How to get wireless going on Acer 3680

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arpad
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How to get wireless going on Acer 3680

#1 Post by arpad »

Got an Acer 3680 for Christmas and while wifi works peachy under XP I'd like to get it working under *nix. Puppy loaded up nicely and I can connect no problem via my DSL with either Win or Puppy but not via Wifi on Puppy.

The Acer uses the Atheros AR5005G chip set and I was on #puppylinux for a couple of hours getting help but we couldn't get things going.

Rickrandom
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#2 Post by Rickrandom »

My NEC also uses the AR005G (according to device manager in Windows :oops: ).

My rclocal file contains:

modprobe ndiswrapper
sleep 1
iwconfig wlan0 essid inspiron8200
sleep 1
rm /etc/dhcpc/dhcpcd-wlan0.*
sleep 1
dhcpcd wlan0
sleep 1


but I don't actually know if this is what it uses, or if there is some other file with other commands. I would be interested to see how to find out which it uses....

This is in Puppy 2.10. I think it my rclocal file is the same in Puppy 2.12, which I usually boot.

tempestuous
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#3 Post by tempestuous »

1. The Atheros wifi chipset is supported by the ath_pci (MADWiFi) driver, which Puppy 2.12 now contains, so why use ndiswrapper? That involves extra work. Run "lsmod" to see if Puppy has automatically loaded it. If not, do this -

modprobe ath_pci

2. rarsa has done a lot of work to the Network Wizard so manual network commands should no longer need to be added to rc.local. Try it.

arpad
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#4 Post by arpad »

did the lsmod and here's what I got that appears to be associated with ath_pci:

Code: Select all

ath_pci                       92144  0
ath_rate_sample               14256  1   ath_pci
wlan                         194268  4   wlan_scan_sta,ath_pci,ath_rate_sample
ath_hal                      191216  3   ath_pci,ath_rate_sample
did the modprobe ath_pci but that just came back to a prompt, no other output. When I did the lsmod again there didn't appear to be any change.

In the Puppy_Network_Setup I have two interfaces, ath0 and eth0. I'm guessing eth0 is the ethernet interface and ath0 is the Atheros, wireless interface. Under Driver Modules I've got quite a little collection:

3c59x 8139cp 8139too acenic acx adm8211 airo amd8111e at76_usb ath_pci atmel_pci sky2

If I click "Load driver" and select "Auto Probe all Drivers" I'll probably get a few more. I'm pretty sure that isn't right but my experience with wireless is close to zero so, I don't know what's right and what isn't.

I just added b44 to my list of currently loaded ethernet modules.

Should I just scrub all the Puppy stuff residing on the hard drive and start over?

tempestuous
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#5 Post by tempestuous »

arpad wrote:did the modprobe ath_pci but that just came back to a prompt
Since lsmod already shows the ath_pci module as loaded, there's no point in loading it a second time.
Just continue setting up the ath0 interface with the wizard.

Rickrandom
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#6 Post by Rickrandom »

Yesterday I tried Muppy, which is based on 2.12, without a save file (so no commands in the rclocal file) and then used the Network wizard. It showed it had the ath_pci driver loaded already, so it muct have correctly detected the wireless chipset. Then I just selected Autoconnect (my wireless network in unencrypted) and AutoDHCP, and I was connected.

Easy, peasy!

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BarryK
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#7 Post by BarryK »

Ndiswrapper doesn't work in 2.12.
Does now in 2.13BETA2.

See my recent post on the News Blog about avoiding conflict with a native driver.

arpad
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#8 Post by arpad »

I scrubbed all the Puppy-created content to start fresh.

When I fire up Puppy_Network_Setup the first thing I get is:

"NETWORK CONFIGURATION OF ath0 CANCELED!"
Try again, or click 'Exit' to give up for now.

On the same page under Driver Modules I have to driver modules currently loaded; ath_pci and sky2.

Under "Interfaces" I've got two buttons; ath0 and eth0.

I'm pretty sure that at this point I ought to click ath0 to configure but much as I try, on the "configure ath0" page I can't seem to get any further.

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rarsa
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#9 Post by rarsa »

arpad wrote: "NETWORK CONFIGURATION OF ath0 CANCELED!"
Try again, or click 'Exit' to give up for now.
Wow, this one is new. That message should only apear if you open the interface configuration window (click the interface button) and then close it or click back without finishing the configuration. Are you sure that you get that right away when you open the wizard?
arpad wrote:I'm pretty sure that at this point I ought to click ath0 to configure but much as I try, on the "configure ath0" page I can't seem to get any further.
OK. Please elaborate on "as much as I try".

