How to fix Atheros WiFi problem on Ubuntu Maverick

This is not a new problem, since Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx, Canonical you have trouble getting multiple brand-name wireless network cards to work properly Atheros.

As for Lucid Lynx, this problem is solvable, commented on the blacklist made to the Atheros driver in the configuration file

/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-ath_pci.conf

and installing the

linux-backports-modules

as described in this NetStorming entry.

Unfortunately, this solution does not apply to 10.10 Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat, since applying this solution only leads to the complete disappearance of the WiFi network and if you keep insisting you will be left without a system as happened to me. 😀

But hey, I already have the solution to this annoying problem and in my case it is specifically for 10.10 Ubuntu Maverick Meerkat with Kernel 2.6.35-24-generic, Wifi Atheros AR928X on a laptop Acer Aspire 4540.

Note: It will probably work for you also on another computer if the problem you have is a continuous disconnection of the WiFi with loss of performance on the computer when trying to reconnect.

What we must do to solve this annoying problem is simply edit the configuration file

/etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf

. For this, execute the following line in the terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf

Now you will see a text file similar to the one I show below:

# This file is installed into / etc / NetworkManager, and is loaded by # NetworkManager by default. To override, specify: '--config file' # during NM startup. This can be done by appending to DAEMON_OPTS in # the file: # # / etc / default / NetworkManager # [main] plugins = ifupdown, keyfile [ifupdown] managed = false

In this file, we are going to change the line

managed=false

by

managed=true

. Then we are going to save and close the file.

With just this small modification, your WiFi will work again as if nothing had ever happened, now you just have to restart your machine and that's it.

Updated:

On x64 systems it is possible to solve this problem by executing the following line in the terminal:

sudo rfkill enable all

Unfortunately, these solutions seem to be not permanent in many cases, so we can move on to more drastic solutions, such as installing the driver package for Atheros MadWifi devices.