Enable Wireless

[ricomoss]

I have just installed Kubuntu 10.04 on an Acer Aspire 7551G-7606 laptop. I'm going through the initial setup and am having trouble enabling the wireless device.

Here is the output from some commands:

ricomoss@keaton:~$ sudo lshw -C network
  *-network               
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: NetLink BCM57780 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 01
       serial: 20:6a:8a:3f:da:2d
       size: 100MB/s
       capacity: 1GB/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=tg3 driverversion=3.102 duplex=full firmware=sb ip=192.168.1.106 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
       resources: irq:28 memory:d0100000-d010ffff
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR9287 Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: ec:55:f9:90:e0:21
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:17 memory:d0200000-d020ffff

Clearly the wireless network is DISABLED.

ricomoss@keaton:~$ nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected

- Device: eth0  [Auto eth0] ----------------------------------------------------
  Type:              Wired
  Driver:            tg3
  State:             connected
  Default:           yes
  HW Address:        20:6A:8A:3F:DA:2D

  Capabilities:
    Carrier Detect:  yes
    Speed:           100 Mb/s

  Wired Properties
    Carrier:         on

  IPv4 Settings:
    Address:         192.168.1.106
    Prefix:          24 (255.255.255.0)
    Gateway:         192.168.1.254

    DNS:             75.75.75.75
    DNS:             75.75.76.76
    DNS:             192.168.1.254


- Device: wlan0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 WiFi
  Driver:            ath9k
  State:             unavailable
  Default:           no
  HW Address:        EC:55:F9:90:E0:21

  Capabilities:

  Wireless Properties
    WEP Encryption:  yes
    WPA Encryption:  yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes

  Wireless Access Points

Again, it's unavailable.

ricomoss@keaton:~$ sudo rfkill list
0: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: yes
        Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
        Soft blocked: no
        Hard blocked: yes

It appears to be Soft blocked.

Any suggestions?

[Snowhog]

In Network Manager, do you have Enable wireless checked?

[ricomoss]

I'm not sure how to do that. If I right-click on the LAN icon in the task bar the Enable wireless option is grayed out.

Is there another way to open the Network Manager?

[Snowhog]

Dont' right-click on it. Just left-click to open the applet. See if the Enable wireless option is unchecked. If it is, check it.

[ricomoss]

There seems to be no difference between a left-click and right-click. In either case the Enable wireless option is grayed out.

[Snowhog]

Check for additional drivers to be loaded and activated for your Broadcom wireless. Click on K Menu > Applications > System > Additional Drivers. After the scan is finished a window will open (Additional Drivers). Does it identify a Broadcom wireless driver? If it does, does it indicate that it is activated? If it does not, activate it.

[ricomoss]

No proprietary drivers are in use on this system

[arochester]

Try this:

"You may be have a common issue with a clash between the acer-wmi kernel module and your Atheros driver.

Suggestion - copy and paste (line by line) the following into a terminal:

sudo modprobe -r acer-wmi
cd /etc/modprobe.d
sudo nano blacklist.conf
Then add blacklist acer-wmi as a new line at the end of the file.

Save and reboot."

--- http://askubuntu.com/questions/62730...o-for-wireless

[ricomoss]

Yes, this worked! Thank you so much.

[ricomoss]

How do I mark this as solved?

[Snowhog]

Click on Thread Tools and Mark this thread as solved...