FC3 - DHCP, Wireless, etc issues - newbie

I am somewhat of a newbie and using Fedora Core 3. It is fresh installation
on a Toshiba Satellite 6100 and dual boots with Windows XP.

FC3 installed well all worked without an issue at home. The Toshiba has a
built-in 802.11b mini-pci wireless network adapter and it recognized,
connected, etc to my Netgear router beautifully. I do lock the router to MAC
addresses so I obviously did have to set that first. However, otherwise it
came up automatically, was assigned an IP address, and I was off browsing
the Internet, printing to my networked printers, etc. Logged out, in,
rebooted, shutdown, restarted and everything was great and working well!

I've run into a problem on the wireless network at work though. I fired up
my system just as I did at home and received no network connection - it
failed to get an IP address. (DHCP is enabled on the on the wireless network
at work and I know it is functioning and dishing out IP addresses because
the Windows clients do get addresses and function fine right next to me,
DHCP is also running on my home router and supplied me an IP address there
so at least at home I was properly assigned an address). They use a Cisco
1200 access point. At this point they could look in the Cisco and see that
my device was not even showing up as trying to connect. So, I used iwconfig
to set the essid, mode, rate, encryption key , etc. At this point, they
could see my device in the Cisco as attempting to connect, but saw it was
not accepting an IP address. For troubleshooting purposes I gave my machine
a fixed IP address and then everything started working great. The two steps
to get it functioning at work are: a) use iwconfig to set the encrpyion key
and b) I have to change to static IP address for some reason.

Unfortunately, both are creating problems for me and if anyone can help me
around them I would appreciate it!

The two items that I need to solve:

1) I am not allowed to operate with a fixed IP address, so I can't come to
work and change to the fixed IP to get it running. I guess I really don't
want to have to keep switching between DHCP and Fixed andyway, so personally
I would rather have DHCP working too. I went in the config file and the
graphical interface and made sure it was set to dhcp and also tried changing
to a persistent dhcp setting. None of this work(ed)(s). If I use DHCP, I
never get an IP address. Windows clients are being assigned DHCP addresses
just fine so it appears to just be with me. I am the only Linux device here
so I am also on my own. What is a bit odd is that when I change the eth1:1
to static IP address in the graphical interface - it greys out and will not
allow me to change it back to DHCP. I can set it in the config file using
bootproto=dhcp, but graphically dhcp is greyed out. I do see it attempts to
get an IP address but fails any time anything is set to dhcp, but only at
work so far, my home dhcp functions fine. Any ideas? I know my encryption
key is right and my MAC address is in the access point, because the instant
I changed from DHCP to fixed everything is working. At the same time, it
sure seems like the access point and network is fine because the other
clients in the building are assigned IP addresses properly. Any ideas?

2) Once I solve the DHCP issue the second problem I run into is when I
reboot - I seem to lose the encryption key and have to re-apply it with
iwconfig or I get no connection. This is annoying because I log in as root
to set the iwconfig key then have to logout and login as myself.
Additionally, I will be on networks that different or no encryption. When
operating with a fixed IP address, the fixed ip sticks between reboots, but
nothing works until I use iwconfig to set the encryption again.

Can anyone offer any help on these items? What other info would be helpful
to know?

thanks

> when I change the eth1:1
This jumped out at me. What are you trying to do? Start with one IP
address per interface, and don't try to do anything fancy until you get
that working.

> 2) Once I solve the DHCP issue the second problem I run into is when I
> reboot - I seem to lose the encryption key and have to re-apply it with
> iwconfig or I get no connection. This is annoying because I log in as root
> to set the iwconfig key then have to logout and login as myself.
> Additionally, I will be on networks that different or no encryption. When
> operating with a fixed IP address, the fixed ip sticks between reboots, but
> nothing works until I use iwconfig to set the encryption again.
Yes. This stuff should be in a config file somewhere. Unfortunately I
don't know where the mystical magical GUI puts things.

