Can't get WiFi to work

I just installed Suse 10.0 as dual-boot with Win/2000 on an IBM Thinkpad
T23. I am trying to use a Linksys WPC11 v4 pcmcia. Under Win/2000, it
works perfectly (same machine, same AP, same WEP encryption, etc.)

When I try to use it under Suse, then try to ping www.yahoo.com, I get
"unknown host www.yahoo.com". If I ping local addesses on my home
network, i get "network is unreachable". (127.0.0.1 pings just fine,
thank-you). If I try to browse, I get www.cnn.com could not be found.

If I plug in an ethernet cable, all network activity is normal.

Following are some settings that I think might be informative. If
anybody else has something else I should try, I would be grateful.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions

73 de Jim

===
This is the pertinent part of my iwconfig list.

wlan1 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"FN31gl"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.432 GHz Access Point:
00:00:00:00:00:00
Bit Rate=11 Mb/s
Retryn Fragment thrff
Encryption key:79AC-7C21-B7B9-6C58-A95E-xxxx-xx Security
mode:restricted
Link Quality=28/100 Signal level=-31 dBm Noise level=-184 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0



This is the start portion of /etc/init.d/network restart (note the
ethernet cable is unplugged)
Setting up network interfaces:
lo
lo IP address: 127.0.0.1/8 done
eth0 device: Intel Corporation 82801CAM (ICH3) PRO/100 VE
(LOM) Ethernet Controller (rev 42)
eth0 configuration: eth-id-00:d0:59:ca:a0:8a
eth0 (DHCP) . . . . . no IP address yet... backgrounding.
waiting
wlan0 device: Intersil Corporation Prism 2.5 Wavelan chipset
(rev 01)
wlan0 No configuration found for wlan0
unused
wlan1 device: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8180L 802.11b
MAC (rev 20)
wlan1 configuration: wlan-bus-pcmcia
ifup-wireless: command 'iwconfig wlan1 nick (none)' returned
ifup-wireless: Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :
ifup-wireless: SET failed on device wlan1 ; Operation not permitted.
wlan1 (DHCP) . . . . . no IP address yet... backgrounding.
waiting
Setting up service network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . done
SuSEfirewall2: Warning: ip6tables does not support state matching.
Extended IPv6 support disabled.
SuSEfirewall2: Setting up rules from /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2 ...
SuSEfirewall2: batch committing...
SuSEfirewall2: Firewall rules successfully set
(none):~ #

JimR <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

>I just installed Suse 10.0 as dual-boot with Win/2000 on an IBM Thinkpad
>T23. I am trying to use a Linksys WPC11 v4 pcmcia. Under Win/2000, it
>works perfectly (same machine, same AP, same WEP encryption, etc.)

>When I try to use it under Suse, then try to ping www.yahoo.com, I get
>"unknown host www.yahoo.com". If I ping local addesses on my home
>network, i get "network is unreachable". (127.0.0.1 pings just fine,
>thank-you). If I try to browse, I get www.cnn.com could not be found.

>If I plug in an ethernet cable, all network activity is normal.

>Following are some settings that I think might be informative. If
>anybody else has something else I should try, I would be grateful.

>Thanks in advance for any suggestions

>73 de Jim

>===
>This is the pertinent part of my iwconfig list.

>wlan1 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"FN31gl"
> Mode:Managed Frequency:2.432 GHz Access Point:
>00:00:00:00:00:00
> Bit Rate=11 Mb/s
> Retryn Fragment thrff
> Encryption key:79AC-7C21-B7B9-6C58-A95E-xxxx-xx Security
>mode:restricted
> Link Quality=28/100 Signal level=-31 dBm Noise level=-184 dBm
> Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
> Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

You are not connected to any access point. What do you get if you do
iwlist s





>This is the start portion of /etc/init.d/network restart (note the
>ethernet cable is unplugged)
>Setting up network interfaces:
> lo
> lo IP address: 127.0.0.1/8 done
> eth0 device: Intel Corporation 82801CAM (ICH3) PRO/100 VE
>(LOM) Ethernet Controller (rev 42)
> eth0 configuration: eth-id-00:d0:59:ca:a0:8a
> eth0 (DHCP) . . . . . no IP address yet... backgrounding.
>waiting
> wlan0 device: Intersil Corporation Prism 2.5 Wavelan chipset
>(rev 01)
> wlan0 No configuration found for wlan0
>unused
> wlan1 device: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8180L 802.11b
>MAC (rev 20)

How many wireless cards do you have?


