problem connecting to secured WEP network

sunv · 2008-02-25 20:36:20

Hello
I have tried using nm-applet, and wicd to connect my laptop to the router in the apartment. To connect to the router you must enter a WEP 128bit HEX key. I have the key and it is 24 digits long and consists of numbers and letters. I am sure this is the correct key.

Using nm-applet I followed the directions in the wiki. I added it in the daemon. I disabled my wifi (!eth1) in /etc/rc.conf and disabled network. I was able to get nm-applet to find wifi networks, but when I tried to connect to my own with the key, it could not let me login. It seems choose hex key, only a 10 digit code will let me login with nm-applet. The passphrase lets me login with the key being 24 digits long but it doesn't connect.

I tried wicd and tried all the encryptions using my key. It still does not let me log on. What is going on here?

I think last night I got it to work once with nm-applet, but after I logged in again, the key wasn't saved so I had to look it up again and after that it didn't work.

Also does nm-applet or wicd save your keys if they work? I know for nm-applet there is something like a gnome-keyring manager but I dont have that installed.

Someone please help me get my wifi to work. Any way is good.

tigrmesh · 2008-02-26 05:14:58

Hello. Welcome to Arch.

The problem with encrypted networks is that you're never sure whether the problem is your hardware, your software, or if you typed the key in wrong.

I have a file in my home directory that contains my wep key. That way I can just copy and paste it. Configuring networking is much less awful that way, and I don't have any more typing errors (What do you mean there are only 23 characters? I *know* I typed in 24!).

I use netcfg2 http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=43863. It works great.

And yes, wicd does save your wep key.

blu3ness · 2008-02-26 05:40:54

wpa_supplicant is known to handle encrypted networks. so if that is what you are having problem with, you might want to try to use wpa_supplicant. I know it works very well with WPA2-TKIP or WPA2-AES networks.

sunv · 2008-02-26 08:10:15

ok I took ur advice. I am using netcfg2. it is pretty nice. I can connect and disconnect from my wireless using:
netcfg2 ethernet.real to connect and
netcfg2 -d ethernet.real to disconnect.

I included the EXCLUSIVE=yes line to make sure only one is connected at a time.
So I know netcfg is working.

For my wireless I made the profile called wep2.real:

CONNECTION="wireless"
DESCRIPTION="Very verbose complete wireless example"

INTERFACE="eth1"
HOSTNAME="cutiebird"

# DHCP Example
IP="dhcp"
DHCP_TIMEOUT="20" # Default is 10.
DHCP_OPTIONS="" # Extra arguments for dhcpcd

# Standard Wireless Settings
ESSID="Mar"
SECURITY="wep"        # One of wep, wpa, wpa-config, none
KEY="censored"

# Scans to see if network is available before connecting (reccomended)
SCAN="YES"

# Time to wait to connect to a network. Default 15.
TIMEOUT="10"

# Pass *custom* options to iwconfig. Usually not needed (optional)
#IWOPTS="mode managed essid $ESSID channel 6 key restricted $KEY"

# Any extra arguments for wpa_supplicant
#WPA_OPTS=

# For SECURITY='wpa-config' only - filename of a wpa-supplicant config
#WPA_CONF=

# Commands to run at various stages of configuration
#PRE_UP=
#POST_UP=
#PRE_DOWN=
#POST_DOWN="some command"

EXCLUSIVE="yes"

So now I get the message:

[root@cutiebird sunv]# netcfg2 wep2.real
:: ethernet.real down                                                    [DONE] 
:: wep2.real up                                                          [BUSY] err, eth1: timed out
                 - DHCP IP lease attempt failed                          [FAIL] 
[root@cutiebird sunv]#

whenever I try to connect to the network. The essid is Mar, and I have supplied the right key. I know security is WEP 128bit HEX, but how do I specify that on the profile??? How does netcfg2 distinguish between HEX, and passphrase and ACSII?

What should I do now? How can I fix my profile to get it to work?

sunv · 2008-02-26 08:22:46

Since you guys might ask, here is my lsmod:

