Arch Linux

notrilus

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 5

Problems with WiFi

I've recently installed Arch and everything has been going fine so far except that I can't seem to connect to my wireless. I have the Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG card and I have installed the iwlwifi driver. Arch seems to recognize my device as when I enter "iwconfig wlan0 essid *****" it doesn't give me any errors and iwconfig returns

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"*****" 
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2346 B   
          Encryption key: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

Its just that I can't get any connections with it. The wireless connection I am attempting to access is open and it is present (I had no trouble accessing it with my windows partition).

I also have the following entered into my rc.conf

MODULES=(fglrx iwl3945 ...)

lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
eth0="dhcp"
wlan0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(lo eth0 wlan0)

Any help would be greatly appreciated

wuischke

Member

From: Suisse Romande

Registered: 2007-01-06

Posts: 630

Re: Problems with WiFi

Hi,

please try an "iwlist wlan0 scan" to see if you find the ap. Usually it should connect after a short moment, but if it finds the ap and it doesn't connect, try setting the ap manually with "iwconfig wlan0 ap 00:00:00:00:00:00" (You'll see the right address in the output of the scan command.)

kind regards

notrilus

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 5

Re: Problems with WiFi

Thanks, that suggestion worked (I'm typing this using WiFi )

I am wondering if there is any other way to have my wireless work other then finding the AP every time since it would be somewhat tedious to have to scan and type in the AP every time I want to use wireless (I move around a lot so the AP doesn't remain constant most of the time).

Magician21

Member

Registered: 2007-03-23

Posts: 45

Re: Problems with WiFi

I noticed long ago that if I started dhcp on a wired interface that wasn't plugged in, it wreaked havoc with my wireless operations. 

I use the menu option in rc.conf that lets me choose which interface to start:
NET_PROFILES=(menu !Wired !Wired_PCMCIA !wireless)

Then I put the following file info in /etc/network-profiles/wireless:
#
# Network Profile
#

DESCRIPTION="Wireless Network Profile"

# Network Settings
INTERFACE=wlan0
HOSTNAME=<your pc name>

# Interface Settings (use IFOPTS="dhcp" for DHCP)
IFOPTS="dhcp"
GATEWAY=<your network's gateway>

# DNS Settings (optional)
#DOMAIN=localdomain
#DNS1=192.168.1.1
#DNS2=

# Wireless Settings (optional)
ESSID=<your essid>
#KEY=
IWOPTS="mode managed essid $ESSID channel 6"
#IWOPTS="mode managed essid $ESSID channel 6 key restricted $KEY"

WIFI_INTERFACE=wlan0   # use this if you have a special wireless interface
                       # that is linked to the real $INTERFACE

I just create a new network-profile for any new wireless networks I encounter.  The menu option picks them up automatically.  When I want to change the one I'm on (to go wired, for example), it's simple to type /etc/rc.d/network restart .

notrilus

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 5

Re: Problems with WiFi

Unfortunately, that doesn't work for me Magician21 (but thanks for the advice). Strangely enough, when I tried that, I couldn't connect to WiFi using the ap method.

rayjgu3

Member

From: Chicago IL usa

Registered: 2004-07-04

Posts: 695

Re: Problems with WiFi

if you run kde gnome or xfce check this out
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Networkmanager
i run kde & it works well

notrilus

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 5

Re: Problems with WiFi

Thanks for the advice, but I am currently running Openbox, and I don't plan on switching anytime soon. It would also be nice if I didn't have to install and set up any additional programs to get wireless to work.

tjololo

Member

Registered: 2007-05-10

Posts: 20

Re: Problems with WiFi

When I was trying to connect to the wireless network on my laptop it didn't work. I asked around and got a tip from a friend that I should use "iwconfig wlan0 essid ***** open". When I now used dhcpcs everything worked just fine! Dunno if it will do the trick for you.

lilsirecho

Veteran

Registered: 2003-10-24

Posts: 5,000

Re: Problems with WiFi

I find the posts made by shoopp01 to be a violation of protocol on archlinux forums.

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notrilus

Member

Registered: 2007-09-16

Posts: 5

Re: Problems with WiFi

When I try the command "iwconfig wlan0 essid ***** open" I get an error stating that "iwconfig: unknown command "open"". So unfortunately, that does not work for me.