Atheros Wireless card shows up as two different models?
- by geermc4
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?