# AR928X WiFi: Fails to communicate with AP.

## eddieparker

Hello:

I've got an AR928X, and it's having trouble connecting to my wifi.  

I'm getting a bunch of this in my logs:

```

Feb 16 14:45:38 jazz kernel: [185107.636342] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 1

Feb 16 14:45:38 jazz kernel: [185107.836047] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 2

Feb 16 14:45:39 jazz kernel: [185108.036030] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 3

Feb 16 14:45:39 jazz kernel: [185108.236045] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 timed out

Feb 16 14:45:42 jazz kernel: [185111.137897] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

Feb 16 14:45:42 jazz rc-scripts: WARNING:  net.wlan0 has started but is inactive

Feb 16 14:45:47 jazz kernel: [185116.469619] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 1

Feb 16 14:45:47 jazz kernel: [185116.669037] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 2

Feb 16 14:45:47 jazz kernel: [185116.869030] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 3

Feb 16 14:45:48 jazz kernel: [185117.069030] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 timed out

Feb 16 14:45:58 jazz kernel: [185127.774343] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 1

Feb 16 14:45:58 jazz kernel: [185127.974024] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 2

Feb 16 14:45:59 jazz kernel: [185128.174024] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 3

Feb 16 14:45:59 jazz kernel: [185128.374025] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 timed out

Feb 16 14:46:10 jazz kernel: [185139.077326] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 1

Feb 16 14:46:10 jazz kernel: [185139.277034] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 2

Feb 16 14:46:10 jazz kernel: [185139.477032] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 3

Feb 16 14:46:10 jazz kernel: [185139.677032] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 timed out

Feb 16 14:46:21 jazz kernel: [185150.380335] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 1

Feb 16 14:46:21 jazz kernel: [185150.580028] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 2

Feb 16 14:46:21 jazz kernel: [185150.780034] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 3

Feb 16 14:46:21 jazz kernel: [185150.980032] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 timed out

Feb 16 14:46:32 jazz kernel: [185161.684028] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 1

Feb 16 14:46:32 jazz kernel: [185161.884034] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 2

Feb 16 14:46:33 jazz kernel: [185162.084031] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 3

Feb 16 14:46:33 jazz kernel: [185162.284028] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 timed out

Feb 16 14:46:43 jazz kernel: [185172.985368] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 1

Feb 16 14:46:44 jazz kernel: [185173.185038] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 2

Feb 16 14:46:44 jazz kernel: [185173.385053] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 3

Feb 16 14:46:44 jazz kernel: [185173.585037] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 timed out

Feb 16 14:46:55 jazz kernel: [185184.286465] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 1

Feb 16 14:46:55 jazz kernel: [185184.486070] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 2

Feb 16 14:46:55 jazz kernel: [185184.686058] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 try 3

Feb 16 14:46:55 jazz kernel: [185184.886053] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:26:18:ec:6d:c0 timed out

```

And here's the output of lspci:

```

00:00.0 Host bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Host Bridge (rev b1)

00:00.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)

00:03.0 ISA bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 LPC Bridge (rev b2)

00:03.1 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)

00:03.2 SMBus: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SMBus (rev b1)

00:03.3 RAM memory: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Memory Controller (rev b1)

00:03.5 Co-processor: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Co-processor (rev b1)

00:04.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b1)

00:04.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev b1)

00:06.0 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 OHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev b1)

00:06.1 USB Controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 EHCI USB 2.0 Controller (rev b1)

00:08.0 Audio device: nVidia Corporation MCP79 High Definition Audio (rev b1)

00:09.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Bridge (rev b1)

00:0a.0 Ethernet controller: nVidia Corporation MCP79 Ethernet (rev b1)

00:0b.0 IDE interface: nVidia Corporation MCP79 SATA Controller (rev b1)

00:0c.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)

00:10.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)

00:15.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)

00:16.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)

00:17.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)

00:18.0 PCI bridge: nVidia Corporation MCP79 PCI Express Bridge (rev b1)

03:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation ION VGA (rev b1)

04:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

```

It's on a Zotac IONITX-F which has a PCIE Atheros WiFi board on it.  Has anyone seen anything like this before?

----------

## kukibl

There are many topics where people are reporting problems with that WiFi card, so you could probably check some of them by searching forums.

Which kernel do you use? I have same card on my notebook and as I already wrote on one topic, after switch to 2.6.31.x kernels problems began for me (mainly stability of connection and signal strength). Then I compiled new kernel from 2.6.32.x branch and all problems gone, working like a charm right now. :Wink: 

Edit:

I had similar reports in my dmesg. First I thought that Wicd is causing problems, but then I switched to wireless-tools + dhcpcd combination and also had "timed out" problems regularly, specially when I tried to reconnect after losing connection.

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## eddieparker

Thanks for the reply kukibl. I had searched for the message regarding the direct probe to AP failure and hadn't gotten anything - perhaps I searched too specifically.

I am in fact on 2.6.31-gentoo-r6.  Perhaps I'll unmask a 32 and see if it fairs better.  

Thanks!

----------

## kukibl

You welcome.

You should unmask and switch to .32 kernel. It seems to me that ath9k module is a bit problematic on .31 kernels. Also, there is madwifi-ng in Portage, so maybe you should give it a try before switching to newer kernel. Never used it with my wifi card though, so can't give you more information.

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## eddieparker

What benefit are you thinking there'll be from madwifi-ng?

I'm currently using wpa_supplicant with whatever default it uses; I'm not sure if it's using madwifi under the hood or not.

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## kukibl

My experience with madwifi is quite limited - maybe year ago I've used on another laptop with some older Atheros (huge improvement in performance compared to "stock" kernel module). As far as I know, madwifi provides modules, so you would use them instead ath9k. Whole procedure is to blacklist stock module (in this case ath9k) and load madwifi provided modules. You could check this link for more information (there is Madwifi HOWTO): http://madwifi.org/.

----------

