Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

mcmillan · 2006-09-14 21:28:10

I just got a new DWL-G520 adapter which is working fine with windows, but I can't quite figure out what I need to do to get it working in Arch, though I've tried following the instructions on the wiki page.

I have the madwifi drivers installed.

The relevant lines to the network in my rc.conf are:

lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
eth0="dhcp"
ath0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(lo !eth0 ath0)

In /etc/conf/wireless I have:

wlan_ath0="ath0 essid Actiontec"

iwconfig gives me :

lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wifi0 no wireless extensions.
ath0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"Actiontec"
Mode:Managed Channel:0 Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power:18 dBm Sensitivity=0/3
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=0/94 Signal level=-95 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:2052 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
sit0 no wireless extensions.

With these settings when I try to start the network I get a dhcp error listed in /var/log/errors

I came across a couple forum posts where people suggested setting the IP address statically rather than using dhcp, though I'm really not sure how to go about trying this. Any help in figuring out how to get wireless to work is appreciated.

tomk · 2006-09-14 21:36:02

What's the output of

iwlist ath0 scan

mcmillan · 2006-09-14 21:42:13

Sorry, I meant to include that too. It says No scan results.

mcmillan · 2006-09-16 05:33:07

So I spent a little time with some LiveCDs I had laying around. None worked with my adapter, but they each behaved a little differently. I don't know if it will help any but here's what I got.

With Slax I had to bring up ath0 manually, but then it behaved like Arch initially, though at small difference in the listing of iwconfig. It says the access point is Invalid instead of Not-Associated

Then when I was playing around in KDE I found a tool which let me set my IP manually. When I did this iwlist now gives:

ath0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:0F:B3:24:34:65
ESSID:"ACTIONTEC"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=21/94 Signal level=-74 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Encryption key:off
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=200
Cell 02 - Address: 00:0F:66:40:A2:7E
ESSID:""
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=3/94 Signal level=-92 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100

I'm not sure if I'm interpreting this right, but I think it's detecting two networks. The first one seems like the router in my house (it's an actiontec router). The second is probably a neighbors that's I'm picking up. Even though it is finding my network I can't seem to connect to it. Looking at the KDE wifi manager it was seeing this two networks, but said it was too weak to connect, which I find odd since in windows it gets a decent signal. Any reason to expect windows to be more sensitive? Anyway I might try setting up the computer in my kitchen temporarily to see if it will connect just as a test of this when it's right next to the router.

Since setting the IP address seemed to be an improvment I figure I should try that in Arch, though I like I said before I'm not clear how to do that, other than trying to get KDE packages installed and using the same tool, but I'd rather not resort to that, if for no other reason than I'd like to know how to do that without gui tools. I'll be doing some searching for that, but any pointers are appreciated.

With a Xubuntu Dapper beta CD it behaved like Slax straight away without having to manually set the IP address, though only picked up the first cell when I tried iwlist.

I was thinking maybe some kernel module might not be loading, though it seems to have what seems to be obvious ones to me. Anyone see anything missing?