Module                  Size  Used by
hci_usb                13596  0 
bluetooth              50916  1 hci_usb
arc4                    2176  0 
ecb                     3072  0 
ieee80211_crypt_wep     4608  0 
ipv6                  248388  8 
i915                   22144  2 
drm                    70548  3 i915
joydev                  9664  0 
pcmcia                 32556  0 
rtc_cmos                7584  0 
rtc_core               15496  1 rtc_cmos
rtc_lib                 2944  1 rtc_core
serio_raw               5636  0 
psmouse                36496  0 
ohci1394               28848  0 
ieee1394               79800  1 ohci1394
pcspkr                  2944  0 
i2c_i801                8848  0 
i2c_core               19328  1 i2c_i801
sdhci                  15364  0 
yenta_socket           23052  1 
rsrc_nonstatic         11008  1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core            32664  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
mmc_core               43524  1 sdhci
firewire_ohci          16128  0 
firewire_core          36544  1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t               2304  1 firewire_core
tifm_7xx1               5888  0 
tifm_core               7428  1 tifm_7xx1
video                  16016  0 
output                  3200  1 video
sg                     26640  0 
usbhid                 40896  0 
hid                    33920  1 usbhid
ff_memless              5128  1 usbhid
intel_agp              21780  1 
agpgart                27352  3 drm,intel_agp
evdev                   9344  8 
thermal                13084  0 
processor              29400  2 thermal
fan                     3844  0 
button                  6544  0 
battery                10756  0 
ac                      4612  0 
snd_intel8x0m          14092  0 
snd_seq_oss            29440  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      6528  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                47056  4 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          6924  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_intel8x0           28572  3 
snd_ac97_codec         95268  2 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0snd_pcm_oss            37024  0 
snd_pcm                68996  5 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pc
m_oss
snd_timer              19204  3 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc          8072  3 snd_intel8x0m,snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
snd_mixer_oss          14464  2 snd_pcm_oss
snd                    44772  12 snd_intel8x0m,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_devic
e,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer,snd_mixer_oss
soundcore               6368  2 snd
ac97_bus                2176  1 snd_ac97_codec
ipw2200               138184  0 
ieee80211              30664  1 ipw2200
ieee80211_crypt         4992  2 ieee80211_crypt_wep,ieee80211
8139too                23040  0 
8139cp                 19584  0 
mii                     4864  2 8139too,8139cp
ext3                  121992  1 
jbd                    43412  1 ext3
mbcache                 6912  1 ext3
sr_mod                 14884  1 
cdrom                  33824  1 sr_mod
sd_mod                 22656  3 
pata_acpi               5248  0 
ehci_hcd               32524  0 
uhci_hcd               22672  0 
usbcore               125292  5 hci_usb,usbhid,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
ata_piix               14724  3 
ata_generic             5252  0 
libata                137712  3 pata_acpi,ata_piix,ata_generic

Here is my iwconfig before connecting:

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"Mar"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 00:14:A5:93:80:28   
          Bit Rate:54 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   Sensitivity=8/0  
          Retry limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=0/100  Signal level=-51 dBm  Noise level=-92 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:789  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:97

Here is 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="Canada/Pacific"
KEYMAP="us"
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=(8139cp 8139too mii ipw2200 ac97_bus snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd snd-ac97-codec snd-intel8x0 snd-intel8x0m soundcore)
# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
HOSTNAME="cutiebird"
#
# 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")
#
lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
eth0="dhcp"
eth1="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(lo eth0 !eth1)
#
# 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 192.168.0.1"
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=(syslog-ng hal !network netfs crond alsa)


# End of file

Here is ifconfig -a:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:C0:9F:A6:5C:37  
          inet6 addr: fe80::2c0:9fff:fea6:5c37/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:12165 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:10702 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:10767238 (10.2 Mb)  TX bytes:1762733 (1.6 Mb)
          Interrupt:20 

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:12:F0:6D:B6:4B  
          inet6 addr: fe80::212:f0ff:fe6d:b64b/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:5 errors:875 dropped:875 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:6 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:167497 (163.5 Kb)  TX bytes:60240 (58.8 Kb)
          Interrupt:17 Base address:0x2000 Memory:b0107000-b0107fff 

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:8066 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8066 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:999965 (976.5 Kb)  TX bytes:999965 (976.5 Kb)

tigrmesh · 2008-02-26 16:56:08

I know security is WEP 128bit HEX, but how do I specify that on the profile??? How does netcfg2 distinguish between HEX, and passphrase and ACSII?
What should I do now? How can I fix my profile to get it to work?

From the wiki:

Ensure that net-profiles is in your rc.conf DAEMONS=() line.

I'm not sure about your profile. I used wep.example as the basis for my profile, so I don't have experience with all the items in the complete.example. I have the 26 character hex key with the letters in upper case.

sunv · 2008-02-27 02:37:22

I thought daemons was only used to startup the profiles from boot.
Since I start by typing it in (netcfg2 wep2.real) then it shouldn't matter if the "net-profiles" is in daemons or not? Or does it?

I will give it a try later.

tigrmesh · 2008-02-27 04:55:29

You know what? I don't know. Since I like to connect automatically at boot, I've never explored it.

Arch Linux

#1 2008-02-25 20:36:20

problem connecting to secured WEP network

#2 2008-02-26 05:14:58

Re: problem connecting to secured WEP network

#3 2008-02-26 05:40:54

Re: problem connecting to secured WEP network

#4 2008-02-26 08:10:15

Re: problem connecting to secured WEP network

#5 2008-02-26 08:22:46

Re: problem connecting to secured WEP network

#6 2008-02-26 16:56:08

Re: problem connecting to secured WEP network

#7 2008-02-27 02:37:22

Re: problem connecting to secured WEP network

#8 2008-02-27 04:55:29

Re: problem connecting to secured WEP network

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