Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

keither · 2009-07-31 10:47:59

Hello all,

I am new to Linux (used RedHat for a while a few years ago and OSX since then) and just installed Arch64 on my new Dell Studio 17 with Intel WiFi Link 5100. The rest of the installation went well, but I can't get my wireless connection to work and I've been unable to figure out why. I'll try to provide as much information as possible without a long post.

The relevant portions of my rc.conf file are:

MODULES=(iwlagn)

...

wlan0="dchp"
INTERFACES=(wlan0)

and I double-checked to make sure I had installed the correct driver ("pacman -S iwlwifi-5000-ucode").

ifconfig wlan0 yields:

 
wlan0
Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr ...
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overrruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overrruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqeuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0b) TX bytes 0 (0.0b)

Using iwconfig wlan0 essid <my network name> key <my wep key> provides no errors but then when I do something like "ping -c 3 www.google.com" I get an unknown host error. When I use netcfg with the same information in the profile I get "Wireless association failed." Wired connection works fine.

Is there any other firmware I should have installed for the wireless card? Any obvious problems with my config file?

Thanks in advance.

Last edited by keither (2009-08-05 23:55:30)

miau · 2009-07-31 11:18:17

Can you png your router over your wireless connection?

keither · 2009-07-31 16:28:34

Thanks for the reply!

No, I cannot ping my router. "Network is unreachable"

Last edited by keither (2009-07-31 16:47:17)

keither · 2009-07-31 23:19:49

I'm pretty confident that my driver choices were right, and my wireless connection was working perfectly from the live cd when I did the install, so I'm pretty sure I made an error in the configuration file. I'm posting my whole rc.conf file (changed a bit since the first post), in hopes that someone sees some obvious problem that I'm missing.

LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="UTC"
USEDIRECTISA="no"
TIMEZONE="America/Chicago"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
MODULES=(iwlagn)

USELVM="no"

HOSTNAME="MyHost"

wlan0="dchp"
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth0 wlan0)

gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
 
NETWORKS=(homenetwork)

DAEMONS=(syslog-ng net-profiles network netfs crond hal alsa kdm)

Last edited by keither (2009-07-31 23:22:22)

arkham · 2009-07-31 23:24:47

There should be a part with:

gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)

EDIT: After iwconfig wlan0 essid <your_essid> key <your_key>, you should run "dhcpcd wlan0".
If it still fails, depending on your desktop environment you could try GUI network managers like wicd, gnomenetworkmanager or knetworkmanager.

Last edited by arkham (2009-07-31 23:29:38)

keither · 2009-07-31 23:40:53

# iwconfig wlan0 essid Apt106 key blah blah blah
# dhcpcd wlan0
dhcpcd: version 5.0.6 starting
dhcpcd: wlan0: waiting for carrier
dhcpcd: timed out

arkham · 2009-07-31 23:48:35

What is the output of "iwconfig" after the iwconfig line?

keither · 2009-07-31 23:52:46

No output, just goes to the next line.

arkham · 2009-08-01 00:03:13

If you type "iwconfig" and press enter, what happens?

keither · 2009-08-01 00:06:01

# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:"Apt106"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Tx-Power=15 dBm
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:1CDF-AC5C-BEC7-C829-9510-5FB6-00   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

eth0      no wireless extensions.

arkham · 2009-08-01 00:17:35

The "Link Quality:0" part makes me think you are not correctly associated to the AP
Are you sure you are writing the key correctly? Correct commands are:
- iwconfig wlan0 essid <foo> key <key in hexadecimal>
- iwconfig wlan0 essid <foo> key s:<key in ascii>

keither · 2009-08-01 00:22:14

I think so. It's a 128-bit hex wep, and the full command is

iwconfig wlan0 essid Apt106 key 1CDFAC5CBEC7C82995105FB600

and an identical command worked beautifully on the live cd.

keither · 2009-08-01 02:34:36

Oh, I never noticed this because it's a new machine, but this machine has a wifi light in the upper right hand corner, and it never turns on even though (and believe me I've triple-checked this) I've switched to external wifi switch to the on position. To satisfy my curiosity, I put the live cd back in after I saw this and the wireless light did come on (when I typed "ifconfig wlan0 up") and I was able to get on like before. So what does this mean for the configuration on my install? Did I screw up the drivers after all?

(Edited because I initially thought I couldn't get on from the live cd now, but I had just made an error)

Last edited by keither (2009-08-01 02:45:44)

keither · 2009-08-01 02:54:05

Update: Okay, well, after I did the live disk experiment I restarted and I was connected to the internet. I'm not marking this solved though, because I have no idea what happened there.

okczenaj · 2009-08-05 23:41:39

I have the same problem on hp 6530b with intel wifi 5100. When I boot archlinux from cd and write command:

- ifconfig wlan0 up

Wifi starts working and i can connect internet.

When i boot from fresh install from this cd and invoke the same command wifi doesn't starts, and say there is no such file.

I checked iwlagn loaded modules and messages from kernel and everything seems be the same except wifi on fresh install won't come up.

Thanks for any help.

keither · 2009-08-05 23:58:02

I updated mine to solved because I'm pretty sure I had just put the switch in the wrong direction without realizing it or something stupid like that, since I have had no problems since then and I've connected to several different networks.

okczenaj, I think you should probably start your own thread if you want better responses, but I'll give it a shot. What does it show when you type

ifconfig wlan0

okczenaj · 2009-08-06 05:59:59

iwconfig wlan0 > iwconfig.txt

wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:""  
          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:off
          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

And after invoking command ifconfig wlan0 up
dmesg | grep iwl:

iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation
iwlagn 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
iwlagn 0000:02:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
iwlagn: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100AGN REV=0x54
iwlagn: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 24 802.11a channels
iwlagn 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A disabled
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
iwlagn 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
iwlagn 0000:02:00.0: restoring config space at offset 0x1 (was 0x100002, writing 0x100006)
iwlagn 0000:02:00.0: irq 761 for MSI/MSI-X
iwlagn 0000:02:00.0: firmware: requesting iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode
iwlagn: iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode firmware file req failed: Reason -2
iwlagn: Could not read microcode: -2
iwlagn 0000:02:00.0: PCI INT A disabled

When I boot from cd everything is the same until line:

iwlagn: iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode firmware file req failed: Reason -2

keither · 2009-08-06 06:06:13

I'm not the most qualified to help you here, since I've been using Linux for about 2 weeks. Unfortunately, I'm probably the only person still checking this thread. I think you'll have more success if you start a new thread.

Good luck!

Arch Linux

#1 2009-07-31 10:47:59

Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#2 2009-07-31 11:18:17

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#3 2009-07-31 16:28:34

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#4 2009-07-31 23:19:49

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#5 2009-07-31 23:24:47

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#6 2009-07-31 23:40:53

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#7 2009-07-31 23:48:35

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#8 2009-07-31 23:52:46

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#9 2009-08-01 00:03:13

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#10 2009-08-01 00:06:01

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#11 2009-08-01 00:17:35

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#12 2009-08-01 00:22:14

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#13 2009-08-01 02:34:36

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#14 2009-08-01 02:54:05

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#15 2009-08-05 23:41:39

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#16 2009-08-05 23:58:02

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#17 2009-08-06 05:59:59

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

#18 2009-08-06 06:06:13

Re: Trouble with wireless networking on fresh install [SOLVED]

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