[gentoo-user] WiFi adaptor playing up

[gentoo-user] WiFi adaptor playing up

[Mick]

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My only consolation is that this fault is not intermittent.  :-(

Here's what happened.  I emerged a different (to my tried & tested rt2x00-9999 
wireless driver).  Then I uninstalled rt2x00-9999, but I couldn't get the new 
driver to work.  So, I unmerged it, remerged rt2x00-9999 (this is a CVS 
package) and I have not been able to make it work ever since.  I even 
recompiled the kernel in hope of getting it to work, but I can't get it to 
detect any Access Points:
=====================================================
# /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 restart
 * Starting wlan0
 *   Loading networking modules for wlan0
 *     modules: apipa arping ccwgroup macchanger macnet rename ifplugd 
iwconfig essidnet iptunnel iproute2 pppd system dhcpcd ip6to4
 *       ifplugd provides plug
 *       iwconfig provides wireless
 *       iproute2 provides interface
 *       pppd provides ppp
 *       dhcpcd provides dhcp
 *   Configuring wlan0 for MAC address 00:11:50:18:55:3F ...       [ ok ]
 *   ifplugd does not work on wireless interfaces
 *   Configuring wireless network for wlan0
 *   Scanning for access points
 *     no access points found
 *   Couldn't find any access points on wlan0
 *   Failed to configure wireless for wlan0                        [ !! ]
=====================================================

Here's some additional relevant info:
=====================================================
# iwlist wlan0 scanning
wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:""  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
=====================================================

The device and its modules are loaded:
=====================================================
# lsusb
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 0000:0000  
Bus 002 Device 007: ID 050d:7050 Belkin Components F5D7050 ver 1000 WiFi

# lsmod | grep -i 2500
rt2500usb              31168  0 
80211                 157644  2 rt2500usb,rc80211_simple

# lsmod | grep -i  80211
ieee80211softmac       26880  0 
ieee80211_crypt_ccmp     6720  0 
ieee80211_crypt_wep     4032  0 
rc80211_simple          4416  0 
80211                 157644  2 rt2500usb,rc80211_simple
=====================================================

tcpdump doesn't show much when run immediately after I insert the adaptor:
=====================================================
# tcpdump -vv -i wlan0
tcpdump: WARNING: wlan0: no IPv4 address assigned
tcpdump: listening on wlan0, link-type EN10MB (Ethernet), capture size 68 
bytes
tcpdump: pcap_loop: recvfrom: Network is down
0 packets captured
0 packets received by filter
0 packets dropped by kernel
=====================================================

Would you perhaps know how I may be able to troubleshoot this thing before I 
lose my temper and throw it out of the window?

PS. I might have un/plugged it during probing/scanning - could that have 
caused some physical damage?
-- 
Regards,
Mick

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Re: [gentoo-user] WiFi adaptor playing up

[James Ausmus]

On 1/29/07, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
> My only consolation is that this fault is not intermittent.  :-(
>
> Here's what happened.  I emerged a different (to my tried & tested rt2x00-9999
> wireless driver).  Then I uninstalled rt2x00-9999, but I couldn't get the new
> driver to work.  So, I unmerged it, remerged rt2x00-9999 (this is a CVS
> package)

Bingo. :)
Since this is a CVS package, the version that you just now installed
is different than the one that you did have installed - CVS packages
go out to the live development tree, pull the latest and greatest
version of the development source code (never, ever, ever guaranteed
to work), and use that.

So - possible solutions:
1. Figure out the date/time of the emerge of the *successful*
rt2x00-9999 package using genlop, then check out the CVS source tree
as of that date, and build/install by hand
2. Work with the rt2x00 developers to figure out the problem and get
it corrected in the current version
3. Try what I'm currently doing with my rt2500 card (using the
rt2x00-999 package compiled from CVS on Wed Jan  3 20:39:53 2007,
according to genlop) - manually set the ESSID, AP, and encryption
settings on the card, then issue a /etc/init.d/net.ra0 start/restart
command.

BTW - If you do figure out the date/time of the successful CVS
package, let me know, and I'll try that one on my laptop, see if it
fixes my problems. :)

HTH

-James
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Re: [gentoo-user] WiFi adaptor playing up

[James Ausmus]

On 1/30/07, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Monday 29 January 2007 23:30, Mick wrote:
> > On Monday 29 January 2007 23:06, James Ausmus wrote:
>
> > > So - possible solutions:
> > > 1. Figure out the date/time of the emerge of the *successful*
> > > rt2x00-9999 package using genlop, then check out the CVS source tree
> > > as of that date, and build/install by hand
>
> Where do I find this?  I've had a look at the website and all I can see is the
> daily builds.
>
> > > 2. Work with the rt2x00 developers to figure out the problem and get
> > > it corrected in the current version
> > > 3. Try what I'm currently doing with my rt2500 card (using the
> > > rt2x00-999 package compiled from CVS on Wed Jan  3 20:39:53 2007,
> > > according to genlop) - manually set the ESSID, AP, and encryption
> > > settings on the card, then issue a /etc/init.d/net.ra0 start/restart
> > > command.
> >
> > When you say configure it on the card do you mean in the /etc/conf.d/net
> > file?
> >
> > > BTW - If you do figure out the date/time of the successful CVS
> > > package, let me know, and I'll try that one on my laptop, see if it
> > > fixes my problems. :)
> >
> > These two worked fine for my USB adaptor:
> >
> > Sat Dec  9 08:54:56 2006 >>> net-wireless/rt2x00-9999
> > Wed Dec 27 17:34:33 2006 >>> net-wireless/rt2x00-9999
> >
> > How could I get portage to emerge a particular CVS version?
>
> I found the answer and it is using this very package as an example!
> http://gentoo-wiki.com/Skipping_fetch_for_CVS_packages
>
> However, still don't know where to find older tarballs.

