dhcpcd is timing out.

rednano12 · 2009-10-25 19:57:06

Hello World (of Arch Linux awesomeness)!

I recently managed to acquire the guts to install the Arch OS which I had been hearing about a lot recently. I followed all of the instructions in the installer and the beginner's wiki, and now have a fresh install of Arch. Most of the choices I made were the defaults.

Now, this is the point that the beginner's wiki told me to set up my internet. I have an Airlink 101 card (awlh3028) which uses an rtl8185 chipset. From messing with this for a while in Ubuntu, I learned that the best way to get it working is using the Windows 98 drivers with ndiswrapper. I did that, and it worked.

When I backed up, I migrated everything to a data partition I have... except for the drivers. >.< Stupid me. Thankfully, I still have the cd with the drivers. I mounted the cd onto /media/cd. I then mounted my data partition onto /media/data. Then I ran the following command:

cp /media/cd/Drivers/Win98 /media/data/drivers

No dice. I tried moving the *.inf and *.sys files one-by-one. Still no dice.

Okay then, I thought. I told ndiswrapper to use the files off of the CD directly. I ran the following commands:

ndiswrapper -i /media/cd/Drivers/Win98
ndiswrapper -l
ndiswrapper -m
depmod -a
modprobe ndiswrapper

Then I edited my /etc/rc.conf and included ndiswrapper as a module.

Now

iwlist wlan0 scan

still gives me the error message:

Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

And at this point, I turn to the Arch Linux community I keep hearing so much praise about. I am by no means an experienced user, but if I don't understand something, I don't hesitate to look it up. Please help me.

Thank you!

Last edited by rednano12 (2009-10-26 01:17:40)

R00KIE · 2009-10-26 00:10:45

Try this (as root or with sudo) before scanning

ifconfig wlan0 up

gog · 2009-10-26 01:16:04

Post the output of ndiswrapper -l

rednano12 · 2009-10-26 01:16:41

Okay, achieved a bit more. Upon restart, the scan worked. >.< Silly me. Now, however, there is another issue. I can see my router, but I cannot connect to it. I run

iwconfig wlan0 essid 2WIREXXX key (WEP key)

.

Then I run:

dhcpcd wlan0

Which times out. If I ping google, it times out.

I then ran the following

/etc/rc.d/network restart

It stopped fine. But when starting, I got the following error:

dhcpcd: timed out

So how do I fix this? It seems to be a dhcpcd error. I have version 5.0.6.

gog · 2009-10-26 01:25:02

After associating, post iwconfig wlan0

Edit /etc/conf.d/dhcpcd and add -t 60

DHCPCD_ARGS="-q -t 60"

rednano12 · 2009-10-26 02:01:03

At fresh reboot after the change made to /etc/conf.d/dhcpcd

IEEE 802.11g ESSID: off/any
Mode:auto Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate: 54 Mb/s Tx-Power: 20dBm Sensitivity=0/3
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
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

It's the exact same after the

iwconfig wlan0 essid (router) key (WEP key), and the timed out dhcpcd wlan0

SoleSoul · 2009-10-26 02:32:50

Just to make sure, Is dhcp tuned on in the router?
If yes, you don't have to answer

rednano12 · 2009-10-26 03:00:02

Yes, DHCP is enabled...

SoleSoul · 2009-10-26 03:03:00

when does it time out? when waiting for carrier?

gog · 2009-10-26 04:13:01

rednano12 wrote:

At fresh reboot after the change made to /etc/conf.d/dhcpcd

IEEE 802.11g ESSID: off/any
Mode:auto Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate: 54 Mb/s Tx-Power: 20dBm Sensitivity=0/3
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
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

Dont post the output after booting, I mean after associating:

Bring the interface up: "ifconfig wlan0 up"

Do "iwconfig wlan0 essid whatever key whatever" to try to associate with the access point first...

If after trying to associate "iwconfig wlan0" says "Access Point: Not-Associated" then keep retrying to associate (I remember that I had to do this with the latest install CD, it got fixed after updating the kernel/dhcpcd).

After it successfully associates (Access Point: so and so), post the output of "iwconfig wlan0"

The "-t 60" you copied into /etc/conf.d/dhcpcd increases the timeout to 60 secs, try increasing it.

e: Until you fix it with manual network setup, disable the network daemon in rc.conf. Something is telling me that /etc/conf.d/wireless isn't set up properly

And to make it a little easier on you: you don't have to reboot after dhcpcd/network modifications. ndiswrapper worked after rebooting because the alias (/etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper.conf) and the module (modprobe ndiswrapper) weren't set. Remember, Linux seldom needs to reboot.

Last edited by gog (2009-10-26 04:26:33)

rednano12 · 2009-10-26 21:00:03

Don't post the output after booting, I mean after associating:
Bring the interface up: "ifconfig wlan0 up"

I get no info ater this, is this natural?

