wireless confusion...

aaron.kilbride · 2009-08-25 16:42:09

ok so i recently installed arch on my laptop. and i generally got the idea of things, after reading the wiki and beginners guide.
but i am slightly confused on connecting to the internet to sync pacman and install packages. i installed core 64 from a flash drive, but i am confused on what to do from here. i know that somehow i need to get online but it would be infintely simpler if i could use wireless from the get go. i don" have access to a wired ethernet connection at the moment.
can someone point me in the right direction? i've tried to make sense of the wiki... but i am unfamiliar and uncomfortable (trying to change that) with command line interface that i can hardly make heads or tails of it...

Trent · 2009-08-25 18:11:25

There is a wiki page on setting up your wireless connection, http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Wireless_Setup. There is also a section on setting up a wireless connection in the beginners guide, http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Beginners_Guide. If you've read these and can't make sense of them, please try to ask more specific questions. It's okay to have no experience or be uncomfortable with the command line, but you should be willing to take some risks and take a stab at solving your problems yourself. If you're new to Arch, and especially if you're new to Linux, it is to be expected that you will break it at least once.

Did you have to install from a flash drive? I would recommend the FTP install if it's possible, for a couple of different reasons.

aaron.kilbride · 2009-08-25 18:53:53

ok well when i type
iwlist scan

i get
lo : scanning not supported
eth0: scanning not supported
wlan0: scanning not supported. network is down.

how should i proceed?

dmartins · 2009-08-25 19:56:23

Try running ifconfig wlan0 up before scanning for wireless networks.

aaron.kilbride · 2009-08-25 21:26:58

i get this error

SIOCSIFFLAGS: no such file or directory

and nothing happens.
how do i fix that?

l33tunderground · 2009-08-25 21:55:42

Can you tell me what wireless card you have? If you don't know, try this command:

lspci | grep Net

What that command does is list some of the devices that are connected to your computer (like your wireless card and your graphics card).

The | is what's called a pipe, which says to run the result of the command on the left side of the pipe through the command on the right side. In this case, that means searching (grep searches) through the output of lspci for "Net."

Hopefully this will make finding your wireless card simpler.

The reason we're doing this is because the kernel hasn't loaded the drivers for your wireless card. You may need to install them. That's what SIOCSIFFLAGS means.

guzz46 · 2009-08-26 00:20:22

i'm not sure if this will apply to you but this is what i use for wpa security using netcfg
Open /etc/network.d/wireless

CONNECTION="wireless"
INTERFACE=wlan0
SCAN="yes"
SECURITY="wpa"
ESSID="mynetwork"
KEY="SomePasskey"
IP="dhcp"
TIMEOUT=20

of course edit the parts relevent to you like ESSID, KEY etc.... then run netcfg wireless

Profjim · 2009-08-26 00:45:08

aaron.kilbride wrote:

i get this error
SIOCSIFFLAGS: no such file or directory
and nothing happens.
how do i fix that?

Some possible causes for this: your wifi card may be disabled. Do you have a wifi kill switch? Are you sure the wifi isn't turned off? Does your machine have both a wifi and a cell-phone-network card? Often only one of those can be enabled at a time. If the wrong one is enabled, sometimes it's difficult to change it in Linux; at least, I had this problem and from googling around it seemed that the easiest thing to do was to boot the machine into Windows, make the change, then go back into setting up Arch.

Are the drivers you need for your wifi card loaded? Usually this will happen by default, if you've got

MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"

set in your /etc/rc.conf. (Do you have that set?)

But it's worth checking. Of course, you have to figure out what the name of the driver you need is. Doing what l33tunderground says will help you figure this out, or help others to advise you.

aaron.kilbride · 2009-08-26 01:58:32

mmk when i run lspci | grep net
i get the output
Intel Corporation Pro/wireless 5100 AGN[shiloh] network connection

so which drivers do i need?

Profjim · 2009-08-26 02:03:13

iwlagn

You can check if it's loaded by

lsmod | grep iwlagn

And if it's not, you can load it with

sudo modprobe iwlagn

If it is already loaded, then your problem is something else... I don't know what.

l33tunderground · 2009-08-26 02:03:40

For that card, you will need iwlwifi-5000-ucode (that's the same card I have).

