# [solved] cant get my atheros wlan card running (ath5k)

## jeken

howdi..

been a while since my last time trying gentoo and i'm 

a little overwhelmed .. i get my laptop online via ehternet

without any problems, but i just cant get my wlan card running. 

maybe some can help me with that. i tried to get infos in the 

forum, but i just couldnt help me with that, sorry. 

laptop is a samsung np-sa11-fs04de with an atheros AR242x / AR542x wlan adapter.

i tried to compile the driver in the kernel, but nothing works. 

i finally found out via "dmesg | grep ath" that it is registered as "phy0", whatever

that means.

i include outoput of "dmesg | grep ath":

```
[    0.442244] ath5k 0000:02:00.0: registered as 'phy0'

[    0.948343] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x65

[    0.948345] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a direct regpair map

[    0.948348] ath: Country alpha2 being used: 00

[    0.948350] ath: Regpair used: 0x65

[    0.948669] ath5k: phy0: Atheros AR2425 chip found (MAC: 0xe2, PHY: 0x70)

```

and lspci -nn : 

```
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub [8086:2a40] (rev 07)

00:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset PCI Express Graphics Port [8086:2a41] (rev 07)

00:1a.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:2937] (rev 03)

00:1a.1 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 [8086:2938] (rev 03)

00:1a.2 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 [8086:2939] (rev 03)

00:1a.7 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 [8086:293c] (rev 03)

00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller [8086:293e] (rev 03)

00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 [8086:2940] (rev 03)

00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 3 [8086:2944] (rev 03)

00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 4 [8086:2946] (rev 03)

00:1d.0 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:2934] (rev 03)

00:1d.1 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:2935] (rev 03)

00:1d.2 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:2936] (rev 03)

00:1d.7 USB controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 [8086:293a] (rev 03)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev 93)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller [8086:2919] (rev 03)

00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 82801IBM/IEM (ICH9M/ICH9M-E) 4 port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [8086:2929] (rev 03)

00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) SMBus Controller [8086:2930] (rev 03)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation G98 [GeForce 9200M GS] [10de:06e8] (rev a1)

02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:001c] (rev 01)

06:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller [11ab:4363] (rev 13)

```

if you need any more informations pls tell me

thanks a lot in advanceLast edited by jeken on Sun Mar 31, 2013 3:17 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## jpc22

Have you checked if rfkill is locking your card?

Also check if

 Network support -> wireless -> enable powersave by default ?  is enabled as it is know to cause trouble with some wireless cards, by always cutting power off.

Try wavemon from comand line and check if your card pick ups any signal.

----------

## Fitzcarraldo

I don't know if it will be of any help in your case, but the following thread outlines what I had to do some time ago to get wireless working on a laptop with a wireless adapter using an Atheros ATH5k chip: Wireless not working (Atheros ATH5K) [Solved].

----------

## jeken

wow, such fast replies, thanks !!

i'm one step further i think.

@jpc22 : you were totally correct, Network support -> wireless -> enable powersave was enabled and 

after disabling the wlan0 was there. 

wavemon finds my SSID (and some others), so i have a chance to connect  :Very Happy: 

my problem is cooked down to wpa_supplicant now, i think. maybe you can help me

i'm trying to connect to a SSID with WPA/WAP2 support. 

i'm adding some outputs / config files, maybe you can tell me my error: 

iwconfig wlan0

```
wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any  

          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.427 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   

          Tx-Power=20 dBm   

          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off

          Encryption key:off

          Power Management:off

```

rfkill list

```
0: phy0: Wireless LAN

   Soft blocked: no

   Hard blocked: no

1: samsung-wlan: Wireless LAN

   Soft blocked: no

   Hard blocked: no
```

/etct/conf.d/net

```
# This blank configuration will automatically use DHCP for any net.*

# scripts in /etc/init.d.  To create a more complete configuration,

# please review /usr/share/doc/openrc*/net.example* and save your configuration

# in /etc/conf.d/net (this file :]!).

modules=( "wpa_supplicant" )

config_eth0="dhcp"

wpa_supplicant_wlan0="-Dwext"

config_wlan0=( "dhcp" )
```

wpa_supplicant.conf

```
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

ctrl_interface_group=0

fast_reauth=1

ap_scan=1

network={

ssid="ElPollo"

proto=WPA

key_mgmt=WPA-PSK

pairwise=CCMP TKIP

group=CCMP TKIP WEP104 WEP40

psk="mykey" 

priority=5

}

