getting wireless card to work

amunimanghi · 2006-11-21 06:43:21

Hi,

I just instal arch linux and I'm very fond of the CLI. Its very colorful.

I have just one problem, I don't know how to get my wireless card to work. It's the only internet access I have on my computer so using eth0 is not an option. :[

Does anyone know how I can get it to work? Here's the model : SMCWPCI-G

I also have Ubuntu and Windows install so I can access the internet from there and download any neccessary files.

amunimanghi

dongiovanni · 2006-11-21 14:58:43

Do you know, wich chipset your wirelesscard uses?

amunimanghi · 2006-11-21 17:59:06

Yes, it should use the madwifi driver. I found out how to download them using packman from this website:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wireless_Setup

First off, make sure you grab wireless-tools from pacman
pacman -S wireless_tools
You cannot initialize wireless hardware without these tools
madwifi
pacman -S madwifi

The problem is that I can't download them with pacman because I dont have an internet connection. I only have the wireless card. Would it be possible to download those and then put them onto a flash drive and then install them by compiling them?

dongiovanni · 2006-11-21 19:38:31

Is there no way to get a cable to your pc? It would be the easiest possability!

If not, the package depends on the source of your installation! If you used the ISOs of tpowa, then it's possible, that the packages work! Else, you should only take the wireless-tools from your source and install only them and build the madwifi driver manually!

amunimanghi · 2006-11-21 19:58:35

No, my router and cable modem are too far away. Are you saying that the wireless-tools package is on the iso? By the way, what does tpowa mean? ^.^;

Edit: I still have the cd that came with the wireless card. Can this benefit me?

harlekin · 2006-11-21 22:54:23

I guess the easiest way is to download the madwifi driver, burn it onto a disc or put it on a usb stick or whatever and then install it from there.

Just use this command to see where you can get the package:

$ pacman -Sp madwifi

Or simply take a repository listed on archlinux.org and then have a look to the extra section and download it. Make sure you download it's dependencies, if it has any, onto you disc / stick / whatever. Otherway it could be really nerved to put them onto your portable device as pacman requests it. <:

And then simple install the package with this command:

$ pacman -A /path/to/driver/madwifi-0.9.2-2.pkg.tar.gz

IIRC `wireless-tools` should be on the arch live cd. If not, download them as well and install them as you did / would do with madwifi.

Hope this helps even if I am not able to express myself in english at this time. I had just a bunch of work to do this day. :

Ehh.. nevermind. Good night and luck.

edit: Sorry, I noticed that recommending pacman -Sp is really stupid if there's no internet connection on you arch. Just use the alternative method I mentioned or just stick to my output:

$ pacman -Sp madwifi
ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/extra/os/i686/madwifi-utils-0.9.2-1.pkg.tar.gz
ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/extra/os/i686/madwifi-0.9.2-2.pkg.tar.gz

amunimanghi · 2006-11-22 00:33:48

Ok, I have it installed the madwifi drivers. In /etc/rc.conf I added netowrk to daemons so it looks like this:

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng !hotplug !pcmcia network netfs crond)

I restarted the computer and then i ran iwconfig. Then I got this:

lo no wireless extensions
eth0 no wireless extensions

Can anyone enlighten me on this matter?

amunimanghi · 2006-11-22 02:28:28

My hole just keeps getting deeper and deeper. Here is exactly what I've done:

After I found out my wireless card's driver is madwifi, I went ahead and downloaded the madwifi-(version).pkg.tar... and the utils for it. I also downloaded the wireless-tools. I installed each package with pacman -A (name-of-file) It installed perfectly. I did the same command to make sure and it gave an error saying that it was already installed so I know that it installed. Next I went to /etc/rc.conf and edited it to be fit my card. I went under the DAEMON section and added network. Then under Network and changed my hostname to manghi. Then I changed the rest to look like this:

lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
ath0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(lo ath0)

. Now it looks like this

ameen@manghi:~$ cat /media/arch/etc/rc.conf
#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/unimaps
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
#
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
TIMEZONE="Canada/Pacific"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=lat9w-16
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Scan hardware and load required modules at bootup
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
# Module Blacklist - modules in this list will never be loaded by udev
MOD_BLACKLIST=()
#
# Modules to load at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a module with a ! to blacklist it
#
MODULES=(ath_pci)
# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
HOSTNAME="manghi"
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
#   - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
#   - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
#
# Note: to use DHCP, set your interface to be "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
#
lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
ath0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(lo ath0)
#
# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
#   - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
#
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network-profiles
#
#NET_PROFILES=(main)

