How do I install a driver for an Atheros AR9285?

Question

How to install the driver for Atheros AR9285 in Ubuntu 11.10.

Still no package for 11.10 according to this

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Device/Atheros/AR9285

Here is the output of the commands

marc@fer-VPCYA1V9E:~$ sudo lshw -class network
  *-network DISABLED      
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: 4c:0f:6e:d6:65:cc
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k driverversion=3.0.0-12-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn
       resources: irq:16 memory:d3400000-d340ffff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: AR8131 Gigabit Ethernet
       vendor: Atheros Communications
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: c0
       serial: 54:42:49:a2:1f:bc
       capacity: 1Gbit/s
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=atl1c driverversion=1.0.1.0-NAPI firmware=N/A latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
       resources: irq:43 memory:d2400000-d243ffff ioport:1000(size=128)

And the second command

marc@fer-VPCYA1V9E:~$ rfkill list
0: sony-wifi: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
1: sony-bluetooth: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
2: phy0: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
3: hci0: Bluetooth
    Soft blocked: no
    Hard blocked: no
4: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
    Soft blocked: yes
    Hard blocked: no

Is there a way to make it work?

Please have a look at this answer and let me know if it resolves your issue. Otherwise - add to your question the results sudo lshw -class network and also rfkill list — fossfreedom, Oct 16 '11 at 20:58
possible duplicate of How do I get an Atheros AR9285 wireless card working? — fossfreedom, Oct 17 '11 at 19:06
same issue (AR9285, 64bit) under discussion in: http://askubuntu.com/questions/115458/atheros-wireless-card-shows-up-as-two-different-models — david6, Apr 07 '12 at 00:50
Possible solution: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/rfkill/+bug/900030/comments/2 which may resolve this for you. — david6, Apr 07 '12 at 00:53

score 9 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 08 '11 at 09:06

9

I fixed it. Edit the following file

/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

and add this

blacklist acer_wmi

Then reboot and your wifi should work ;)

edited Nov 08 '11 at 09:06

Community

1

answered Oct 18 '11 at 19:35

Jack

89

This didn't work for me and I'm wonder why would it work? What does the acer_wmi driver have to do with the Atheros AR9285 device? – Sophie Mar 26 '20 at 17:09

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 10 '12 at 17:49

3

I have just solved the wireless problem on Lenovo B560. However, I'm a beginner into Linux, and didn't immediately figure that blacklist acer_wmi can only be added by running the command:

gksu gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist.conf

edited Feb 10 '12 at 17:49

Lekensteyn

174,277

answered Feb 10 '12 at 13:00

Lars Quist

31

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 16 '12 at 14:52

0

The ath9k is included by default with latest linux Kernal. If you are interested in building latest one on your own. You can Google for "compact wireless linux driver"

answered Jun 16 '12 at 14:52

BigSack

2,623

score 0 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 07 '13 at 20:35

I had the same problem as @fernando with wifi drivers for Atheros AR9285. After spending 6 hours trying editing blacklist, various backports, compat drivers and even once compiling newer kernel version.

rfkill list all used to show

Wireless LAN
  Soft blocked: no
  Hard blocked: yes

The thing which solved my case was setting the wifi ON using hardware switch.

Try it: Boot into ubuntu in recovery mode and select enable networking

Reboot and all is done. I then had Hard blocked: no and my wifi started working

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 16 '11 at 20:33

0

The ath9k driver is included, and I can verify it's working -- wlan0 exists. However, the device cannot be switched on in the System Settings.

Mercifully, it was plug-and-play to cable-tether my Dell Streak.

answered Oct 16 '11 at 20:33

Joe Sutton

1

How do I install a driver for an Atheros AR9285?

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