[SOLVED] Compat-Wireless-Patched breaks Wifi

aetherfly · 2012-03-15 10:39:42

I've done some searching, but I'm honestly kind of stumped on where to look or even exactly what I should be looking for in regards to a solution.

I have an Atheros ar9285 using the ath9k driver.

I recently decided to give aircrack-ng a try but ran into the "channel -1" problem. After a little research I found that the solution was the compat-wireless-patched packaged from the AUR. I installed the package and low and behold, I got aircrack-ng working; however, my wireless stopped working properly. Now, I can connect to a wireless network, but I cannot access the internet. Ping will hang if I try to ping outside of the network (say google.com) and if I try to ping the router, I get a "destination unreachable" error.

I'm not too keen on exactly how the drivers and kernel modules work. I'm wondering if I can compile or install the original ath9k driver, just under a different name or compile to the patched driver under a different name and load whichever one I might need at any time, or if there's a fix for the problem I'm having and can actually get the patched compat-wireless driver to function properly? But I have no clue as to how to go about this or if it's even possible.

If anyone has encountered this problem and knows a solution or could point me in the right direction, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Last edited by aetherfly (2012-03-15 22:41:54)

Lone_Wolf · 2012-03-15 13:13:26

The athk9 module should still be present, as it's in the stock kernel.

The compat-wireless-patched pacakge installs udev rules that probably make sure the patched module is used and not athk9.

a manual switch between the patched module and athk9 can be achieved as root :
(replace <wireless-patched> with the correct name for the new module, i don't know what it's called)

#rmmod <wireless-patched>

#modprobe athk9

.:B:. · 2012-03-15 13:15:16

That's not how it works. The kernel is programmed to pick modules in the update/ dir over the modules in its own tree.

aetherfly · 2012-03-15 17:45:04

I just assumed that the compat-wireless package came with a patched ath9k or something. When I do a lspci -v, it shows that aht9k is loaded. So, installing the cw-patched package changed something. I guess now the question is what.

.:B:. · 2012-03-15 18:49:23

$ modinfo ath9k

will show you where the module physically resides in the file system. Compat-wireless does not perform any miracles, it just provides more up to date modules (especially for older kernels). Upstream releases new tarballs every few days or so - I don't know how recent the version you used is.

aetherfly · 2012-03-15 19:23:06

Before reading your last post I uninstalled the compat-wireless-patched and the wireless worked, however the injection didn't (same channel -1 problem). Then I rebuilt the package with only the ath9k driver, the injection works, but it wont even connect to a wireless network now.

Here's the modinfo output with the rebuilt cw-patched package:

filename: /lib/modules/3.2.9-1-ARCH/updates/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ath9k.ko.gz
license: Dual BSD/GPL
description: Support for Atheros 802.11n wireless LAN cards.
author: Atheros Communications
alias: platform:ar934x_wmac
alias: platform:ar933x_wmac
alias: platform:ath9k
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000034sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000033sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000032sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000030sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Esv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Dsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Asv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000029sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000027sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000024sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000023sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: ath9k_hw,ath9k_common,mac80211,ath,cfg80211
vermagic: 3.2.9-1-ARCH SMP preempt mod_unload modversions
parm: debug:Debugging mask (uint)
parm: nohwcrypt:Disable hardware encryption (int)
parm: blink:Enable LED blink on activity (int)
parm: btcoex_enable:Enable wifi-BT coexistence (int)

aetherfly · 2012-03-15 22:41:31

I don't know why I posted my modinfo, I realize it was only for me to find the location of the driver, lol. Anyway, compiling and installing the latest compat-wireless ath9k driver from http://wireless.kernel.org/en/users/Download fixed the injection problem without need for being patched. So, now everything works. The next step is to write up a PKGBUILD and upload it to the AUR.

Thank you, .:B:. and Lone Wolf, for your help.

Last edited by aetherfly (2012-03-15 22:42:47)

.:B:. · 2012-03-16 18:50:51

That's good to hear .

Arch Linux

#1 2012-03-15 10:39:42

[SOLVED] Compat-Wireless-Patched breaks Wifi

#2 2012-03-15 13:13:26

Re: [SOLVED] Compat-Wireless-Patched breaks Wifi

#3 2012-03-15 13:15:16

Re: [SOLVED] Compat-Wireless-Patched breaks Wifi

#4 2012-03-15 17:45:04

Re: [SOLVED] Compat-Wireless-Patched breaks Wifi

#5 2012-03-15 18:49:23

Re: [SOLVED] Compat-Wireless-Patched breaks Wifi

#6 2012-03-15 19:23:06

Re: [SOLVED] Compat-Wireless-Patched breaks Wifi

#7 2012-03-15 22:41:31

Re: [SOLVED] Compat-Wireless-Patched breaks Wifi

#8 2012-03-16 18:50:51

Re: [SOLVED] Compat-Wireless-Patched breaks Wifi

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