wifi nightmares [Solved]

ralvez · 2009-06-04 01:21:59

Of all the modern inventions wifi is a@!!&*#! in the $%!!
Now that I got that out of my system ...

I've installed Arch in a brand new Toshiba Satellite X200 -BG0. Everything works as expected but the bloody WiFi.
Running lspci | grep -i net I get:

04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 01)
05:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection (rev 61)

so based on the above information I did

pacman -S iwlwifi-4965-ucode

and added it to my /etc/rc.conf MODULES - MODULES=(... iwl4965)

Now when I do a iwconfig I get

lo no wireless extensions.
wmaster0 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:"ITTwo-wifi"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=0 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
Encryption key:0024-1BAF-4C Security mode:open
Power Management: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

where ITTwo-wifi IS my network, so we should assume I got all I need to connect BUT when I try I get:
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down which of course is NOT the case

In addition if I use the command : iwconfig wlan0 mode managed essid "ITTwo-wifi" key "bbR:)120cd"
It returns :

Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
    invalid argument  "bbR:)120cd".

Has anyone have any idea what the hell is going on? I've been here for hours now and nothing I've tried works. I even installed wifi-radar and fails to connect too !!

Help will be appreciated.

R.

Last edited by ralvez (2009-06-20 02:24:52)

JF · 2009-06-04 02:47:39

Hi Ralvez,

It seems like iwconfig is rejecting the key, did you try to escape the special character in your iwconfig command ?

bbR:\)120cd

Does /var/log/messages.log or /var/log/kernel.log give more clues about the problem you're experiencing ?

Also about the "interface doesn't support scanning" message, is wlan0 UP according to ifconfig ?

Hope this helps a bit?

Last edited by JF (2009-06-04 02:48:51)

ralvez · 2009-06-04 11:29:52

JF,
Thanks for the reply.

I did try to escape it without any success. I have another laptop that connect just fine without escaping though.
I also tried using s:bbR:)120cd which according to the wiki should do the trick if there are issues but no joy

The interface is up because if you notice in my previous post iwconfig shows it including the name of my network.

R.

tomk · 2009-06-04 12:04:05

iwconfig and ifconfig are different applications. iwconfig does not show if an interface is up or down. ifconfig is required to bring an interface up or down.

ralvez · 2009-06-04 13:05:03

tomk,

But can the interface provide this info if it is donw?

wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:"ITTwo-wifi" 
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Tx-Power=0 dBm                                                   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B             
          Encryption key:0024-1BAF-4C   Security mode:open                 
          Power Management: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

To me it seems like it "knows" wlan0 exists.

Thanks.

R.

Edit: Thinking of it I think that what you are saying is that it is not the same that the system "knows" an interface exits to say it "can use it". Correct?
I'll double check when I get home that I put it up before I continue. I think I did in the /etc/rc.conf buf I'm not sure now.

Last edited by ralvez (2009-06-04 13:09:49)

JF · 2009-06-04 22:50:13

Exactly: ifconfig and iwconfig operate in 2 differents layers: iwconfig is on the (wifi) link layer which represents the physical (radio) connection while ifconfig is on the network layer which represents the logical (data) connection.
The logical interface process paquets that are transmitted throught the physical link. Without the interface, you can't exchange data on a network even if you're physically connected to it.

Here's ifconfig's output about my eth0 which is down now and wlan0 which is UP:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:11:22:33:44:55
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:66:77:88:99:00
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

Last edited by JF (2009-06-04 23:02:14)

ralvez · 2009-06-05 02:44:45

OK. I just did : ifconfig wlan0 up and then ifconfig shows:

Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1D:E0:6B:0D:C9
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)

Then iwconfig wlan0 mode managed essid "ITTwo-wifi" key "bbR:)120cd" it replyes:

Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :                            
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Device or resource busy.

How can it be busy? It is not connected yet !?

The wifi led is on, so I must assume that is good too but no joy...

R.

Mr Green · 2009-06-05 05:32:51

have you googled to check that wifi on your laptop works with linux?

If its a new laptop then drivers may not be working yet

Had the same problem with my Acer 5315 until very recently.....

Dare I suggest running ubuntu livecd .....???? at least if you get a connection working it may help

raf_kig · 2009-06-05 07:27:03

does it give you scan results?
can you show us the kernel messages when loading/unloading the module?

regards

raf

iphitus · 2009-06-05 09:20:40

You need to prefix WEP string keys with 's:', for example "s:some cool string key"

If it is a WPA key, then you'll need to use wpa supplicant.

