Arch Linux

bluflame_ignite

Member

Registered: 2009-10-31

Posts: 4

can't associate access point

I'm somewhat new to linux, but I'm trying to avoid cliche noob-isms. I've done some research and read a lot of forums and helped myself to a point, but now I'm stuck getting wifi to work. Here's the deal...

I'm running arch on an old laptop with a broadcom 4306 wifi card. At first I had problems with the firmware, evidenced by

[mkeller@archbox]$ sudo dmesg -c > /dev/null
Password:

[mkeller@archbox]$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory


[mkeller@archbox]$ sudo dmesg -c
b43legacy ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43legacy/ucode4.fw
b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: Firmware file "b43legacy/ucode4.fw" not found or load failed.
b43legacy-phy0 ERROR: You must go to http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Drivers/b43#devicefirmware and download the correct firmware (version 3).

so i followed the instructions at linuxwireless.org and now i can

ifconfig wlan0 up

no errors, and it shows up in ifconfig. so now I try to associate with the access point

[mkeller@archbox ~]$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "2wire868" key #mykey#
Password:
[mkeller@archbox ~]$ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:"2wire868"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Tx-Power=27 dBm
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr: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

so I'm not associated with the WAP. i also tried

[mkeller@archbox ~]$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "2wire868" key s:#mykey#

which I found was the syntax for a WEP passphrase (mine is just a string of numbers, which I'm assuming is a hex key not an ASCII passphrase) but same results.

So I got on to the WAP with eth0 and removed the wireless security altogether. Then I tried

[mkeller@archbox ~]$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "2wire868"

and same results. Note that I've also tried 2wire868 (without the quotes) since I've seen it both ways on forums.

So any help would be appreciated. please be specific and just assume that I don't know how to use any command...spell it out for me.

bluflame_ignite

Member

Registered: 2009-10-31

Posts: 4

Re: can't associate access point

any ideas?

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: can't associate access point

Try to connect again (leave the encryption off for now) and check /var/log/everything.log for clues.

If you're not sure what you're looking at paste the relevant lines here.

Also, does 'iwlist wlan0 scan' give you result(s)?

bluflame_ignite

Member

Registered: 2009-10-31

Posts: 4

Re: can't associate access point

here's the last few lines of everything.log

Nov  3 20:27:56 archbox kernel: b43legacy ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43legacy/ucode4.fw
Nov  3 20:27:56 archbox kernel: b43legacy ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43legacy/pcm4.fw
Nov  3 20:27:56 archbox kernel: b43legacy ssb0:0: firmware: requesting b43legacy/b0g0initvals2.fw
Nov  3 20:27:56 archbox kernel: b43legacy-phy0: Loading firmware version 0x127, patch level 14 (2005-04-18 02:36:27)
Nov  3 20:27:56 archbox kernel: Registered led device: b43legacy-phy0::radio
Nov  3 20:27:56 archbox kernel: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

when I iwconfig wlan0 scan, I can see my WAP (and all my neighbor's WAP's).

BTW, I know the router and wireless works. my MSWindows laptop is connected. And I know the card on this laptop works: It's usable from puppy or ubuntu live cd.