[SOLVED] - Atheros AR5007EG (AR5BXB63) - Ubuntu 8.10

[arch3angel]

I know this may have been mentioned before because I got the idea to swap out the crappy Broadcom wireless card for the Atheros chipset.

I purchased my Atheros from eBay for about $35, don't have the sellers name handy but I will add his name later, and installed the wireless card per HP tutorials regarding the disassembling of the notebook.

Once the physical work was done I installed Ubuntu 8.10

After the install I connected the notebook through Ethernet and began the process below. I would say from start to finish I may have an hour maybe hour and a half, which includes the tear down and reassembly of the notebook.

Here is the simple, fast, and super effective way of getting the Atheros AR5007EG (AR5BXB63) card working in Ubuntu 8.10:


*** Note - I downgraded my BIOS from F.05 to F.04 before doing this ***
*** I am not sure if F.05 will still work, but I will test it this weekend ***

*** This Assumes You Are Using GNOME As Your Windows Manager ***

Click --> System --> Administration --> Hardware Drivers

--> Highlight "Support for ... Atheros ..." line near the top
--> Click "Deactivate" button in the lower right corner

Click --> Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal

sudo su

Edit Using Favorite Text Editor:

vim /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

At The Bottom Of The Blacklist File Enter The Two Lines Below:

# blacklisting the ath_pci in order to use the ath5k module
blacklist ath_pci

apt-get install linux-backports-modules-intrepid

Reboot System

Click --> Applications --> Accessories --> Terminal

sudo su

modprobe ath5k

Hope this helps others as it has helped me

[zbrown0529]

great job, thanks

[arch3angel]

Here is the eBay search I used to find my Atheros card:

eBay Search

Here is the profile of the eBay seller I got mine off of who was very good:

pearlexpee

Hope this helps others...

[rodneymillerpca]

I have a Acer Aspire 4520 right out of the box. I removed vista and installed Ubuntu 8.10 and the only thing that didn't work was the wifi. I tested tut after tut after tut and got no where. I found yours and after 12 minutes I was up and running perfect with only one modification "linux-backports-modules-intrepid" could not be found. Apparently it is called "linux-backport-modules-hardy" I used the one marked "linux-backport-modules-hardy-generic". Again thank you and godbless.

Rodney J. Miller PCA