As has been mentioned above, before you can do iwlist scan, you need to do "ifconfig wlan0 up"

James

ajb · 2009-06-05 14:55:16

ralvez wrote:

and added it to my /etc/rc.conf MODULES - MODULES=(... iwl4965)

Well, i'm using arch64 and since one day there is iwlagn module. Check this with `lsmod`, and `modprobe -l | grep iwl`.
Second thing. Check rfkill. Look in dmesg, what your laptop is saying you when you load kernel module. Maybe something is wrong. In my asus, i have 'hardware' switch /sys/devices/platform/asus-laptop/wlan.
And remember that "bbR:\)120cd" is not a valid key. Only 10 or 26 character long, hexadecimal.
Also iwconfig accepts keys "s:12345" and "s:1234567890123" - 5 and 13 chars. I think here you can use other than hexadecimal chars.

moljac024 · 2009-06-05 15:14:06

What kind of encryption are you using on the network ?
If it's wpa you'll need wpa_supplicant, as James already stated.

Anyway, have you perhaps tried netcfg, wicd or networkmanager ?

ralvez · 2009-06-05 16:57:46

Mr Green wrote:

have you googled to check that wifi on your laptop works with linux?
If its a new laptop then drivers may not be working yet
Had the same problem with my Acer 5315 until very recently.....
Dare I suggest running ubuntu livecd .....???? at least if you get a connection working it may help

No but I did look in Arch's wiki and it is there, so it should work.
Thanks for trying to help though.

R.

ralvez · 2009-06-05 17:01:20

raf_kig wrote:

does it give you scan results?
can you show us the kernel messages when loading/unloading the module?
regards
raf

Nope, as far as I can recall it did not. As per the kernel messages I do not remember any errors but I'll try again this weekend and go over all logs to see if I find some clues.

Thanks!

R.

ralvez · 2009-06-05 17:06:16

iphitus wrote:

You need to prefix WEP string keys with 's:', for example "s:some cool string key"
If it is a WPA key, then you'll need to use wpa supplicant.
As has been mentioned above, before you can do iwlist scan, you need to do "ifconfig wlan0 up"
James

James,

OK, now we may be up to something ... it is WPA and I'm not using wpa supplicant. As per the 's:' thingy I did try with it too but unless I use quotations it seems to dislike the ")" in the string. But I assume that may be some derived problem because my other laptop uses the same string (of course ... it's the same network) and it's fine with it.

This week-end I'll be working on the problem and I'll report back.

Thanks for the help!!

R

Odysseus · 2009-06-05 22:21:51

WPA is pretty easy to get going:

1) wpa_passphrase <ssid> [passphrase] > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
2) wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B

Do all above as root, too.

ralvez · 2009-06-06 03:00:12

OK.
I tested the laptop with the Ubuntu live CD as mr green suggested and it works at once. So we know it should work with Arch.
I also looked at the driver used in Ubuntu and it is the same I'm using, so that should not be the problem. I then installed wireless assistant (since I use KDE) and tested it. It finds my network right away but fails to connect.
It indicates that is looking at channel 6, with a link quality of 100% and using wep/wpa.
So ... all the correct signs are there but no connection

In /var/log/everything.log I found a kernel error, it reads: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP):wlan0: link is not ready
but I do not see a good reason for it.
Running ifconfig show wlan0 is up.

Edit: wpa_supplicant is also running

Last edited by ralvez (2009-06-06 03:00:40)

iphitus · 2009-06-06 06:32:10

Wireless is a two step connection.
* Associate with the wireless network using wpa_supplicant as you have done.
* Configure an ip/route/dns. Usually you'll just use "dhcpcd wlan0" and that will do it all for you.

So manually in your case, as already mentioned above:

ifconfig wlan0 up
wpa_passphrase <ssid> [passphrase] > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
wpa_supplicant -B -iwlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf 
dhcpcd wlan0

After you get it going manually, give netcfg a shot, have a look at the example config /etc/network.d/examples/wireless-wpa and the wiki page http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Network_Profiles
or the new quickstart steps: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Net … Quickstart

Last edited by iphitus (2009-06-06 06:58:46)

vi3dr0 · 2009-06-06 10:23:57

I've got the same WiFi card, and believe module's name is iwlagn, not iwl4965.

Last edited by vi3dr0 (2009-06-06 10:24:10)

ralvez · 2009-06-06 21:30:16

vi3dr0 wrote:

I've got the same WiFi card, and believe module's name is iwlagn, not iwl4965.

I got it to go with iwl4965

Thanks

R.

ralvez · 2009-06-06 21:48:25

iphitus wrote:

Wireless is a two step connection.
* Associate with the wireless network using wpa_supplicant as you have done.
* Configure an ip/route/dns. Usually you'll just use "dhcpcd wlan0" and that will do it all for you.
So manually in your case, as already mentioned above:
ifconfig wlan0 up
wpa_passphrase <ssid> [passphrase] > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
wpa_supplicant -B -iwlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf 
dhcpcd wlan0
After you get it going manually, give netcfg a shot, have a look at the example config /etc/network.d/examples/wireless-wpa and the wiki page http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Network_Profiles
or the new quickstart steps: http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Net … Quickstart

James,

OK. Today I got totally fed up with the whole thing so I flattened the installation and started all over from scratch.
Now I can get it to work manually ... so that's good.

