Can't get wifi to work

Please first connect your WIRED network adapter to the wireless router using an ethernet cable (also known as a LAN cable).

In order to gather essential troubleshooting information about your wireless card, please follow this procedure:

Step 1: Open Terminal from "Applications->Accessories->Terminal"

Step 2: Please copy-paste the following command from the https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu website in Firefox into the Linux Terminal. Do NOT copy-paste from the Email message into the Terminal, as that will only copy PART of the command. The command STARTS with the word sudo and ENDS with the word lsmod. So please copy-paste the ENTIRE command below from Firefox into a Terminal, press <enter>, then enter password when sudo asks for password, then press enter again.

Tip: If you have a wheel mouse or 3 button mouse you do not need to type commands into the Terminal. Highlight the command written on the page. Move your cursor anywhere in the Terminal and press the wheel or middle button. Automatic Copy and paste! No spelling mistakes! No Typos! No other errors!

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install hwinfo grep; sudo lshw -C network; rfkill list; sudo iwlist scanning; cat /etc/network/interfaces; cat /etc/lsb-release; lspci -nn; lsusb; sudo lshw -short; uname -a; dmesg | egrep 'acx|at76|ath|b43|bcm|CX|eth|ipw|irmware|isl|lbtf|orinoco|ndiswrapper|NPE|ound|p54|prism|rtl|rt2|rt3|rt6|rt7|usb|witch|wl'; iwconfig; cat /etc/modprobe.d/* | egrep 'acx|at76|ath|b43|bcm|CX|eth|ipw|irmware|isl|lbtf|orinoco|ndiswrapper|NPE|p54|prism|rtl|rt2|rt3|rt6|rt7|witch|wl'; sudo hwinfo --netcard ; cat /var/lib/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.state; sudo lsmod

Step 3: Please post results (copy/paste terminal output) on this thread. The troubleshooters here need to see the full Terminal output from running the above command.

Step 4: Please also specify the exact model and make of your PC (if known) on this thread

Step 5: Please also clarify if you installed Ubuntu to the harddisk and are running from a harddisk install OR if you are only testing Ubuntu in a LiveCD session.

OKay, I did what you asked:

Answers to your 2 + 3:

E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
E: Could not get lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable)
E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), is another process using it?
PCI (sysfs)
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: MCP77 Ethernet
       vendor: nVidia Corporation
       physical id: a
       bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: a2
       serial: 00:1f:16:4c:13:ed
       size: 100MB/s
       capacity: 100MB/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 66MHz
       capabilities: pm msi ht bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=forcedeth driverversion=0.64 duplex=full ip=192.168.10.111 latency=0 link=yes maxlatency=20 mingnt=1 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
       resources: irq:42 memory:c0009000-c0009fff ioport:30f8(size=8) memory:c0007c00-c0007cff memory:c0007800-c000780f
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:07:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: 00:23:4e:13:2e:67
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath5k driverversion=2.6.35-22-generic firmware=N/A latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
       resources: irq:23 memory:c2000000-c200ffff
0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