Here are the steps you have to follow. Tell me if you are able to follow them or if you find any problems:
1 You see the ath0 button.
2. Click it.
3. Click on the "Wireless" button.
4. Enter your wireless parameters (This screen only works with Open and WEP connections, it still does not handle WPA)
5. Save the parameters
6. Click on the button for the profile you've just saved
7. Click on the "use this profile" button
8. The wizard tries to connect to the network. Check the message at the top of the configuration screen to see if it was able to find the network.
9. If it wasn't able make sure that you are entering the correct parameters in the wireless screen and try again
10 If it was able to find a network, Click on the button to either configure Static or DHCP IP address.
11. When prompted to save for next boot, just say yes.
12 Exit the wizard.
[url]http://rarsa.blogspot.com[/url] Covering my eclectic thoughts
[url]http://www.kwlug.org/blog/48[/url] Covering my Linux How-to

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exton
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#10 Post by exton »

rarsa!

I have this card and should use ath0. When I first tried Puppy 2.13Beta2 CD I did modprobe ath_pci. When I started the Network Configuration I could see that ath_pci was loaded and I could a l m o s t connect but...Then I installed the system to harddisk and when I did modprobe ath_pci again I was told the the module did not exist!!! Ok, I thought, maybe there is a difference running from CD so I tried that once more, but this time I was told (again) that the module was missing. Then I tried ndiswrapper with no luck at all even though I am pretty sure that I tried with the correct windows driver. Is this difficult/strange or what?

arpad
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#11 Post by arpad »

Got the internal wifi working. It took the use of 2.13 and a fair amount of horsing around but I did get wifi connectivity.

It's awfully unpleasant since it's slower then a dialup modem and very...choppy. IRC and HTTP will do nothing for five or ten minutes and then it'll just take off. Not sure what that means but I'm smiling, at least a little.

Rarsa, that list of instructions was helpful more so since I'm so inexperienced with wifi. I just don't have any idea what to expect or what's reasonable. So I'm sort of poking experimentally at everything in the hopes that something good will happen. At least with your cookbook instructions I know that, even if they don't work for me, they work for someone. That gets me ahead because I can see how my experience differs from what your instructions tell me I ought to be seeing.

Now all I have to do is get a PCMCIA wifi card working since I really want to play with directional antennas like a cantenna and the Acer doesn't have an external antenna connector.

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rarsa
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#12 Post by rarsa »

arpad wrote:It's awfully unpleasant since it's slower then a dialup modem and very...choppy. IRC and HTTP will do nothing for five or ten minutes and then it'll just take off. Not sure what that means but I'm smiling, at least a little.
Make sure of the following:

- That you are within an acceptable distance of your Wireless Access Point (WAP): If you are too far or if there are thick walls or if it is in a different floor the connection will be weak and you will experience exactly what you are describing.

- That you are connecting to your own network: You may be close to your WAP but if you are connecting to a network that is far away (your neighbohrs perhaps) then you'll experience the problem describen in the previous parragraph.

If a neighbohr has an unprotected network it is not farfetched that you are connecting to that one instead.
[url]http://rarsa.blogspot.com[/url] Covering my eclectic thoughts
[url]http://www.kwlug.org/blog/48[/url] Covering my Linux How-to

hootiegibbon
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#13 Post by hootiegibbon »

rarsa,

I have very recently purchased an Acer Aspire3053WXMi this too has an atheros wireless chipset listed as (lspci as from PCLinuxOS)
Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5005G 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
In the puppy (2.13) wifi setup it detects both eth0, and ath0 with both the drivers loaded (ath_pci) I have tried via the gui setup and via cli to get ath0 to kick into life neither works, it accepts my wep key and essid, no access point is assigned nor does manually setting up a default route work.

as a side note Blinky picks up 3 possible network connections (eth0, ath0 and wifi0(?) the transmission -flashhing blinky screen - is stating wifi0)
I have tried to configure wifi0 from cli states no wireless extentions under iwconfig. I know that the Madwifi drivers are correct for the machine as its working 100% from my main install (PCLinuxOS) from which I am posting this. is there a missing' alias' required to get ath0 to be broadcasting out a dhcp request in order locate the network assign an access point to get a ip from the router?

