problem setting up a NetGear WG511T wireless card w/ Debian 3.1 and Linux 2.6.12.5

Hi,

Please copy any replies to drb at physics arizona edu

Setup: Compaq 2105CA laptop with a 1.6 GHz Athlon
256 Mb of RAM
2.6.12.5 Kernel
Debian testing

I have a new Netgear WG511T wireless card that I'm having trouble
connecting
to the internet. I downloaded and installed the madwifi driver and it
worked
fine. The card is now detected when I insert it. Here are the
appropriate
lines from 'dmesg':

ath_hal: module license 'Proprietary' taints kernel.
ath_hal: 0.9.14.9 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413)
wlan: 0.8.6.0 (EXPERIMENTAL)
ath_rate_sample: 1.2
ath_pci: 0.9.6.0 (EXPERIMENTAL)
PCI: Enabling device 0000:02:00.0 (0000 -> 0002)
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:02:00.0[A] -> Link [LNKF] -> GSI 5 (level,
low) ->
IRQ
5
Build date: Oct 1 2005
Debugging version (IEEE80211)
ath0: 11b rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps
ath0: 11g rates: 1Mbps 2Mbps 5.5Mbps 11Mbps 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps
24Mbps
36Mbps 48Mbps 54Mbps
ath0: turboG rates: 6Mbps 9Mbps 12Mbps 18Mbps 24Mbps 36Mbps 48Mbps
54Mbps
ath0: H/W encryption support: WEP AES AES_CCM TKIP
ath0: mac 5.9 phy 4.3 radio 4.6
ath0: Use hw queue 1 for WME_AC_BE traffic
ath0: Use hw queue 0 for WME_AC_BK traffic
ath0: Use hw queue 2 for WME_AC_VI traffic
ath0: Use hw queue 3 for WME_AC_VO traffic
ath0: Use hw queue 8 for CAB traffic
ath0: Use hw queue 9 for beacons
Debugging version (ATH)
ath0: Atheros 5212: mem=0x1c000000, irq=5

I set up the /etc/network/interfaces file to bring up the network:

luetin:~# cat /etc/network/interfaces
# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp

allow-hotplug ath0
iface ath0 inet dhcp
wireless_key 46F4E9FD15
wireless_ap 00:0F:B5:1D:B1:46
wireless_channel 6
wireless_essid ChezBallantyne
wireless_rate 54MB
wireless_keymode restricted

luetin:~#

Now, when I insert the card, I get the following with 'iwconfig':

luetin:~# iwconfig
eth0 no wireless extensions.

lo no wireless extensions.

dummy0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

ip6tnl0 no wireless extensions.

ath0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"ChezBallantyne"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:0F:B5:1D:B1:46
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:18 dBm Sensitivity=0/3
Retryff RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption key:46F4-E9FD-15 Security mode:restricted
Power Managementff
Link Quality=55/94 Signal level=-40 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:72 Invalid misc:72 Missed beacon:0

luetin:~#

So, you can see that the card 'ath0' is communicating with the router.

Here is the output of ifconfig:

luetin:~# ifconfig ath0
ath0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0F:B5:63:EC:12
inet6 addr: fe80::20f:b5ff:fe63:ec12/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:14 errors:7 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:7
TX packets:72 errors:72 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:200
RX bytes:2648 (2.5 KiB) TX bytes:23808 (23.2 KiB)
Interrupt:5 Memory:dc860000-dc870000
luetin:~#

Now, the problem comes in getting an IP address, etc. through DHCP. It
just
doesn't work:

luetin:~# ifup ath0
Internet Software Consortium DHCP Client 2.0pl5
Copyright 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 The Internet Software
Consortium.
All rights reserved.

Please contribute if you find this software useful.

ip6tnl0: unknown hardware address type 769
sit0: unknown hardware address type 776
ip6tnl0: unknown hardware address type 769
sit0: unknown hardware address type 776
Listening on LPF/ath0/00:0f:b5:63:ec:12
Sending on LPF/ath0/00:0f:b5:63:ec:12
Sending on Socket/fallback/fallback-net
DHCPDISCOVER on ath0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
DHCPDISCOVER on ath0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 14
DHCPDISCOVER on ath0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
DHCPDISCOVER on ath0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 14
DHCPDISCOVER on ath0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 15
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database.
Exiting.

Failed to bring up ath0.
luetin:~#

Note, that there is no problem with the card as it works fine on
Windows. Also, I managed to connect to another network under Linux, so
I know the basic software (kernel, drivers, etc.) is working. I just
can't connect to *my* network. I tried removing the encyption and still
no luck. The router is a Netgear 624 108 Mbps Wireless Firewall Router
bought only last month. I would appreciate any suggestions to my
settings that will make the card connect to my network.

Thanks,

David

"drb" <(E-Mail Removed)> écrivait news:1128444333.181143.102060
@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

> luetin:~# iwconfig
> eth0 no wireless extensions.
> lo no wireless extensions.
> dummy0 no wireless extensions.
> sit0 no wireless extensions.
> ip6tnl0 no wireless extensions.
Maybe a little indentation may help for the warning message :

iface ath0 inet dhcp
wireless_key 46F4E9FD15
wireless_ap 00:0F:B5:1D:B1:46
wireless_channel 6
wireless_essid ChezBallantyne
wireless_rate 54MB
wireless_keymode restricted


> No DHCPOFFERS received.
> No working leases in persistent database.
> Exiting.
>
> Failed to bring up ath0.
> luetin:~#

- First, did you try with a static IP to be sure, this is not a link or
generic network problem ?

- Second, is there any DHCP server on the "other side" (I suspect yes if
you made it working on Windows) ?


Regards

Hi,
>
> - First, did you try with a static IP to be sure, this is not a link or
> generic network problem ?
>
I did try a static IP, bit it also didn't work.

> - Second, is there any DHCP server on the "other side" (I suspect yes if
> you made it working on Windows) ?
>
>
> Regards

Yes, there is a DHCP server on the "other side". As you say, it works
fine under Windows. Also, I can connect to the router and use DHCP just
fine with an ethernet cord.

Thanks for your questions.

drb wrote:
> Hi,
>
>>- First, did you try with a static IP to be sure, this is not a link or
>>generic network problem ?
>>
>
> I did try a static IP, bit it also didn't work.
>
>
>>- Second, is there any DHCP server on the "other side" (I suspect yes if
>>you made it working on Windows) ?
>>
>>
>>Regards
>
>
> Yes, there is a DHCP server on the "other side". As you say, it works
> fine under Windows. Also, I can connect to the router and use DHCP just
> fine with an ethernet cord.
>
> Thanks for your questions.
>

I think you can only use one DHCP line at a time. What happens if you
issue an "ifdown eth0" before you plug in the wireless card?

Hi all,

Thanks for your suggestions. I managed to get my setup working by
setting the rate to 11 MB rather than 54 MB.

Thanks again,

David