AAHH! why won't this work? (Ubuntu 8.04 and wireless)

ok, long story short I was using 7.10 and my wireless worked great, so I used it to update to 8.04, figuring I would update...

now under network manager there is no wireless option...
I assumed it was a driver issue, I did a 1/2million google search to figure what to do...

I found this
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper
I tried some of that but basically got lost. I installed the 3 packages from the cd(the ndiswrapper stuff), blacklisted the drivers they suggested I do. then I don't know what to do from there????

my current hardware:
Acer Aspire 3503wlci
1.5ghz celeron
512mb
SiS GPU
Atheros AR2413 (rev 01)

this all worked before!!! in 7.10!

Help anyone? rep award!

thanks in advance!

Edit: by the way I have almost no idea what I am doing, so keep it simple please! I want try and move to linux for university, so I won't be as tempted to game at school... that and it's cool!

 

Tried the Hardware drivers Wizard(thingy lol)?
You'll have to remove that blacklist before you try it, though.

 

sorry how do you do those things? I really am confused, how do I remove the blacklist now? and what is this hardware drivers wizard thingy?

thanks for the response!

 

Under System>Administartion.
Just go to the file you added the black list to, and then reverse it.

 

I entered this into the terminal, to do this,
echo -e "blacklist bcm43xx\nblacklist b43\nblacklist b43legacy\nblacklist ssb" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

I went to system>administration>Hardware drivers(is that what you mean?)
it says no proprietary drivers are in use on this system). this is confusing me...

thanks once again!

update:
I just tried a USB Atheros AR5007UG and it worked as soon as I plugged it in. but the internal one still does not work... any ideas?

 

Uhhh...
bcm43xx?
Thats a broadcom card.......
No wonder it didnt work....

 

so, is there anyother work arounds?

 

http://madwifi.org/

Hope that helps you out.

 

how do you Install it? I tried, to open the readme in the ubuntu(in the .tar file) and in was of unknown file type and refused to open.

I also tried to go into synaptic package manager and I connected my other wifi card and reloaded, I then searched for 'madwifi'.
it returned linux_restricted_modules...
and under the decription the modul 'madwifi (atheros) is listed along iwith others.

now, what? I totally confused, I have never really used linux before.

 

Not sure, I've never had an atheros card.
but try that package.

 

Please type gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist in a terminal, then post the contents of this file here.

 

it says it is already installed and the only thing I can do is remove it...

 

# This file lists those modules which we don't want to be loaded by
# alias expansion, usually so some other driver will be loaded for the
# device instead.

# evbug is a debug tool that should be loaded explicitly
blacklist evbug

# these drivers are very simple, the HID drivers are usually preferred
blacklist usbmouse
blacklist usbkbd

# replaced by e100
blacklist eepro100

# replaced by tulip
blacklist de4x5

# causes no end of confusion by creating unexpected network interfaces
blacklist eth1394

# snd_intel8x0m can interfere with snd_intel8x0, doesn't seem to support much
# hardware on its own (Ubuntu bug #2011, #6810)
blacklist snd_intel8x0m

# causes failure to suspend on HP compaq nc6000 (Ubuntu: #10306)
blacklist i2c_i801

# replaced by p54pci
blacklist prism54

# replaced by b43 and ssb.
blacklist bcm43xx

# most apps now use garmin usb driver directly (Ubuntu: #114565)
blacklist garmin_gps

# replaced by asus-laptop (Ubuntu: #184721)
blacklist asus_acpi

blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist b43
blacklist b43legacy
blacklist ath_pci
blacklist ath_hal
blacklist ssb

 

Replace this:

With this:

 

it says I can not save file /ect/modprobe.d/blacklist you do not have the permissions... ??? what does that mean?

 

Type this:

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

 

OK, did that... now what?

 

Replace what I told you to.

 

yah I did that. what next?

 

Reboot.
(filler)

 

ok, I rebooted is there anymore steps? the wireless still does not work.

 

Hmm...
Try madwifi somehow...

 

I haven't got a clue how to install the madwifi, who do you do that?

 

I have no idea.....

 

I'm running Xubuntu 8.04 on this machine (my Asus C90s), and my Acer Ferrari 4005 with a broadcom card....used fwcutter I think for wireless....guess the 5000 has a diff card?

 

... Stepping in....

This is a really boring story, but when I had an Atheros card on my Toshiba A70 2 years ago, I recall the card working with a MadWifi driver loaded automatically by the Restricted Drivers Manager (today called Hardware Drivers) found under the Admin section. Check that applet and make sure Ubuntu hasn't found the driver for you, but isn't using it.

If there is no MadWifi driver listed there, fire up Synaptic and search for "madwifi". Among the packages there should be "linux-restricted-modules-2.6.x-xx". This is basically the latest kernel with the most common non-free driver software pre-packaged for you. Check that it contains the madwifi kernel module and that the kernel is the latest version. Install it and reboot. It will compile the kernel for you. Just in case (although I don't know why) GRUB doesn't boot with the new kernel, force it to.

PM me to bring me back to this thread if things don't work (things never work the first time).

 

OK, so you enabled the blacklisted drivers. Now open the term and type this, then paste the output here:

lsmod | grep -i ath

This would tell us if the drivers are loaded. If the output is empty, do this (in terminal)

sudo modprobe ath_pci
sudo modprobe ath_hal

(those are 2 commands that will load the drivers)

To restart networking manager you don't need to actually reboot, just type:

sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart

Of course, for the above to work, you do need the proper Synaptic packages installed to begin with:

sudo apt-get linux-restricted-modules

...will do the trick.

I wish I could help more, but I'll be leaving soon, I'll be back tomorrow, PM me if you need help.

 

Another 2 quick points:

1. Do you have a hardware switch that controls the wireless? If yes, make sure it's on.

2. Atheros cards work fine, I have used 2 of those myself no problem. It could be that something went wrong during an upgrade, although Ubuntu is really good at it, but still. To determine if it's a configuration issue, you could try running the latest live CD and see if Ubuntu automatically configures your wireless.

Just some food for thought.

 

I have a Dell M1530 with a Dell Wireless agn card. The instructions worked great for me and I was able to make my WiFi work. Check this link http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=769990 and follow jlandaw 's tutorial. Also, you may want to read this http://penkin.wordpress.com/2008/03/28/ubuntu-804-broadcom-wireless/

I'm no Linux expert but I followed the instructions and it worked for me.

Goodluck.