Networking :: Setting up a Netgear WG511T wifi card.



Before you use the iwconfig gui as Robert suggested, first try things from the commandline similar to what Max did in that other post -

/opt/madwifi_setup.sh
ifconfig ath0 up  ## (this is an extra step that sometimes helps)
iwconfig ath0 essid MY_ESSID key 1234567890 mode managed
pump -i ath0

If still no success, try to "reset" your card prior to wifi setup, like this -

cardctl eject
cardctl insert

... or another more thorough reset is to restart cardmgr like this -

read PID </var/run/cardmgr.pid
kill $PID
## wait a few seconds, then
cardmgr
Okay, this is what is happening:

1. Doing the commands without the reset does nothing;

2. The cardctl suggestion doesn't work either;

3. The PID suggestion didn't either.

In each instance, the problem is with pump -i ath0 - the command fails with the error 'operation failed'. Very helpful... The wireless card lights flicker and alternate.

I noticed that when I typed 'ps aux', there was a process 'pump -i eth0' running, so I killed this, but to no avail. I then removed the ethernet card and rebooted and tried again. Still no luck; however. when I looked at the processes, 'pump -i ath0' was listed, despite the 'operation failed' error message.

As I type this, the lights on the wireless card are still flickering, and 'iwconfig' shows that there is a signal strength and link quality, but I cannot connect (pinging the wireless hub doesn't work, for instance). 'ifconfig' states that no packets have been sent or received (hardly surprising) and that I don't have an IP address (again, not surprising).

It seems as if progress is being made, but still not quite enough ;)
Success!!! Of a type, that is.

I've narrowed the problem down - it's in the assigned of an address  using 'pump'. If I set the wireless hub to accept the laptop with a pre-determined IP address, and then set it using 'ifconfig', I can ping the hub and the other machines on the LAN, and now that I've configured the nameserver and gateway, I can access the outside world!

I suspect that there is a problem with the version of 'pump' that's included - I found several references to this using Google, hence my decision to set a pre-determined IP address.

I'm writing this using my Libretto, BTW :)

Tempestuous - thank you SO much for your help so far. Without it, I wouldn't be at this stage. If you're ever in Adelaide, I owe you a beer (or if I'm ever where you live).

Now comes the fun (easy?) part - getting all of this done automatically :)

EDIT: after getting the card working, this was the easy part. I must be learning something ;) Now for the niceties, such as the battery status.
Since pump is being troublesome, it would be feasible to compile and use an alternative dhcp client daemon. See
http://freshmeat.net/projects/dhcpcd/

But now that DSL has just reverted to the 2.4.26 kernel, pump may work fine in the new DSL 2.2.
Given how long it took me to getting the machine set up, I might wait a little before going to 2.2 :) Mind you, I'll give dhcpcd a go in the meantime.
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