Arch Linux

juego

Member

Registered: 2015-04-13

Posts: 41

Website

Can't get wifi to connect (Ath9k problem)

Hello

I'm stuck in the installation process at the very first step: getting online.
I also have only access to a hidden wifi AP with wpa2 and I can't change the settings of it.
(I wish I had a proper ethernet connection but that's all I've got for now).
I've ran through all the possible ways to set up a wifi connection without success.

As far as I understand things, I have a working firmware ath9K and I can scan networks without any problem.
But I can not get the wifi card to associate with the AP. It will always reply "Not Connected".

For more infos on my system:
After booting the live usb, dmesg | grep ath shows me this:

[    5.739913] systemd[1]: Starting Paths.
[    5.739949] systemd[1]: Reached target Paths.
[    7.220998] usbcore: registered new interface driver ath3k
[    7.442059] ath: phy0: WB335 2-ANT card detected
[    7.442061] ath: phy0: Set BT/WLAN RX diversity capability
[    7.449138] ath: phy0: Enable LNA combining
[    7.450298] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x60
[    7.450299] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a direct regpair map
[    7.450300] ath: Country alpha2 being used: 00
[    7.450301] ath: Regpair used: 0x60
[    7.473411] ath9k 0000:03:00.0 wlp3s0: renamed from wlan0

Here's an extract of lspci - k :

03:00.0 Network controller: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9565 / AR9565 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
	Subsystem: AzureWave Device 2130
	Kernel driver in use: ath9k
	Kernel modules: ath9k

And for example, when I create a netctl profile with the AP settings, it's not connecting and showing systemctl shows this:

● netctl@wireless\x2dwpa.service - Networking for netctl profile wireless-wpa
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/netctl@.service; static; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Tue 2015-04-14 19:28:19 UTC; 1min 15s ago
     Docs: man:netctl.profile(5)
  Process: 724 ExecStart=/usr/lib/network/network start %I (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 724 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Apr 14 19:28:19 archiso network[724]: Starting network profile 'wireless-wpa'...
Apr 14 19:28:19 archiso network[724]: The interface of network profile 'wireless-wpa' is already up
Apr 14 19:28:19 archiso systemd[1]: netctl@wireless\x2dwpa.service: main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Apr 14 19:28:19 archiso systemd[1]: Failed to start Networking for netctl profile wireless-wpa.
Apr 14 19:28:19 archiso systemd[1]: Unit netctl@wireless\x2dwpa.service entered failed state.
Apr 14 19:28:19 archiso systemd[1]: netctl@wireless\x2dwpa.service failed.

I've ran over the forum to find if a similar problem has been resolved. Some people talk about problems with the ath9k driver, but no solution worked for me.
I've tried the

modprobe -r ath9k_hw
modprobe ath9_hw nohwcrypt=1

Without success.

With another distro (aka Elementary Freya), wifi works fine and I can connect to that hidden AP. Freya seems also to be using ath9k for the wifi driver.

Anybody knows what could be going wrong?

Thanks.

J

Head_on_a_Stick

Member

From: London

Registered: 2014-02-20

Posts: 7,744

Website

Re: Can't get wifi to connect (Ath9k problem)

And for example, when I create a netctl profile with the AP settings, it's not connecting

Are you using `wifi-menu` to create the profile?

Have you tried connecting manually?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … _wifi-menu
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wi … nual_setup

---

Are you infected with Wetiko?

juego

Member

Registered: 2015-04-13

Posts: 41

Website

Re: Can't get wifi to connect (Ath9k problem)

And for example, when I create a netctl profile with the AP settings, it's not connecting

Are you using `wifi-menu` to create the profile?

Have you tried connecting manually?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Be … _wifi-menu
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wi … nual_setup

I've tried both.
Except that Wifi-menu doesn't seem to provide a way to connect to a hidden wifi.
It lists only a list of broadcasting AP.

With the manual setup, I had no success in gettinq my wifi card being associated with the AP.
Don't know if it's weird or not but after typing:

ip link set wlp3s0 up

and then

dmesg | grep firmware

There is no mention of firmware in the dmesg. But I guess this is expected because it uses the ath9k driver, right?

Last edited by juego (2015-04-14 21:44:20)

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: Can't get wifi to connect (Ath9k problem)

There are quite a few reports lately that the ath9k driver doesn't work well with the 3.19 kernel. I'm using 4.0 and it works fine. 4.0 is in [testing] currently, you can get it from there. An alternative is trying the linux-lts kernel. And yeah, the ath9k driver doesn't use external firmware files, there are instead huge tables of magic numbers in the driver source.

PS. Hidden networks aren't really hidden, and this doesn't increase security at all (the network can easily be sniffed out, and while the AP may not be broadcasting the SSID, your computer does!), it only causes issues. So I'd un-hide the network.

Last edited by Gusar (2015-04-14 21:50:53)

juego

Member

Registered: 2015-04-13

Posts: 41

Website

Re: Can't get wifi to connect (Ath9k problem)

There are quite a few reports lately that the ath9k driver doesn't work well with the 3.19 kernel. I'm using 4.0 and it works fine. 4.0 is in [testing] currently, you can get it from there. An alternative is trying the linux-lts kernel. And yeah, the ath9k driver doesn't use external firmware files, there are instead huge tables of magic numbers in the driver source.

Hmm. I'd love to try the linux-lts, but I'm in the installation process, running from a live-usb. And there seems to be only one iso image on the download page. Am I missing something?

PS. Hidden networks aren't really hidden, and this doesn't increase security at all (the network can easily be sniffed out, and while the AP may not be broadcasting the SSID, your computer does!), it only causes issues. So I'd un-hide the network.

Unfortunately, it is not my access point and I have no way to change its settings.

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: Can't get wifi to connect (Ath9k problem)

Am I missing something?

Nope, that's my fault, I missed the part of your post that says you're still installing. In this case it's of course not possible to switch kernels.

Looking at your log more closely, I see this:

Apr 14 19:28:19 archiso network[724]: The interface of network profile 'wireless-wpa' is already up

That one has a simple solution - just bring the interface down (ip link set wlp3s0 down) before starting netctl. May work then. If not, you options are either an usb wifi adapter or an older install media that has the 3.18 kernel, where the ath9k driver might work better.

And just to be sure - does your netctl profile include the setting that the network is hidden?

juego

Member

Registered: 2015-04-13

Posts: 41

Website

Re: Can't get wifi to connect (Ath9k problem)

I haven't tried the ip link set down.
But I've downloaded the archlinux-2015.03.01-dual.iso from last month. It has a 3.18 kernel.
And now the wifi works pretty fine.

But.... now I'm stuck in the install process. (and this should be another thread, unless you have a quick answer)
When I run

pacstrap -i /mnt base base-devel

It downloads fine the core and extra packages. But stops at ~60% for the community one. And this happens for all the mirrors I have tried.
Is this because I used an iso image that is not the latest?
I have tried many many different mirrors with the same problem.

If I do

pacman -Sy

, I get no error on the community download

Thx

juego

Member

Registered: 2015-04-13

Posts: 41

Website

Re: Can't get wifi to connect (Ath9k problem)

Never mind my last message about pacstrap.
It seems to download fine now.
Thx.