iwl3945 + WPA

DrPike · 2008-01-20 19:09:36

Hi guys,

I need some expert help to fix my wireless connection using fixed IP and WPA TKIP.

The laptop has the wired LAN working fine, with fixed IP. The problem is the wireless which I am unable to setup
properly.

I started following the wireless wiki step-be-step for Intel's new iwlwifi-3945 project drivers:
http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wireless_Setup

The interface seems to be up and running but I am unable to connect to the AP using WPA TKIP, nor by hand neither using NetworkManager (this's KDE)

Here my rc.conf:

#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
#
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
TIMEZONE="Europe/Rome"
KEYMAP="it-ibm"
CONSOLEFONT=""
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Scan hardware and load required modules at bootup
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
# Module Blacklist - modules in this list will never be loaded by udev
MOD_BLACKLIST=()
#
# Modules to load at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a module with a ! to blacklist it
#
MODULES=(r8169 iwl3945 snd-hda-intel)
# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
HOSTNAME="redstar"
#
# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available
# interfaces.
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
#   - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
#   - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
#
# Note: to use DHCP, set your interface to be "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
#
# Don't use this for wireless interfaces, see network profiles below
#
eth0="eth0 192.168.1.111 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255"
wlan0="wlan0 192.168.1.110 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255"
INTERFACES=(lo eth0 wlan0)

#
# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
#   - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 192.168.1.254"
ROUTES=(gateway)
#
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network-profiles
#
#NET_PROFILES=(main)

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
#   - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(dbus hal syslog-ng network netfs crond kdm)

The iwl3945 module loads at the boot time with success, and here the network status as read by ifconfig command:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:18:F3:AD:6A:F2
          inet addr:192.168.1.111  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::218:f3ff:fead:6af2/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:113072 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:122182 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:113416315 (108.1 Mb)  TX bytes:17740667 (16.9 Mb)
          Interrupt:16 Base address:0x2000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:30 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:30 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:1796 (1.7 Kb)  TX bytes:1796 (1.7 Kb)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:13:02:8F:B4:46
          inet addr:192.168.1.110  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

wmaster0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-13-02-8F-B4-46-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

Also the wireless-tools shows the wlan interface as working device:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"myessid_home"
          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

The /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file is quite simple:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1
network={
        ssid="myessid_home"
        psk=xxxcd90ca0e5f18c2ebxxx20ada5f445xxxb320e3641f1xxxa92463b7cb64xxx
         }

Also the RADIO LINK (LED) still switched off all the time...
Any idea how to fix this?

Thank you for any help,
DrPike!

Last edited by DrPike (2008-01-20 19:14:55)

thayer · 2008-01-20 19:19:15

The radio link currently does not work with the iwl3945, however the LED does not affect the connection itself.

With respect to your connection, either we are missing some info or you do not have it configured properly. I don't see where you have associated your wifi card with an Access Point (ala router). For example, under the wiki link you provided it instructs how to associate your device with an ESSID and password to access a given network. You'll need to follow those steps, or better yet, set up the wifi with Netcfg2 (also mentioned in that wiki article).

Last edited by thayer (2008-01-20 19:20:08)

DrPike · 2008-01-20 20:27:48

Hi thayer,

unfortunately I am unable to get any useful informations from that place about WPA + netcfg2.
So I decided to proceed by hand, but if someone could draw my attention on the point I can try

Now there is an improvement, I rewrited the wpa_supplicant.conf file as follows:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=users
update_config=1
eapol_version=1
ap_scan=1
fast_reauth=1

network={
        ssid="myessid_home"
        psk=xxxcd90ca0e5f18c2ebxxx20ada5f445xxxb320e3641f1xxxa92463b7cb64xxx
        proto=WPA
        key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
        pairwise=TKIP
         }

The wpa_supplicant starts with an initial error but after that it works:

wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: Operation not supported
WEXT auth param 4 value 0x0 - ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: Operation not supported
WEXT auth param 5 value 0x1 - Trying to associate with 00:04:ed:55:d4:68 (SSID='stargate_home' freq=2412 MHz)
ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: Operation not supported
WEXT auth param 5 value 0x1 - Associated with 00:04:ed:55:d4:68
WPA: Key negotiation completed with 00:04:ed:55:d4:68 [PTK=TKIP GTK=TKIP]
CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:04:ed:55:d4:68 completed (auth) [id=0 id_str=]
WPA: Group rekeying completed with 00:04:ed:55:d4:68 [GTK=TKIP]
WPA: Group rekeying completed with 00:04:ed:55:d4:68 [GTK=TKIP]
WPA: Group rekeying completed with 00:04:ed:55:d4:68 [GTK=TKIP]
WPA: Group rekeying completed with 00:04:ed:55:d4:68 [GTK=TKIP]
WPA: Group rekeying completed with 00:04:ed:55:d4:68 [GTK=TKIP]
WPA: Group rekeying completed with 00:04:ed:55:d4:68 [GTK=TKIP]
WPA: Group rekeying completed with 00:04:ed:55:d4:68 [GTK=TKIP]
.
.
.

Anyway I have to shutdown the first ethernet card (eth0) in order to clean the route table, and
after that I have to make a new gateway entry routed through the wlan0 device:

Before (and not working):
route

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
192.168.1.0     *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 eth0
192.168.1.0     *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 wlan0
default         192.168.1.254   0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 eth0   <--- wrong table!

ifconfig eth0 down
route add default gw 192.168.1.254 dev wlan0
route

Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
192.168.1.0     *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 wlan0
default         192.168.1.254   0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 wlan0  <--- good table!

Now I'm rebooting the system to check if it is reproducible.

The question is: I have no idea how to force the routing through the wlan0 device rather than eth0 s default...
and how is it possible to switch on the wpa_supplicant at boot time w/o the script?

Last edited by DrPike (2008-01-20 20:43:55)

tardo · 2008-01-20 22:38:33

Try netcfg2 in testing. Works like a charm for me.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-01-20 19:09:36

iwl3945 + WPA

#2 2008-01-20 19:19:15

Re: iwl3945 + WPA

#3 2008-01-20 20:27:48

Re: iwl3945 + WPA

#4 2008-01-20 22:38:33

Re: iwl3945 + WPA

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