How do i connect to wireless networks?

MONODA · 2008-03-01 22:39:40

Ok well I have arch up an running but without a DE, first I want to know how to connect to a wireless network through CL. how can i do this? i have my card installed and everything. btw the network i want to connect to is wep encrypted.

Majorix · 2008-03-01 22:54:04

What is a CL? You mean the CLI?

mcmillan · 2008-03-01 23:17:01

You didn't give us much information to know how much you've done. If you need help getting started the wiki is a good place to start

What kind of card do you have? If you don't know you can type lspci into a terminal to get a lot of information about hardware. Looking for something about the network card should tell you.

Some cards will work with the stock kernel, others you will need to install things to get it to work. Typing iwconfig can give us an idea of whether your card is working right now, from there we can help you get connected

MONODA · 2008-03-02 05:46:00

by CL i meant command line interface (i forgot the I). my card is working I know that for a fact, i just dont know how to connect to a wep encrypted wifi network (and yes i looked through that article but it didnt help much)

mcmillan · 2008-03-02 06:13:29

If you just need to connect to the wep the command is
iwconfig [interface name] essid [EssidName] key xxxxxx

If you'll be connecting to this frequently it's probably easier to set things up using the various options listed in part 2 of the link I gave before

Last edited by mcmillan (2008-03-02 06:13:53)

MONODA · 2008-03-02 17:21:31

ok well i did that and i set up my /etc/conf.d/wireless with the proper values for connecting to my home network. I just dont know how to make the connection initialize. I tried iwconfig [interface name] essid [EssidName] key xxxxxx but it does not connect

gunnihinn · 2008-03-02 18:00:59

Once you've put in all the info through iwconfig you might need to run "sudo dhclient [interface]" to get an ip address.

MONODA · 2008-03-02 18:08:54

ok i did sudo dhclient wlan0 now what? its still not working

MONODA · 2008-03-02 18:25:06

well my wired network is working, i have set it to dhcp but all i need is my wireless which i can properly configured and installed all i need to know is how to initialize the connection.
EDIT: btw when i boot up and arch tries to initialize the network, it times out, it says wlan0 timed out. could this help. what is my problem, i dont htink i have configured it properly. I will post any files asked to.

Last edited by MONODA (2008-03-02 18:31:13)

Misfit138 · 2008-03-02 19:20:52

You should really go back and read relevant information on the wireless page.

MONODA · 2008-03-03 17:03:33

well i did but i still cant connect.
when I boot and arch tries to start network, it tells me:
err, wlan0: timed out
warn, wlan0: using IPV4LL address 169.254.68.39
EDIT: btw arch probably has the best wiki out there

Last edited by MONODA (2008-03-03 17:04:26)

MONODA · 2008-03-04 15:01:20

bump

hokasch · 2008-03-04 15:19:07

do you have dhcp active in your router?
are you connected to the ap (iwconfig)?
what if you turn off wep in your router?

MONODA · 2008-03-04 15:54:55

yes
yes
well I am unable to disable the password now but I will try to connect to an unsecure network soon and will tell you the results.

hokasch · 2008-03-04 16:19:49

well, if iwconfig shows that youre connected wep-settings probably will be allright.
its all kind of guessing here, so just look at what errors you get exactly when you do as root:

ifconfig [ethernet interface name] down
ifconfig [w-interface name] up
iwconfig [w-interface name] essid [EssidName] key xxxxxx
dhcpd [w-interface name]

if its dhcpd, some thoughts:
router has dhcp with mac-filtering?
try to turn of dhcp and use a static ip.

ibendiben · 2008-03-04 16:26:16

Does

iwlist wlan0 scanning, or iwlist wlan0 scan

find networks?
Also are you sure your interface name is wlan0 and not accidentically eth1 for example?
What does ifconfig provide? or iwconfig? Maybe post your settings in /etc/rc.conf and /etc/conf.d/wireless here

MONODA · 2008-03-04 18:28:40

ifconfig [ethernet interface name] down
ifconfig [w-interface name] up
iwconfig [w-interface name] essid [EssidName] key xxxxxx
dhcpd [w-interface name]

