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!