Atheros AR8132 ethernet no longer detected?

imhumn · 2010-03-01 23:19:29

Hello, all. I have an absolutely bizarre hardware issue (concerning the Atheros AR8132 PCI-E Fast Ethernet Controller) that has been giving me quite a bit of grief for a while, and having completely hit a wall on this one, I'm reaching out for help.

I'm a reasonably-experienced Linux user of several years, and had been running Ubuntu 9.10 on an Acer AOD250 netbook for several months out. I know that this model has wireless issues out-of-the-box (easily fixed), but it did not have any noticeable ethernet issues. That is, until I attempted an installation of Arch.

During the installation, the ethernet card was initially detected, but unable to be used (because of a bad module in the kernel released with the installer). As I didn't know the fix for this at the time, I decided to reinstall Ubuntu 9.10. This time, however, the system failed to recognize the wired ethernet whatsoever. Instead, the external activity lights for the port (green and orange) are ALWAYS on, yet the device doesn't function.

I have done a successful install of the latest drivers directly from Atheros for the device and have them automatically loading with the kernel during boot, but as the device isn't recognized, the drivers aren't doing any good.

Relevant information:

root@niobium:~# ifconfig -a
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:240 (240.0 B)  TX bytes:240 (240.0 B)

pan0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr a2:13:34:bd:b2:bc  
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 0c:60:76:42:9c:fb  
          inet addr:192.168.1.107  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::e60:76ff:fe42:9cfb/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:5021 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3810 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:5328753 (5.3 MB)  TX bytes:739212 (739.2 KB)

root@niobium:~# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

Judging by the name, the Atheros AR8123 uses a PCI-E (express) adapter. Especially curious is the following section of the output:

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)

I suspect that my "lost" ethernet card may be on the mysteriously-absent Port 3.

My knowledge of hardware manipulation from the terminal is very limited, and I have no idea where to go from here, so any help will be greatly appreciated.

Bestiapeluda · 2010-03-07 03:15:18

Im having exactly the same problem. Did anyone find a solution ?

Bestiapeluda · 2010-03-15 23:02:54

I found that the nic reappears when I take out the battery and electrical cord from my laptop for 10 minutes.

weird...

Sjoden · 2010-03-16 00:45:19

Well, since this was solved, I had a similar issue with a desktop computer that I built ~ 5 or 6 years ago. I had bought a mobo, it didn't work so I exchanged it for the same model. Got it home and Win XP installed, and found out that the on board network card had a mac address burned in of all 0's, so it didn't work. I didn't want to make the 2 hour round trip to the store again, so I threw in a linksys 10/100 and disabled the onboard lan and called it good. Years later I gave that machine to my parents, and years later again(two weaks ago) I replaced their router while I was visiting. That computer couldn't connect again, I finally figured out that even though the onboard lan was still disabled, windows was showing that card and not the linksys. So I enabled/disabled the bad card, and moved the good card up a pci slot and all was well.

Anyways, your problem reminded me of that, just wondering if it was a similar situation.

Gnux · 2010-04-12 09:18:50

Hello
I recently installed a base Arch linux (from the 2009.8 iso usb key) on Dell Inspiron Mini 11z. This one got an Atheros AR8132/L1c Gigabit (rev c0).

At first it seems like I have an ethernet port but not ethernet chip on that laptop (it's very strange at first to see no output in dmesg or lspci).

I use this post: http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=728569 to solve my problem. But I had to unplugged the bat first as said Bestiapeluda (that's weird i agree ).

It's time we got a new stable iso...

aqamar · 2010-04-12 17:48:05

Try with this:

# rmmod atl1c

then download and compile this http://dl.dropbox.com/u/73347/l1c-linux … 2.6.30.tar

# modprobe atl1e and reboot

This works for me....

mdicotomia · 2010-04-29 15:11:38

I got the same error with Atheros. I think was better switch the installation kernel to more recent kernel
In my case, I solved the problem making the instalation trough wireless interface. So, after upgrade my kernel, I could use atheros interface.

Regards.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-03-01 23:19:29

Atheros AR8132 ethernet no longer detected?

#2 2010-03-07 03:15:18

Re: Atheros AR8132 ethernet no longer detected?

#3 2010-03-15 23:02:54

Re: Atheros AR8132 ethernet no longer detected?

#4 2010-03-16 00:45:19

Re: Atheros AR8132 ethernet no longer detected?

#5 2010-04-12 09:18:50

Re: Atheros AR8132 ethernet no longer detected?

#6 2010-04-12 17:48:05

Re: Atheros AR8132 ethernet no longer detected?

#7 2010-04-29 15:11:38

Re: Atheros AR8132 ethernet no longer detected?

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