# desperate need of help connecting to wireless

## coka

hello, i am always able to easily install gentoo on my desktop computer, however i didnt realize that i couldnt connect wirelessly to the internet. the system doesnt even recognize my wireless card. when i type in iwconfig it just says: 

```
net no wireless extensions

eth0 no wireless extensions
```

it doesnt even show wlan0

can somebody whose an expert at gentoo give me simple instructions on what to do to get wireless working, cause i tried to many things and it ends up screwing up my whole system.

im using an hp p6130y w/ a Realtek RTL8201N

here are more specs if you need them (note: i replaced my hdd w/ a tb one cause the old one gave me problems and installed a radeon hd 5770, however i doubt that would have any use to this discussion)

http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/Document.jsp?objectID=c01748306&lang=en&cc=us&taskId=130&contentType=SupportFAQ&prodSeriesId=3942799&prodTypeId=12454

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## BrummBrumm

Hi,

the RTL8201N seems to be an ethernet-controller. I can't find any useful information about the wlan-card in those 'specs' you posted...

Can you post the output of lspci please?

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## BillWho

coka

Paste the output of lspci -n here  http://kmuto.jp/debian/hcl/ to identify the modules for the card

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## coka

sorry for the prolonged response, renewed my system to start out fresh cause my last system's internet failed all together due to me trying too many things to fix it.

i've typed in lspci -n and got:

```
00:00.0 0500: 10de:0754 (rev a2)

00:01.0 0601: 10de:075c (rev a2)

00:01.1 0c05: 10de:0752 (rev a1)

00:01.2 0500: 10de:0751 (rev a1)

00:01.3 0b40: 10de:0753 (rev a2)

00:01.4 0500: 10de:0568 (rev a1)

00:02.0 0c03: 10de:077b (rev a1)

00:02.1 0c03: 10de:077c (rev a1)

00:04.0 0c03: 10de:077d (rev a1)

00:04.1 0c03: 10de:077e (rev a1)

00:07.0 0403: 10de:0774 (rev a1)

00:08.0 0604: 10de:075a (rev a1)

00:09.0 0104: 10de:0ad8 (rev a2)

00:0a.0 0200: 10de:0760 (rev a2)

00:10.0 0604: 10de:0778 (rev a1)

00:12.0 0604: 10de:075b (rev a1)

00:13.0 0604: 10de:077a (rev a1)

00:14.0 0604: 10de:077a (rev a1)

00:18.0 0600: 1022:1200

00:18.1 0600: 1022:1201

00:18.2 0600: 1022:1202

00:18.3 0600: 1022:1203

00:18.4 0600: 1022:1204

01:05.0 0c00: 11c1:5811 (rev 70)

02:00.0 0300: 1002:68b8

02:00.1 0403: 1002:aa58

04:00.0 0280: 168c:002a (rev 01)
```

i typed it into that website and found this at the bottom:

```

PCI ID   Works?   Vendor   Device   Driver   Kernel

168c002a   Yes   Atheros Communications Inc.   AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)   ath9k   v2.6.27-
```

i hope that can finally solve my issue, im just not sure where to go from here, download the ath9k driver? or use wireless-tools. im sorry i just find wireless so frustrating on gentoo.

----------

## gentoo_newguy

If you need to use ath9k.

modprobe ath9k

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## BillWho

coka,

If you haven't done so already, you have to set the following via menuconfig:

 CONFIG_ATH9K:                                                                                                                                                                                          │  

  │                                                                                                                                                                                                        │  

  │ This module adds support for wireless adapters based on                                                                                                                                                │  

  │ Atheros IEEE 802.11n AR5008, AR9001 and AR9002 family                                                                                                                                                  │  

  │ of chipsets. For a specific list of supported external                                                                                                                                                 │  

  │ cards, laptops that already ship with these cards and                                                                                                                                                  │  

  │ APs that come with these cards refer to to ath9k wiki                                                                                                                                                  │  

  │ products page:                                                                                                                                                                                         │  

  │                                                                                                                                                                                                        │  

  │ http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Drivers/ath9k/products                                                                                                                                             │  

  │                                                                                                                                                                                                        │  

  │ If you choose to build a module, it'll be called ath9k.                                                                                                                                                │  

  │                                                                                                                                                                                                        │

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## coka

im getting really upset right now

I am under menuconfig and i cannot find anthing with ath9k.

under device drivers-network device support-wireless lan:

i can find atheros wireless cards --->

but there is nothing inside of it, im just so confused and dont know what to do. is there a way to emerge the driver, cause that is what i did for my ati driver with emerge ati-drivers?

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## The Doctor

 *Quote:*   

> im getting really upset right now 

 

Take deep breath, your getting there! Menuconfig will not show you options that have prerequisites that are unsatisfied.

Do you have X working? If you do go /usr/src/linux, su to root (for some reason sudo does not seem to do the trick) and run make xconfig You will get a nice GUI. Use ctrl +f to search for ath9k you will see a line that looks something like this:

 *Quote:*   

> Depends on: NETDEVICES [=y] && WLAN [=y] && ATH_COMMON [=y] && MAC80211 [=y]

 

Search for each item listed and enable it. Then you can set ath9k and recompile.

Without X, look at the above list. I believe you should be able to search with the normal command line config and set them. If you are using genkernel you can use the --menuconfig flag for a command line config and --xconfig for the GUI.

If it makes you feel any better it took me about 3 months to get wireless working the first time round.

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