ubuntu wireless problem

Help needed please

I have searched everywhere to get my Acer aspire 5315 working wireless, desktop just worked wireless after ubuntu install but can't get laptop working, I have tried everything.

Wireless network adapter Atheros AR5007EG

Have tried Madwifi and NDISWRAPPER but still only wired network.

I have read it can be a nightmare to get working with Ubuntu is it easy with different Linux version?

PS I'm a Newby to Linux
Any help will be appreciated.
confused1

 

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/810

Scroll down to the paragraph: Atheros ath5k wireless driver not enabled by default

Enable/install 'linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic package.' 'Can't find it? Google it.

More 'up-to-date' how to can be found here:
http://madberry.org/2008/11/how-to-get-atheros-ar242x-to-work-on-810-intrepid-ibex/

 

Thanks looking now

 

Whats wrong?

ian@ian-laptop:~$ sudo update-rc.d -f linux-restricted-modules-common remove
[sudo] password for ian:
Removing any system startup links for /etc/init.d/linux-restricted-modules-common ...
/etc/rc0.d/S01linux-restricted-modules-common
/etc/rc6.d/S01linux-restricted-modules-common
/etc/rcS.d/S07linux-restricted-modules-common
ian@ian-laptop:~$ lspci | grep Atheros
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x 802.11abg Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)
ian@ian-laptop:~$ cd ~/Desktop
ian@ian-laptop:~/Desktop$ wget -c http://wireless.kernel.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2
--2008-12-30 19:15:47-- http://wireless.kernel.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2
Resolving wireless.kernel.org... 83.246.72.84
Connecting to wireless.kernel.org|83.246.72.84|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 307 Temporary Redirect
Location: /en/users/Download [following]
--2008-12-30 19:15:50-- http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download
Connecting to wireless.kernel.org|83.246.72.84|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: unspecified [text/html]
Saving to: `Download'

[ <=> ] 43,769 74.3K/s in 0.6s

2008-12-30 19:15:51 (74.3 KB/s) - `Download' saved [43769]

ian@ian-laptop:~/Desktop$ tar xvf compat*.tar.bz2
tar: compat*.tar.bz2: Cannot open: No such file or directory
tar: Error is not recoverable: exiting now
ian@ian-laptop:~/Desktop$ cd compat*
bash: cd: compat*: No such file or directory
ian@ian-laptop:~/Desktop$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install build-essential
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security Release.gpg
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/main Translation-en_GB
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid Release.gpg
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Translation-en_GB
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/restricted Translation-en_GB
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/universe Translation-en_GB
Ign http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/multiverse Translation-en_GB
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security Release
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/restricted Translation-en_GB
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/universe Translation-en_GB
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/multiverse Translation-en_GB
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates Release.gpg
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/main Translation-en_GB
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/restricted Translation-en_GB
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/universe Translation-en_GB
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/multiverse Translation-en_GB
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid Release
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates Release
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/main Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/restricted Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/main Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/restricted Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/restricted Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/main Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/restricted Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/universe Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/universe Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/universe Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/multiverse Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid/multiverse Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/main Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/restricted Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/main Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/restricted Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/universe Sources
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/multiverse Packages
Hit http://security.ubuntu.com intrepid-security/multiverse Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/universe Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/universe Sources
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/multiverse Packages
Hit http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com intrepid-updates/multiverse Sources
Reading package lists... Done
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
build-essential is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 0 not upgraded.
ian@ian-laptop:~/Desktop$ make
make: *** No targets specified and no makefile found. Stop.
ian@ian-laptop:~/Desktop$ sudo make install
make: *** No rule to make target `install'. Stop.
ian@ian-laptop:~/Desktop$

 

You never downloaded the source file. Your wget command was redirected to a webpage and all you downloaded was the html webpage.

So that when you went to the next step, which is unarchiving the source file so you can build it, you didn't have the right file downloaded.

Go to this webpage;

Download - Linux Wireless

and download the link that's in the section titled;

called;

http://wireless.kernel.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2

and then proceed with the rest of the steps in the howto. BTW, this link provides a clearly written procedure on how to do this.

Good Luck..

 

It doesn't look like it fully downloaded since when you tried to untar it, it gave you a message that it was not found.

I don't use wget usually. I suggest to just download the file at this site:

http://wireless.kernel.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6/compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2

and try again. Sorry if you have any trouble. I think the Atheros wifi chips are very problematic.

I just tried the site and it is taking forever to load. I think that is your problem.

See if you can get that tar file someplace here:

http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download

Scroll down and read this part:
*Where to download*

I suggest reading a bit before trying. That's what I do...still.

 

That link is what he was following.

PS confused1, take a quick look at this page:
http://www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/wget/wget_7.html

It's explained why your attempted download failed. It's one reason I usually don't use 'wget' much plus I'm not familiar with it either. But, a quick read of that link suggests why the download might fail. Good luck.

 

Thanks puter1 & jas I now have wireless WORKING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not sure how I did it but its working great, all the best for the New Year,

Ian confused1

 

make sure you are running the latest version of ubuntu, it has alot of support for drivers that the older versions dont

 

yes i have 8.10 which I think is the latest version