DISTRIB_ID=Ubuntu
DISTRIB_RELEASE=10.10
DISTRIB_CODENAME=maverick
DISTRIB_DESCRIPTION="Ubuntu 10.10"
00:00.0 RAM memory [0500]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Memory Controller [10de:0754] (rev a2)
00:01.0 ISA bridge [0601]: nVidia Corporation Device [10de:075e] (rev a2)
00:01.1 SMBus [0c05]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] SMBus [10de:0752] (rev a1)
00:01.3 Co-processor [0b40]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Co-Processor [10de:0753] (rev a2)
00:01.4 RAM memory [0500]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Memory Controller [10de:0568] (rev a1)
00:02.0 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] OHCI USB 1.1 Controller [10de:077b] (rev a1)
00:02.1 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] EHCI USB 2.0 Controller [10de:077c] (rev a1)
00:04.0 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] OHCI USB 1.1 Controller [10de:077d] (rev a1)
00:04.1 USB Controller [0c03]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] EHCI USB 2.0 Controller [10de:077e] (rev a1)
00:06.0 IDE interface [0101]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] IDE [10de:0759] (rev a1)
00:07.0 Audio device [0403]: nVidia Corporation MCP72XE/MCP72P/MCP78U/MCP78S High Definition Audio [10de:0774] (rev a1)
00:08.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Bridge [10de:075a] (rev a1)
00:09.0 IDE interface [0101]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] SATA Controller (non-AHCI mode) [10de:0ad0] (rev a2)
00:0a.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: nVidia Corporation MCP77 Ethernet [10de:0760] (rev a2)
00:0b.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Express Bridge [10de:0569] (rev a1)
00:14.0 PCI bridge [0604]: nVidia Corporation MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Bridge [10de:077a] (rev a1)
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 11h Processor HyperTransport Configuration [1022:1300] (rev 40)
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 11h Processor Address Map [1022:1301]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 11h Processor DRAM Controller [1022:1302]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 11h Processor Miscellaneous Control [1022:1303]
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] Family 11h Processor Link Control [1022:1304]
02:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: nVidia Corporation C77 [GeForce 8200M G] [10de:0845] (rev a2)
07:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter [168c:001c] (rev 01)
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
H/W path Device Class Description
=============================================
                      system Presario CQ50-215CA
/0 bus 360A
/0/0 memory 102KiB BIOS
/0/3 processor AMD Athlon Dual-Core QL-60
/0/3/5 memory 128KiB L1 cache
/0/3/6 memory 512KiB L2 cache
/0/4 memory 2GiB System Memory
/0/4/0 memory 1GiB DIMM DRAM Synchronous 667 MHz (1.5 ns)
/0/4/1 memory 1GiB DIMM DRAM Synchronous 667 MHz (1.5 ns)
/0/5 processor
/0/5/0 memory 128KiB L1 cache
/0/5/1 memory 512KiB L2 cache
/0/b memory RAM memory
/0/1 bridge nVidia Corporation
/0/1.1 bus MCP78S [GeForce 8200] SMBus
/0/1.3 processor MCP78S [GeForce 8200] Co-Processor
/0/1.4 memory RAM memory
/0/2 bus MCP78S [GeForce 8200] OHCI USB 1.1 Controller
/0/2.1 bus MCP78S [GeForce 8200] EHCI USB 2.0 Controller
/0/c bus MCP78S [GeForce 8200] OHCI USB 1.1 Controller
/0/4.1 bus MCP78S [GeForce 8200] EHCI USB 2.0 Controller
/0/6 storage MCP78S [GeForce 8200] IDE
/0/7 multimedia MCP72XE/MCP72P/MCP78U/MCP78S High Definition A
/0/8 bridge MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Bridge
/0/9 scsi2 storage MCP78S [GeForce 8200] SATA Controller (non-AHC
/0/9/0 /dev/cdrom disk CDDVDW TS-L633A
/0/9/1 /dev/sda disk 160GB TOSHIBA MK1652GS
/0/9/1/1 /dev/sda1 volume 139GiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/9/1/2 /dev/sda2 volume 9547MiB Windows NTFS volume
/0/a eth0 network MCP77 Ethernet
/0/100 bridge MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Express Bridge
/0/100/0 display C77 [GeForce 8200M G]
/0/14 bridge MCP78S [GeForce 8200] PCI Bridge
/0/14/0 wlan0 network AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter
/0/101 bridge Family 11h Processor HyperTransport Configurat
/0/102 bridge Family 11h Processor Address Map
/0/103 bridge Family 11h Processor DRAM Controller
/0/104 bridge Family 11h Processor Miscellaneous Control
/0/105 bridge Family 11h Processor Link Control
Linux ubuntu 2.6.35-22-generic #33-Ubuntu SMP Sun Sep 19 20:34:50 UTC 2010 i686 GNU/Linux
[ 0.000000] found SMP MP-table at [c00f7ff0] f7ff0
[ 0.201197] ACPI: No dock devices found.
[ 0.231389] HEST: Table is not found!
[ 0.231862] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbfs
[ 0.231877] usbcore: registered new interface driver hub
[ 0.231907] usbcore: registered new device driver usb
[ 0.236178] Switching to clocksource hpet
[ 0.252217] pnp: PnP ACPI: found 12 devices
[ 0.309147] input: Lid Switch as /devices/LNXSYSTM:00/LNXSYBUS:00/PNP0C0D:00/input/input0
[ 0.310282] ACPI: Lid Switch [LID0]
[ 0.334319] ERST: Table is not found!
[ 0.387960] hub 1-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 0.432215] hub 2-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 0.500975] hub 3-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 0.559110] hub 4-0:1.0: USB hub found
[ 0.587891] device-mapper: multipath: version 1.1.1 loaded
[ 0.587894] device-mapper: multipath round-robin: version 1.0.0 loaded
[ 0.589466] powernow-k8: Found 1 AMD Athlon Dual-Core QL-60 (2 cpu cores) (version 2.20.00)
[ 0.650862] BIOS EDD facility v0.16 2004-Jun-25, 0 devices found
[ 0.693531] isapnp: No Plug & Play device found
[ 0.893890] forcedeth: Reverse Engineered nForce ethernet driver. Version 0.64.
[ 0.894284] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LMAC] -> GSI 21 (level, low) -> IRQ 21
[ 0.894290] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 1.413621] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: ifname eth0, PHY OUI 0x732 @ 1, addr 00:1f:16:4c:13:ed
[ 1.413627] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: highdma csum pwrctl mgmt lnktim msi desc-v3
[ 7.797375] lp: driver loaded but no devices found
[ 8.871866] ath5k 0000:07:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[Z012] -> GSI 23 (level, low) -> IRQ 23
[ 8.871881] ath5k 0000:07:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 8.871947] ath5k 0000:07:00.0: registered as 'phy0'
[ 9.372067] ath: EEPROM regdomain: 0x64
[ 9.372070] ath: EEPROM indicates we should expect a direct regpair map
[ 9.372074] ath: Country alpha2 being used: 00
[ 9.372076] ath: Regpair used: 0x64
[ 9.394358] [drm] nouveau 0000:02:00.0: BIT BIOS found
[ 9.394371] [drm] nouveau 0000:02:00.0: Found Display Configuration Block version 4.0
[ 10.515163] Registered led device: ath5k-phy0::rx
[ 10.515187] Registered led device: ath5k-phy0::tx
[ 10.515192] ath5k phy0: Atheros AR2425 chip found (MAC: 0xe2, PHY: 0x70)
[ 10.689124] input: HDA NVidia Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.0/sound/card0/input8
[ 10.689232] input: HDA NVidia Mic as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.0/sound/card0/input9
[ 10.689307] input: HDA NVidia Headphone as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:07.0/sound/card0/input10
[ 11.655235] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 160x50
[ 16.144777] forcedeth 0000:00:0a.0: irq 42 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 16.144986] eth0: no link during initialization.
[ 16.146204] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
[ 1011.790690] eth0: link up.
[ 1011.791395] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[ 1011.853187] eth0: link down.
[ 1013.436706] eth0: link up.
[ 1021.920023] eth0: no IPv6 routers present
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=off
          Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off

