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    no wireless in ubuntu using thinkpad

    Discussion in 'Linux Compatibility and Software' started by pi3guy, Oct 1, 2009.

  1. pi3guy

    pi3guy Notebook Consultant

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    Hey guys,

    My t500 with the thinkpad b/g/n card does not get any wireless (the light does not go on after turning on the card) in 9.04 x64. I read the thinkwiki and it says the method it provides does not work with x64 kernels.
    http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_t...d_11a/b/g/n_Wireless_LAN_Mini_Express_Adapter
    Does anyone know where I can get the right drivers? Thanks.

    edit: the card is made by realtek I believe lenovo changed it from atheros since june 2009
     
    pi3guy, Oct 1, 2009
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  2. Charr

    Charr Notebook Deity

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    Charr, Oct 1, 2009
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  3. Bog

    Bog Losing it...

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    I would actually recommend using ath5k as it is based on MadWifi and specifically for Atheros AR5x cards. You just need to install the linux-backports-modules-jaunty-generic package and then load the ath5k module.

    However, MadWifi will work just as well. Have you checked the Hardware Drivers application in Ubuntu to ensure that there isn't some option for a proprietary driver available?
     
    Bog, Oct 1, 2009
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  4. Charr

    Charr Notebook Deity

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    I'd avoid ath5k & ath9k drivers, they can't detect newer chipsets properly, and run them too hard.

    Also, the drivers don't support the AR5008 card.
     
    Charr, Oct 1, 2009
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  5. pi3guy

    pi3guy Notebook Consultant

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    are you guys sure my wireless card is made by atheros? I am under the impression it is made by realtek, as thats what my windows drivers said. Would I need a different driver because of that, or is madwifi still usable?

    @bog, I see no proprietary drivers for wifi available.

    ps, thanks for the replies guys.
     
    pi3guy, Oct 1, 2009
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  6. mr_raider

    mr_raider Notebook Consultant

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    Open a command prompt and type

    lspci
     
    mr_raider, Oct 1, 2009
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  7. Charr

    Charr Notebook Deity

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    Ah, I'm sorry - I was assuming it was made by atheros. No, you would need different drivers, the madwifi / ath5/9k wouldn't work for a realtek chip. If you post up the result of lspci, we can help you better.
     
    Charr, Oct 1, 2009
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  8. jas

    jas Notebook Evangelist

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    If you think that your T500 has this Realtek WiFi card, (which seems to be the Realtek 8192SE WiFi hardware), then there is no current Linux driver available for it yet, and it may be some time before there is one available. In order to use the WiFi hardware under Linux, you will need to use an available Windows 2000/XP driver, along with NDISWrapper, as the Thinkwiki howto you referenced indicates. Ubuntu/NDISWrapper support for the Realtek 8192SE is described in this Ubuntu Bug report thread. In fact this post to the bug report thread, includes a gzipped attachment file which contains the extracted Windows XP drivers, and very brief installation instructions.

    However, it seems that IBM only provides 32 bit Windows XP drivers for this WiFi hardware. They do provide 64 bit Vista drivers, but NDISWrapper doesn't support using Vista drivers yet. That means, according to the NDISWrapper FAQ, that you can only load this Windows driver under 32 bit Linux. This is also mentioned in bold in the Thinkwiki howto previously referenced.

    Finally, and if you're feeling adventurous, this post from this Lenovo user forums thread links to this site, which has several versions of the Windows Realtek WiFi drivers available for download. This archive, contains 32 bit XP, 64 bit XP X64, 32 bit Vista, and 64 bit Vista, Windows drivers only, (no installation program). It's a Windows executable 7zip archive, and there is a Linux ported unzip utility available called p7zip. If you have p7zip installed, then all you need to do is rename the file to a filename with a .7z extension, and then decompress the archive with p7zip. You can then change to the 64 bit XP X64 folder/directory, and then from that directory, follow the Ubuntu NDISWrapper instructions.

    Good Luck..
     
    jas, Oct 2, 2009
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  9. puter1

    puter1 Notebook Deity

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    puter1, Oct 2, 2009
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  10. theZoid

    theZoid Notebook Savant

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    this is what I would do....25 samolians, and you're better off anyway :)
     
    theZoid, Oct 2, 2009
    #10