Module Size Used by
ipv6 243232 10
nls_cp437 5760 1
vfat 10880 1
fat 47644 1 vfat
snd_seq_oss 31360 0
snd_seq_midi_event 6528 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 50256 4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
shpchp 36520 0
pci_hotplug 27588 1 shpchp
usbhid 48928 0
snd_pcm_oss 37664 0
snd_mixer_oss 16128 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_via82xx 24088 1
gameport 11656 1 snd_via82xx
snd_ac97_codec 93216 1 snd_via82xx
snd_ac97_bus 2304 1 snd_ac97_codec
r1000 16256 0
wlan_scan_sta 12672 0
joydev 8384 0
evdev 8192 0
ppdev 7812 0
lp 9732 0
snd_pcm 76292 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer 19972 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 8072 2 snd_via82xx,snd_pcm
snd_mpu401_uart 6656 1 snd_via82xx
snd_rawmidi 20256 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 6796 3 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_rawmidi
snd 45924 13 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_via82xx,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
soundcore 7776 1 snd
ath_pci 88736 0
ath_rate_sample 13568 1 ath_pci
wlan 189532 4 wlan_scan_sta,ath_pci,ath_rate_sample
ath_hal 189904 3 ath_pci,ath_rate_sample
r8169 24584 0
amd64_agp 10436 1
rtc 10676 0
ehci_hcd 29576 0
ppp_generic 24852 0
slhc 6528 1 ppp_generic
pcspkr 2816 0
nvidia 4529108 12
agpgart 26980 2 amd64_agp,nvidia
parport_pc 24484 1
uhci_hcd 20620 0
i2c_viapro 7828 0
i2c_core 17536 2 nvidia,i2c_viapro
serio_raw 5764 0
usbcore 113536 4 usbhid,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
xfs 594228 0
reiserfs 250880 0
jfs 183420 0
ext3 128648 2
jbd 56084 1 ext3
sata_qstor 7684 0
sata_promise 9220 0
sata_sil24 9476 0
sata_nv 6916 0
sata_mv 16392 0
sata_vsc 6020 0
sata_via 6020 0
sata_uli 4996 0
sata_svw 5764 0
sata_sx4 11652 0
sata_sis 5636 0
sata_sil 7432 0
DAC960 69832 0
cciss 30212 0
sx8 15756 0
cpqarray 19172 0
mptfc 10120 0
mptspi 13196 0
mptsas 19980 0
mptctl 22788 0
mptscsih 19968 3 mptfc,mptspi,mptsas
mptbase 46688 5 mptfc,mptspi,mptsas,mptctl,mptscsih
megaraid_mbox 28560 0
megaraid_sas 23468 0
megaraid_mm 9252 1 megaraid_mbox
ata_piix 9732 0
osst 51104 0
megaraid 37064 0
sym53c8xx 70804 0
atp870u 30592 0
aha152x 36688 0
aic79xx 273112 0
aic7xxx 176564 0
ahci 12932 0
pdc_adma 7556 0
libata 60940 15 sata_qstor,sata_promise,sata_sil24,sata_nv,sata_mv,sata_vsc,sata_via,sata_uli,sata_svw,sata_sx4,sata_sis,sata_sil,ata_piix,ahci,pdc_adma
raid_class 4992 0
nsp32 23316 0
aacraid 56960 0
ipr 59300 0
imm 10888 0
parport 33480 4 ppdev,lp,parport_pc,imm
3w_xxxx 24736 0
tmscsim 20800 0
dc395x 32656 0
3w_9xxx 30724 0
a100u2w 9280 0
BusLogic 22708 0
sr_mod 14756 0
qlogicfas408 6272 0
st 35612 0
sg 27036 0
dmx3191d 11264 0
lpfc 166080 0
scsi_transport_sas 21248 1 mptsas
qla1280 116620 0
sd_mod 16768 0
ide_floppy 16256 0
ide_cd 36256 0
cdrom 35616 2 sr_mod,ide_cd
ide_disk 14208 7
via82cxxx 8580 0 [permanent]
trm290 4100 0 [permanent]
triflex 3328 0 [permanent]
slc90e66 5248 0 [permanent]
sis5513 13064 0 [permanent]
siimage 10496 0 [permanent]
serverworks 8072 0 [permanent]
sc1200 6656 0 [permanent]
rz1000 2560 0 [permanent]
piix 9476 0 [permanent]
pdc202xx_old 9856 0 [permanent]
pdc202xx_new 8448 0 [permanent]
ns87415 4040 0 [permanent]
it821x 7684 0 [permanent]
hpt366 17792 0 [permanent]
hpt34x 4608 0 [permanent]
generic 4356 0 [permanent]
cy82c693 4228 0 [permanent]
cs5530 5120 0 [permanent]
cmd64x 10652 0 [permanent]
atiixp 5392 0 [permanent]
amd74xx 13596 0 [permanent]
alim15x3 11148 0 [permanent]
aec62xx 6656 0 [permanent]
ide_core 113736 27 ide_floppy,ide_cd,ide_disk,via82cxxx,trm290,triflex,slc90e66,sis5513,siimage,serverworks,sc1200,rz1000,piix,pdc202xx_old,pdc202xx_new,ns87415,it821x,hpt366,hpt34x,generic,cy82c693,cs5530,cmd64x,atiixp,amd74xx,alim15x3,aec62xx