You can install this driver with (as root)

pacman -Sy iwlwifi-5000-ucode

Then run (as root)

modprobe iwlagn
ifconfig wlan0 up

or reboot. Hopefully then you can use a program like wicd or NetworkManager to detect the networks.

Let me know if you run into any more problems!

Last edited by l33tunderground (2009-08-26 02:04:09)

aaron.kilbride · 2009-08-26 02:44:34

ok so i reinstalled this time adding the require package from my core flash drive img

and when i type
iwlist wlan0 list
i can see my router essid
now what do i do from here?

thanks l33t for the driver thing!

Trent · 2009-08-26 03:18:55

If your network is unsecured and you are lucky, two commands will do the trick:

iwconfig wlan0 essid "MySSID"
dhcpcd wlan0

Replace MySSID with your actual SSID, of course.

If you have a WPA-secured network, you need to run wpa_supplicant before dhcpcd. It will look something like this:

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

You need to edit /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf so it includes a section for your network. The easiest way is to open it up in an editor and find an example that closely matches your network, then just adjust it to your SSID/key/identity/password/etc. as necessary. See wpa_supplicant(8), wpa_supplicant.conf(5) for more info.

hunterthomson · 2009-08-26 03:21:18

aaron.kilbride wrote:

ok so i reinstalled this time adding the require package from my core flash drive img
and when i type
iwlist wlan0 list
i can see my router essid
now what do i do from here?
thanks l33t for the driver thing!

If the network is unencrypted or WEP you can do this

bring it up

ifconfig wlan0 up

set the essid and channel and WEP key.. Note you have to set the Channel the guy above didn't have that but you need to be broadcasting on the same channel as the router. The MAC address and everything ells will be taken care of by dhcpcd.

iwconfig wlan0 essid Youressid chennel YourChannelLike-6  key YourWepKey

Then run your DHCP client to get an IP address from the router

dhcpcd wlan0

Last edited by hunterthomson (2009-08-26 03:26:34)

aaron.kilbride · 2009-08-26 03:42:40

so i have access to one router which is wpa encrypted (att uverse.. gotta love it)
so i need to use that one.

mmk i will the channel thing in a sec.
but i did what trent said and i got more errors.

when i did # wpa_supplicant -B -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
i got a full page of errors with these lines repeated throughout:
'you may need to add support for this EAP method during WPA_supplicant"
and
'failed to read or parse configuration /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

when i run dhcpcd i get
'waiting for carrier'
then
'timeout'

hunterthomson · 2009-08-26 04:33:50

aaron.kilbride wrote:

so i have access to one router which is wpa encrypted (att uverse.. gotta love it)
so i need to use that one.
mmk i will the channel thing in a sec.
but i did what trent said and i got more errors.
when i did # wpa_supplicant -B -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
i got a full page of errors with these lines repeated throughout:
'you may need to add support for this EAP method during WPA_supplicant"
and
'failed to read or parse configuration /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
when i run dhcpcd i get
'waiting for carrier'
then
'timeout'

You don't have the wpa_supplicat.conf file set up right.

How about this. Use the shell application wifi-select. It works well I like it.

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?pid=571333
http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=23471

Last edited by hunterthomson (2009-08-26 04:40:37)

Trent · 2009-08-26 12:10:51

As I understand it, the OP mainly needs to get online so he can update. wifi-select obviously isn't already installed. It is possible to download AUR packages to another machine, then transfer them to the Arch box for installation, but that requires a bit more involvement.

Anyway, sorry if I wasn't too clear. The default wpa_supplicant.conf doesn't work; it's there only to provide examples for you to edit. There are detailed instructions on how to configure wpa_supplicant at http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/WPA … #Procedure, which are better than any I could give you here.

Good luck!

hunterthomson · 2009-08-27 02:39:59

Trent wrote:

As I understand it, the OP mainly needs to get online so he can update. wifi-select obviously isn't already installed. It is possible to download AUR packages to another machine, then transfer them to the Arch box for installation, but that requires a bit more involvement.
Anyway, sorry if I wasn't too clear. The default wpa_supplicant.conf doesn't work; it's there only to provide examples for you to edit. There are detailed instructions on how to configure wpa_supplicant at http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/WPA … #Procedure, which are better than any I could give you here.
Good luck!