Do "iwconfig wlan0 essid whatever key whatever" to try to associate with the access point first...
If after trying to associate "iwconfig wlan0" says "Access Point: Not-Associated" then keep retrying to associate (I remember that I had to do this with the latest install CD, it got fixed after updating the kernel/dhcpcd).

No dice. No matter how many times I try to run that command, I still get the info that my Access Point is Not Associated. I have a flash drive. Could I mount the drive with the newest dhcpcd and kernel and run

 pacman -U /path/to/dhcpcd

The "-t 60" you copied into /etc/conf.d/dhcpcd increases the timeout to 60 secs, try increasing it.

No dice there. Still nothing.

e: Until you fix it with manual network setup, disable the network daemon in rc.conf. Something is telling me that /etc/conf.d/wireless isn't set up properly

Without the wireless daemon, how am I supposed to connect at all? And every line of my /etc/conf.d/wireless is commented out. How should I fix this?

gog · 2009-10-26 22:27:08

Read the beginners guide and networking guide/wireless in the wiki. The network daemon wont work for you unless you set up /etc/conf.d/wireless

You dont need the network daemon for now since you'll be doing manual connection (the daemon brings the interface up and associates, among other things -- the same things you're doing atm).

Since that file isnt set up properly, I think that theres a good chance that you overlooked other ones. Read the guides and configure everything...

Also, post ndiswrapper -l

(And something is telling me that the easiest solution would be to install dhclient using the install CD... if you want to do this, mount it as squashfs and see the pacman wiki for local repository)

e: and it's normal that ifconfig interfacename up doesnt say anything. Oh and some drivers have trouble connecting with WPA and other fancy stuff... test if it works on an open connection, update the system and see if you can afford reenabling security.

Last edited by gog (2009-10-26 22:31:41)

rednano12 · 2009-10-26 23:02:05

I read both of those, but the Wireless wiki only mentions /etc/conf.d/wireless once, and with very little info about it. I will gladly add the necessary section to it once I get it working. In the meantime, I found a similar source on the Gentoo wiki. http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Wireless/Configuration They seem to use /etc/conf.d/net . Should Arch do the same? Can I follow the instructions on the Gentoo wiki?

Last edited by rednano12 (2009-10-26 23:09:55)

gog · 2009-10-26 23:10:39

No, you need to set it up in /etc/conf.d/wireless. Gentoo uses a different daemon setup/initscript

That's for once you can reliably use the daemon to connect

Since we are trouble shooting, I think it's better to manually connect

The wireless wiki says how to edit it, after you have, try the rest of the stuff

Last edited by gog (2009-10-26 23:11:21)

rednano12 · 2009-10-26 23:19:26

Okay then...

This is getting frustrating. I'm following the Wiki, but nothing happens. Could you please show me what to CTRL-F in the wiki to get optimal results? I keep getting the error message that dhcpcd is timing out, even with a timeout of 600.

ndiswrapper -l

net8185: driver installed
device (10EC:8185) present (alternate driver: rtl8180)

I have a rtl8185 chipset. Is the 8180 backup causing problems?

I just thought I'd post my /etc/conf.d/wireless

wlan_wlan0="wlan0 essid whatever key whatever"

The rest is all commented out. I think there's more to it, but I can't find it in the wiki.

Last edited by rednano12 (2009-10-28 02:04:18)

rednano12 · 2009-10-28 11:26:36

Whenever I try

/etc/rc.d/network restart

It keeps telling me to increase my timeout. If it's already at 600, does it matter?

grey · 2009-10-28 12:09:54

As gog has pointed out multiple times, using the scripts (like /etc/rc.d/network) is pointless until you have figured out how to connect manually to your wireless access point.

I found the following useful post on a debian forum when I tried to configure wireless access on a machine running debian. The scripts / config files differ, but the principle is the same

Configuring a wireless interface from the command line is a little more involved than just using dhclient. Follow the following steps:
(1)make certain the kernel module has all that it needs (firmware)
(2)make certain the interface is turned on (use ifconfig and look for the word UP)
(3)Use iwconfig to set the access point you wish to connect with. You can also set a WEP key here if you are using simple encryption. More complex forms of encryption will require installing and configuring wpa_supplicant.
(4) Now you can use dhclient.

BTW on debian my problem turned out to be an incorrect config file. So I would comment out all lines in /etc/conf.d/wireless until the problem is fixed.

You're currently stuck at (3), and as long as iwconfig wlan0 tells you "access point: not associated" you won't be able to make progress (as far as I know. I'm not an expert on this).