> Can anyone offer any help on these items? What other info would be helpful
> to know?
Contents of /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth*

Thanks, I put that in there because it stood out as odd to me as well. I was
not attempting to do anything fancy. Just was the only way I was getting it
working.
Here is some more info:

eth0 and eth1 are on my system. eth0 is the wired connection and I have not
even tried it yet. I do not really use wired at all. It is disabled at
startup. eth1 is my wireless card. It works fine at home with Netgear
handling DHCP but not WEP is present. At work the eth1 properties did not
have any place for encryption keys, etc so I used the Fedora graphical
network manager to step through adding a wireless connection which Fedora
assigned as eth1:1. At home eth1 works fine, at work eth1 does not work at
all, but at work the eth1:1 does work except that I need to have a fixed IP
instead of dhcp and it does not retain the encryption key on power down or
restart. Not intentionally trying to do anything fancy with the eth1:1, just
when editing the cfg files did nothing for me I used the graphical interface
and that is what it generated. Does this make sense?

Here are my current eth configs. They work but give me two issues: (1) I
need to be DHCP not fixed and (2) I have to iwconfig the encrpytion key in
as root everytime I reboot. There is also a keys-eth1 and keys-eth1:1 on my
system that I did not post below, they simply contain one line that says
KEY=s:xxxxx where the x's are my proper encryption key.

ifcfg-eth1
DEVICE=eth1
USERCTL=yes
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROT=dhcp
TYPE=Ethernet
PEERDNS=no
IPV6INIT=no
PERSISTEN_DHCLIENT=yes

ifcfg-eth1:1
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=eth1:1
HWADDR=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
BOOTPROTO=none (I want this to be dhcp,but this is what doesn't work)
#PERSISTEN_DHCLIENT=yes (tried in conjunction with line above and tried with
and without this line)
DHCP_HOSTNAME=
USERCTL=yes
ONBOOT=no
PEERDNS=yes
IPV6INIT=no
ESSID=APNAME
CHANNEL=2
MODE=Managed
RATE=Auto
IPADDR=10.0.1.200 (I want to eliminate this and use DHCP)
DOMAIN=
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
GATEWAY=10.0.1.10

I've tried a bunch of variations in the config files and using the
graphical config and most everything I tried came from the resources here:
http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_.../Wireless.html . I've
also tried things with the keys file such as adding and changing to
dot11PrivacyInvoked=true and dot11WEPDefaultKey2=xxxxxxxx. I've tried
changing the ifcfg-eth1 file to contain the parameters found in the eth1:1
file and then eliminating the eth1:1 but no good there either.

Any thoughts?


"Allen McIntosh" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:t6q0e.1754$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> > when I change the eth1:1
> This jumped out at me. What are you trying to do? Start with one IP
> address per interface, and don't try to do anything fancy until you get
> that working.
>
> > 2) Once I solve the DHCP issue the second problem I run into is when I
> > reboot - I seem to lose the encryption key and have to re-apply it with
> > iwconfig or I get no connection. This is annoying because I log in as
root
> > to set the iwconfig key then have to logout and login as myself.
> > Additionally, I will be on networks that different or no encryption.
When
> > operating with a fixed IP address, the fixed ip sticks between reboots,
but
> > nothing works until I use iwconfig to set the encryption again.
> Yes. This stuff should be in a config file somewhere. Unfortunately I
> don't know where the mystical magical GUI puts things.
>
> > Can anyone offer any help on these items? What other info would be
helpful
> > to know?
> Contents of /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth*

Still looking for any help that can be offered on the below, I've not nailed
the issue yet with the wireless, dhcp, and encryption key problems explained
below. However, some new info is that I have now tried my wired connection -
eth0 - and dhcp to my work network if fine on it.

So the eth1 and eth1:1 are the problem childs where dhcp doesn't appear to
work and I have to use iwconfig to set the encryption key on every boot. Any
help or ideas would be appreciated!

