Connecting Ubuntu 8.10 with Atheros Wireless Driver

This setting was a major nuisance to me. I search all over the net for a working solutions. From Madwifi to Ndiswrapper but still, nothing works on my Presario C700 unit. I even fully updated Intrepid release. Thanks for that, the system hit by kernel panic and I need to reinstall the whole OS again. But the working solution is just under my nose. Read on...

Well, not really my nose, it's documented in the Ubuntu help page, under the WifiDocsDriverAtheros topic.

My unit preference is Compaq Presario C700 with Atheros AR242x chip and Ubuntu 8.10 (fresh install). I connect to internet through ethernet cable (wireless is disable duh). If you have similar setup and I assume you know how to set your repository, this might work. This is how I done it:

1. Update only the essential part. Open the terminal and run this command.
   sudo apt-get install build-essential
   
2. Deactivate the installed Atheros Driver. Since we're going to get the new one, disable the default driver which is auto-install during installation.
   System > Administration > Hardware Drivers and click the "deactivate" button.
3. Run this command
   sudo reboot
4. You now need to get the backport module. After the reboot, run this command
   sudo apt-get install linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic
5. Run this command
   sudo reboot
6. For some other unit the wireless might be working now. But mine is not working yet. This may be the result of a conflict with either ath_hal or ath_pci, or ath5k might be blaclisted somewhere. So let isolate the ath_hal & ath_pci first. Run this command on the terminal:
   sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
   and add the following lines to the bottom of the file:
   blacklist ath_hal
   blacklist ath_pci
   save the blacklist file
   
7. Run this command
   sudo reboot
8. By now my unit is able to detect wireless connection and manage to connect using WPA2 Personal pass key. But if your unit still doesn't, the last possible cause is the ath5k being blacklist somewhere, posibbly in modprobe.d. So run this command in terminal:
   grep -r "ath5k" /etc/modprobe.d/
   You just need to comment lines that have "blacklist ath5k" and then run this command:
   sudo reboot
   

Hopefully by now your unit is able to detect and connect to any wireless connection. Good luck and remember patient is a virtue.