[CentOS] atheros wifi on my oqo2

Thu Mar 14 23:09:36 UTC 2013
SilverTip257 <silvertip257 at gmail.com>

On Thu, Mar 14, 2013 at 4:27 PM, Robert Moskowitz <rgm at htt-consult.com>wrote:

Ugh I clicked reply rather than reply-all on your message that was also
sent directly to me.
Back on the list we go. :)


>  On 03/14/2013 12:33 PM, SilverTip257 wrote:
>
> On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 9:53 PM, Robert Moskowitz <rgm at htt-consult.com>wrote:
>
>>
>> On 03/13/2013 11:17 AM, SilverTip257 wrote:
>>
>>> On Wed, Mar 13, 2013 at 9:48 AM, Robert Moskowitz <rgm at htt-consult.com
>>> >wrote:
>>>
>>>  I have a few oqo2 units that I use for testing, normally using the
>>>> dongle for ethernet connection.  Well supposedly they have atheros
>>>> wifi.  in dmseg I see:
>>>>
>>>
OT:  Looks like a pretty neat device.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gt84OKzFQis


>
>>>> ath5k 0000:03:04.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
>>>> ath5k 0000:03:04.0: registered as 'phy0'
>>>> ath5k phy0: Couldn't identify radio revision.
>>>> ath5k 0000:03:04.0: PCI INT A disabled
>>>>
>>>> I press magic <fnc-?> per http://www.expansys.com/ft.aspx?k=119902 but
>>>> NetworkManager is not adding wifi as a networking device.  There is no
>>>> file under /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifc-* either.  How can I get
>>>> the wifi working?
>>>>
>>>>  Does the Atheros device show up in the output of ifconfig?
>>> ifconfig -a
>>>
>>
>>  Only eth0 and lo
>>
>>
>>  If it does, check the output of iwconfig.
>>>
>>
>>  And of course nothing here.
>>
>>  If neither of those yield any success, dig into the output of lspci for
>>> info on the Ath device.
>>> lspci -v
>>> lspci -v | grep -A10 -B2 thernet
>>>
>>> with verbosity turne up another notch if you want more info
>>> lspci -vv | grep -A10 -B2 thernet
>>>
>>
>>  # lspci -vv | grep -A10 -B2 thernet
>>     Kernel modules: snd-hda-intel
>>
>> 03:04.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5413/AR5414
>> Wireless Network Adapter [AR5006X(S) 802.11abg] (rev 01)
>>
>
>  What version of CentOS?  6.4?
>
>
> Still 6.3.  I am going to rebuild on one of them tomorrow (or maybe
> tonight) to 6.4.
>
>
You might try an install of Fedora instead (as I suggest at the bottom of
this message) and try a newer kernel.  Maybe you'll end up using the CentOS
base and need to build a newer kernel yourself to have the proper driver
for  that Atheros chip.  Since that unit will probably not be an
Internet-facing host, you can run a custom kernel without any drawbacks.

Since CentOS 6.[34] is running a 2.6.32 kernel, I don't know that I place
much belief in this information [0] (see post #4) helping.  And this
poster's Atheros is an AR5001.

[0] http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1350358&p=8475659


>
>
>  By chance have you tried probing the driver by manually to test?
> modprobe ath5k
> lsmod | grep ath
>
>
> ath5k                 129334  0
> ath                    14106  1 ath5k
> mac80211              184028  1 ath5k
> cfg80211              157313  3 ath5k,ath,mac80211
>
>   ifconfig -a
>
>
> And still only eth0 and lo listed.
>
> I looked into messages and picked out the following:
>
> Mar 11 01:37:17 oqo2 kernel: ath5k 0000:03:04.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17
> (level, low) -> IRQ 17
> Mar 11 01:37:17 oqo2 kernel: ath5k 0000:03:04.0: registered as 'phy0'
> Mar 11 01:37:17 oqo2 kernel: ath5k phy0: Couldn't identify radio revision.
> Mar 11 01:37:17 oqo2 kernel: ath5k 0000:03:04.0: PCI INT A disabled
>
> Perhaps this is my problem?
>
>
Yes.


>
>
>  You might also try the tips listed here:
> http://wiki.centos.org/HowTos/Laptops/Wireless
>
>
> Nothing helpful there.  ath5k should just work.
>
>
Agreed.

You may end up checking change logs for kernel versions. :-/


>
>
>  Check modprobe's blacklist config for kicks.
>
>  Being an Atheros card I'd expect it to be rather well supported.
>
>
>>     Subsystem: Atheros Communications Inc. EnGenius EMP-8602 (400mw) or
>> Compex WLM54AG (SuperAG)
>>     Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster- SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr-
>> Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
>>     Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort-
>> <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
>>     Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 17
>>     Region 0: Memory at c2100000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
>>     Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2
>>         Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1- D2- AuxCurrent=375mA
>> PME(D0-,D1-,D2-,D3hot-,D3cold-)
>>         Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=2 PME-
>>     Kernel modules: ath5k
>>
>> 03:05.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
>> RTL-8139/8139C/8139C+ (rev 10)
>>     Subsystem: Atheros Communications Inc. Device 8139
>>     Control: I/O+ Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr-
>> Stepping- SERR- FastB2B- DisINTx-
>>     Status: Cap+ 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B+ ParErr- DEVSEL=medium >TAbort-
>> <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
>>     Latency: 32 (8000ns min, 16000ns max)
>>     Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 18
>>     Region 0: I/O ports at bc00 [size=256]
>>     Region 1: Memory at c2110000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=256]
>>     Capabilities: [50] Power Management version 2
>>         Flags: PMEClk- DSI- D1+ D2+ AuxCurrent=375mA
>> PME(D0-,D1+,D2+,D3hot+,D3cold+)
>>         Status: D0 NoSoftRst- PME-Enable- DSel=0 DScale=0 PME-
>>
>> I checked in the bios that the card is enabled.  The keyboard indicates
>> that the function key function of the / key is to turn on the radio.
>>
>>
>>  So the hardware switch has the radio turned on?  Is there an indicator?
>
>
> No indicator.  That is part of the problem.  All I can do is press the fun
> key (which is 'sticky' by default and has a little led to show it is
> activated), then press the ? (that has the radio icon in the place where
> the keys show what they do with the fun key), then the led goes off on the
> fun key.  For other such combinations, you get what the key shows.
>
>
>  Have you tested the hardware with any other OS or distro so we know it's
> known good hardware?
>
>
> No.  I would have to dig out the base XP CD and install that.
>
>
>
You might also consider booting Fedora on it temporarily since you'll have
a much newer kernel.

-- 
---~~.~~---
Mike
//  SilverTip257  //