(Solved) Erratic Atheros ar9462 wifi connection.

[globetrotterdk]

I am experiencing a very erratic Internet connection on my Acer Travelmate P633M laptop with an Atheros ar9462 wifi card and running Salix64 14.1 Mate version. There is a connection from time to time, so there must be a driver that is helping to provide the connection, but I haven't been able to find which driver should work. Other distros list it as ath9k, but the only reference to Slackware 14.1 support for this card that I have found is bottom left of the following webpage:
https://www.thinkpenguin.com/gnu-linux/ ... combo-card

Edit----
I haven't tested it systematically, but it appears that the driver is able to maintain a connection when tethered to m iPhone, but not when connecting to the 4G router that I use at home. However, my Lenovo Q190 desktop, running the same system, has no problem with the 4G router connection. It must be the driver the Atheros card is using that is the problem (?)

[gapan]

Post the output of

Code: Select all

sudo lspci
sudo lsmod

[globetrotterdk]

Thanks for the quick reply, gapan.

Code: Select all

$ sudo lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor DRAM Controller (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 3rd Gen Core processor Graphics Controller (rev 09)
00:14.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB xHCI Host Controller (rev 04)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family MEI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 04)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 04)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev c4)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 3 (rev c4)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 4 (rev c4)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev c4)
00:1c.6 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family PCI Express Root Port 7 (rev c4)
00:1d.0 USB controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation HM77 Express Chipset LPC Controller (rev 04)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 7 Series Chipset Family 6-port SATA Controller [AHCI mode] (rev 04)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 7 Series/C210 Series Chipset Family SMBus Controller (rev 04)
02:00.0 Unassigned class [ff00]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTS5209 PCI Express Card Reader (rev 01)
03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9462 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetXtreme BCM57761 Gigabit Ethernet PCIe (rev 10)

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$ sudo lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
ip6t_REJECT             2788  1 
xt_hl                   1329  6 
ip6t_rt                 2104  3 
nf_conntrack_ipv6       8481  7 
nf_defrag_ipv6         22755  1 nf_conntrack_ipv6
ipt_REJECT              2337  1 
xt_LOG                 12435  10 
xt_limit                1937  13 
xt_tcpudp               2463  18 
xt_addrtype             2877  4 
nf_conntrack_ipv4       7846  7 
nf_defrag_ipv4          1363  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
xt_conntrack            3257  14 
ip6table_filter         1420  1 
ip6_tables             17280  1 ip6table_filter
nf_conntrack_netbios_ns     1069  0 
nf_conntrack_broadcast     1213  1 nf_conntrack_netbios_ns
nf_nat_ftp              1788  0 
nf_nat                 13067  1 nf_nat_ftp
nf_conntrack_ftp        6699  1 nf_nat_ftp
nf_conntrack           53552  8 nf_nat_ftp,nf_conntrack_netbios_ns,nf_nat,xt_conntrack,nf_conntrack_broadcast,nf_conntrack_ftp,nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack_ipv6
iptable_filter          1480  1 
ip_tables              16642  1 iptable_filter
x_tables               16383  13 ip6table_filter,xt_hl,ip_tables,xt_tcpudp,xt_limit,xt_conntrack,xt_LOG,iptable_filter,ip6t_rt,ipt_REJECT,ip6_tables,xt_addrtype,ip6t_REJECT
rfcomm                 32551  8 
ipv6                  292446  37 nf_defrag_ipv6,ip6t_REJECT,nf_conntrack_ipv6
bnep                   10631  2 
cpufreq_ondemand        8799  0 
lp                      9851  0 
ppdev                   5862  0 
parport_pc             19332  0 
parport                30389  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
fuse                   73848  3 
uvcvideo               71742  0 
videobuf2_vmalloc       2912  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops        1879  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
videobuf2_core         27437  1 uvcvideo
videodev              102061  2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
ath3k                   6877  0 
btusb                  16152  0 
bluetooth             220548  25 bnep,ath3k,btusb,rfcomm
joydev                  9751  0 
i915                  567446  2 
intel_powerclamp        8391  0 
acer_wmi               23686  0 
rtsx_pci_sdmmc          9505  0 
coretemp                5870  0 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     29622  1 
snd_hda_codec_conexant    35276  1 
mei_me                  7728  0 
mmc_core               88717  1 rtsx_pci_sdmmc
kvm_intel             126236  0 
snd_hda_intel          34861  1 
ath9k                  87291  0 
kvm                   363491  1 kvm_intel
tg3                   154665  0 
mperf                   1163  0 
intel_agp              10864  1 i915
intel_gtt              12600  2 i915,intel_agp
drm_kms_helper         35118  1 i915
drm                   229054  3 i915,drm_kms_helper
agpgart                27267  3 drm,intel_agp,intel_gtt
thermal                 8644  0 
processor              27543  0 
ptp                     8148  1 tg3
sparse_keymap           3074  1 acer_wmi
pps_core                6777  1 ptp
video                  11451  2 i915,acer_wmi
libphy                 19405  1 tg3
thermal_sys            22993  4 video,intel_powerclamp,thermal,processor
freq_table              2628  2 cpufreq_ondemand,thermal_sys
hwmon                   1337  3 tg3,coretemp,thermal_sys
ath9k_common            1951  1 ath9k
ath9k_hw              369458  2 ath9k_common,ath9k
tpm_tis                 9697  0 
tpm                    14675  1 tpm_tis
ath                    15545  3 ath9k_common,ath9k,ath9k_hw
mac80211              429423  1 ath9k
cfg80211              380228  3 ath,ath9k,mac80211
psmouse                81058  0 
battery                11579  0 
snd_hda_codec         143196  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
rfkill                 15522  4 cfg80211,acer_wmi,bluetooth
i2c_i801               13860  0 
ehci_pci                3688  0 
ehci_hcd               39275  1 ehci_pci
i2c_algo_bit            5351  1 i915
i2c_core               20936  6 drm,i915,i2c_i801,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,videodev
xhci_hcd               88528  0 
wmi                     8243  1 acer_wmi
rtsx_pci_ms             5138  0 
memstick                6640  1 rtsx_pci_ms
lpc_ich                12841  0 
rtsx_pci               22092  2 rtsx_pci_ms,rtsx_pci_sdmmc
snd_hwdep               6388  1 snd_hda_codec
mei                    42963  1 mei_me
snd_pcm                76009  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
snd_page_alloc          7098  2 snd_pcm,snd_hda_intel
snd_timer              18614  1 snd_pcm
tpm_bios                9705  1 tpm
ac                      4311  0 
button                  4696  1 i915
snd                    58630  9 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel
soundcore               5354  1 snd
serio_raw               4585  0 
evdev                   9648  9 
crc32_pclmul            2883  0 
crc32c_intel           14113  0 
ghash_clmulni_intel     4333  0 
microcode              13140  0 
loop                   18479  0

