Re: [gentoo-user] Still Struggling With Wireless

[CJoeB <colleen.beamer@gmail.com>]

 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

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