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
#   - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng !hotplug !pcmcia network modules netfs crond)


# End of file

Next I went to /etc/hosts and changed it so it looks like this:

  GNU nano 1.3.12             File: /etc/hosts                                  

127.0.0.1       localhost.localdomain localhost manghi

# The following lines are desirable for IPv6 capable hosts
::1     ip6-localhost ip6-loopback
fe00::0 ip6-localnet
ff00::0 ip6-mcastprefix
ff02::1 ip6-allnodes
ff02::2 ip6-allrouters
ff02::3 ip6-allhosts

I did a reboot and tried modprobe ath_pci and it said that no module was called that. I decided to skip this step and type iwconfig ath0 essid (name-of-network). It spat out ath:unknown interface. no such device. I entered in these commands ifconfig ath0 up and dhcpcd ath0 and they both gave the same line about the unknown device.

Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong or how to fix this?

~amunimanghi[/i]

harlekin · 2006-11-22 05:47:09

Your problem is that you have not got you wireless card working.

It seems that madwifi has not been installed properly. Maybe this is a result that you are using the Kernel from the Arch 0.7.2 Live CD, which is 2.6.16. The module you downloaded or that is provided by madwifi is built for Kernel 2.6.18.

As a result the module is into another directory than assumed by modprobe.
If you run this command and get the same output I am right.

$ pacman -Ql madwifi| grep ath_pci
madwifi /lib/modules/[b]2.6.18-ARCH[/b]/net/ath_pci.ko

Well, I am really orginating in this which is really lame because you have to do a kernel upgrade without internet connection with leads to downloading many packages manually and carry them from the computer with internet connection to your arch box. And from Kernel 2.6.16 to 2.6.18 there were a lot of changes in the package dependencies. Well... this way would work, I did it because I had the same problem. But I would not recommend it because its really annoying.

Alternatives are that you may find the madwifi package corresponding to Kernel 2.6.16. Then you just install it, and configure the network as you did. Except from the assumption in ath0, I'd check this first. (;

Or another alternative would be to get a internet conenction to the arch box via kable. Maybe move the computer to the router for a few hours. Wired connections functions mostly out of the box (mostly!).

And by the way: I am not quite sure but I think your /etc/hosts is wrong:

127.0.0.1       manghi.localdomain manghi

But I am not sure with that. Better wait with this step for other confirmation or rejection.

Good luck. (:

amunimanghi · 2006-11-22 06:02:35

I guess I will have to look for a driver that supports the kernel. Does anyone know what version of madwifi works with the 2.6.16 kernel?

harlekin · 2006-11-22 06:09:00

I guess you have to stick to the alternatives because there is no place I know where old packages were stored. ): Downgrading is something pacman does not support. Pitty, in this case.

But maybe I am wrong. (:

Another way could be that it can work if you build madwifi by yourself using the PKGBUILD and # makepkg. But I am not sure if this works or if you have to use other sources or change a lot of the PKGBUILD. Hope anyone knows better. (:

By the way: I spent about 6 hours to get the wireless card working. Besides your problem there where some others that occured but I know how annoying it can be. Don't give up. Once arch runs, it's a damn nice distri.

amunimanghi · 2006-11-22 06:12:34

I found a .tar.gz for 0.9.1 which is good. I don't mind compiling. I just have 1 question, would I have to also ''downgrade'' the madwifi utils?

harlekin · 2006-11-22 06:35:06

Well... i would say no. I don't think there were any major changes. But I don't know. If it is easy for you to get, put it on the cd as well. Just to be sure. But I'd give it a try without.

amunimanghi · 2006-11-22 07:47:11

Yay, I got it to work. Thanks harlekin. You were correct about the driver conflicting with the kernel.

twiistedkaos · 2006-11-22 14:04:56

amunimanghi wrote:

Yay, I got it to work. Thanks harlekin. You were correct about the driver conflicting with the kernel.