I have already tried these and they did not work.

iwlist wlan0 scanning, or iwlist wlan0 scan

when i did this it said that wlan0 is not available.
ifconfig gives:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1B:24:0C:FA:4D
inet addr:192.168.2.14 Bcast:255.255.255.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21b:24ff:fe0c:fa4d/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:29078 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:26133 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
RX bytes:36542332 (34.8 Mb) TX bytes:2915028 (2.7 Mb)
Base address:0x4000 Memory:da000000-da020000
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:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1400 (1.3 Kb) TX bytes:1400 (1.3 Kb)
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1B:77:0B:F4:B4
inet addr:169.254.68.39 Bcast:169.254.255.255 Mask:255.255.0.0
UP BROADCAST 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)
wmaster0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-1B-77-0B-F4-B4-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING 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)

iwconfig gives:

lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wmaster0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"**********"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key:********************
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

i have put * for the ESSID and encryption for privacy reasons. they are correct in the settings.

tom5760 · 2008-03-04 18:38:43

MONODA wrote:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"**********"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Tx-Power=27 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key:********************
          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

i have put * for the ESSID and encryption for privacy reasons. they are correct in the settings.

So this means your card is not even associating with your wireless network. I have one guess, is your WEP key an ASCII string, or hex?

If its ascii, you need to prefix it with an 's:' in the iwconfig command, so if your WEP key was 'archrocks', your iwconfig command would look like:

iwconfig wlan0 essid mynetwork key s:archrocks

The 's:' tells iwconfig that its a string, not a hex key.

Hope this helps.

stefan1975 · 2008-03-04 18:42:29

i have always found wireless on Arch very easy, imho you should try one of the following two options:

1) if you want a CLI solution install testing/netcfg2, rtfm and you are set to go
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=43863
2) if you want a GUI solution that is good for XFCE4 try 'wicd' and have it connect to your network

both work fine in my latptop/xfce4 setup, although wicd connects faster and more reliable for some reason.

did you know that the wiki is a great source of information to start with? ;-)

cheers,
stefan

Last edited by stefan1975 (2008-03-04 18:43:07)

MONODA · 2008-03-04 19:21:46

well i tried installing wicd and i think i broke my bash. whenever i type anything in, it tells me file not found :'(. I guess i will have to reinstall to fix it. I probably wont try arch again fro a while though.

stefan1975 · 2008-03-04 20:25:29

MONODA wrote:

well i tried installing wicd and i think i broke my bash. whenever i type anything in, it tells me file not found :'(. I guess i will have to reinstall to fix it. I probably wont try arch again fro a while though.

that is strange, for me a

$ sudo pacman -S iwlwifi-3945-ucode wireless_tools wicd

is enough for me to get wireless working right there, never had any issues with bash. Do all commands not work or just the binaries (in /bin or /sbin) then it could just be your .bashrc that is not loaded or the /etc/profile which both set the path viariable. Shell buildin commands should be working fine though as I cannot believe that bash itself would be broken.

and to just quit on ARch because of a few setbacks? Well it is your choice but imho you get good rewards after you break the initial learning curve (as far as there is one, Arch is not That difficult like for example Openbsd or OpenSolaris). Admitted Ubuntu is a fine system as well and I run every release they put out for at least some time, just like Fedora which imho is better, faster and more secure then Ubuntu and just has .rpm's going against it, but lately Ubuntu has been turning into the winblows among linux, just running Everything for the sake of convenience and forgoing security and speed for ease of use, which is bad ...... but hey at least it is linux.

anyway if you want an easy arch experience you could set it up wired and install gnome or something with gdm and networkmanager, to me that path is much more n00b friendly and better looking then SLiM with XFCE which takes a Lot of tinkering to get just right (Aaarggh those fonts under XFCE#!$%).

if you do an install with core and then add:

$ sudo pacman -S xorg gnome gnome-extra alsa hal openoffice-base vlc pidgin brasero

and start gdm in your /etc/inittab you are almost all done and have a similar system that ubuntu would give you, without the good looking fonts that is.

