Ubuntu 9.10 32bits on Thinkpad T40p: wireless seen but not working

[chili555]

what was the problem exactly,

Some wireless chipsets do encryption in the chipset; some rely on software, that is, the operating system, to handle all those details. Obviously, those that are capable of hardware implementation have the option of either hardware or software. Sometimes, for reasons I don't quite understand, unless it's a hardware defect, one or the other doesn't quite work correctly. Another identical computer, with the same chipset, works perfectly. If you look at:

modinfo ath5k

you will see there are several parameters that can be set and hardware encryption is one of them. Whenever the driver loads and fires up an interface but won't actually connect, that's one thing I suggest be tried.

Is it a bug? I'm not sure. Perhaps your card has a defect. We are lucky it can be worked around.

As you will no doubt discover, upon reboot, these changes will be ineffective. Unless you take some steps, you will have to issue these commands every boot. Please do:

sudo su
echo options ath5k nohwcrypt=1 >> /etc/modprobe.d/ath5k.conf

Post back if you get stuck.

I really have the feeling that the graphics are significantly slower that it used to be, either on Linux or on Windows.

Which video driver do you use, radeon? This is probably better answered in Multimedia & Video.

[Sylvain Prévost]

Thanks again chili555, it works smoothly included after reboot with this line file added to etc.

I could nt yet find out how to indicate that the thread is now solved?

[zorrocket]

Hello,

I just installed Ubuntu 9.10 2 days ago. I am using the same system as you Sylvain (T40p 2373-G1G) and I have gone through the step you have recommended, chili555, but it still does not work for me, as the symptoms remain, even after disabling hw encryption with the command suggested. Any other thoughts, by any chance?

Also, being a total (linux) newbie, I am just in the process of reading entry-level documentation to make myself familiar with Ubuntu and GNU/Linux, so please keep it simple for now.

Any help will be much appreciated on this.

[chili555]

Let's be sure it's the same. Please post:

sudo lshw -C network

Does Network Manager see your network but just fail to connect?

[zorrocket]

Hello,

thank you for your reply, that is very nice of you. I now subscribed to the thread, so I should be faster responding the next time!

Ok, when I posted my reply 2 days ago, my wireless adapter was activated and would offer a list of wireless networks to connect to. When I picked any of my networks (both WPA2 encrypted), provided the password, it was trying to connect for a little while, until the windows prompting for the password came up again ; from that perspective, a very similar issue to the one reported earlier in this thread. I tried the few commands suggested, but it did not solve the problem for me.

Right now, my wireless adapter does not seem to be activated, as the connection manager only offers the option of wired connections (the one I'm using right now to post this).
You are probably not interested in the output from the command
sudo lshw -C networkyou suggested, since it woudl report information from my eth0 adapter (wired), and not wlan0 (wireless).

Now I'm trying to find out how to reactivate my wireless adapter. Google, here I come! But if you want to help on this, you're welcome!

[chili555]

sudo lshw -C networkyou suggested, since it woudl report information from my eth0 adapter (wired), and not wlan0 (wireless).

Why? Does it not show up at all? Even if it is disabled it should appear. It is a PCI or miniPCI device, I assume.

[zorrocket]

Here's the output:

*-network:0
description: Ethernet interface
product: 82540EP Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Mobile)
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:02:01.0
logical name: eth0
version: 03
serial: 00:11:25:b0:0d:3e
size: 1GB/s
capacity: 1GB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm msi bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e1000 driverversion=7.3.21-k3-NAPI duplex=full firmware=N/A ip=xx.xxx.xx.x latency=64 link=yes mingnt=255 multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=1GB/s
resources: irq:11 memory:c0220000-c023ffff memory:c0200000-c020ffff ioport:8000(size=64) memory:c0240000-c024ffff(prefetchable)
*-network:1 UNCLAIMED
description: Ethernet controller
product: AR5211 802.11ab NIC
vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:02:02.0
version: 01
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
configuration: latency=80 maxlatency=28 mingnt=10
resources: memory:c0210000-c021ffff

Thoughts?

I'm checking exact info for wireless device. It is a miniPCI.

[zorrocket]

Allright. Now, after 2 reboots, I'm back to where I was 2 days ago. Wireless adapter is activated and can see networks. When I choose mine, I'm prompted for the WPA2 password, which I enter (correctly). Next, the connection manager icon in the panel spins for a minute or so, until it prompts me again for the password.

Running your command gives me this now:

*-network:1
description: Wireless interface
product: AR5211 802.11ab NIC
vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
physical id: 2
bus info: pci@0000:02:02.0
logical name: wmaster0
version: 01
serial: 00:05:4e:40:70:e8
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath5k latency=168 maxlatency=28 mingnt=10 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11ab
resources: irq:11 memory:c0210000-c021ffff

[chili555]

First, lets' get the driver module to load on boot:

sudo su
echo ath5k >> /etc/modules
exit

Network Manager is designed to use your wired ethernet to the exclusion of wireless. Please detach the ethernet cable and reboot and let us know if you see any improvement.

[zorrocket]

Done and done. No visible change though.

Also, I have to point out that I'm running Ubuntu that is installed on the same partition as windows XP. Could that cause problems (I installed XP first, Ubuntu after) ?