To check (1) you can unplug and then reinsert the wireless card and then have a look at the output of dmesg. It should tell you if the kernel recognized the card and which driver is used for it. Let us know what the results are.

gog · 2009-10-28 12:57:46

^^ while it's true that he doesn't need to adjust /.../conf.d/wireless, telling him not to do it after explaining it over 2 days is probably going to confuse the hell out of him

Have you blacklisted the kernel module, the one ndiswrapper is replacing?

What about dhclient/disabling security? (before installling dhclient you could boot the arch cd and see if it works)

Have you tried connecting with a static ip instead of dhcpcd?

Are there other computers succesfully connecting to that router?

And one dumb mistake that got me when I first bought my netbook: have you enabled the wireless adapter with fn+key? It came disabled by default on my u100!

e: nvm, apparently you have a desktop

Anyways, you're using ndiswrapper because it worked in Ubuntu, but arch uses a newer kernel. Have you tried connecting with the kernel module, if any?

Last edited by gog (2009-10-28 13:02:34)

grey · 2009-10-28 13:10:11

I didn't mean to confuse anyone (obviously). The point was to avoid a possible cause of the problem. My problem on Debian turned out to be that the key information in /etc/network.d/interfaces contradicted the one I provided via iwconfig. So to avoid that type of problem I'd take the config files out of the equation until things work, then add them back in again.

Edit: I didn't say "don't adjust that file", I said "comment out all lines until the problem is solved". It's what I would do myself.

Last edited by grey (2009-10-28 13:12:51)

rednano12 · 2009-10-28 21:01:55

gog wrote:

Have you blacklisted the kernel module, the one ndiswrapper is replacing?

No, I have not. I will try that next.

gog wrote:

What about dhclient/disabling security? (before installling dhclient you could boot the arch cd and see if it works)

Forgive me if this sounds noobish, but how can I test it from liveCD? I need to reboot for ndiswrapper to function properly, as shown earlier.

gog wrote:

Have you tried connecting with a static ip instead of dhcpcd?

Will try that soon as well.

gog wrote:

Are there other computers succesfully connecting to that router?

Several.

gog wrote:

Anyways, you're using ndiswrapper because it worked in Ubuntu, but arch uses a newer kernel. Have you tried connecting with the kernel module, if any?

I don't really understand this... How do I connect with a kernel module?

gog · 2009-10-28 21:52:27

i mean using the kernel module for your adapter instead of using ndiswrapper.

read this thread http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1207792 it explains the live cd ndiswrapper procedure

E:uh, I just remembered that you're not associating in the first place so trying dhclient or static ip is pointless

sry for wasting your time. Anyways, try connecting wired and download updates/disable encryption temporarily? Or try the kernel module...

it could also be that you're getting the iwconfig syntax incorrectly...

Last edited by gog (2009-10-28 22:02:25)

rednano12 · 2009-10-28 22:48:55

I already posted the iwconfig syntax I'm using. I don't think that can be it...

I don't believe there is a kernel module. I found this: http://gajon.org/installing-realtek-rtl … less-card/ >.< Literally 2 months after my first adventure with Ubuntu. Looks like you have to compile it from source, and I don't have make/build-essentials etc. installed. This is so frustrating... I just want my dream system.

gog · 2009-10-28 23:50:14

find out what ndiswrapper version worked with ubuntu and install it

might try changing the kernel too

rednano12 · 2009-10-29 00:46:28

Same ndiswrapper version.

I think the best thing to do would be to update... Is there a way I can take the newest ndiswrapper/kernel/dhcpcd/whatever else I need and use that? I just want my internet to work...

toad · 2009-10-29 19:35:03

Not having read the whole thread properly I apologize if I repeat whatever...

BUT dhcpcd has so far nothing but failed for me - install dhclient and everything works a treat - well, it works for me without timeouts, dropped connections et al. Hell, it just works

Arch Linux

#1 2009-10-25 19:57:06

dhcpcd is timing out.

#2 2009-10-26 00:10:45

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#3 2009-10-26 01:16:04

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#4 2009-10-26 01:16:41

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#5 2009-10-26 01:25:02

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#6 2009-10-26 02:01:03

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#7 2009-10-26 02:32:50

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#8 2009-10-26 03:00:02

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#9 2009-10-26 03:03:00

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#10 2009-10-26 04:13:01

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#11 2009-10-26 21:00:03

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#12 2009-10-26 22:27:08

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#13 2009-10-26 23:02:05

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#14 2009-10-26 23:10:39

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#15 2009-10-26 23:19:26

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#16 2009-10-28 11:26:36

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#17 2009-10-28 12:09:54

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#18 2009-10-28 12:57:46

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#19 2009-10-28 13:10:11

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#20 2009-10-28 21:01:55

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#21 2009-10-28 21:52:27

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#22 2009-10-28 22:48:55

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#23 2009-10-28 23:50:14

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#24 2009-10-29 00:46:28

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

#25 2009-10-29 19:35:03

Re: dhcpcd is timing out.

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