TP-LINK WN781ND Wireless Card Not working

yugpatel

Senior member
Feb 28, 2001
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0
76
I am running 64 bit Ubuntu 11.04 - the Natty Narwhal .

I had Linksys WMP54GS (PCI) working fine but recently I acquired TP-Link PCI-E, model TL-WN781ND Ver 2.1, because report said it being supported by Linux. However, it is not the case for me, somehow.

I have searched and searched, even tried rebuilding the kernel but failed to update grub (followed all the instruction but grub does not list newly built kernel).

Here is the output of various probes:

Linux bpSSD 2.6.38-16-generic #67-Ubuntu SMP Thu Sep 6 17:58:38 UTC 2012 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

bp@bpSSD:~$ modprobe --list | grep wireless |grep ath9k
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ath9k.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ath9k_hw.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ath9k_common.ko
kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ath9k_htc.ko


bp@bpSSD:~$ lsmod |grep ath9k
ath9k 118238 0
mac80211 294370 1 ath9k
ath9k_common 13851 1 ath9k
ath9k_hw 323077 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
ath 23773 2 ath9k,ath9k_hw
cfg80211 178528 3 ath9k,mac80211,ath


bp@bpSSD:~$ dmesg | grep ath9k
[ 6.510784] ath9k 0000:05:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
[ 6.510794] ath9k 0000:05:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 6.563294] ath9k 0000:05:00.0: Failed to initialize device
[ 6.575161] ath9k 0000:05:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 2111.640089] ath9k: Driver unloaded
[ 2129.710020] ath9k 0000:05:00.0: Refused to change power state, currently in D3
[ 2129.710031] ath9k 0000:05:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
[ 2129.814994] ath9k 0000:05:00.0: Failed to initialize device
[ 2129.815045] ath9k 0000:05:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
[ 2129.815053] ath9k: probe of 0000:05:00.0 failed with error -5

I tried Linux-Secure-12.10 Live CD and it works fine out of the box. This card works under Windows Vista 32 Bit fine.

What am I doing wrong? Any help?
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
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11.04 is out of support. Is there a reason you aren't upgrading your whole system? The Ubuntu docs said the card is supported, but didn't specify version number. I'd download the 12.04 iso, and see if that works. If it does, I'd upgrade to that.
 

MrColin

Platinum Member
May 21, 2003
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I have a similar TP-LINK card that uses the same driver. It worked pretty well with 12.04 server.
 

yugpatel

Senior member
Feb 28, 2001
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0
76
11.04 is out of support. Is there a reason you aren't upgrading your whole system? The Ubuntu docs said the card is supported, but didn't specify version number. I'd download the 12.04 iso, and see if that works. If it does, I'd upgrade to that.
The only reason I am not upgrading the system to the latest is I don't like Unity at all. I am not sure if there is any other way to activate ath9k support without rebuilding the kernel.
Also even after rebuilding the kernel, somehow grub does not list new kernel to boot from.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
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I hear ya. I'm not a fan of Unity either. I thought that was the shell on 11.04 though?

Sorry to dance around your question, but I don't have the answer you're seeking. I don't think holding on to expired software is a good solution. You'll have security issues, and the time will come at some point where you have to upgrade regardless of security. I'd suggest using Xubuntu or Mint. That'll give you an supported distro, and DE you may like better, especially if you pick the Mate flavor of Mint. Mate is a renamed Gnome2(classic Ubuntu), and pretty much identical in every way other than name. I have my doubts about Mate's long term viability, and would choose something else due to that, but it should work well enough for the immediate future.
 

yugpatel

Senior member
Feb 28, 2001
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76
I hear ya. I'm not a fan of Unity either. I thought that was the shell on 11.04 though?

Sorry to dance around your question, but I don't have the answer you're seeking. I don't think holding on to expired software is a good solution. You'll have security issues, and the time will come at some point where you have to upgrade regardless of security. I'd suggest using Xubuntu or Mint. That'll give you an supported distro, and DE you may like better, especially if you pick the Mate flavor of Mint. Mate is a renamed Gnome2(classic Ubuntu), and pretty much identical in every way other than name. I have my doubts about Mate's long term viability, and would choose something else due to that, but it should work well enough for the immediate future.

Nice suggestion. So, I will update to the latest Ubuntu version but can I uninstall Unity (to reclaim disk space) and install other DE like xfce or any other suggested. I don't want to loose the programs and related settings under Ubuntu.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,390
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I think you'd have to upgrade twice. Once to get to 11.10, and again to get to 12.04(my recommendation), you'd then upgrade again in 2014 to 14.04(the next lts release). It would be better if you backed up your system first. I've never had problems, but Ubuntu upgrades have given people problems.

You can remove some of the programs, but you'll have to look over everything individually. Many programs are tied together through dependencies. Ubuntu uses many Gnome programs, so uninstalling Unity desktop(or whatever it's called) could remove a lot of the programs you like. I find Synaptic better than Software Center for dealing with system programs. It's better at pointing out dependencies, and is easier for removing portions of systems.

You could also clean install. If you aren't bandwidth constrained, download a few distros, and see what you like. I'm partial to the Xfce desktop, so if I wanted to stick with Ubuntu, I'd use Xubuntu. Kubuntu, and Mint Cinnamon, and Mate editions are worth a try. If you've backed up your /home partition, you can replace a lot of your settings, but it'll take some manual labor finding/replacing configs.
 

yugpatel

Senior member
Feb 28, 2001
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lxskllr: I am trying to upgrade but upgrade process is asking me to insert 12.10 DVD. If I do that then I am afraid I won't be able to upgrade to 12.04LTS. Right?

I think the only choice I have at this point is fresh install of LTS unless I am missing something.
 

lxskllr

No Lifer
Nov 30, 2004
59,390
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lxskllr: I am trying to upgrade but upgrade process is asking me to insert 12.10 DVD. If I do that then I am afraid I won't be able to upgrade to 12.04LTS. Right?

I think the only choice I have at this point is fresh install of LTS unless I am missing something.

How are you starting the upgrade? The only times I've skipped releases is when using lts releases, and lts-lts is considered a valid upgrade path. I've never skipped the regulars. IOW, I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm guessing here :^D

If you open a terminal and type
Code:
 sudo do-release-upgrade
that /should/ upgrade to to 11.10. If so, and it's successful, do that again to get to 12.04. Don't forget to backup anything you can't afford to lose. The best processes in the world screw up on occasion, and it would be a shame to lose data. Data is the most valuable thing by far on most people's machines.

Edit:
Changed the syntax of the command
 
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yugpatel

Senior member
Feb 28, 2001
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I am upgrading using System->Administration->Update Manager->Upgrade to 11.10.

Anyway when it asked for 12.10 CD/DVD, I hit cancel and update is still going on, so, I assume that it will upgrade to 11.10.

Regarding backup, I learned my lessons long time ago, so all important data are same on three different drives, including USB thumb drive.
Will keep you posted once upgrade is successful.

Thanks for holding my hand.

Update:
It asked for 12.10 CD again and when I hit cancel button, it cancelled the upgrade process. So, I am falling back on sudo do-release-upgrade and see hoe it goes.


update2:
Even command line upgrade is asking for:
Fetching
Media change: please insert the disc labeled
'Ubuntu 12.10 _Quantal Quetzal_ - Release amd64 (20121017.5)'
in the drive '/media/cdrom/' and press enter.
After I inserted 12.10 CD/DVD, it opened Synaptic Package Manager, selected Mark all. upgrade process is continuing.
 
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