Kubuntu 8.04 on HP dv6700 Notebook Not Recognizing Hardware

[aidyn66]

Hello! I recently installed Hardy Heron on my dv6700, but I'm saddened to find that Kubuntu isn't recognizing some of my hardware, and other parts aren't operating correctly. Background - I am pretty new to linux, but I have set up previous versions of kubuntu on my PC.

The Hardware - HP dv6700 notebook pc

AMD Turion64 X2 TL-64
2Gb DDR2 RAM
120 GB Hard Drive (10 gig Ext2 root, 2 gig swap, 30 gig home, rest Vista)
nVidia GeForce 8400M GS

The Problem -

Kubuntu informs me that "proprietary drivers are being used to make this computer work properly", listing the Atheros Hardware Access Layer, Nvidia accelerated graphics driver (latest cards), and Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards under the component/device driver column, listing the Atheros Hardware Access Layer and the Support for Atheros 802.11 wireless LAN cards as Enabled and In Use, while the Nvidia driver is not enabled and listed "not in use".

However, despite this saying that the wireless support is enabled, Kubuntu does not recognize that my wireless card exists, giving me no options aside from the ethernet port for network access. Also, my xorg.conf does not recognize my video card, recognizing only a "configured video device".

A friend who runs linux told me he had a similar problem upon installing kubuntu 7.10 on his HP tx1000 series notebook, and the solution ended up being adding some tags to Grub's boot commands, but he couldn't remember where the forum thread about it was, and I've failed to find anything on the subject so far.

Any help or ideas that could be provided would be very much appreciated, and if you need any more information, let me know and I'll post it ASAP. Thank you very much!

[Snowhog]

Re: Kubuntu 8.04 on HP dv6700 Notebook Not Recognizing Hardware

Welcome to the Kubutnu Forums.

Your Atheros wireless card/chip should work without any problems. First thing to check is that it is listed and enabled. Click on the K Menu icon and go to System Settings > Network Settings > Network Connections > Network Interfaces You should see your Available Network Interfaces listed, of which, one should be your wireless interface. If they are there, the State should be showing Enabled Wireless Network Device and Enabled Ethernet Network Device Is this the case? If the devices are listed but not enabled, you need to click on the Administrator button, click on the interface and click the Enable Interface button.

Also ensure that if you have a switch on the laptop to turn on/off the wireless card, it is in fact turned on.

Post back.

[aidyn66]

Re: Kubuntu 8.04 on HP dv6700 Notebook Not Recognizing Hardware

The problem there is that the system does not even see my network card. I go to Network Settings like you say, and there is no "network interfaces", there are no devices listed at all. The only options are "connection preferences", "proxy", and "service discovery", none of which give any options for hardware configuration. And yeah, the hardware switch is set in the On position. Tried in both positions, to be sure.

Since the device is not listed, do you know of a way to get it listed or force the detection, perhaps?

[marshallbanana]

Re: Kubuntu 8.04 on HP dv6700 Notebook Not Recognizing Hardware

Try running

sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg

xorg is the hardware managment thingy (if that sounds vague it's because my knowledge is hazy in this area) and that code will reconfigure your hardware (it keeps the list of all your known hardware and settings in /etc/X11/xorg.conf). Maybe it will be detected properly second time round.

[aidyn66]

Re: Kubuntu 8.04 on HP dv6700 Notebook Not Recognizing Hardware

I went ahead and reconfigured my xserver, but the only options it offered were for keyboard customization. My xorg.conf before and after the reconfigure were the same, and contains no information on network cards. Dang...any other suggestions? I appreciate the ideas.

[marshallbanana]

Re: Kubuntu 8.04 on HP dv6700 Notebook Not Recognizing Hardware

Hmm, one thing that might be possible would be to get someone else with an Athero's xorg.conf entry and just paste it in manually. But I don't have one myself. Anyone?
This may not work but its possible it could force it.

[yulester]

Re: Kubuntu 8.04 on HP dv6700 Notebook Not Recognizing Hardware

Atheros 5007EG - - Is this your wireless??

If so, A ten spot say's the drivers will NOT work. It's been a common episode.

Search the Ubuntu Forums for an archived thread regarding this setup. I kinda had it working under 7.10, but have yet to try it under 8.04
- - I gotta get the winmodem running first.

[Guest]

Re: Kubuntu 8.04 on HP dv6700 Notebook Not Recognizing Hardware

Reconfiguring xorg will do nothing for your wireless card.
I therefore should like to know a few things,
what shows up in lspci?
Have you enabled nonfree repositories?
what shows up when you run lsmod|grep ath?

If the atheros drivers won't work correctly, we could try ndiswrapper, but it will be easier to stick with the native drivers.

[Guest]

Re: Kubuntu 8.04 on HP dv6700 Notebook Not Recognizing Hardware

if you are having irq conflicts (common in hp laptops)
try adding one or all of these to your kernel parameters in menu.lst
pci=routeirq
acpi_irq_balance
noapic

I've had good luck with those in the past, but mostly I had usb problems with irq's

[Guest]

Re: Kubuntu 8.04 on HP dv6700 Notebook Not Recognizing Hardware

The problem there is that the system does not even see my network card. I go to Network Settings like you say, and there is no "network interfaces", there are no devices listed at all. The only options are "c[img]http://[/img]onnection preferences", "proxy", and "service discovery", none of which give any options for hardware configuration. And yeah, the hardware switch is set in the On position. Tried in both positions, to be sure.

Since the device is not listed, do you know of a way to get it listed or force the detection, perhaps?

I have a similar issue. My Atheros wireless "got lost" after install on my Toshiba Satellite 2415. It is strange that when I first installed, Kubuntu Hardy, the wireless worked fine. I downloaded a bunch of updates using it, and when I rebooted, the wireless was gone. System Settings shows only the wired ethernet card. Ispci shows the Atheros AR5212/AR5213 card.

How do you get from a found pci device to an installed driver?