You can tell if this will be a problem for you by running iwconfig: if you have lots of Invalid misc errors and the signal and noise levels are fixed at -60dBm then you will want to switch from the ipw3945 module to the iwl3945.

To try it out:

sudo modprobe -r ipw3945
sudo modprobe -r ieee80211
sudo modprobe -r ieee80211_crypt
sudo modprobe -r mac80211
sudo modprobe iwlwifi_mac80211
sudo modprobe iwl3945


Now if you run iwconfig you should see wlan0 (plus wmaster0 which we’ll just ignore). If it’s called wlan0_rename then you run

sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/70-persistent-net.rules

Comment out the line reserving eth1 for ipw3945 module.

To make this all permanent you need to add the iwl3945 and iwlwifi_mac80211 modules to /etc/modules

sudo echo iwlwifi_mac80211 >> /etc/modules
sudo echo iwl3945 >> /etc/modules


And now stop the ipw3945 and dependencies from loading by blacklisting them

sudo echo blacklist ipw3945 >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo echo blacklist ieee80211 >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo echo blacklist ieee80211_crypt >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
sudo echo blacklist mac80211 >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

To get sound to work you don’t need to recompile your kernel or go back to an earlier version just follow method G one this page:

Gutsy Intel HD Audio Controller

or

sudo aptitude install linux-backports-modules-generic

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/alsa-base

In the editor, add the following line at the end of the file:

options snd-hda-intel model=dell-m42

Save the file and reboot to get sound working correctly.

If sound is too low, go to Volume Control’s Preferences and add “Front” (and any other playback tracks) and make sure they are set to the maximum.