> wlan1 configuration: wlan-bus-pcmcia
>ifup-wireless: command 'iwconfig wlan1 nick (none)' returned
>ifup-wireless: Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :
>ifup-wireless: SET failed on device wlan1 ; Operation not permitted.
> wlan1 (DHCP) . . . . . no IP address yet... backgrounding.
>waiting
>Setting up service network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . done
>SuSEfirewall2: Warning: ip6tables does not support state matching.
>Extended IPv6 support disabled.
>SuSEfirewall2: Setting up rules from /etc/sysconfig/SuSEfirewall2 ...
>SuSEfirewall2: batch committing...
>SuSEfirewall2: Firewall rules successfully set
>(none):~ #

JimR wrote:

> I just installed Suse 10.0 as dual-boot with Win/2000 on an IBM Thinkpad
> T23. I am trying to use a Linksys WPC11 v4 pcmcia. Under Win/2000, it
> works perfectly (same machine, same AP, same WEP encryption, etc.)
>
> When I try to use it under Suse, then try to ping www.yahoo.com, I get
> "unknown host www.yahoo.com". If I ping local addesses on my home
> network, i get "network is unreachable". (127.0.0.1 pings just fine,
> thank-you). If I try to browse, I get www.cnn.com could not be found.
>
> If I plug in an ethernet cable, all network activity is normal.
>
> Following are some settings that I think might be informative. If
> anybody else has something else I should try, I would be grateful.
>
> Thanks in advance for any suggestions

What do ifconfig and route say?

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Unruh wrote:
> JimR <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:
>
>
>>I just installed Suse 10.0 as dual-boot with Win/2000 on an IBM Thinkpad
>>T23. I am trying to use a Linksys WPC11 v4 pcmcia. Under Win/2000, it
>>works perfectly (same machine, same AP, same WEP encryption, etc.)
{snip}

>
> You are not connected to any access point. What do you get if you do
> iwlist s
(none):~ # iwlist s
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

sit0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wifi0 No scan results
wlan0 No scan results
eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan1 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:12:17:6D:7B:CA
ESSID:""
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
Quality=1/100 Signal level=-31 dBm Noise
level=-256 dBm
Encryption keyn



{snip}
>> wlan0 device: Intersil Corporation Prism 2.5 Wavelan chipset
>>(rev 01)
>> wlan0 No configuration found for wlan0
>>unused
>> wlan1 device: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8180L 802.11b
>>MAC (rev 20)
>
>
> How many wireless cards do you have?
>

Only 1 wireless "card" (pcmcia). The Thinkpad has a builtin infrared
port, which Suse also considers to be a wireless device at wlan0. I
have never used the IR, but it is, nevertheless, installed.

73 de Jim

Timothy Murphy wrote:
> JimR wrote:
>
>
>>I just installed Suse 10.0 as dual-boot with Win/2000 on an IBM Thinkpad
>>T23. I am trying to use a Linksys WPC11 v4 pcmcia. Under Win/2000, it
>>works perfectly (same machine, same AP, same WEP encryption, etc.)
>>
>>When I try to use it under Suse, then try to ping www.yahoo.com, I get
>>"unknown host www.yahoo.com". If I ping local addesses on my home
>>network, i get "network is unreachable". (127.0.0.1 pings just fine,
>>thank-you). If I try to browse, I get www.cnn.com could not be found.
>>
>>If I plug in an ethernet cable, all network activity is normal.
>>
>>Following are some settings that I think might be informative. If
>>anybody else has something else I should try, I would be grateful.
>>
>>Thanks in advance for any suggestions
>
>
> What do ifconfig and route say?
>

(none):~ # ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 000:59:CA:A0:8A
inet6 addr: fe80::2d0:59ff:feca:a08a/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:114 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:114 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:8394 (8.1 Kb) TX bytes:8394 (8.1 Kb)

wlan1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:10:66:B1:7C
inet6 addr: fe80::213:10ff:fe66:b17c/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:41 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:18994 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:5468 (5.3 Kb) TX bytes:721772 (704.8 Kb)
Interrupt:11 Memory:d1088000-d1088100

===
(none):~ # route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use
Iface
loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
(none):~ #

I saw a couple of suggestions to try ndiswrapper with the driver on the
CD that came with the device. Did that, but no luck.