Ya your right, he is not online... sorry.

aaron.kilbride · 2009-08-27 02:58:42

ok i got to an open network and connected! (thanks for the help everybody)
but when i run pacman -Syu

i get
error: failed to sychronize any databases
what now?

hunterthomson · 2009-08-27 03:04:43

aaron.kilbride wrote:

ok i got to an open network and connected! (thanks for the help everybody)
but when i run pacman -Syu
i get
error: failed to sychronize any databases
what now?

Ok, are you sure you are Online, can you go to google?

check your mirror list. It is in /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

It should look like this.

#
# Arch Linux repository mirrorlist
# Generated on 2009-06-16
#

# Australia
#Server = ftp://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://mirror.internode.on.net/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.internode.on.net/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://mirror.pacific.net.au/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.pacific.net.au/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Austria
#Server = ftp://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://gd.tuwien.ac.at/opsys/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Belgium
#Server = ftp://ftp.belnet.be/packages/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.belnet.be/mirror/archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64

# Brazil
#Server = ftp://archlinux.c3sl.ufpr.br/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://archlinux.c3sl.ufpr.br/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.las.ic.unicamp.br/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://www.las.ic.unicamp.br/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://pet.inf.ufsc.br/mirrors/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Bulgaria
#Server = http://archlinux.igor.onlinedirect.bg/$repo/os/x86_64

# Canada
#Server = ftp://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://mirrors.portafixe.com/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirrors.portafixe.com/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Chile
#Server = ftp://mirror.archlinux.cl/$repo/os/x86_64

# Czech Republic
#Server = ftp://ftp.sh.cvut.cz/MIRRORS/arch/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.sh.cvut.cz/MIRRORS/arch/$repo/os/x86_64

# Denmark
#Server = ftp://ftp.klid.dk/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Estonia
#Server = ftp://ftp.estpak.ee/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.estpak.ee/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Finland
#Server = ftp://mirror.archlinux.fi/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.archlinux.fi/$repo/os/x86_64

# France
#Server = http://mir.archlinux.fr/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://mir1.archlinuxfr.org/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://mir2.archlinuxfr.org/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mir1.archlinuxfr.org/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mir2.archlinuxfr.org/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://distrib-coffee.ipsl.jussieu.fr/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.free.fr/mirrors/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.rez-gif.supelec.fr/Linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Germany
#Server = ftp://ftp.archlinuxppc.org/x86_64/$repo/os/i686
#Server = ftp://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp5.gwdg.de/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.hosteurope.de/mirror/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.hosteurope.de/mirror/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.spline.inf.fu-berlin.de/mirrors/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.spline.inf.fu-berlin.de/mirrors/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.tu-chemnitz.de/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.uni-bayreuth.de/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.uni-bayreuth.de/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.wh-stuttgart.net/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Great Britain
#Server = ftp://mirror.lividpenguin.com/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.lividpenguin.com/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://www.mirrorservice.org/sites/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://mirrors.uk2.net/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://archlinux.mirrors.uk2.net/$repo/os/x86_64

# Greece
#Server = ftp://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.otenet.gr/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.otenet.gr/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Hungary
#Server = ftp://ftp.mfa.kfki.hu/pub/mirrors/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64

# Indonesia
#Server = ftp://archlinux.cbn.net.id/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://archlinux.cbn.net.id/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://mirror.unej.ac.id/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.unej.ac.id/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Ireland
#Server = ftp://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.heanet.ie/mirrors/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64

# Israel
#Server = http://mirror.isoc.org.il/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Italy
#Server = ftp://mi.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mi.mirror.garr.it/mirrors/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Japan
#Server = ftp://ftp.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.yz.yamagata-u.ac.jp/pub/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Latvia
#Server = http://archlinux.goodsoft.lv/$repo/os/x86_64

# Lithuania
#Server = ftp://atviras.lt/archmirror/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://atviras.lt/archmirror/$repo/os/x86_64

# Netherlands
#Server = ftp://mirror.leaseweb.com/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.leaseweb.com/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/metalab/distributions/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/metalab/distributions/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.surfnet.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.surfnet.nl/pub/os/Linux/distr/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# New Caledonia
#Server = ftp://archlinux.nautile.nc/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://archlinux.nautile.nc/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Norway
#Server = ftp://mirror.archlinux.no/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.archlinux.no/$repo/os/x86_64