mcmillan · 2006-09-16 20:04:53

I managed to figure out how to set my IP in arch manually, though right now I have to do that each time I boot, I haven't managed to edit rc.conf to get it to do so automatically. I suppose I can add a line to rc.local if nothing else. With this set iwlist scan looks exactly like it did in slax. What I tried was changing the line in rc.conf to read :

ath0="192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255" | ath0="dhcp"

I tried booting up slax one more time before I moved my computer. This time it can connect just fine. Maybe I was just getting a weak signal for a little while yesterday. If it helps to translate any settings into an Arch equivalent here's what Slax has in /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.conf:

# Wireless LAN adapter configuration
#
# Theory of operation :
#
# The script attempts to match a block of settings to the specific wireless
# card inserted, the *first* block matching the card is used.
# The address format is "hwaddr", with * as a wildcard.
# 'hwaddr' is the unique MAC address identifier of the wireless card.
# The MAC address is usually printed on the card, or can be found via ifconfig.
# Some examples here use only half of the MAC address with a wildcard to
# match a whole family of cards...
#
# All the Wireless specific configuration is done through the Wireless
# Extensions, so we will just call 'iwconfig' with the right parameters
# defined below.
# Of course, you need to have iwconfig installled on your system.
# To download iwconfig, or for more info on Wireless Extensions :
# http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Jean_Tou … Tools.html
#
# Note : you don't need to fill all parameters, leave them blank, in most
# cases the driver will initialise itself with sane defaults values or
# automatically figure out the value... And no drivers do support all
# possible settings...
#
# -- This is a modified '/etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts' script --
# -- I added sections for Prism/GT and Atheros based cards --
# -- (supported by the prism54 and madwifi drivers) --
# -- 16/sep/2004 * Eric Hameleers --
#
VERBOSE=1
case "$HWADDR" in
## NOTE : Comment out the following five lines to activate the samples below ...
## --------- START SECTION TO REMOVE -----------
## Pick up any Access Point, should work on most 802.11 cards
*)
INFO="Any ESSID"
ESSID="any"
;;
## ---------- END SECTION TO REMOVE ------------

