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The wireless on my Acer Iconia tab w500 running Ubuntu 12.04 shuts on and off every few minutes. This affects all other devices on my wireless network, including a Windows 7 PC, MacBook, and iPod touch. When I have Ubuntu turned off the network works normally. I had Ubuntu 11 running on it before with the same issue and I hoped the upgrade would solve it, but it hasn't. When I go to the library or a coffee shop the internet works great and doesn't shut off. I'm really liking Ubuntu on my Acer tab and hope I don't have to go back to windows, but this is a pretty crazy issue! Please help if you can or point me to a similar thread. I'm a designer and not a programmer so child talk is helpful. Thanks so much.

I ran a few tests in the terminal that might help someone smarter than me:

1. sudo lshw -class network

  *-network               
   description: Wireless interface 
   product: AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) 
   vendor: Atheros Communications Inc. 
   physical id: 0 
   bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0 
   logical name: wlan0 
   version: 01 
   serial: e4:d5:3d:94:f8:05 
   width: 64 bits 
   clock: 33MHz 
   capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless 
   configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k driverversion=3.2.0-24-generic      
   firmware=N/A latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bgn 
   resources: irq:17 memory:90000000-9000ffff 
   *-network 
   description: Ethernet interface 
   physical id: 1 
   logical name: eth0 
   serial: e8:40:f2:31:c3:33 
   size: 10Mbit/s 
   capacity: 100Mbit/s 
   capabilities: ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd   
   autonegotiation 
   configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=asix driverversion=08- 
   Nov-2011 duplex=half firmware=ASIX AX88772 USB 2.0 Ethernet link=no  
   multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s 

2. lspci

    00:00.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 14h Processor Root Complex 
    00:01.0 VGA compatible controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler [Radeon HD 6290] 
    00:01.1 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI Wrestler HDMI Audio [Radeon HD 6250/6310] 
    00:05.0 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 14h Processor Root Port 
    00:11.0 SATA controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 SATA Controller [AHCI mode] 
    00:12.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller 
    00:12.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller 
    00:13.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller 
    00:13.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller 
    00:14.0 SMBus: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 42) 
    00:14.2 Audio device: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA) (rev 40) 
    00:14.3 ISA bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 LPC host controller (rev 40) 
    00:14.4 PCI bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge (rev 40) 
    00:16.0 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB OHCI0 Controller 
    00:16.2 USB controller: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] nee ATI SB7x0/SB8x0/SB9x0 USB EHCI Controller 
    00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 0 (rev 43) 
    00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 1 
    00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 2 
    00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 3 
    00:18.4 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 4 
    00:18.5 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 6 
    00:18.6 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 5 
    00:18.7 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 12h/14h Processor Function 7 
    01:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)  

3. rfkill list all

    0: phy0: Wireless LAN 
        Soft blocked: no 
        Hard blocked: no 
    2: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN 
        Soft blocked: no 
        Hard blocked: no 
    3: acer-bluetooth: Bluetooth 
        Soft blocked: yes 
        Hard blocked: no 
    12: hci0: Bluetooth 
        Soft blocked: yes 
        Hard blocked: no 

Let me know whatever else you need and thanks!

1
  • The wireless seems to do "better" when I start the computer up with the power cord plugged in at home. But I have no problem using it without the power cord in at coffee shop or library. When I use the touch screen features it seems to malfunction no matter where I'm at. This may be unrelated to the wireless issue though.
    – Sam Hakes
    May 7, 2012 at 13:39

2 Answers 2

1

I followed this thread: How to fix wireless problems in Ubuntu 12.04

And it works great. Problem solved. The problem isn't the computer, it's that Ubuntu doesn't support that wireless driver: AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter. Following the link above all I did was this:

Create a new file /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf:

sudo nano /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf  

Add the following line to it:

options ath9k nohwcrypt=1'
0
0

I read this on another thread, and it worked for me so far...

  1. go to the wireless icon at the top
  2. go to edit connections
  3. go to wireless, and click on your network, then edit.
  4. go over to wireless security, and re-enter your wireless security pass.
  5. hit save, and you are done.

worked for me, but i will keep your posted on how it goes.

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