Pfft, I am surprised I didn't think about thsi when I was helping you configure it, lol. Ah well, atleaste someone helped. Now all you should have to do is:

pacman -Suy to update your system
pacman -S gnome gnome-extra since I know you like gnome

then go into your rc.conf and in daemons add gdm to the daemons list.

amunimanghi · 2006-11-22 17:32:50

>.< My system locked me out. When I tried to update, it said something about the kernel not being able to install because of it already existing. Now when I select Arch in Grub, it will load up for a little bit, and then it will go to a screen that looks like this:

Busy Box v1.01 (2006.05.09-19:19+0000) Built-in Shell (ash)
Enter 'help' for a list of commands
/bin/sh: can't access tty;job control tuned off
#

I've never encountered this. O.o

Heres my /boot/grub/menu.lst:

# Config file for GRUB - The GNU GRand Unified Bootloader
# /boot/grub/menu.lst

# DEVICE NAME CONVERSIONS 
#
#  Linux           Grub
# -------------------------
#  /dev/fd0        (fd0)
#  /dev/hda        (hd0)
#  /dev/hdb2       (hd1,1)
#  /dev/hda3       (hd0,2)
#

#  FRAMEBUFFER RESOLUTION SETTINGS
#     +-------------------------------------------------+
#          | 640x480    800x600    1024x768   1280x1024
#      ----+--------------------------------------------
#      256 | 0x301=769  0x303=771  0x305=773   0x307=775
#      32K | 0x310=784  0x313=787  0x316=790   0x319=793
#      64K | 0x311=785  0x314=788  0x317=791   0x31A=794
#      16M | 0x312=786  0x315=789  0x318=792   0x31B=795
#     +-------------------------------------------------+

# general configuration:
timeout   5
default   0
color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue

# boot sections follow
# each is implicitly numbered from 0 in the order of appearance below
#
# TIP: If you want a 1024x768 framebuffer, add "vga=773" to your kernel line.
#
#-*
#Generated by Ameen
title Linux Operating Systems:
root 

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd1,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/hdb2 ro
initrd /boot/initrd26.img

# Ubuntu
title Ubuntu
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/hda1 ro quiet splash
quiet
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic

#Generated By Ameen
title Other Operating Systems:
root

#Windows 2000 Professional
title Windows 2000 professional
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
map (hd0) (hd1)
map (hd1) (hd0)
chainloader +1

I think its because there is no kernel specified for arch...although I may be wrong.

twiistedkaos · 2006-11-22 20:21:46

hmm mount your arch partition from your ubuntu one, the go into /boot and see if kernel26.img is there if so, change your grub to this:

title Arch Linux
root (hd1,1)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/hdb2 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

I actually dont think you need the /boot/ parts, it can be just this also:

title Arch Linux
root (hd1,1)
kernel /vmlinuz26 root=/dev/hdb2 ro
initrd /kernel26.img

try both and see which one works. With the new kernel the image name changed which is why I am thinking you can't boot up. I could be wrong though.

amunimanghi · 2006-11-22 23:37:41

Well you remeber when all you had to do was change something to dhcpcd. All I had to do was create a folder in my filesystem called /initrd or something like that.

twiistedkaos · 2006-11-23 02:03:27

hmm alright, so is arch working correctly for you now?

amunimanghi · 2006-11-23 04:33:05

Yea except for sound, which I'm gonna post in a different place.

Arch Linux

#1 2006-11-21 06:43:21

getting wireless card to work

#2 2006-11-21 14:58:43

Re: getting wireless card to work

#3 2006-11-21 17:59:06

Re: getting wireless card to work

#4 2006-11-21 19:38:31

Re: getting wireless card to work

#5 2006-11-21 19:58:35

Re: getting wireless card to work

#6 2006-11-21 22:54:23

Re: getting wireless card to work

#7 2006-11-22 00:33:48

Re: getting wireless card to work

#8 2006-11-22 02:28:28

Re: getting wireless card to work

#9 2006-11-22 05:47:09

Re: getting wireless card to work

#10 2006-11-22 06:02:35

Re: getting wireless card to work

#11 2006-11-22 06:09:00

Re: getting wireless card to work

#12 2006-11-22 06:12:34

Re: getting wireless card to work

#13 2006-11-22 06:35:06

Re: getting wireless card to work

#14 2006-11-22 07:47:11

Re: getting wireless card to work

#15 2006-11-22 14:04:56

Re: getting wireless card to work

#16 2006-11-22 17:32:50

Re: getting wireless card to work

#17 2006-11-22 20:21:46

Re: getting wireless card to work

#18 2006-11-22 23:37:41

Re: getting wireless card to work

#19 2006-11-23 02:03:27

Re: getting wireless card to work

#20 2006-11-23 04:33:05

Re: getting wireless card to work

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