"Steve" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:42432663$0$3703$(E-Mail Removed).. .
> Thanks, I put that in there because it stood out as odd to me as well. I
was
> not attempting to do anything fancy. Just was the only way I was getting
it
> working.
> Here is some more info:
>
> eth0 and eth1 are on my system. eth0 is the wired connection and I have
not
> even tried it yet. I do not really use wired at all. It is disabled at
> startup. eth1 is my wireless card. It works fine at home with Netgear
> handling DHCP but not WEP is present. At work the eth1 properties did not
> have any place for encryption keys, etc so I used the Fedora graphical
> network manager to step through adding a wireless connection which Fedora
> assigned as eth1:1. At home eth1 works fine, at work eth1 does not work at
> all, but at work the eth1:1 does work except that I need to have a fixed
IP
> instead of dhcp and it does not retain the encryption key on power down or
> restart. Not intentionally trying to do anything fancy with the eth1:1,
just
> when editing the cfg files did nothing for me I used the graphical
interface
> and that is what it generated. Does this make sense?
>
> Here are my current eth configs. They work but give me two issues: (1) I
> need to be DHCP not fixed and (2) I have to iwconfig the encrpytion key in
> as root everytime I reboot. There is also a keys-eth1 and keys-eth1:1 on
my
> system that I did not post below, they simply contain one line that says
> KEY=s:xxxxx where the x's are my proper encryption key.
>
> ifcfg-eth1
> DEVICE=eth1
> USERCTL=yes
> ONBOOT=yes
> BOOTPROT=dhcp
> TYPE=Ethernet
> PEERDNS=no
> IPV6INIT=no
> PERSISTEN_DHCLIENT=yes
>
> ifcfg-eth1:1
> TYPE=Wireless
> DEVICE=eth1:1
> HWADDR=xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
> BOOTPROTO=none (I want this to be dhcp,but this is what doesn't work)
> #PERSISTEN_DHCLIENT=yes (tried in conjunction with line above and tried
with
> and without this line)
> DHCP_HOSTNAME=
> USERCTL=yes
> ONBOOT=no
> PEERDNS=yes
> IPV6INIT=no
> ESSID=APNAME
> CHANNEL=2
> MODE=Managed
> RATE=Auto
> IPADDR=10.0.1.200 (I want to eliminate this and use DHCP)
> DOMAIN=
> NETMASK=255.255.255.0
> GATEWAY=10.0.1.10
>
> I've tried a bunch of variations in the config files and using the
> graphical config and most everything I tried came from the resources here:
> http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_.../Wireless.html . I've
> also tried things with the keys file such as adding and changing to
> dot11PrivacyInvoked=true and dot11WEPDefaultKey2=xxxxxxxx. I've tried
> changing the ifcfg-eth1 file to contain the parameters found in the eth1:1
> file and then eliminating the eth1:1 but no good there either.
>
> Any thoughts?
>
>
> "Allen McIntosh" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:t6q0e.1754$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >
> > > when I change the eth1:1
> > This jumped out at me. What are you trying to do? Start with one IP
> > address per interface, and don't try to do anything fancy until you get
> > that working.
> >
> > > 2) Once I solve the DHCP issue the second problem I run into is when I
> > > reboot - I seem to lose the encryption key and have to re-apply it
with
> > > iwconfig or I get no connection. This is annoying because I log in as
> root
> > > to set the iwconfig key then have to logout and login as myself.
> > > Additionally, I will be on networks that different or no encryption.
> When
> > > operating with a fixed IP address, the fixed ip sticks between
reboots,
> but
> > > nothing works until I use iwconfig to set the encryption again.
> > Yes. This stuff should be in a config file somewhere. Unfortunately I
> > don't know where the mystical magical GUI puts things.
> >
> > > Can anyone offer any help on these items? What other info would be
> helpful
> > > to know?
> > Contents of /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth*
>
>