overkll

I have a Compaq from BestBuy, and it has the atheros 9280 a/b/g/n.  It uses the ath9k driver.  It also shows a bit rate of 1 Mb/s, but it is certainly faster than that - more like 54 Mb/s.  I think the bugs haven't been completely worked out of the ath9k.  Maybe the same can be said for the ath5k driver.

I tried vanilla-sources-2.6.28-rc5, and the bit rate would go up to 54 Mb/s, but the connection was very spotty.  The 2.6.27 series ath9k seems to work better for now.  On the upside, my wireless led actually worked right with 2.6.28.

----------

## figueroa

Wireless LED?  I've gotten so used to not having them I forgot all about that.

I have all the LED items included in the kernel and/or modules, but I don't have any lights.  I'd like to have a working wireless LED someday.  I think I'll just wait for the developers.  Function before form ...

On a side note, on this notebook, the ati-drivers module fglrx seems to work well enough with the Radeon X1200 Series hardware, though many of my xscreensaver selections totally mess up display, notably the GL related ones (and others).  However, I get almost 1000 FPS with glxgears.  I don't know if that's good or not - my display needs are not all that exotic.

Also, almost all of the Fn keys work as intended.  The exception is Fn/F5 intended to switch the display between external and internal ports.  Also, there is Fn/F1 (with a question mark), Fn/F2 (looks like an upended pacman) and FN/F3 (looks like a swooshy circle with a checkmark in it).  I don't know what those are supposed to do anyway. - I just noticed that the volume and brightness Fn keys also don't work under Gentoo - but work under Mint and Xubuntu - I'm probably just missing a particular laptop module.  I'll have to work on that as time allows.

And, sound works well.  I went ahead and built the snd_hda_intel into the kernel.

----------

## overkll

 *figueroa wrote:*   

>  - I just noticed that the volume and brightness Fn keys also don't work under Gentoo - but work under Mint and Xubuntu - I'm probably just missing a particular laptop module. I'll have to work on that as time allows. 

 

2 things:

Make sure you selected Device Drivers>Misc Devices>Acer WMI Laptop Extras in your kernel.  You said you think Acer made it, it's worth trying.  If it isn't, then the driver won't load.  If you really want the truth about the manufacturer of your laptop/motherboard, emerge dmidecode, then just issue dmidecode at the command line.  Here's mine for example:

```

---Begin Snippet---

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes

System Information

   Manufacturer: Hewlett-Packard

   Product Name: Compaq Presario CQ50 Notebook PC

   Version: F.07

   Serial Number: changed-to-protect-the-innocent

   UUID: changed-to-protect-the-innocent

   Wake-up Type: Power Switch

   SKU Number: FE871UA#ABA

   Family: 103C_5335KV

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes

Base Board Information

   Manufacturer: Wistron

   Product Name: 360A

   Version: 08.36

   Serial Number:           

Handle 0x0003, DMI type 3, 17 bytes

Chassis Information

   Manufacturer: Wistron

   Type: Notebook

   Lock: Not Present

   Version: N/A

   Serial Number:           

   Asset Tag:                     

   Boot-up State: Unknown

   Power Supply State: Unknown

   Thermal State: Unknown

   Security Status: Unknown

   OEM Information: 0x0000010D

---End Snippet---

```

Manufacturer = HP, Model = Presario CQ50 is correct, but the chassis and board are actually made by Wistron.  Enabling Device Drivers>Misc Devices>Input Devices>x86 Wistron laptop button interface in my kernel actually helps with my fn key and led's.

For volume, play, pause, etc, that's a little tricker.  If you're using gnome, you could try System>Preferences>Keyboard Shortcuts menu item.  Click on the desired item ie "volume up", then press the desired key (fn+page up in my case).  I had to set up all my multimedia keys this way.

----------

## figueroa

overkll - excellent - thanks.

