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

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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?

Solution 1

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 ;)

Solution 2

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

Comments

[nilsonneto]

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

[nilsonneto]

possible duplicate of How do I get an Atheros AR9285 wireless card working?

[david6]

same issue (AR9285, 64bit) under discussion in: askubuntu.com/questions/115458/…

[david6]

Possible solution: bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/rfkill/+bug/900030/comment‌​s/2 which may resolve this for you.

[Andy Forceno]

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?