You probably won't be able to find a tarball - there *should* be some
way to check out the source tree directly from CVS as of the date that
you are interested in - I'm not a CVS user directly, myself, so I
don't know what those commands would be off the top of my head - maybe
some CVS guru (or at least casual user!) could chime in here?

-James

> --
> Regards,
> Mick
>
>
>
-- 
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Re: [gentoo-user] WiFi adaptor playing up

[James Ausmus]

On 1/29/07, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Monday 29 January 2007 23:06, James Ausmus wrote:
> > On 1/29/07, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > My only consolation is that this fault is not intermittent.  :-(
> > >
> > > Here's what happened.  I emerged a different (to my tried & tested
> > > rt2x00-9999 wireless driver).  Then I uninstalled rt2x00-9999, but I
> > > couldn't get the new driver to work.  So, I unmerged it, remerged
> > > rt2x00-9999 (this is a CVS package)
> >
> > Bingo. :)
> > Since this is a CVS package, the version that you just now installed
> > is different than the one that you did have installed - CVS packages
> > go out to the live development tree, pull the latest and greatest
> > version of the development source code (never, ever, ever guaranteed
> > to work), and use that.
>
> I know what you mean.  :-(
>
> In a previous version (back in November) I had to open the source files and
> correct some silly errors for it to compile properly.
>
> > So - possible solutions:
> > 1. Figure out the date/time of the emerge of the *successful*
> > rt2x00-9999 package using genlop, then check out the CVS source tree
> > as of that date, and build/install by hand
> > 2. Work with the rt2x00 developers to figure out the problem and get
> > it corrected in the current version
> > 3. Try what I'm currently doing with my rt2500 card (using the
> > rt2x00-999 package compiled from CVS on Wed Jan  3 20:39:53 2007,
> > according to genlop) - manually set the ESSID, AP, and encryption
> > settings on the card, then issue a /etc/init.d/net.ra0 start/restart
> > command.
>
> When you say configure it on the card do you mean in the /etc/conf.d/net file?

Nope - I mean:

iwconfig ra0 essid <ESSID>
iwconfig ra0 mode <MODE - probably managed>
iwconfig ra0 channel <channel>
iwconfig ra0 ap <AP MAC address>
iwconfig ra0 enc <encryption key/off> <open/restricted>

Try different sets of the above commands, if you do all of them with
the proper params, but still no connectivity after a
/etc/init.d/net.ra0 restart, then do:

iwconfig --help

And see what other commands might look interesting.

You also might modprobe the rt2500usb module with debug=1 and watch
your dmesg output - it might give you some insight as to *why* things
are failing. :)


>
> > BTW - If you do figure out the date/time of the successful CVS
> > package, let me know, and I'll try that one on my laptop, see if it
> > fixes my problems. :)
>
> These two worked fine for my USB adaptor:
>
> Sat Dec  9 08:54:56 2006 >>> net-wireless/rt2x00-9999
> Wed Dec 27 17:34:33 2006 >>> net-wireless/rt2x00-9999
>

Thanks! I'll give those a try when I get a chance. :)

-James
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Re: [gentoo-user] WiFi adaptor playing up

[James Ausmus]

On 2/1/07, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thursday 01 February 2007 08:46, James Ausmus wrote:
> > On 1/29/07, Mick <michaelkintzios@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > On Monday 29 January 2007 23:06, James Ausmus wrote:
>
> > > When you say configure it on the card do you mean in the /etc/conf.d/net
> > > file?
> >
> > Nope - I mean:
> >
> > iwconfig ra0 essid <ESSID>
> > iwconfig ra0 mode <MODE - probably managed>
> > iwconfig ra0 channel <channel>
> > iwconfig ra0 ap <AP MAC address>
> > iwconfig ra0 enc <encryption key/off> <open/restricted>
>
> OK, I've tried these a number of times in the past but the adaptor won't play
> ball.  Even basic commands like 'iwconfig wlan0 up' will not work.
>


Hmm - you might have to do:

ifconfig wlan0 up

prior to any iwconfig command.

When you just tpye:

iwconfig

What do you get?


> > Try different sets of the above commands, if you do all of them with
> > the proper params, but still no connectivity after a
> > /etc/init.d/net.ra0 restart, then do:
> >
> > iwconfig --help
> >
> > And see what other commands might look interesting.
> >
> > You also might modprobe the rt2500usb module with debug=1 and watch
> > your dmesg output - it might give you some insight as to *why* things
> > are failing. :)
>
> # modprobe -v rt2500usb debug=1
> insmod /lib/modules/2.6.18-gentoo-r6/rt2x00/rt2500usb.ko debug=1
> FATAL: Error inserting rt2500usb
> (/lib/modules/2.6.18-gentoo-r6/rt2x00/rt2500usb.ko): Unknown symbol in
> module, or unknown parameter (see dmesg)
>
> dmesg shows;
>
> rt2500usb: Unknown parameter `debug
>
> That's because I did not compile the driver with the debug USE flag.  I did
> try to do this once and a debugfs error came up.
>
> > > These two worked fine for my USB adaptor:
> > >
> > > Sat Dec  9 08:54:56 2006 >>> net-wireless/rt2x00-9999
> > > Wed Dec 27 17:34:33 2006 >>> net-wireless/rt2x00-9999
> >
> > Thanks! I'll give those a try when I get a chance. :)
>
> OK, you'll need to follow the steps in here:
>
> http://gentoo-wiki.com/Skipping_fetch_for_CVS_packages
>
> and with regards to setting the date, use the -D option, like so: -D
> 2006-12-09
>

Thanks much!

-James
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