# Poland
#Server = ftp://mirror.icis.pcz.pl/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.piotrkosoft.net/pub/mirrors/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://piotrkosoft.net/pub/mirrors/ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.pwsz.elblag.pl/pub/linux/distributions/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.pwsz.elblag.pl/pub/linux/distributions/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://unix.net.pl/archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64

# Portugal
#Server = ftp://cesium.di.uminho.pt/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://cesium.di.uminho.pt/pub/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://darkstar.ist.utl.pt/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.nux.ipb.pt/pub/dists/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.nux.ipb.pt/pub/dists/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Romania
#Server = ftp://ftp.iasi.roedu.net/mirrors/archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.iasi.roedu.net/mirrors/archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64

# Russia
#Server = http://archlinux.freeside.ru/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://mirror.svk.su/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.svk.su/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://mirror.yandex.ru/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror.yandex.ru/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Sweden
#Server = ftp://ftp.ds.hj.se/pub/os/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.ds.hj.se/pub/os/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.gigabit.nu/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.gigabit.nu/$repo/os/x86_64

# Switzerland
#Server = ftp://archlinux.puzzle.ch/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://archlinux.puzzle.ch/$repo/os/x86_64

# Turkey
#Server = ftp://ftp.linux.org.tr/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Ukraine
#Server = ftp://archlinux.hell.org.ua/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://archlinux.hell.org.ua/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.linux.kiev.ua/pub/Linux/ArchLinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://ftp.linux.kiev.ua/pub/Linux/ArchLinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# United States
#Server = http://mirror.archlinux.com.ve/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://locke.suu.edu/linux/dist/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://archlinux.unixheads.org/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://mirrors.gigenet.com/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://ftp.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/linux/distributions/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/linux/distributions/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://mirrors.easynews.com/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://mirrors.easynews.com/linux/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://mirror.cs.vt.edu/pub/ArchLinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://mirror.cs.vt.edu/pub/ArchLinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://ftp.archlinux.org/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://mirrors.hosef.org/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://mirrors.hosef.org/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://distro.ibiblio.org/pub/linux/distributions/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = ftp://mirror.rit.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://mirror.rit.edu/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://schlunix.org/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://mirror.sourceshare.org/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://archlinux.umflint.edu/$repo/os/x86_64
Server = http://mirror.umoss.org/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

# Venezuela
#Server = http://mirror2.archlinux.com.ve/$repo/os/x86_64

# Vietnam
#Server = ftp://202.78.230.5/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://ftp.indochinalinux.com/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = ftp://mirror-fpt-telecom.fpt.net/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64
#Server = http://mirror-fpt-telecom.fpt.net/archlinux/$repo/os/x86_64

Arch Linux

#1 2009-08-25 16:42:09

wireless confusion...

#2 2009-08-25 18:11:25

Re: wireless confusion...

#3 2009-08-25 18:53:53

Re: wireless confusion...

#4 2009-08-25 19:56:23

Re: wireless confusion...

#5 2009-08-25 21:26:58

Re: wireless confusion...

#6 2009-08-25 21:55:42

Re: wireless confusion...

#7 2009-08-26 00:20:22

Re: wireless confusion...

#8 2009-08-26 00:45:08

Re: wireless confusion...

#9 2009-08-26 01:58:32

Re: wireless confusion...

#10 2009-08-26 02:03:13

Re: wireless confusion...

#11 2009-08-26 02:03:40

Re: wireless confusion...

#12 2009-08-26 02:44:34

Re: wireless confusion...

#13 2009-08-26 03:18:55

Re: wireless confusion...

#14 2009-08-26 03:21:18

Re: wireless confusion...

#15 2009-08-26 03:42:40

Re: wireless confusion...

#16 2009-08-26 04:33:50

Re: wireless confusion...

#17 2009-08-26 12:10:51

Re: wireless confusion...

#18 2009-08-27 02:39:59

Re: wireless confusion...

#19 2009-08-27 02:58:42

Re: wireless confusion...

#20 2009-08-27 03:04:43

Re: wireless confusion...

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