Hi I've been fighting these wireless drivers for a few days and just recently i noticed that the model the Wireless controller appears in lspci is different sometimes. This is the data i have after installing Ubuntu Server 64 bit

~# lspci -k 
....
04:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01) 
        Subsystem: AzureWave Device 1d89 
        Kernel driver in use: ath9k 
        Kernel modules: ath9k

ran some updates, restarted, all was good, all though it did say that linux-headers-server linux-image-server linux-server where beeing kept back.

After that i installed ubuntu-desktop (aptitude install ubuntu-desktop --without-recommends) restarted and not only is the wireless not working anymore, but the hardware is listed as a different card

~# lspci -k
....
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)

has no available drivers for it, still i tried to modprobe ath9k, they show up in lsmod as loaded, but still iw list shows nothing.

this is what it looked like before the ubuntu-desktop instalation

Wiphy phy0
    Band 1:
        Capabilities: 0x11ce
            HT20/HT40
            SM Power Save disabled
            RX HT40 SGI
            TX STBC
            RX STBC 1-stream
            Max AMSDU length: 3839 bytes
            DSSS/CCK HT40
        Maximum RX AMPDU length 65535 bytes (exponent: 0x003)
        Minimum RX AMPDU time spacing: 8 usec (0x06)
        HT TX/RX MCS rate indexes supported: 0-7
        Frequencies:
            * 2412 MHz [1] (14.0 dBm)
            * 2417 MHz [2] (15.0 dBm)
            * 2422 MHz [3] (15.0 dBm)
            * 2427 MHz [4] (15.0 dBm)
            * 2432 MHz [5] (15.0 dBm)
            * 2437 MHz [6] (15.0 dBm)
            * 2442 MHz [7] (15.0 dBm)
            * 2447 MHz [8] (15.0 dBm)
            * 2452 MHz [9] (15.0 dBm)
            * 2457 MHz [10] (15.0 dBm)
            * 2462 MHz [11] (15.0 dBm)
            * 2467 MHz [12] (15.0 dBm) (passive scanning)
            * 2472 MHz [13] (14.0 dBm) (passive scanning)
            * 2484 MHz [14] (17.0 dBm) (passive scanning)
        Bitrates (non-HT):
            * 1.0 Mbps
            * 2.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
            * 5.5 Mbps (short preamble supported)
            * 11.0 Mbps (short preamble supported)
            * 6.0 Mbps
            * 9.0 Mbps
            * 12.0 Mbps
            * 18.0 Mbps
            * 24.0 Mbps
            * 36.0 Mbps
            * 48.0 Mbps
            * 54.0 Mbps
    max # scan SSIDs: 4
    max scan IEs length: 2257 bytes
    Coverage class: 0 (up to 0m)
    Supported Ciphers:
        * WEP40 (00-0f-ac:1)
        * WEP104 (00-0f-ac:5)
        * TKIP (00-0f-ac:2)
        * CCMP (00-0f-ac:4)
        * CMAC (00-0f-ac:6)
    Available Antennas: TX 0x1 RX 0x3
    Configured Antennas: TX 0x1 RX 0x3
    Supported interface modes:
         * IBSS
         * managed
         * AP
         * AP/VLAN
         * WDS
         * monitor
         * mesh point
         * P2P-client
         * P2P-GO
    software interface modes (can always be added):
         * AP/VLAN
         * monitor
    interface combinations are not supported
    Supported commands:
         * new_interface
         * set_interface
         * new_key
         * new_beacon
         * new_station
         * new_mpath
         * set_mesh_params
         * set_bss
         * authenticate
         * associate
         * deauthenticate
         * disassociate
         * join_ibss
         * join_mesh
         * remain_on_channel
         * set_tx_bitrate_mask
         * action
         * frame_wait_cancel
         * set_wiphy_netns
         * set_channel
         * set_wds_peer
         * connect
         * disconnect
    Supported TX frame types:
         * IBSS: 0x0000 0x0010 0x0020 0x0030 0x0040 0x0050 0x0060 0x0070 0x0080 0x0090 0x00a0 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0 0x00e0 0x00f0
         * managed: 0x0000 0x0010 0x0020 0x0030 0x0040 0x0050 0x0060 0x0070 0x0080 0x0090 0x00a0 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0 0x00e0 0x00f0
         * AP: 0x0000 0x0010 0x0020 0x0030 0x0040 0x0050 0x0060 0x0070 0x0080 0x0090 0x00a0 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0 0x00e0 0x00f0
         * AP/VLAN: 0x0000 0x0010 0x0020 0x0030 0x0040 0x0050 0x0060 0x0070 0x0080 0x0090 0x00a0 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0 0x00e0 0x00f0
         * mesh point: 0x0000 0x0010 0x0020 0x0030 0x0040 0x0050 0x0060 0x0070 0x0080 0x0090 0x00a0 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0 0x00e0 0x00f0
         * P2P-client: 0x0000 0x0010 0x0020 0x0030 0x0040 0x0050 0x0060 0x0070 0x0080 0x0090 0x00a0 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0 0x00e0 0x00f0
         * P2P-GO: 0x0000 0x0010 0x0020 0x0030 0x0040 0x0050 0x0060 0x0070 0x0080 0x0090 0x00a0 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0 0x00e0 0x00f0
    Supported RX frame types:
         * IBSS: 0x00d0
         * managed: 0x0040 0x00d0
         * AP: 0x0000 0x0020 0x0040 0x00a0 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0
         * AP/VLAN: 0x0000 0x0020 0x0040 0x00a0 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0
         * mesh point: 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0
         * P2P-client: 0x0040 0x00d0
         * P2P-GO: 0x0000 0x0020 0x0040 0x00a0 0x00b0 0x00c0 0x00d0
    Device supports RSN-IBSS.

What's with the hardware change? If it has 2, how can i make the AR9285 always load and disable AR5008, or, is it the same and it's just showing it different? :|

Oh and I've tried this on Ubuntu 10.04 server, xubuntu 12.04, ubuntu 12.04 desktop and server.

Thanks in advanced.

-- Here's some more info, i have it setup in 2 hard drives, 1 works and the other one i'm using to figure it out

The one that works...

# lshw -class network
  *-network               
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 06
       serial: 54:04:a6:a3:3b:96
       size: 1Gbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full firmware=rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw ip=192.168.2.147 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=1Gbit/s
       resources: irq:43 ioport:e000(size=256) memory:d0004000-d0004fff memory:d0000000-d0003fff
  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: 74:2f:68:4a:26:73
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k driverversion=3.2.0-18-generic-pae firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:18 memory:fea00000-fea0ffff

Here's where it doesn't

# lshw -class network
  *-network               
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller
       vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 06
       serial: 54:04:a6:a3:3b:96
       size: 1Gbit/s
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=full firmware=rtl_nic/rtl8168e-2.fw ip=192.168.2.160 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=1Gbit/s
       resources: irq:43 ioport:e000(size=256) memory:d0004000-d0004fff memory:d0000000-d0003fff
  *-network UNCLAIMED
       description: Ethernet controller
       product: AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: latency=0
       resources: memory:fea00000-fea0ffff

Update

I've noticed that if i blacklist the ath9k and ath9k_common modules lspci gives me the AR9285, but then I need to modprobe ath9k for it to work, does this make any sense? If so, why?