[Tfug] Damned Intel WiFi (2200BG series mini-PCI) FIXED (sigh)

[Jim March]

It was that Goddamn switch Acer put on the front panel.  Must have
accidentially hit it.  It disables WiFi but it's not an "on off" it's
a momentary.  In Windows there's a little LED light that tells you
when the WiFi is "on" vs. "off"...doesn't work in Linux.

Embarassing.

Anyways.  Leaves me wondering how in hell that switch works, given
that the stock Atheros card is outta there.  There must be a "disable
wifi hardware" hardware interrupt or switch or something in the
mini-PCI spec?  Guess they figured that was the main use...

Poop.

:)

Jim

On 9/18/07, Jim March <1.jim.march at gmail.com> wrote:
> SIGH.
>
> OK.  Some may recall the saga to date.  Extreme short form: the
> internal Atheros-based mini-pci WiFi card in my Acer laptop died of
> "coke overdose" at one of the TFUG meets.  While selling an old
> Fujitsu carcass for it's screen I noticed it had an internal mini-pci
> Intel 2200BG series card - yanked that, dropped it in the Acer, worked
> GREAT.
>
> Until now.
>
> Ubuntu (7.04) seems to see it.  It appears as an "Eth1" device same as
> always, Eth0 (hardwire Ethernet) is present and working and if I put
> my Atheros-based PCMCIA card in, it shows up as Ath0.
>
> When the Intel card worked, I could still insert the PCMCIA WiFi Ath0
> device and under the Network Manager pull-down menu in Gnome it would
> list all available SSIDs twice, grouped under the Atheros (PCMCIA) and
> Intel cards.  It was kinda neat, because you could see at a glance how
> much more signal strength the Intel card had.
>
> Those "group names" (Intel 2200BG and Atheros) are still listed as
> usual, but with no SSIDs under the Intel card.  It's as if somebody
> snipped the antenna cables, but since I'm hooking to a router one FOOT
> away I figure it oughta work with no antenna at all?
>
> I popped the access plate, re-seated the Intel card and checked the
> antenna connections.  It all looks fine.
>
> Somebody mentioned a second set of drivers (open source vs. the binary
> blob I'm on now)?  I'm thinking I should swap them out, see if that's
> it rather than the card mysteriously going "poof"?
>
> Any other advice?  This is a damned nuisance...
>
> Jim
>