I'm posting some of the output from dmidecode:

```

# dmidecode 2.9

SMBIOS 2.4 present.

36 structures occupying 1206 bytes.

Table at 0x7BEE3000.

Handle 0x0000, DMI type 0, 24 bytes

BIOS Information

        Vendor: Phoenix Technologies LTD

        Version: V1.01

        Release Date: 09/03/2008

        Address: 0xE3A90

        Runtime Size: 116080 bytes

        ROM Size: 1024 kB

        Characteristics:

                PCI is supported

                PNP is supported

                BIOS is upgradeable

                BIOS shadowing is allowed

                ESCD support is available

                Boot from CD is supported

                Selectable boot is supported

      BIOS ROM is socketed

      EDD is supported

      Print screen service is supported (int 5h)

      8042 keyboard services are supported (int 9h)

      Serial services are supported (int 14h)

      Printer services are supported (int 17h)

      CGA/mono video services are supported (int 10h)

      ACPI is supported

      USB legacy is supported

      BIOS boot specification is supported

      Targeted content distribution is supported

Handle 0x0001, DMI type 1, 27 bytes

System Information

   Manufacturer: eMachines

   Product Name: eMachines D620

   Version: 0100           

   Serial Number: LXN230Y046841BA5CB2200

   UUID: 85994840-9755-11DD-93FD-C1B323E82C56

   Wake-up Type: Power Switch

   SKU Number: Not Specified

   Family: Not Specified

Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes

Base Board Information

   Manufacturer: eMachines

   Product Name: eMachines D620

   Version: Rev            

   Serial Number: LXN230Y046841BA5CB2200

Handle 0x0003, DMI type 3, 17 bytes

Chassis Information

   Manufacturer: eMachines                           

   Type: Other

   Lock: Not Present

   Version: None           

   Serial Number: None           

   Asset Tag: None                            

   Boot-up State: Unknown

   Power Supply State: Unknown

   Thermal State: Unknown

   Security Status: Unknown

   OEM Information: 0x00000000

Handle 0x0004, DMI type 4, 35 bytes

Processor Information

   Socket Designation: Socket M2/S1G1

   Type: Central Processor

   Family: Other

   Manufacturer: AMD

   ID: F2 0F 07 00 FF FB 8B 07

   Version: New Processor Technology

   Voltage: 1.1 V

   External Clock: 200 MHz

   Max Speed: 1600 MHz

   Current Speed: 1600 MHz

   Status: Populated, Enabled

   Upgrade: <OUT OF SPEC>

   L1 Cache Handle: 0x0005

   L2 Cache Handle: 0x0006

   L3 Cache Handle: Not Provided

   Serial Number: Not Specified

   Asset Tag: Not Specified

   Part Number: Not Specified

--snip snip--

End Of Table

```

No evidence of Acer origin there - however, on the drivers disk, "Acer" is indicated throughout.  Not to mention the outside shipping box was from Acer - even the sealing tape was marked Acer.  Not to mention the close physical resemblance of the emachine D620 to the new Acer EX4630-4658 (Best Buy $399 today.)

A new ~x86 kernel-2.6.27-gentoo-r4 became available (yesterday I think), so I compiled that and added the acer_wmi module to my kernel.  It doesn't load automatically, but id does load.  I get the following messages in dmesg when I load the module:

```
acer-wmi: Acer Laptop ACPI-WMI Extras

ACPI Error (nseval-0159): Insufficient arguments - method [WMAB] needs 3, found 0 [20080609]

ACPI Error (nseval-0159): Insufficient arguments - method [WMCA] needs 3, found 0 [20080609]
```

after that, lsmod shows the following modules and relationships:

```

Module                  Size  Used by

acer_wmi               11364  0 

backlight               3852  1 acer_wmi

usbhid                 24740  0 

ath5k                 109092  0 

fglrx                1755180  24 

ehci_hcd               29088  0 

ohci_hcd               20640  0 

mac80211              145404  1 ath5k

usbcore               112108  4 usbhid,ehci_hcd,ohci_hcd

thermal                16188  0 

sky2                   37400  0 

led_class               3468  2 acer_wmi,ath5k

processor              31448  2 thermal

wmi                     6220  1 acer_wmi

ac                      4236  0 

cfg80211               20520  2 ath5k,mac80211

button                  6168  0 

sg                     25540  0 

battery                10640  0 

ati_agp                 6292  0 

agpgart                27076  2 fglrx,ati_agp

sr_mod                 13268  0

```

However, no additional functionality is noted (no multimedia Fn/keys).

