Re: [gentoo-user] Still Struggling With Wireless

[Jake Moe]

On 18/08/10 12:56, CJoeB wrote:
>  On 08/18/10 01:12, Jake Moe wrote:
>>  On 18/08/10 09:04, CJoeB wrote:
>>>  On 08/17/10 10:55, Jake Moe wrote:
>>>>  On 08/17/10 11:55, Adam Carter wrote:
>>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm biting the bullet here and asking for help.  Yes! I've posted
>>>>>> before.  And before anyone asks, I have read the responses to my
>>>>>> previous posts which helped little.  I have read the documentation and
>>>>>> the wikis - ad nauseum.  I'm still having problems with wireless.
>>>>>>
>>>>> I use wpa_supplicant to provide the wifi crypto.
>>>>>> So, I'm left with trying to use the iwl3945 driver in the kernel.  I
>>>>>> followed the wiki for setting this up and thought I had succeeded.  I
>>>>>> got to the point where I was told to type the following:
>>>>>> ifconfig wlan0 up (this does activate the wireless led on my computer)
>>>>>> iwlist wlan0 scan
>>>>>> iwconfig wlan0 essid "network name"  (where the network name is the
>>>>>> essid that has been set)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> When I got this to work, I thought I was home free despite the "kludgy"
>>>>>> way of getting wireless working.  However, I rebooted and now, when I
>>>>>> type iwlist wlan0 scan I get told that scanning is not supported.  Yes,
>>>>>> I have iwl3945-ucode installed and yes, it was recompiled after the
>>>>>> kernel was rebuilt.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I have no idea what I'm doing wrong.
>>>>> Forgetting to post up your configs :) eg /etc/conf.d/net etc
>>>> I've used the iwl3945 on a few HP laptops without much problem.  The few
>>>> problems I had were related to switching the wireless on and off; I'd
>>>> have to rmmod and modprobe kernel modules to get it working again.
>>>>
>>>> Does "ifconfig" list the interface?  If not, what does "ifconfig wlan0
>>>> up" do?  What about the output of "iwconfig"?  And going for the obvious
>>>> here, any chance that the wireless is turned off?
>>>>
>>>> Jake Moe
>>>>
>>>>
>>> iwconfig lists the interface as wlan0
>>>
>>> I discovered last night after sending my original message that my
>>> symlink was wrong - I used to have net.eth0 and net.eth1 pointing to
>>> net.lo.  However, last night I removed the net.eth1 symlink and created
>>> the net.wlan0 symlink to net.lo.  Now when I boot the computer, my
>>> wireless comes up and the LED comes on, but then it times out because (I
>>> assume) it can't establish a connection.
>>>
>>> This is my /etc/conf.d/net file.  Note that the "any" used to work when
>>> I used the ipw3945 driver.  I would scan for available networks.  I
>>> tried last night to change the "any" to the essid printed on my Bell
>>> router, but that didn't work.
>>>
>>>
>>> # This blank configuration will automatically use DHCP for any net.*
>>> # scripts in /etc/init.d.  To create a more complete configuration,
>>> # please review /etc/conf.d/net.example and save your configuration
>>> # in /etc/conf.d/net (this file :]!).
>>>
>>> #preup() {
>>> #      if [[ ${IFACE} = "wlan0" ]]; then
>>> #             sleep 3
>>> #      fi
>>> #      return 0
>>> #}
>>>
>>> modules=( "iwconfig" )
>>> iwconfig_wlan0="mode managed"
>>> config_eth0=("dhcp")
>>> config_wlan0=("dhcp")
>>> wpa_timeout_wlan0=15
>>> essid_wlan0="any"
>>>
>>> Regards,
>>>
>>> Colleen
>> This is the wireless part of mine:
>>
>>     modules=( "iwconfig" )
>>     config_wlan0=( "noop" "dhcp" )
>>     dhcpcd_wlan0=( "-d -t 15" )
>>     associate_order=( "forcepreferredonly" )
>>     associate_timeout=( "5" )
>>     preferred_aps=( "firstessid" "secondessid" )
>>     key_firstessid=( "THIS-ISMY-KEY1-1234-5678-90AB-CD" )
>>     key_secondessid=( "THIS-ISMY-KEY2-ABCD-EFGH-IJKL-MN" )
>>
>>
>> I've removed anything not having to do with the wireless for clarity.
>> >From memory, the only lines needed are "modules", "config_wlan0", and
>> "preferred_aps" (I have two because I also use wireless at my g/f's
>> mum's house).  Oh, and I use "forcepreferredonly" so it'll try to
>> connect even though it can't find my essid by scanning (because I've
>> told my router to stop broadcasting the essid of my wireless network),
>> and it'll only try to connect to networks I specifically tell it to, no
>> others.  If your essid is hidden as well, you'll probably need to add
>> either "forcepreferredonly" or "forceany" if you want it to auto-connect
>> to any it finds if it can't connect to yours.
>>
>> Reading through the wireless.example file, I came across this:
>>
>>     ##############################################################################
>>     # SETTINGS
>>     ##############################################################################
>>     # Hard code an ESSID to an interface - leave this unset if you wish
>>     the driver
>>     # to scan for available Access Points
>>     # Set to "any" to connect to any ESSID - the driver picks an Access
>>     Point
>>     # This needs to be done when the driver doesn't support scanning
>>     # This may work for drivers that don't support scanning but you need
>>     automatic
>>     # AP association
>>     # I would only set this as a last resort really - use the preferred_aps
>>     # setting at the bottom of this file
>>
>> Which is why I used perferred_aps instead of essid_wlan0.  Give that a
>> try, perhaps?
>>
>> Jake Moe
>>
>>
> Haven't tried this yet - just got the e-mail and it's almost 11:00 p.m.
> and time for me to "hit the sack".  However, I wanted to point this
> out.  This test was copied from dmesg.  Unless, I am misreading this, it
> looks like the driver is working.  The problem is connecting to an
> access point.  If my interpretation is wrong, let me know.
>
> iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for
> Linux, in
> -tree:s
> iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2010 Intel Corporation
> iwl3945 0000:0c:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
> iwl3945 0000:0c:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
> iwl3945 0000:0c:00.0: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels
> iwl3945 0000:0c:00.0: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 3945ABG
> iwl3945 0000:0c:00.0: irq 29 for MSI/MSI-X
> phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-3945-rs'
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Colleen
It's my understanding that if iwconfig and ifconfig find the device,
then the kernel is configured properly.  (Feel free to jump in here if
I'm wrong, anyone)  So then it becomes a question of why it doesn't work
for you, and that'll usually be config problems.

iwconfig lists my interfaces as such:

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated  
          Tx-Power=off  
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
         
firewire0  no wireless extensions.

So it sees that my wlan0 interface is a IEEE 802.11abgn capable wireless
device.  You said iwconfig listed yours as wlan0, but did it see it as a
wireless device?  If so, you should be able to run "iwlist wlan0
scanning" and get a listing of ESSIDs that are in range.  You probably
need to run it as root; if I run it as a regular user, it doesn't error,
but it doesn't find anything either.

Jake Moe