[SOLVED] Connection problems on Atheros AR5001X+

Question

Hi all. I've been having trouble with my internet connection. I think it happened after the last kernel upgrade.
I am using wicd and starting it with X. When I log in I get no connection at all and a message saying "No wireless networks found".
Rescanning makes no difference.
The weird part is that connecting the cable gives me an entry for the wired network and rescanning makes all available wireless networks appear as they should.
I connect to my wireless network and then disconnect the cable and then everything is fine.
Usually anyways. Sometimes I get a "bad password" error.
Everything worked perfectly until a couple of days ago and I would like to avoid a kernel downgrade, since I've never done that before.
Another weird thing is that if I just connect my ethernet cable it doesn't connect automatically, even though that worked even before I installed X and wicd.
I've read this post https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=115136, but it didn't help much.
Some info:
The Wicd properties window of my wireless network.
iwconfig when I boot
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
and iwconfig after I connect to the wireless network using the cable
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"Thomson9B0AAC"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:24:17:2F:2E:C3
Bit Rate=6 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=70/70 Signal level=-40 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:2 Missed beacon:0
my wpa_supplicant.conf
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=network
update_config=1
network={
ssid="Thomson9B0AAC"
#psk="mypassword"
psk=b140ca2299f632340a01c5374541adefceffed7052478e66d31c3673d8f3cfb5
my /etc/rc.conf
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
# LOCALIZATION
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# USEDIRECTISA: use direct I/O requests instead of /dev/rtc for hwclock
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
USEDIRECTISA="no"
TIMEZONE="Europe/Athens"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"
# HARDWARE
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
#MOD_BLACKLIST=() #deprecated
MODULES=( !usblp !snd_pcm_oss !snd_seq_oss !snd_mixer_oss)
# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"
# NETWORKING
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
HOSTNAME="myhost"
# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
# - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
# - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
# DHCP: Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#Static IP example
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth0)
# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
# - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up. These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
# - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
# - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
# This now requires the netcfg package
#NETWORKS=(main)
# DAEMONS
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
# - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
# - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng crond dbus hal pulseaudio @wicd @cups)
What I have tried: Using my normal ip instead of static, starting dhcpcd on boot as a daemon, using netcfg instead of wicd.
When I run this
wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
I get disconnected from the network.
And when I when I run this
dhcpcd wlan0
I get a timeout error.
That's all the info I can think of right now. And the router is probably fine cause my windows partition and a macbook don't seem to be affected.
Last edited by cipater (2011-04-19 12:15:45)

Answer 1

Hi, I use an ath5k as well and have solved my share of problems encountered due to various driver issues and kernel updates not being nice.
Here is my rc.conf
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
# LOCALIZATION
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# DAEMON_LOCALE: Set the locale during daemon startup and during the boot
# process. If set to 'no', the C locale will be used.
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime", any other value will result
# in the hardware clock being left untouched (useful for virtualization)
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
LOCALE="en_US.UTF-8"
DAEMON_LOCALE="no"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
TIMEZONE="America/Los_Angeles"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"
# HARDWARE
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
#MOD_BLACKLIST=() #deprecated
MODULES=(!ath_hal !ath_pci !ath_rate_amrr !ath_rate_onoe !ath_rate_sample !wlan !wlan_acl !wlan_ccmp !wlan_scan_ap !wlan_scan_sta !wlan_tkip !wlan_wep !wlan_xauth)
# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"
# NETWORKING
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
HOSTNAME="ArchBook"
# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available interfaces.
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
# - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
# - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
# DHCP: Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#Static IP example
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
#eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(!eth0 !wlan0)
# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
# - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
# Setting this to "yes" will skip network shutdown.
# This is required if your root device is on NFS.
NETWORK_PERSIST="no"
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up. These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
# - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
# - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
# This now requires the netcfg package
#NETWORKS=(main)
# DAEMONS
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
# - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
# - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng dbus network crond @wicd) #netfs
my iwconfig output (I'm currently on wired net using eth0)
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
I'm using this driver:
https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=41472
hmmm, I noticed you don't have network set in your daemons?
Anyways, hope it helps in any way.