However, I also added the latest ~x86 ati-drivers 8.542 (had to add CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ to the kernel under kernel hacking).  That caused me immediate screen problems related to GLX and DRI, that were solved by reemerging xorg-server (stable).  And, now the more complexed xscreensavers including GL* screensavers work fine.

Further experimentation has shown that Xubuntu also does not support the multimedia Fn/Keys (mute, volume, brightness).  Linux Mint (Gnome) does support all of those keys.  I wonder if there is a way to extend that functionality into XFCE4 - not that I'd really use them.  (I would much rather get video switching to work!)

###See the thread at https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic.php?p=5293304 for related information.###

----------

## Master of the Darkside

Hi!

I also have an atheros wireless card on my new laptop. 

lspci -v shows:

```

04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

```

In dmesg it is reported as 

```

wifi0: Atheros AR2425 chip found (MAC 14.2, PHY SChip 7.0, Radio 10.2)

ath_pci: wifi0: Atheros 5424/2424: mem=0xf2200000, irq=18

```

 by both the ath_pci and ath5k drivers.

I've tried getting it to work using gentoo-sources-2.6.27-r7, with ath5k, madwifi-hal, ndiswrapper - all three give me a 'usable wireless' interface, something like:

```

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""  Nickname:""

          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   

          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power:16 dBm   Sensitivity=1/1  

          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off

          Encryption key:off

          Power Management:off

          Link Quality=0/70  Signal level=-96 dBm  Noise level=-96 dBm

          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0

          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

```

I've tried to get it to associate to my unprotected home wireless network in every way I could think of, it just doesn't find any wireless networks:

```

# iwlist ath0 scanning

ath0      No scan results

```

Any help will be greatly appreciated!

----------

## overkll

@Master,

I believe you are one of the lucky owners of the ar5007.  If so, ath5k and madwifi-ng won't work.  You need to download madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6 or something like that.  Check the madwifi-project.  Here's a link to ticket 1192 at madwifi-project.org

EDIT: You could try the bugzilla ebuild (bug 234126) and put it in your overlay.

----------

## Master of the Darkside

 *overkll wrote:*   

> @Master,
> 
> I believe you are one of the lucky owners of the ar5007.  If so, ath5k and madwifi-ng won't work.  You need to download madwifi-hal-0.10.5.6 or something like that.  Check the madwifi-project.  Here's a link to ticket 1192 at madwifi-project.org
> 
> EDIT: You could try the bugzilla ebuild (bug 234126) and put it in your overlay.

 

I tried that, I always get "ath0: no scan results"  :Sad: 

----------

## mimosinnet

I have the AR50067EG card and it seems it is working thanks to the tip given by Andy in the first post. Some information: 

```
# uname -a

Linux joanet 2.6.27-gentoo-r7 #2 SMP Fri Jan 2 20:06:57 CET 2009 i686 Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU T5450 @ 1.66GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

# lspci

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5006EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

 # lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

i2c_core               17492  0 

sis_agp                 6720  1 

sr_mod                 12612  0 

agpgart                25352  1 sis_agp

ath5k                  88320  0 

led_class               3396  1 ath5k
```

I had to change the driver from madwifi to wext in /etc/conf.d/net:

```
wpa_supplicant_ath0="-Dwext -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf"

```

With the kernel module (and iwconfig wlan1 rate 11M), I am able to use 'iwlist ath0 scanning'.

----------