The problem is now that this machine is not for me, and the person that will ultimately use it is not very computer savvy ... so I have to provide a GUI of some kind to connect. In particular he will have to use it in the school network and perhaps some Internet Cafe or whatever ... so, I looked at the wiki "wifi" directions and found a few that may do but they fail to connect (!!?) /* wondering if I have been cursed by the wifi gods for some wrong doing before I was borned. */

So, I can set netcfg (as I did for my laptop) for his home network but that will not help him when he goes to school ... unless he can edit the configs for his school.
Is there a GUI that will help him with that?

I tried wlassistant and wifi-radar both fail. Actually wlassistant sets .ICEauthority to root every time I run it, therefore, effectively preventing his account from logging in until I re-set the permissions on the file.

Any ideas will be appreciated.

Thanks

R00KIE · 2009-06-06 22:45:15

Have you tried wicd? It seems to work very well for most people, it sure does work perfectly for me so far.

vi3dr0 · 2009-06-06 23:25:31

There is GUI for netcfg - netcfgGUI (unbeliveable, heh? ) Add it to autostart as root in DE and voila.

ralvez · 2009-06-06 23:59:07

@rookie,

I'll give it a try

@vi3dro,

I'll give it a try too. I think that this may be the way to go if it is simple. I wish we had something as simple as Ubuntu... in my test I just opened the wificonnector entered my ESSID and password and it was connected. That's whats needed for people that are not computer oriented.

Thank you guys!

I'm always impressed at the community here in Arch. What a fantastic bunch!!

R.

ralvez · 2009-06-13 22:36:55

I have been doing a lot of work on this wifi thingy.
I trully want to understand how it works because it really really really bothers me when something does not work and I do not know why.

So. I am able to manually connect using Odysseus and James instructions ... well ... most of the time but using netcfg it fails almost every single time too.

What I have noticed is that after I use the :

wpa_passphrase ITTwo-wifi bbR:\)cri2rr > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
wpa_supplicant -B -iwlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
dhcpcd wlan0

it will work afterwards just using dhcpcd wlan0 but with this netcfg configuration it fails:

CONNECTION="wireless"
DESCRIPTION="Automatically generated profile"
INTERFACE=wlan0
HOSTNAME=renegade
IP="dhcp"
DHCP_TIMEOUT=140
ESSID="ITTwo-wifi"
SECURITY="WPA"
KEY="bbR:)cri2rr"
SCAN="YES"
TIMEOUT=30
PRE_UP="dhcpcd wlan0"

I have done a number of variations on these config but this one connects **some times**.

I tried using a static connection with this configuration:

CONNECTION="wireless"
DESCRIPTION="Home Office"
INTERFACE=wlan0
HOSTNAME=renegade
QUIRKS=(prescan reessid)
DHCP_TIMEOUT=20
IP="static"
IFOPTS="192.168.1.22 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255"
GATEWAY="192.168.1.1"
DNS1=192.168.1.1
DNS2=
ESSID="ITTwo-wifi"
SECURITY="WEP"
KEY="bbR:)cri2rr"
SCAN="YES"
IWOPTS="mode managed essid $ESSID key restricted $KEY"
PRE_UP="iwlist $INTERFACE  scan"
TIMEOUT=30

and I do get the address but does not "talk" to the network at all (??!) I just get the address.

Sometimes when I try to connect manually I get this:

wlan0: rebinding lease of 192.168.1.105   
dhcpcd: wlan0: carrier lost                       
dhcpcd: wlan0: carrier acquired                   
dhcpcd: wlan0: rebinding lease of 192.168.1.105   
dhcpcd: wlan0: carrier lost                       
dhcpcd: wlan0: carrier acquired                   
dhcpcd: wlan0: rebinding lease of 192.168.1.105   
dhcpcd: wlan0: carrier lost                       
dhcpcd: timed out

and somethis it just connects at once.

Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong?
This is most frustrating !!

R.

Arch Linux

#1 2009-06-04 01:21:59

wifi nightmares [Solved]

#2 2009-06-04 02:47:39

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#3 2009-06-04 11:29:52

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#4 2009-06-04 12:04:05

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#5 2009-06-04 13:05:03

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#6 2009-06-04 22:50:13

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#7 2009-06-05 02:44:45

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#8 2009-06-05 05:32:51

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#9 2009-06-05 07:27:03

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#10 2009-06-05 09:20:40

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#11 2009-06-05 14:55:16

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#12 2009-06-05 15:14:06

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#13 2009-06-05 16:57:46

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#14 2009-06-05 17:01:20

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#15 2009-06-05 17:06:16

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#16 2009-06-05 22:21:51

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#17 2009-06-06 03:00:12

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#18 2009-06-06 06:32:10

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#19 2009-06-06 10:23:57

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#20 2009-06-06 21:30:16

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#21 2009-06-06 21:48:25

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#22 2009-06-06 22:45:15

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#23 2009-06-06 23:25:31

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#24 2009-06-06 23:59:07

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

#25 2009-06-13 22:36:55

Re: wifi nightmares [Solved]

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