[SOLVED]Wireless problems

jed833 · 2012-04-30 02:20:04

I have been trying to finish an install of Arch Linux on my laptop, but I cannot get any sort of wireless working. I've tried setting my wlan0 up, and then using using "dhcpcd wlan0", but I keep getting timed out. By the way in case its important, I am dual booting this with a copy of Windows 7 that does successfully connect to the internet.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Last edited by jed833 (2012-04-30 05:30:14)

ewaller · 2012-04-30 02:25:59

Well... That is the last step. First, you need to be associated with an access point.
Tell us about your network. Do you own the router? Is it Open? If not, Is it WEP, WPA, or WPA2.

Please post the output of the following three commands.

ip addr
ifconfig
and (as root)
iwlist scan

jed833 · 2012-04-30 02:39:40

I do not own the router, I live at a university so they have control over it. It doesnt have WEP or WPA on it.

ip addr:

1: lo: <LOOPBACK, UP LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN 
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 08:2e:5f:84:e4:a1 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3. wlan0: <NO-CARRIER, BROADCAST, MULTICAST,UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state DOWN qlen 1000
    link/ether 20:10:7a:27:42:56 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

ifconfig "command not found"

iwlist "command not found"

thanks for replying

Last edited by jed833 (2012-04-30 02:40:05)

ewaller · 2012-04-30 03:02:09

Sorry, that second command should have been iwconfig. No matter, I don't think you have it installed either

You need to read Part 2 of the Wireless Setup Wiki Article
Your card shows up already, so you can skip part 1. You need the wireless_tools installed in accordance with that article before you can go any further.

jed833 · 2012-04-30 03:11:16

Ok so then i need to go reinstall arch, because I dont have the internet and cant use pacman to do it?

ewaller · 2012-04-30 03:17:12

Not really necessary.
Take a look at the article on how to install packages off-line

It is even easier if you can find a wired connection.

jed833 · 2012-04-30 03:49:27

ok so I installed wireless_tools

now

iwconfig

lo            no wireless extensions

eth0         no wireless extensions

wlan0      IEE 802.11bgn ESSID:off/any
              Mode: Managed Access point: Not-Associated              Tx-Power=20 dBm
              Retry long limit: 7      RTS thr=2347 B          Fragment thr:off
              Encryption key:off
              Power Management:off

iwlist scan:

Address: 00:1c:57:e1:c4:f0
Channel:11
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=59/70   Signal Level=-51 dBm
Encryption key:off
ESSID:"asu"
Bit Rates:5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 12Mb/s
               18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s 
Bit Rates:48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
mode:Master
Extra:tsf=0000015cc1ad520b
Extra: Last beacon 6156ms ago
IE: Unknown: 0003617375
IE: Unknown: 01088B0C129618243048
IE: Unknown: 03010B
IE: Unknown: 0706555320010B1E

ewaller · 2012-04-30 04:32:45

Okay, this should be easy. They have no encryption, so you can put it up by hand with (as root):

iwconfig wlan0 essid="asu"

Then, do an iwconfig wlan0
and see if has associated with the AP. If so, the output will include "Access Point:" followed by the MAC of the AP. Below is mine:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:"Woodlyn"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: C4:3D:C7:5D:EB:8D   
          Bit Rate=48 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=52/70  Signal level=-58 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:48  Invalid misc:927   Missed beacon:0

If that is all good, you are ready for dhcpcd wlan0

Once that works, you are ready to automate this ... More on that later.

jed833 · 2012-04-30 04:39:46

alright well I used iwconfig wlan0 essid="asu", but now my output for iwconfig wlan0 shows the essid as asu, but the AP says "not-associated"

ewaller · 2012-04-30 04:58:50

Grrr.
Try: iwconfig wlan0 mode managed and see if that helps.
Also, try forcing it to update with iwconfig wlan0 commit (Although this command is not really needed in most cases)

If it still won't associate, try forcing the frequency, power output, etc... See the output of man iwconfig
If it still won't associate, try ip link set wlan0 down followed by ip link set wlan0 up (both as root)

edit: I am out for the night. Workday tomorrow

Last edited by ewaller (2012-04-30 05:01:21)

jed833 · 2012-04-30 05:07:20

I finally got it working after restarting, and repeating the procedure, Thanks so much for your help!

Last edited by jed833 (2012-04-30 05:29:48)

Arch Linux

#1 2012-04-30 02:20:04

[SOLVED]Wireless problems

#2 2012-04-30 02:25:59

Re: [SOLVED]Wireless problems

#3 2012-04-30 02:39:40

Re: [SOLVED]Wireless problems

#4 2012-04-30 03:02:09

Re: [SOLVED]Wireless problems

#5 2012-04-30 03:11:16

Re: [SOLVED]Wireless problems

#6 2012-04-30 03:17:12

Re: [SOLVED]Wireless problems

#7 2012-04-30 03:49:27

Re: [SOLVED]Wireless problems

#8 2012-04-30 04:32:45

Re: [SOLVED]Wireless problems

#9 2012-04-30 04:39:46

Re: [SOLVED]Wireless problems

#10 2012-04-30 04:58:50

Re: [SOLVED]Wireless problems

#11 2012-04-30 05:07:20

Re: [SOLVED]Wireless problems

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