Eeeepc 1005pe Atheros wireless not working

[eeepclover]

I'm new to linux, but I am trying to learn the goodness that is BackTrack. I have a new Eee PC 1005PE and installed BT4 Final to persist on the SDHC card, but I can't get the wireless to work. I'm thinking I'll wear out the internet if I continue googling, but I appreciate all the wise words on here and other forums. I'm hoping the group here can help with the problem I'm facing now. Please keep in mind I'm new to Linux, so feel free to fact-check anything I say because I may be using the wrong word for something.

ifconfig shows eth0 and lo as active and I can use the wired connection, but the wireless is conspicuously missing.

iwconfig shows both lo and eth0 as "no wireless extensions"

lspci (skipping the boring stuff) shows:

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. Atheros AR8132 / L1c Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev c0)
02:00.0 Network controller: atheros Communications Inc. Device 002c (rev 01)

And here's where it gets weird:

# modprobe -r ath_pci
FATAL: Module ath_pci not found

#airdriver-ng detect

Found "Madwifi[-ng]" device: (ath_pci)
01:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. Atheros AR8132 / L1c Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev c0)
02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. Device 002c (rev 01)

USB devices (generic detection):
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 0b05:1788 ASUSTek Computer, Inc.

So that makes me wonder if "ath_pci" is functional or not.

I've used Synaptic to install ndiswrapper and madwifi. The ndiswrapper GUI accepts the Windows drivers that I've downloaded and I get an error when using "Wireless Network Drivers" to install netathw.inf (same result for netathr.inf and netathwx.inf). That error reads:

 Module could not be loaded.  Error was:
FATAL: Module ndiswrapper not found.
Is the ndiswrapper module installed?

But clicking "OK" lets me see the driver back in the "Wireless Network Drivers" screen along with "Hardware Present: Yes"

So does that mean it worked? I don't think so because the ifconfig and iwconfig still show nothing useful.

What say you, what do I need to do to get this to work? Thanks for all your help, I look forward to providing whatever error or status messages you need to help me troubleshoot this.

[MosGuy]

Apart from double-checking that the wireless is enabled in the BIOS. If you run " /etc/init.d/networking start " , what is the output of ifconfig after that ?

[eeepclover]

Both ath0 and wlan0 get the same message:

ath0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.1
Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp

SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
ath0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
ath0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Failed to bring up ath0
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device 
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.1
Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp

SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device 
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device 
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Failed to bring up wlan0.
done.

Apart from double-checking that the wireless is enabled in the BIOS. If you run " /etc/init.d/networking start " , what is the output of ifconfig after that ?

Eth0 works as usual and gets its IP from DHCP.

ath0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Internet Systems Consortium

blah blah

SIOCIFADDR: No such device
ath0: Error while getting interface flags: No such device
ath0: Error while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Failed to bring up ath0.
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.1

Blah blah

SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Failed to bring up wlan0
done.

[Archangel-Amael]

Blah Blah Blah is not an error output. At least not one for running the above command.
Further more the request was to post the output and that generally means the whole thing. Since I don't see an eth0 or a lo listed that would be you truncated it.

[eeepclover]

Blah Blah Blah is not an error output. At least not one for running the above command.
Further more the request was to post the output and that generally means the whole thing. Since I don't see an eth0 or a lo listed that would be you truncated it.

Right, it is truncated. I was trying to save you some time in skipping through the wired stuff since it does work. But here's the full output.

# /etc/init.d/networking start
Configuring network interfaces...eth1: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.1
Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
eth1: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
eth1: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Failed to bring up eth1.
eth2: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.1
Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
eth2: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
eth2: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Failed to bring up eth2.
ath0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.1
Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
ath0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
ath0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Failed to bring up ath0.
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.1
Copyright 2004-2008 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

SIOCSIFADDR: No such device
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
Bind socket to interface: No such device
Failed to bring up wlan0.
done.

I have also since purchased a TP-LINK TL-WN422G and I'm working to get it installed, too. It was plugged in while the above command was run, so it's not being seen, either.

[strungmind]

I have a 1005 sitting right next to me running BT, and internet is running fine.

Here's a hint:
Try starting wicd, it's started in the same directory as the networking script.

[eeepclover]

I have a 1005 sitting right next to me running BT, and internet is running fine.

Here's a hint:
Try starting wicd, it's started in the same directory as the networking script.

Is it a 1005PE? What model 1005 is it?

Is it the internal wifi card that's working for you or the wired? Did you have to load any drivers?

Is it BT4 Final or beta?

[AlexD]

Hi,
I have the same problem on my Eee PC 1001P.
I have a Ubuntu (Netbook Remix, Karmic) installed on HDD, where WLAN works fine after a kernel-update as described here:
Mind Booster Noori: HOWTO have wireless working on an ASUS EEE PC 1001P in Ubuntu

I have no idea why Backtrack won't even recognize the device (should be wlan0). Ubuntu runs WLAN with the ath9k driver, if that is of help.
I also did the suggested '/etc/init.d/wicd start', without reading about what it does. I have to leave now, but will read 'man wicd' tomorrow to find out more.
Should anyone know why this doesn't work, I would be happy if you told me
--Alex

[remach]

I Have same problem on my eee pc 1005P.
How can i start wireless?

[hendri]

I have a eee pc 1005p to. it work for me. but when i disable the wireless in win7, and reboot with the bt4 usb, it won't work even when its enabled in the bios. So you have to enable it in win7