Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

mtcupps · 2011-06-17 16:45:27

I did a fresh install of Arch this morning at my office. I have an Acer Aspire laptop with a Broadcom wireless card that works with broadcom-wl (I've used the driver for a long time and it works perfectly... with open or WPA networks). The network at my office is WEP. So after installing the drive, adding lib80211 and wl to my MODPROBE (and !b43 !ssb), I reboot and see my wireless as eth0.

If I try to iwconfig eth0 key XXXX-XXXX-XX or iwconfig eth0 essid WIFINAME key XXXX-XXXX-XX, no matter what combination I try, I get an error saying that it's an invalid argument for SET_ENCODE. I've check the Wiki and man pages for iwconfig, and can't seem to find any solution. Does anyone know why I can't put in a WEP key?

((Side note: everytime I've installed Arch, my wifi starts out as eth0 until I get connected and run pacman -Syu. Then I reboot and it shows up as wlan0, and my Atheros ethernet is eth0 or eth1.))

chris427 · 2011-06-17 17:09:41

I've never had problems with the broadcom-wl package, but the only thing that I can think of is either running iwconfig as root

 sudo iwconfig eth0 key XXXXXXXX

or changing the lib80211 module with the lib80211_crypt_tkip one in /etc/rc.conf
you might want to see if you can pick up the WEP connection with

 # iwlist scan

Anyway, I hope that helps you get going.

Chris

mtcupps · 2011-06-17 17:38:50

Thanks for a response. So this is a fresh-from-the-oven install. I usually get my wifi connection set up and then create my user and go about setting everything else up. Meaning I've been trying as root.

I can see the wireless network with iwlist scan and it shows up as encryption key: on. Also, I tried using each lib80211 mod or some combination thereof in my rc.conf. No dice.

Lastly, since I didn't include it before, here's the exact error I get when I try to assign a WEP key with iwconfig:

Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
SET failed on device eth0; Invalid argument.

UPDATE: I can set the key using [x] between key and XXXXXXXXXX. However, any combination I'm trying of essid and key/enc isn't showing up in iwconfig. No errors, but my iwconfig information isn't changing. It's progress... I think.

UPDATE #2: I can iwconfig eth0 essid linksys (the office next to us) and grab that one (I don't know their password ) and it updates iwconfig, but our own network doesn't update iwconfig when I run iwconfig essid. >.<

Last edited by mtcupps (2011-06-17 18:20:02)

ewaller · 2011-06-17 18:20:56

Two questions:
1. Are you sure that eth0 is your wireless card? Check that by issuing the command iwconfig without any additional parameters. Your system is carping about eth0; I cannot tell from your posts whether that is a wireless or is your Atheros ethernet card.

2. Are you running that command with root permissions (you must)

edit: It looks like you were updating whilst I was posting. I'm still concerned about the card's identifiers.

Last edited by ewaller (2011-06-17 18:22:52)

mtcupps · 2011-06-17 18:39:26

I'm 100% positive eth0 is my wireless card. I can iwconfig essid other networks and I've set up Arch on this guy before and it would connect to wpa networks no problem. Worst case, I wait until I get home and just wpa_supplicant to my home network and update. From there I should be fine. I'm just trying to do it at work.

The weirdest thing to me is that I can iwlist scan and see two networks, but can only run iwconfig essid successfully on one of them. Is there some setting on our router that would be blocking my connection using iwconfig essid?

tomk · 2011-06-17 18:44:00

mtcupps wrote:

Is there some setting on our router that would be blocking my connection using iwconfig essid?

MAC filtering?

mtcupps · 2011-06-17 19:34:38

tomk wrote:

mtcupps wrote:
Is there some setting on our router that would be blocking my connection using iwconfig essid?
MAC filtering?

Just checked and nope. I've connected to this network before. I was actually on it a few weeks ago on this laptop, in Arch (in GNOME3 with NetowrkManager, for what it's worth). Since the only thing that's changed with the network is a)the password is different and b)I'm using iwconfig since I have nothing else installed yet.

zenlord · 2011-06-18 09:58:21

Are b43 and ssb really blacklisted? (adding ! to modules in rc.conf is deprecated now)

chris427 · 2011-06-18 11:59:02

I found this guy's blog post and it has a couple of links you may find useful
http://guilleml.wordpress.com/2009/10/2 … ux-2-6-31/

but the part i think you'll find useful is the modules line

MODULES=(acpi-cpufreq cpufreq_ondemand lib80211_crypt_wep lib80211_crypt_ccmp lib80211_crypt_tkip wl !ssb !b43 fuse)

he's using the crypt wep module which i have not seen before, hopefully that might help you connect
On another note, it seems a few people have had trouble connecting to WEP networks on other distrobutions so you might want to google it and see what comes up
Sorry I cant be more help I'm still fairly new to linux and a newbie to Arch.
Good luck
Chris

mtcupps · 2011-06-21 17:24:12

zenlord wrote:

Are b43 and ssb really blacklisted? (adding ! to modules in rc.conf is deprecated now)

I thought that was the preferred way to do it now, and not use the mod blacklist? Either way, just a quick update: still can't connect to my office's wireless, but it seems to be something on their end. I can connect at home, and other WEP networks, just not here. So there's gotta be something specific going on here.

That said, thanks for all the help and suggestions everyone.

zenlord · 2011-06-21 21:17:24

mtcupps wrote:

zenlord wrote:
Are b43 and ssb really blacklisted? (adding ! to modules in rc.conf is deprecated now)
I thought that was the preferred way to do it now

Since a little over a week that is not the case anymore (see frontpage).

Arch Linux

#1 2011-06-17 16:45:27

Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

#2 2011-06-17 17:09:41

Re: Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

#3 2011-06-17 17:38:50

Re: Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

#4 2011-06-17 18:20:56

Re: Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

#5 2011-06-17 18:39:26

Re: Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

#6 2011-06-17 18:44:00

Re: Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

#7 2011-06-17 19:34:38

Re: Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

#8 2011-06-18 09:58:21

Re: Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

#9 2011-06-18 11:59:02

Re: Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

#10 2011-06-21 17:24:12

Re: Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

#11 2011-06-21 21:17:24

Re: Can't set WEP key for broadcom-wl?

Board footer