good luck anyway,
stefan

MONODA · 2008-03-04 21:30:32

Well im not COMPLETELY giving up on arch. I just feel like I should try again some other itme because i have had a few big problems this time:
wireless
unable to run Xorg as limited user
and about once every 5 times i start x, my computer freezes.
i really like arch and really like the speed and the Arch way but its not working for me this time. I will come back soon and try again. This is a bit off topic but which distro do you recommend that is not too much like ubuntu and not too much like arch, something in between?
EDIT: i couldnt help myself, im reinstalling arch i cant igve up!(sry i know its offtopic)

Last edited by MONODA (2008-03-04 21:39:56)

stefan1975 · 2008-03-04 22:00:26

MONODA wrote:

Well im not COMPLETELY giving up on arch. I just feel like I should try again some other itme because i have had a few big problems this time:
wireless
unable to run Xorg as limited user
and about once every 5 times i start x, my computer freezes.
i really like arch and really like the speed and the Arch way but its not working for me this time. I will come back soon and try again. This is a bit off topic but which distro do you recommend that is not too much like ubuntu and not too much like arch, something in between?
EDIT: i couldnt help myself, im reinstalling arch i cant igve up!(sry i know its offtopic)

well as i said i really like Fedora myself, they are professional, secure, really innovating (which is different then arch which is bleeding as in package versions but not really innovative as novell or fedora imho). Fedora 5,6,7 were not that great but F8 was really good and next month's F9 promises to be fantastic, although I will probably stick with Arch this time if I can keep myself from giving it another go. It is the one distro that has nailed SElinux and has good firewalling out of the box. Their networkmanager is the best there is and pulseaudio is also one of their new introductions. Listen to me it sounds as if I am starting to convert people to Fedora here.

I run arch myself but at work I manage a lot of RedHat systems so that is where my Fedora connection comes into play and one of the few things that Fedora might have over Arch is that is just works (like *buntu) but doesnt keep to 6 month release schedules per se, i mean they release kernel 2.6.24 for F8 too not just for F9 when it is released in April, you get the good stuff even if you stay on a release. RPM's usually suck bollocks but fedora with yum is imho better then SuSe or Mandriva, they even put yum into RedHat ES5.

in short, if not Arch ..... for me it is Fedora (or freebsd but that is even worse then Arch for you i suppose)
stefan

ibendiben · 2008-03-04 22:18:37

Try Arch-Live:
http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=43892
It is a good way to test whether your problems are definite or just configuration faults...
If you can manage to get everything working there (including wireless, even wicd is provided) you know it's possible with your hardware and you can start a true install...

MONODA · 2008-03-06 17:36:06

well i reinstalled arch and am still at the part in the beginners guide to configure network and i am getting the same problem. Whenever I reboot and network loads it says:
err, wlan0: timed out
how can i fix this?

Arch Linux

#1 2008-03-01 22:39:40

How do i connect to wireless networks?

#2 2008-03-01 22:54:04

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#3 2008-03-01 23:17:01

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#4 2008-03-02 05:46:00

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#5 2008-03-02 06:13:29

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#6 2008-03-02 17:21:31

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#7 2008-03-02 18:00:59

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#8 2008-03-02 18:08:54

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#9 2008-03-02 18:25:06

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#10 2008-03-02 19:20:52

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#11 2008-03-03 17:03:33

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#12 2008-03-04 15:01:20

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#13 2008-03-04 15:19:07

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#14 2008-03-04 15:54:55

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#15 2008-03-04 16:19:49

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#16 2008-03-04 16:26:16

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#17 2008-03-04 18:28:40

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#18 2008-03-04 18:38:43

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#19 2008-03-04 18:42:29

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#20 2008-03-04 19:21:46

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#21 2008-03-04 20:25:29

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#22 2008-03-04 21:30:32

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#23 2008-03-04 22:00:26

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#24 2008-03-04 22:18:37

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

#25 2008-03-06 17:36:06

Re: How do i connect to wireless networks?

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