```

wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

```
Trying to associate with 24:65:11:6f:6b:42 (SSID='ElPollo' freq=2427 MHz)

Association request to the driver failed

Associated with 24:65:11:6f:6b:42

WPA: Key negotiation completed with 24:65:11:6f:6b:42 [PTK=TKIP GTK=TKIP]

CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 24:65:11:6f:6b:42 completed (auth) [id=0 id_str=]

CTRL-EVENT-TERMINATING - signal 2 received

```

i _think_ i run into this "Association request to the driver failed" problem, and tried

to fix it via including LIB80211_Crypt_TKIP/WEP/CCMP support in kernel,which was

missing, but didnt help. 

any ideas anyone ? thanks in advance

----------

## khayyam

 *jeken wrote:*   

> /etct/conf.d/net
> 
> ```
> #modules=( "wpa_supplicant" )
> 
> ...

 

jeken ... firstly, your using to old bash arrays, these have been depreciated (you'll recieve a warning from openrc when starting the interface), also ath5k fully supports MAC80211, and so you should use wpa_supplicants netlink driver ... so as an example:

/etc/conf.d/net

```
modules_wlan0="!plug wpa_supplicant dhcpcd"

wpa_supplicant_wlan0="-Dnl80211 -qq"

wpa_timeout_wlan0="15"

config_wlan0="dhcp"

dhcpcd_wlan0="-t 10"

enable_ipv6_wlan0="false"
```

Having it configured the way it was isn't the cause of the disassoc but it doesn't hurt to configure correctly.

 *jeken wrote:*   

> /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
> 
> ```
> ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
> 
> ...

 

The wpa_supplicant.conf looks mostly ok, two points however, 'ctrl_interface_group=0' will mean that only root can access the control socket, this is fine, but if you want to use wpa_cli, or wpa_gui, to manage the interface then you should set this to 'wheel'. Second point, as long as you stipulate key-mgmt=WPA-PSK then the other values can be excluded, wpa_supplicant negociates these dependent on what the AP supports (choosing the best from of encryption supported), including 'proto=' ... as WPA, and WPA2/RSN have different meanings to wpa_supplicant. If you want WPA2/RSN then use proto=RSN (though again, this can be left undefined).

 *jeken wrote:*   

> wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
> 
> ```
> Trying to associate with 24:65:11:6f:6b:42 (SSID='ElPollo' freq=2427 MHz)
> 
> ...

 

OK, it seems the card doesn't have the necessary support via the kernel, my guess is your missing CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT, which provides the wext compatability layer for MAC80211, so '-Dwext' will fail as there is no wext (wireless extentions).

Check that the following are enabled (CRYPTO_AES and CRYPTO_ARC4 are used for WPA and WEP respectively)

```
# awk '/(WEXT|(CFG|NL)80211|CRYPTO_(AES|ARC4))/' /usr/src/linux/.config

CONFIG_WEXT_CORE=y

CONFIG_WEXT_PROC=y

CONFIG_CFG80211=m

# CONFIG_NL80211_TESTMODE is not set

# CONFIG_CFG80211_DEVELOPER_WARNINGS is not set

# CONFIG_CFG80211_REG_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_CFG80211_DEFAULT_PS=y

# CONFIG_CFG80211_INTERNAL_REGDB is not set

CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT=y

CONFIG_CRYPTO_AES=y

CONFIG_CRYPTO_AES_586=y

# CONFIG_CRYPTO_AES_NI_INTEL is not set

CONFIG_CRYPTO_ARC4=m
```

Note that if your hardware supports NI you should use the CRYPTO_AES_NI_INTEL in place of CRYPTO_AES_586.

 *jeken wrote:*   

> i _think_ i run into this "Association request to the driver failed" problem, and tried
> 
> to fix it via including LIB80211_Crypt_TKIP/WEP/CCMP support in kernel,which was
> 
> missing, but didnt help.

 

LIB80211 isn't required for ath5k ... this is generally only enabled when the driver requires it.

I should point out that powersave doesn't have any issues with ath5k (at least not here) so you can enable it if you want.

HTH & best .... khay

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## jeken

thx for this huge amount of informations, i will test it as soon as i find time and will report back here !

----------

## jeken

@khayyam 

thanks a lot ! i did the changes you adviced and its works like a charm.

thanks a lot for your help and patience, much appreciated !!

----------