# Here are a few examples with a few Wireless LANs supported...
# The matching is done on the first 3 bytes of the MAC address
# SMC2835W EZ Connect g 2.4GHz 54 Mbps Wireless Cardbus Adapter
00:04:E2:*)
INFO="SMC2835W EZ Connect g 2.4GHz 54 Mbps Wireless Cardbus Adapter"
# ESSID (extended network name) : My Network, any
ESSID="any"
# NWID/Domain (cell identifier) : 89AB, 100, off
NWID=""
# Operation mode : Ad-Hoc, Managed, Master, Repeater, Secondary, auto
MODE="Managed"
# Frequency or channel : 1, 2, 3 (channel) ; 2.422G, 2.46G (frequency)
FREQ=""
CHANNEL="7"
# Sensitivity (cell size + roaming speed) : 1, 2, 3 ; -70 (dBm)
SENS=""
# Bit rate : auto, 1M, 11M,54M
RATE="auto"
# Encryption key : 4567-89AB-CD, s:password
# Example for 40-bit encryption:
#KEY="883e-aa67-21 [1] key 5501-d0da-87 [2] key 91f5-3368-6b [3] key 2d73-31b7-96 [4]"
# Example for 104-bit encryption (aka 128-bit WEP):
#KEY="d5ad2f05abd048ecf10b1c80c7"
KEY=""
# RTS threshold : off, 500
RTS=""
# Fragmentation threshold : off, 1000
FRAG=""
# Other iwconfig parameters : power off, ap 01:23:45:67:89:AB
IWCONFIG=""
# iwspy parameters : + 01:23:45:67:89:AB
IWSPY=""
# iwpriv parameters : set_port 2, set_histo 50 60
IWPRIV=""
;;
# Multiband Atheros based 802.11a/b/g universal NIC cards
00:05:4E:*)
INFO="Multiband Atheros based 802.11a/b/g universal NIC"
# ESSID (extended network name) : My Network, any
ESSID=""
# Operation mode : Ad-Hoc, Managed, Master, Repeater, Secondary, auto
MODE="Managed"
# Frequency or channel : 1, 2, 3 (channel) ; 2.422G, 2.46G (frequency)
FREQ=""
CHANNEL="7"
# Bit rate : auto, 1M, 11M,54M
RATE="auto"
# Encryption key : 4567-89AB-CD, s:password
# Example for 40-bit encryption:
#KEY="883e-aa67-21 [1] key 5501-d0da-87 [2] key 91f5-3368-6b [3] key 2d73-31b7-96 [4]"
# Example for 104-bit encryption (aka 128-bit WEP):
#KEY="d5ad2f05abd048ecf10b1c80c7"
KEY=""
# Other iwconfig parameters : power off, ap 01:23:45:67:89:AB
IWCONFIG=""
# iwspy parameters : + 01:23:45:67:89:AB
IWSPY=""
# iwpriv parameters : set_port 2, set_histo 50 60
IWPRIV=""
;;
# Lucent Wavelan IEEE (+ Orinoco, RoamAbout and ELSA)
# Note : wvlan_cs driver only, and version 1.0.4+ for encryption support
00:60:1D:*|00:02:2D:*)
INFO="Wavelan IEEE example (Lucent default settings)"
ESSID="Wavelan Network"
MODE="Managed"
#RATE="auto"
KEY="s:secu1"
# To set all four keys, use :
#KEY="s:secu1 [1] key s:secu2 [2] key s:secu3 [3] key s:secu4 [4] key [1]"
# For the RG 1000 Residential Gateway: The ESSID is the identifier on
# the unit, and the default key is the last 5 digits of the same.
#ESSID="084d70"
#KEY="s:84d70"
;;
# Cisco/Aironet 4800/3x0
# Note : MPL driver only (airo/airo_cs), version 1.3 or later
00:40:96:*|00:02:8A:*)
INFO="Cisco/Aironet example (Cisco default settings)"
ESSID="any"
# To set all four ESSID, use iwconfig v21 and the same trick as above
MODE="Managed"
#RATE="11M auto"
#KEY="d5ad2f05abd048ecf10b1c80c7"
KEY="off"
;;
# Samsung MagicLan (+ some other PrismII cards)
# Note : Samsung binary library driver, version 1.20 or later
00:00:F0:*|00:02:78:*)
INFO="Samsung MagicLan example (Samsung default settings)"
ESSID="any"
MODE="Managed"
CHANNEL="4"
RATE="auto"
#KEY="883e-aa67-21 [1] key 5501-d0da-87 [2] key 91f5-3368-6b [3] key 2d73-31b7-96 [4]"
#IWCONFIG="power on"
;;
# Raytheon Raylink/WebGear Aviator2.4
# Note : doesn't work yet, please use for debugging only :-(
00:00:8F:*|00:00:F1:*)
INFO="Raylink/Aviator2.4 example (Aviator default ad-hoc setting)"
ESSID="ADHOC_ESSID"
MODE="Ad-Hoc"
RATE="auto"
IWPRIV="set_framing 1"
;;
# Old Lucent Wavelan
08:00:0E:*)
INFO="Wavelan example (Lucent default settings)"
NWID="0100"
MODE="Ad-Hoc"
FREQ="2.425G"
KEY="off"
;;
# Netwave (Xircom Netwave/Netwave Airsurfer)
00:80:C7:*)
INFO="Netwave example (Netwave default settings)"
NWID="100"
KEY="00"
;;
# Proxim RangeLan2/Symphony (what is the MAC address ???)
XX:XX:XX:*)
INFO="Proxim RangeLan2/Symphony example"
NWID="0"
MODE="Master"
CHANNEL="15"
IWPRIV="setsubchan 1"
;;
# No Wires Needed Swallow 550 and 1100 setting (what is the MAC address ???)
XX:XX:XX:*)
INFO="NWN Swallow example"
ESSID="session"
KEY="0000-0000-00 open"
;;
# Symbol Spectrum24 setting (what is the MAC address ???)
XX:XX:XX:*)
INFO="Symbol Spectrum24 example"
ESSID="Essid string"
;;
# Generic example (decribe all possible settings)
*)
INFO="Fill with your own settings..."
# ESSID (extended network name) : My Network, any
ESSID=""
# NWID/Domain (cell identifier) : 89AB, 100, off
NWID=""
# Operation mode : Ad-Hoc, Managed, Master, Repeater, Secondary, auto
MODE=""
# Frequency or channel : 1, 2, 3 (channel) ; 2.422G, 2.46G (frequency)
FREQ=""
CHANNEL=""
# Sensitivity (cell size + roaming speed) : 1, 2, 3 ; -70 (dBm)
SENS=""
# Bit rate : auto, 1M, 11M
RATE=""
# Encryption key : 4567-89AB-CD, s:password
KEY=""
# RTS threshold : off, 500
RTS=""
# Fragmentation threshold : off, 1000
FRAG=""
# Other iwconfig parameters : power off, ap 01:23:45:67:89:AB
IWCONFIG=""
# iwspy parameters : + 01:23:45:67:89:AB
IWSPY=""
# iwpriv parameters : set_port 2, set_histo 50 60
IWPRIV=""
;;
esac