[laprjns]

May this ? http://askubuntu.com/questions/301442/a ... ckage-loss

[globetrotterdk]

May this ? http://askubuntu.com/questions/301442/a ... ckage-loss

Interesting. I never had this problem when using Ubuntu. I was using 14.04, so something must have changed in either the driver/kernel module, or the preferences from the time of these postings. Odd that there aren't any similar postings for Slackware based systems, but the installer base is of course smaller. One would still have thought that any system differences would have filtered down to Slackware by this time...

Anyway, I will see what I can get out of those various suggestions. However it is important to note that I am experiencing the same connection problems on the school network where I teach. It doesn't seem a viable solution to have to fiddle with the connection settings for every network one comes in contact with as some suggest.

[mimosa]

Code: Select all

 I never had this problem when using Ubuntu. 

Maybe try a kernel upgrade?

[gapan]

From the lsmod output it seems that the ath9k module is indeed being used. I remember there were important changes with respect to this module since the kernel that is installed by default in 14.1. You could try these kernel packages:
viewtopic.php?f=20&t=6628

Or get the ones from slackware-current.

[globetrotterdk]

Code: Select all

 I never had this problem when using Ubuntu. 

Maybe try a kernel upgrade?

I tried creating a file as suggested here:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Ac ... erformance
With the following arguments:

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options ath9k bt_ant_diversity=1 ps_enable=0

I lost all functionality, also when using the constituent parts, so a kernel upgrade may be the right solution.

[globetrotterdk]

Or get the ones from slackware-current.

I think I will go for slackware-current. It looks like I can follow the guide here: https://docs.salixos.org/wiki/How_to_in ... ent_kernel
but I am running with UEFI and have never tried editing Lilo or eLilo before...

[gapan]

Just copy your new vmlinuz to from /boot to /boot/efi/EFI/Salix/vmlinuz