Need help with wireless config.

[Gerry Tool]

Bob Goodwin wrote:
> I am still struggling with this wireless connection.  In most cases 
> system-config-network does a reasonable job of setting up configuration 
> for me but I'm not sure what it's doing for "wireless?"  The adapter 
> card is plugged into a PCI slot but it keeps calling it eth1 or eth2, it 
> looks to me like it ought to be wlan0?
> 
> Wlassistant indicates it is having trouble with routing but I don't know 
> what to enter there and there is no man page:
> wlassistant
> kbuildsycoca running...
> Loaded application options.
> DHCP Client: dhclient
> All executables found.
> iwconfig_status: /sbin/iwconfig
> ==>stderr: lo        no wireless extensions.
> 
> eth0      no wireless extensions.
> 
> sit0      no wireless extensions.
> 
> Wireless interface(s): wlan0
> Permissions checked.
> ifconfig_status: /sbin/ifconfig wlan0
> scan: /sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan
> Networks found: 1
> Checking for active connection.
> Trying to get gateway address...
> ...from 'route'
> No default gateway.
> Checking for active connection.
> Trying to get gateway address...
> ...from 'route'
> No default gateway.
> Checking for active connection.
> Trying to get gateway address...
> ...from 'route'
> No default gateway.
> 
> 
> Iwconfig provides the following:
> iwconfig wlan0
> wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:off/any          Mode:Auto  
> Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated           Bit Rate:54 
> Mb/s   Tx-Power:20 dBm   Sensitivity=-109 dBm          RTS thr:2347 B   
> Fragment thr:2346 B           Encryption key:off
>          Power Management: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
> 
> Route shows as follows:
> route
> Kernel IP routing table
> Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use 
> Iface
> 10.1.1.0        *               255.255.255.0   U     0      0        0 
> eth0
> 169.254.0.0     *               255.255.0.0     U     0      0        0 
> eth0
> default         10.1.1.254      0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 
> eth0
> 
> 
> I think I should be able to browse to 192.168.1.1 and see the router set 
> up screen from this computer via the Linksys WMP54G adapter card.  
> Wlassistant indicates that I have a good quality signal on channel 6.  
> But iwconfig shows zero signal?  I guess if I could satisfy the routing 
> requirement it would begin to work.
> 
> Can anyone tell me what to do next?
> 
> Bob Goodwin
> 
> 
I spent a lot of time trying to get my Linksys WPC54Gv2 CardBus adapter 
to work with ndiwsrapper in FC5.  It works like a champ in Ubuntu Breezy 
Badger without any special problems.

For FC5, one thing I found necessary was to download the WPC54Gv2 
drivers from the ndiswrapper site - the ones on my CD would not work 
properly with the current ndiswrapper.  I found it did not matter 
whether I used the FC5 ndiswrapper package or installed from the tarball.

I was only able to get it to work with no encryption.  When I tried to 
use WEP encryption, the machine froze when I entered the key.

I gave up. I finally purchased a refurbished madwifi-supported Netgear 
WG511T CardBus adapter on e-bay for $15.50 bid plus $5.00 shipping.  I 
uninstalled ndiswrapper, installed madwifi, did a lot of incantations - 
see a previous thread titled "Unable to get Atheros based drivers 
working" - and eventually got the card configured properly and it is 
working great now.

I was also given an Avaya 802.11b card (11Mbs) which just works when I 
plug it in and do a simple config in system-network-config -t has native 
Linux support.  It was recognized on boot, designated eth1, and when I 
set it up and activated it using my WEP configuration, it worked 
immediately.

Both cards now work whenever I plug them in and use them.

Gerry