A Ubuntu Wireless Question

[Occulus]

I have a friend who has a HP Pavilion dv6000 laptop computer with Atheros wireless hardware (AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter). He's running Ubuntu 9.10 as of now, and has at one time has a working wireless connection (I don't know which release he was using when it was working, but it was prior to 9.10). Since then, he has moved and used the ethernet port instead until now, which always works perfectly. He wants to once again untether himself from the wires, and it just. Wont. Work.

He very recently updated his system to 9.10 (2.6.31-17-generic) and now cannot get Ubuntu to activate the wireless hardware. I did a 'lshw -C network' and Ubuntu knows the hardware is there (it even reports that the driver is ath5k, which I think is the right one), but "enable wireless" is grayed out in the network tray icon (for lack of a better term) and issuing a wakeup command (the syntax escapes me at the moment) returned an error=132 or some such. I'm being vague because I don't have the laptop in front of me and don't have a setup with which to both test and fix the problem.

What I'm asking for is suggestions. I've Googled this to hell and gone, and although many people seem to be having this issue with Ubuntu 9.10 all over various forums, there doesn't seem to be a clear-cut fix for it. I'm hoping someone here has some ideas as to what to try.

I'll be revisiting the issue on Tuesday, and I think I'll ask him to bring all his equipment over so I can try to more efficiently resolve the issue. I'll be able to update the situation then. Until that time, please, if you have any idea on what to try, post. The more suggestions, the better.

[hobbit709]

1. Don't know

My Compaq uses the same wireless adapter and Ubuntu 9.10 had no problem. Is the wireless adapter turned on with the switch on the laptop?

[Occulus]

2. This service request is closed, actually

He went ahead and installed XP until he can afford 7. However, it's an HP Pavilion that came preinstalled with Vi$ta (ick), which he unofficially downgraded to XP, so I'm sure there will be more fun and games later on down the road...

[UP_4012]

3. Use another machine and grab the following:

ndiswrapper-common ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 and then install them. Next, you need the windows XP drivers for the atheros chipset. Install them by executing the following as root:
ndiswrapper -i "full path to .sys file"
ndiswrapper -m (alias to wlan0)
ndiswrapper -l (to confirm the driver is installed) optional
sudo gedit /etc/modules and add ndiswrapper on a blank line
sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf add the following:
#Blacklist free drivers
ath5k
ath9k
save the config file and reboot.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

4. Run "dmesg | grep ath" on a command line as root and tell me what shows up.

There's been a nasty kernel problem with some Atheros boards as of late. My Fedora only styarted working OK again in the next-to-latest update a few days ago.

[Occulus]

5. He installed WinXP on it recently, actually

Got rid of Ubuntu because, among other things, the CD burner wasn't working right.

The laptop was "Made for Windows Vi$ta". Maybe that had something to do with it....

[RoyGBiv]

6. Maybe, sorta ...

"Made for Vista" is just a marketing gimmick. All it really means is that it meets Vista's minimum specs.

But where I've had problems with hardware compatibility and Linux, it has tended to be on laptops. There is probably hardware in it that the Linux kernel can't deal with well.

[Occulus]

7. His "Conexant audio driver" seems to be made for his laptop hardware specifically.

It took me a good four days to find the right driver for XP for his hardware.

I really hate customizing commercial laptops. Hate hate hate.

[RoyGBiv]

8. Same here ...

I don't even like reinstalling Windows on a laptop. I always have to spend time beforehand seeking out drivers, and this has on occasion taken hours.

The last time I did it I ran into some silliness with a Soyo laptop that made me want to throw the thing into a dumpster. Seems the laptop came with Vista Home Basic. The owner had purchased Windows 7 and wanted to install that instead. Soyo didn't have any drivers for the laptop for any other OS but Vista Home Basic, and when I tried to go ahead and install that with their proprietary wrapper, it refused because the OS was "not supported." And this was the network driver, making experimentation a pain in the ass since I was having to download stuff on my machine and transfer it over. That became a whole different adventure in which I had to convince their server I wasn't using Linux.

I eventually figured out a way to do it, but I have no idea if what I did was legal or whether it will last. The person who owns the laptop said it's been working fine for two months, so it seems it'll be okay, at least until she needs some sort of upgrade.

OnEdit: A bit of irony. A Linux Mint Live disc booted and brought up the network immediately. In the midst of this insanity, I tried to convince her to let me install that, but she'd also bought MS Office for students and wanted to use it. I've given up arguing the point.