Fumbling with nonworking wireless lan - Please advice [SOLVED]

akejo · 2008-12-16 17:01:34

I solved this issue some hour ago and will try to make a small description on how I did, both to help others who might have problems and to let the experts see if I missed something.
------------------------------------------------

Hello.

After reading through the wlan information in the wiki I've tried to get my wireless networked pc to work. I might have mixed up some of the information in the wiki(There's alot , but in general I've followed the guides as good as I could. As it is the first time I use wlan in arch and especially in linux I feel a little lost.

It seems the driver is installed(Why does it present an alternative driver?), ifconfig and iwconfig shows the wlan0 as present, iwscan find/shows my router, so it can atleast get out on the air to find a router. Below is the output from some of my system. Please look through it and see what and/or I can have missed. I am using ndiswrapper but it seems I need to load it manually despite having it in rc.conf... I am using an USB dongle, Zyxel G-202. The arch installation is freshly installed.

All in all, I'm quite confused and don't really know where to go from here, especially as the logfiles do't show much. I apologize for a lengthy post but I am stumed for the moment.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------- OUTPUT: iwlist wlan0 scan

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:19:CB:05:47:39
ESSID:"ZyXEL ASJ"
Mode:Master
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=100/100 Signal level=45/100
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 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:tsf=000003630b995c05

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------- OUTPUT: My wpa_supplicant.conf

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=wheel
network={
ssid="ZYXEL ASJ"
key_mgmt=NONE
wep_key0="SECRETCODE"
wep_tx_keyidx=0

}

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------- OUTPUT: My rc.conf (I include the whole thing just in case)

#
# /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"
# USEDIRECTISA: use direct I/O requests instead of /dev/rtc for hwclock
# 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"
USEDIRECTISA="no"
TIMEZONE="Europe/Stockholm"
KEYMAP="sv-latin1"
CONSOLEFONT=
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# MOD_AUTOLOAD: Allow autoloading of modules at boot and when needed
# MOD_BLACKLIST: Prevent udev from loading these modules
# MODULES: Modules to load at boot-up. Prefix with a ! to blacklist.
#
# NOTE: Use of 'MOD_BLACKLIST' is deprecated. Please use ! in the MODULES array.
#
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
#MOD_BLACKLIST=() #deprecated
MODULES=(atl1 mii zd1211rw snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-hwdep snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd snd-hda-intel soundcore)

# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# HOSTNAME: Hostname of machine. Should also be put in /etc/hosts
#
HOSTNAME="apc"

# 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
#
# DHCP: Set your interface to "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
# Wireless: See network profiles below
#
# eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
wlan0="wlan0 192.168.1.3 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
wlan0_wlan="wlan0 essid 'ZYXEL ASJ' key SECRETCODE" # WILL the conf system hate the ' around my essid?
INTERFACES=(!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 192.168.1.1"
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.d
#
# This now requires the netcfg package
#
#NETWORKS=(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=(ndiswrapper syslog-ng network netfs crond)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------- OUTPUT: lsmod |grep ndis

ndiswrapper 187292 0
usbcore 129776 7 ndiswrapper,usbhid,usb_storage,zd1211rw,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------- OUTPUT: ndiswrapper -l (Driver found on zyxel's site)

wlangzg : driver installed
device (0586:3410) present (alternate driver: zd1211rw)

(Question could I use a native driver, zd1211rw? It is loading up during boot anyway...)

ifconfig shows wlan0 up but the ssid and key i provided in rc.conf and wpa_supplicant doesnt show and even after entering it manually with iwconfig there's no connection made it seems.

What else can I try or test to see where the problem is? Can I use a native driver as the zd1211rw one?

EDIT - I just saw i dont have ndiswrapper in modules but in daemons, could be it but i doubt it as ive tried load the wrapper manually with modprobe. Also wrote wrong in interfaces(wlan_wlan0), changed it but problem still there.

Just about any advice or tip, especially how I could log any error or toolsto use to check what is and what is not working is welcomed.

Last edited by akejo (2008-12-16 20:12:13)

akejo · 2008-12-18 15:40:02

How I made WPA work on my pc with newly installed Archlinux 2008.6

As described above I have had a few problems setting up my wlan. After several disconnections with WEP
and the security risk I changed my router to use WPA-PSK and after a day or errors I finally made it work.

Here's how I did:

1. Edited /etc/rc.conf

- I removed all lines about networking, then added these lines:

INTERFACES=(wlan0)

gateway="default gw 192.168.1.1"
ROUTES=(gateway)

NETWORKS=(asjhome)

I also put a ! infront of "networks" and added net-profiles in DAEMONS

2. Made a new wpa_supplicant.conf

I created wpa_supplicant.conf with

$ wpa_passphrase ASJHOME MYSECRETWORD > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

I added a few lines in that file so now it looks like this:

ctrl_interface=DIR=/var/run/wpa_supplicant GROUP=wheel
#eapol_version=1
fast_reauth=1
ap_scan=1

network={
    ssid="ASJHOME"
    psk=<longcode>
    pairwise=TKIP
    group=TKIP
    proto=WPA
    scan_ssid=1
         key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}

3. I made and edited a network profile file, /etc/networkd.d/asjhome

CONNECTION="wireless"
DESCRIPTION="WLAN ASJ - Hemma"

INTERFACE=wlan0
HOSTNAME="apc"

IP="static"
IFOPTS="192.168.1.3 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255"
GATEWAY="192.168.1.1"

# DNS Settings (optional)
# DOMAIN=localdomain
DNS1=x.x.x.x
DNS2=x.x.x.x
SEARCH=

# Standard Wireless Settings
ESSID="ASJHOME"
SECURITY="wpa-config" # One of wep, wpa, wpa-config, none
USEWPA="yes"

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

# Time to wait to connect to a network. Default 15.
TIMEOUT=30

# Pass *custom* options to iwconfig. Usually not needed (optional)
IWOPTS="mode managed essid ASJHOME"

# Any extra arguments for wpa_supplicant
WPA_OPTS="-w"

# For SECURITY='wpa-config' only - filename of a wpa-supplicant config
WPA_CONF="/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf"

4. I tested the whole thing by doing /etc/rc.d/net-profiles restart

After that command it all went as it should and I can connect and post here

Now.. Have I missed anything? Im fairly paranoid after I've had the net bonce up and down...

- Is it reduntant to have gateway info in both rc.conf and in the profile file?
- I've seen some rc.conf's that has INTERFACES=(!wlan0), am I wrong to have it activated here?
- Is there better ways to handle this?
- What "dangers" am I facing? Disconnects and so on?

I should also mention that I changed my ssid in the router from "ZyXeL_ASJ" to "ASJHOME", perhaps there is a problems with SSID's containing mixed characters and underlines?

I'm thankfull for every input.

Last edited by akejo (2008-12-18 16:54:40)

Arch Linux

#1 2008-12-16 17:01:34

Fumbling with nonworking wireless lan - Please advice [SOLVED]

#2 2008-12-18 15:40:02

Re: Fumbling with nonworking wireless lan - Please advice [SOLVED]

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