Here's something that may be an additional clue:
When I use iwconfig to set the mode to ad-hoc, the link light comes on.
The frequency also changes by doing this from 2.427 GHz to 2.462. I
still get no connection to any network type requests.

When I set the mode back to managed, the frequency goes back to2 2.467.

I think that I am supposed to be operating in managed mode, no?

73 de Jim

Jim R wrote:

> I saw a couple of suggestions to try ndiswrapper with the driver on the
> CD that came with the device. Did that, but no luck.
>
> Here's something that may be an additional clue:
> When I use iwconfig to set the mode to ad-hoc, the link light comes on.
> The frequency also changes by doing this from 2.427 GHz to 2.462. I
> still get no connection to any network type requests.

It sounds to me as though WiFi is working at this point,
but the routing is not set up.
What is the output of iwconfig (as su), ifconfig and route?

> I think that I am supposed to be operating in managed mode, no?

If it were me, and it worked in ad-hoc mode, I would be happy enough.
What is at the other end?

Ps I am no network guru.

--
Timothy Murphy
e-mail (<80k only): tim /at/ birdsnest.maths.tcd.ie
tel: +353-86-2336090, +353-1-2842366
s-mail: School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland

Jim R wrote:
> I saw a couple of suggestions to try ndiswrapper with the driver on the
> CD that came with the device. Did that, but no luck.
>
> Here's something that may be an additional clue:
> When I use iwconfig to set the mode to ad-hoc, the link light comes on.
> The frequency also changes by doing this from 2.427 GHz to 2.462. I
> still get no connection to any network type requests.
>
> When I set the mode back to managed, the frequency goes back to2 2.467.
>
> I think that I am supposed to be operating in managed mode, no?
>
> 73 de Jim
I've had a similar card before (RTL8185L instead of 8180L). I never got
it working, but can offer insight.

do an
iwlist scanning
and look for the correct ssid. Do an
iwconfig wlan1 essid [your ssid here]
and the light should come on.


If the light is on, and you are connected to the correct essid, do a
/sbin/dhclient wlan1
(if you are on dhcp [which you probably are!]), and post results.



Ps.

Which driver are you using for your card?


hih,
poly-p man

Poly-poly man wrote:
> Jim R wrote:

{snip}

>
> I've had a similar card before (RTL8185L instead of 8180L). I never got
> it working, but can offer insight.
>
> do an
> iwlist scanning
> and look for the correct ssid. Do an
> iwconfig wlan1 essid [your ssid here]
> and the light should come on.
>
>
> If the light is on, and you are connected to the correct essid, do a
> /sbin/dhclient wlan1
> (if you are on dhcp [which you probably are!]), and post results.
>
>
>
> Ps.
>
> Which driver are you using for your card?
>
>
> hih,
> poly-p man

Thanks to the newsgroup for pointing me to ifconfig, iwconfig and route.
I this most of the solution lies in these, plus in Yast.

After trying many, many different iterations, like the movie
"Awakenings", things magically started to work. Like the movie
"Awakenings". after I rebooted, things stopped working.

I spent another couple of hours futzing around, and finally got it to
work again. Of course, now I am afraid to reboot, since they will
almost certainly go away.

Any directions to help make these changes permanent would be greatly
appreciated. (Also, maybe somebody else will find this post and realize
that it really is possible!)

Here is the order that I think I performed these tasks. (I'm not 100%
certain, having tried so many variations.)

Set ndiswrapper to use device 10ec:1080 and driver LSRTNDS.INF (from the
CD ROM that Linksys provided for Windoze). modprobe -r ndiswrapper,
then modprobe ndiswrapper

Enabled broadcast of the SSID from the AP (I usually do not broadcast it
for security reasons. All desired clients connect to it fine as long as
they know the SSID.)

Used Yast to configure the WPC11 network card. Corrected the hostname.
In routing dialog, entered my DHCP router 192.168.1.1. Wrote new
config, but nothing worked.

Used Yast to configure the WPC11 network card. Did not change anything,
but wrote the config. Now, everything worked!