# which ath5k cannot recover. To prevent this condition, stop
blacklist ath_pci
blacklist eth1394
# replaced by p54pci
blacklist prism54
# replaced by b43 and ssb.
blacklist bcm43xx
blacklist uart6850
blacklist twl4030_wdt
options iwlagn 11n_disable=1
sudo: hwinfo: command not found

[main]
NetworkingEnabled=true
WirelessEnabled=false
WWANEnabled=true
Module Size Used by
binfmt_misc 6599 1
parport_pc 26058 0
ppdev 5556 0
snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi 12879 1
snd_hda_codec_conexant 29736 1
arc4 1165 2
snd_hda_intel 22107 2
nouveau 516971 2
snd_hda_codec 87552 3 snd_hda_codec_nvhdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
joydev 8735 0
ath5k 130051 0
snd_hwdep 5040 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 71475 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
mac80211 231541 1 ath5k
ttm 56633 1 nouveau
snd_seq_midi 4588 0
snd_rawmidi 17783 1 snd_seq_midi
drm_kms_helper 30200 1 nouveau
snd_seq_midi_event 6047 1 snd_seq_midi
ath 8153 1 ath5k
drm 168054 4 nouveau,ttm,drm_kms_helper
snd_seq 47174 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer 19067 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 5744 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
agpgart 32011 2 ttm,drm
cfg80211 144470 3 ath5k,mac80211,ath
snd 49006 13 snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
i2c_algo_bit 5168 1 nouveau
psmouse 59033 0
soundcore 880 1 snd
video 18712 0
snd_page_alloc 7120 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
lp 7342 0
led_class 2633 1 ath5k
serio_raw 4022 0
i2c_nforce2 5179 0
output 1883 1 video
shpchp 29886 0
hp_wmi 5191 0
k10temp 2607 0
parport 31492 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
ahci 19013 0
forcedeth 49433 0
libahci 21667 3 ahci
pata_amd 8746 0

4. I don't know exactly the make - I think, it's a Presario CQ50...if that makes any sense.
5. And I installed Ubunto from a harddisk install while still on windows and not from a session test.

The following Terminal output (that you sent us) shows the issue that your wireless card is
having

"
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter

0: hp-wifi: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
 Soft blocked: yes
 Hard blocked: no

wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed Access Point: Not-Associated Tx-Power=off

[main]
NetworkingEnabled=true
WirelessEnabled=false
WWANEnabled=true

"

So your wireless card is disabled by a hardware switch, a
special key combination (Fn-F2, etc...), by incorrect BIOS settings for
wireless, or a COMBINATION of these factors...

There might also be a BIOS option that allows you to have the wireless
functionality controlled "By application"

Search for the "by application" option in the BIOS and select it (if
possible)....

Please copy-paste the following command into the Terminal to install
wicd:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install wicd

Then reboot and retest wireless using wicd (network manager).

Also run the following 2 Terminal commands to try to change the rfkill
state of your wireless chipset after rebooting:

rfkill unblock all

sudo rfkill unblock all

Then retest wireless using wicd (network manager).