At this time I am getting 'Puppy withdrawal', thank you in advance for you attention

Jase

laptopnewbee
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#14 Post by laptopnewbee »

i had some of the same problems with my atheros wifi card when using the network wizard after i did a full hdd install. the following is how i resolved the problems with more than 1 interface, and got my connection working better than it has ever been.

1). get the win98 drivers from the maker's website. (check to see that there is a .cat file among them)
2). place them in a handy folder, and open xterm there.
3). input the following code.

Code: Select all

sh-3.00# source <filename.cat>
sh-3.00# ndiswrapper -i <filename.inf>
sh-3.00# ndiswrapper -l (that is a lower case "L", and this should cause something like the following lines in xterm)

netwg51u : driver installed
        device (168C:0013:1385:4F00) present
        device (168C:0013) present

sh-3.00# modprobe ndiswrapper (also add this line to your /ect/rc.d/rc.local file) 
on my machine this gave me an interface called wlan0, and that seems to work just fine.

i don't know why when using the live cd i was able to connect just fine with the network wizard, while the hdd install required me to install manually, but it was so easy that i'm not worried about it.

another item of interest; i use RuTilt rather than WAG, i find it more user friendly.
so much to learn, so late a start.

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exton
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#15 Post by exton »

rarsa and laptopnewbee,

As I wrote before Puppy 2.13BETA2 could not find the modules ath_pci and ndiswrapper after a harddisk installation. Today I found a quick fix.
1. I started up from the CD with puppy pfix ram
2. modprobe ath_pci
3. Edited /etc/resolv.conf (added nameservers)
4. sh wlan.script

Bingo! I was connected.

My wlan.script
#!/bin/sh
echo "Setting up WLAN connection..." && \
ifconfig ath0 down && \
ifconfig ath0 192.168.1.20 netmask 255.255.255.0 up && \
route add default gw 192.168.1.2 && \
iwconfig ath0 key "372C503C0D" && \
iwconfig ath0 ap 00:12:BF:0E:55:E7 && \
iwconfig ath0 essid "stocksund" && \
echo "Connection established."


I still can´t understand why the modules was missing when I ran Puppy from CD the normal way or from harddisk. Anyone?

tempestuous
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#16 Post by tempestuous »

exton wrote:I still can´t understand why the modules was missing when I ran Puppy from CD the normal way or from harddisk. Anyone?
I think the problem is Puppy failing to access the zdrv file (which contains the full set of modules).
In the case of the liveCD, I think this is a bug. I reported it here http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=14202

In the case of a full HD install, the Universal Installer should copy the zdrv file to /
You can check this with Rox. If it's there, and Puppy still fails to access it, then this also is probably a bug.

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exton
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#17 Post by exton »

tempestuous,

zdrv_213.sfs is there (on my harddisk partition in /). My wireless connection still works after a reboot (when I start from the CD), but from the harddisk installation it seems impossible... After I copied /lib/modules/2.6.18.1/net to the same place on my harddisk I can load ath_pci and everything s e e m s ok. (The Network connection is on). But I still can´t reach the Internet even though the command ath0 dhcpcd is accepted. When I run sh wlan.script I get this error message:
error for wireless request set encode" (8B2A): set failed
Strange?

tempestuous
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#18 Post by tempestuous »

It sounds like some related modules are not being loaded. Run "depmod" then try again.
In desperation, load all modules manually in this order -

modprobe ath_hal
modprobe wlan
modprobe ath_rate_sample
modprobe ath_pci
modprobe wlan_scan_ap
modprobe wlan_scan_sta
modprobe wlan_xauth
modprobe wlan_acl
modprobe wlan_wep
modprobe wlan_ccmp
modprobe wlan_tkip

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exton
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#19 Post by exton »

tempestuous,

I could only load ath_hal, wlan, ath_rate_sample and ath_pci. The others seems to be missing. The error message is the same when I try to connect.

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exton
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#20 Post by exton »

tempestuous,

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. (Loading modules). Here is my solution: I started up from the CD again and copied the whole module folder (/lib/modules/2.6.18.1) to the same place on my Puppy harddisk partition. Overwriting all installed modules. I also replaced all files (5) in /lib/modules with the ones present when running from CD. Started up from the harddisk again and just did sh wlan.script. I was immediately connected. I guess I will never know why it worked that way. I mean why certain modules were missning after a harddisk installation and why I had to run the CD/puppy-system in RAM before I could load ath_pci.

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