mcmillan · 2006-09-30 19:35:30

Nobody has any ideas now? It's a shame I'm starting to to think of dropping arch just because I can't get this work. It's definitly my favorite of distros I've tried otherwise.

nazgoul · 2006-10-27 21:08:28

Also stuck in conf Arch, my D-Link G122 works just fine,but can't set up a Wlan !

Lone_Wolf · 2006-10-28 11:53:46

2 comments :
What hardware revision is your card ? according to madwifi site hardware version A3 of the G520 uses another chipset that DOESN'T work with madwifi drivers.

Are you using the correct firmware for your card ?

harlekin · 2006-10-28 12:37:49

Does your router support dhcp?

Asking because your wlan network is found if you set the ip manually.

mcmillan · 2006-11-05 06:14:33

I'm not sure about the revision, but I know it's not one one using other drivers since I had to install madwifi to get it to work when I tried out SUSE. I didn't see any available firmware on the d-link website. I did find references to firmware listed in results of a google search, but none gave a location to download it from though so if anyone can point me in a direction for that it would be worth checking out. .

As for the dhcp, I can connect fine using dhcp using windows and ubuntu (what I'm using right now)

Arch Linux

#1 2006-09-14 21:28:10

Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

#2 2006-09-14 21:36:02

Re: Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

#3 2006-09-14 21:42:13

Re: Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

#4 2006-09-16 05:33:07

Re: Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

#5 2006-09-16 20:04:53

Re: Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

#6 2006-09-30 19:35:30

Re: Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

#7 2006-10-27 21:08:28

Re: Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

#8 2006-10-28 11:53:46

Re: Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

#9 2006-10-28 12:37:49

Re: Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

#10 2006-11-05 06:14:33

Re: Configuring Arch to use D-Link DWL-G520 wireless adapter

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