Here are the current settings with everything working. (wlan0 is an
on-board infrared port that I don't use).

ifconfig wlan1
wlan1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:10:66:B1:7C
inet addr:192.168.1.103 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:1061 errors:0 dropped:20 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:3917 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:765354 (747.4 Kb) TX bytes:286651 (279.9 Kb)
Interrupt:11 Memory:d108a000-d108a100

iwconfig wlan1
wlan1 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"FN31gl"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point:
00:12:17:6D:7B:CA
Bit Rate=11 Mb/s
Retryn Fragment thrff
Encryption key:79AC-7C21-B7B9-6C58-A95E-xxxx-xx Security
mode:restricted
Link Quality=99/100 Signal level=-31 dBm Noise level=-255 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use
Iface
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0
wlan1
link-local * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0
wlan1
loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
default 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0
wlan1


Thanks in advance,

Jim

PS - IBM Thinkpad T23 running Suse 10.0. Wifi Linksys WPC11 in PCMCIA
slot. AP is Linksys 802.11g connected to 4 port Linksys router.

Jim R wrote:
> Poly-poly man wrote:
>> Jim R wrote:
>
> {snip}
>
>>
>> I've had a similar card before (RTL8185L instead of 8180L). I never
>> got it working, but can offer insight.
>>
>> do an
>> iwlist scanning
>> and look for the correct ssid. Do an
>> iwconfig wlan1 essid [your ssid here]
>> and the light should come on.
>>
>>
>> If the light is on, and you are connected to the correct essid, do a
>> /sbin/dhclient wlan1
>> (if you are on dhcp [which you probably are!]), and post results.
>>
>>
>>
>> Ps.
>>
>> Which driver are you using for your card?
>>
>>
>> hih,
>> poly-p man
>
> Thanks to the newsgroup for pointing me to ifconfig, iwconfig and route.
> I this most of the solution lies in these, plus in Yast.
>
> After trying many, many different iterations, like the movie
> "Awakenings", things magically started to work. Like the movie
> "Awakenings". after I rebooted, things stopped working.
>
> I spent another couple of hours futzing around, and finally got it to
> work again. Of course, now I am afraid to reboot, since they will
> almost certainly go away.
>
> Any directions to help make these changes permanent would be greatly
> appreciated. (Also, maybe somebody else will find this post and realize
> that it really is possible!)
>
> Here is the order that I think I performed these tasks. (I'm not 100%
> certain, having tried so many variations.)
>
> Set ndiswrapper to use device 10ec:1080 and driver LSRTNDS.INF (from the
> CD ROM that Linksys provided for Windoze). modprobe -r ndiswrapper,
> then modprobe ndiswrapper
>
> Enabled broadcast of the SSID from the AP (I usually do not broadcast it
> for security reasons. All desired clients connect to it fine as long as
> they know the SSID.)
>
> Used Yast to configure the WPC11 network card. Corrected the hostname.
> In routing dialog, entered my DHCP router 192.168.1.1. Wrote new
> config, but nothing worked.
>
> Used Yast to configure the WPC11 network card. Did not change anything,
> but wrote the config. Now, everything worked!
>
>
>
> Here are the current settings with everything working. (wlan0 is an
> on-board infrared port that I don't use).
>
> ifconfig wlan1
> wlan1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:10:66:B1:7C
> inet addr:192.168.1.103 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
> UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
> RX packets:1061 errors:0 dropped:20 overruns:0 frame:0
> TX packets:3917 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
> collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
> RX bytes:765354 (747.4 Kb) TX bytes:286651 (279.9 Kb)
> Interrupt:11 Memory:d108a000-d108a100
>
> iwconfig wlan1
> wlan1 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"FN31gl"
> Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point:
> 00:12:17:6D:7B:CA
> Bit Rate=11 Mb/s
> Retryn Fragment thrff
> Encryption key:79AC-7C21-B7B9-6C58-A95E-xxxx-xx Security
> mode:restricted
> Link Quality=99/100 Signal level=-31 dBm Noise level=-255 dBm
> Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
> Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
>
> route
> Kernel IP routing table
> Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use
> Iface
> 192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0
> wlan1
> link-local * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0
> wlan1
> loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
> default 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0
> wlan1
>
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Jim
>
> PS - IBM Thinkpad T23 running Suse 10.0. Wifi Linksys WPC11 in PCMCIA
> slot. AP is Linksys 802.11g connected to 4 port Linksys router.

You will lose settings if you reboot, that is a problem. If you put all
of your config options in a script and run that at startup, things will
be happy.

hih,
poly-p man

P.s.

If someone wants to help me with _my_ wireless card, look through the
archives, and you will see about a million other posts of mine. Just
post a new thread saying it's to me.

thanks.