WPC11 wireless help needed

Forum: Networking
Topic: WPC11 wireless help needed
started by: zramiam

Posted by zramiam on July 02 2007,13:33

Hello again everyone,

I've found a possible solution to my WPC11 wireless laptop issue BUT I can not implement due to DSL issues that I don't understand...

< Here is the LINK to the solution > I thought for sure this would work! This is a similar laptop to the one I have (toshiba 305cds). BUT everyone one of the simple instructions to edit a file, wlan-ng.conf, modules.conf is hit with a read-only warning... nothing fixed.

I got some help on the dsl-irc, with the instruction to remove wlan-ng and re-copy from KNOPPIX, then edit. This worked to let me edit but the edit is lost on reboot, even with adding the editted wlan-ng to the filetools file!

Can someone help me make the edits to these files? or point me to a gui that will allow me to do it? Help! Please.

Here is my original post for help with my laptop < OLD
POST (NO ANSWERS; lots of back info) >< Here is the LINK to the solution >

Posted by roberts on July 02 2007,16:17

Please specify the version for this card.

The generic WPC11 is not enough. They have changed the chipset many times. My WPC11 v4 is not a prism but a realtek and I use ndiswrapper with it.

You can use the DSL control panel and select PCMCIA tool and look at the ident and info tabs.

If you card is not seen, you might need a boot option of pci=assign-busses

Posted by zramiam on July 02 2007,19:30

OH! Sorry its the WPC11 v3, prism style.

Posted by roberts on July 02 2007,20:47

A prism card should work with the Prism2 GUI from the control panel as shown in the Wiki.
The prism2.sh script does the modprobe of the prism_cs module which is effectively what that howto does.
Are you sure your card is seen? Use the pcmcia tool ident and info tabs.

You may also want to boot with the nodhcp option so that no network setup is attempted until you run the GUI.

Be sure to enter the WEP key as colon separated pairs. Once you have enter the information in the GUI it is saved in /opt/myprism2.sh

You can then save that script and/or add the command to /opt/bootllocal.sh for backup.

Posted by zramiam on July 02 2007,22:01

I'll check this evening if my card is being seen correctly. I know that when I boot up, I get a ndiswrapper message and lots of wlanctl-ng errors.

I eddited my grub menu.lst to give me only dsl 800*600 and windows boot options, and added the nodhcp to the dsl boot. I still see the above errors though.

I'll post/edit once I check the pcmcia.

Posted by roberts on July 02 2007,23:20

If it is a prism2 don't use ndiswarpper, try the Prism2 GUI.
According to the Wiki that is the one to use. Use ndiswrapper only if it is a v4 (realtek)

Posted by zramiam on July 03 2007,14:48

oK, I've gone ahead and done a new frugal grub install onto the HD with dsl 3.4, fun! Thinking this would clean out any settings I set up that are just wrong and could be buggering things up. (tell me if my thinking is wrong)

Now, I've gone to the DSLpanel, PCMCIA Tool >

ident:

socket 0:
no product info available (right nothing plugged in here)

socket 1:
product info: "The Linksys Group, Inc.","Instant Wireless Network PC Card","ISL37300P","Rev A",
manfid: 0x0274,0x1613
function: 6 (network)

Info:

PRODID_1=""
PRODID_2=""
PRODID_3=""
PRODID_4=""
MANFID=0000,0000
FUNCID=255
PRODID_1="The Linksys Group, Inc"
PRODID_2="Instant Wireless Network PC Card"
PRODID_3="ISL37300P"
PRODID_4="RevA"
MANFID=0274,1613
FUNCID=6

I think that looks right? maybe... Anyway I tried using the prism2 GUI, but it just returned "connection failed", I did vi /opt/myprism2.sh to see what was in the file:

#!/bin/bash
/usr/local/bin/prism2.sh wlan0 6 <myssid> <wepcode> 2>&1 >/dev/null

? hopefully this info will help...
I have the laptop with me at work, so a wireless connection is not actually available, but I can try more system checks/tweeks today during work BREAKS times... ya that's it.

Thanks for all the help so far

Posted by jpeters on July 05 2007,23:41

For the WPC11 ver3, use ndiswrapper, using the windows drivers (bcmw15.sys, bcmw15.inf) and setting the path. That will do it.

note: If you incorrectly installed it previously, first:

rmmod ndiswrapper
ndiswrapper -e netcard

Then you can start from scratch....

Also, after installing, you may need:
"sudo pump -i eth0"

(check "ifconfig" to make sure signal is on eth0)

Posted by zramiam on July 12 2007,19:49

Oh, man! no love from my wireless....

I tried both methods; I even found a post from someone with the same laptop, they switched the bios from pcmcia to card bus to get theirs working. mine was set on auto-detect. I'll try it set to pcmcia tonight and let you know if that does the trick.

Posted by zramiam on July 13 2007,14:57

Well, nothing seems to work.

I try prism2 = connection failed

I switched the bios from pcthing to cardbus to autodetect... no change.

When I boot I get the the list of pcmcia cardmgr starts up, with hermes, orinoco, orinoco_cs, eth0 set up then when the ifup eth0 comes up I get an error "ignoring unknown device" (or something similar to that)

I think that is where the problem is but I don't know what to do to fix it.

Is there a manual method of checking/setting up eth0 so that it is recognized?

what other commands can I use to try and sort this out, so far I've learned:

ifconfig
ifconfig -a
ifconfig eth0 up

iwconfig

cardctl ident

pump
pump -i eth0
both of which fail...

Posted by lucky13 on July 13 2007,17:24

Why are you using eth0 for wireless? Try ath0. Edit: or wlan0.

Posted by roberts on July 13 2007,21:11

If you are using an old laptop with a cardbus card sometimes,
using the following boot option will help:

pci=assign_busses

Also, I would suggest to add the following boot as well

nohdcp

To see if your wireless card is detected by not yet configured use

iwconfig

If it is detected you will see if it is a ath0, wlan0, or

I have heard of some cards that seem not work with pump but ok with static ip.

Posted by jpeters on July 15 2007,03:26

Quote (lucky13 @ July 13 2007,13:24)

Why are you using eth0 for wireless? Try ath0. Edit: or wlan0.

I have the same card, and it runs on eth0 (edit: only with the correct drivers, though). My netgear card, which I use for an 802.11a system, runs on ath0. I don't think you have a choice. (edit: on another system, I have to run it on eth1).

Posted by lucky13 on July 15 2007,09:59

I wasn't suggesting it's a choice, I was offering a shotgun approach to figure out which cards are detected and where they're detected. That's based on hardware configuration and how the kernel sees it (edit: i.e., as reported in iwconfig). For most wireless cards, in my experience it's athX or wlanX.

Posted by zramiam on July 21 2007,03:44

No luck.

I have added the nodhcp and the pci=assign_busses to the grub boot option for dsl.

still nothing

here is what I get when I iwconfig

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"" Nickname:"Prism I"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437GHz Access Point: 00:18:3F:1b:59:09
Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3
pwr management:off
Link Quality12/92 Signal level:147/153 Noise level:114/153
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:19 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:4 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

Hopefully that will tell you something else, maybe an idea of something else to try. Maybe that static thing you mentioned Roberts?

Posted by roberts on July 21 2007,04:28

This looks like a normal wireless card but needs setting are missing.
Your essid is "" and are you using wep?

What commands have your tried to configure these settings?
Try these as user root:

# iwconfig eth0 essid my_network_name

and if you are using wep instead try

# iwconfig eth0 essid my_network_name key 12:34:45:...

and finally issue the pump command

# pump -i eth0

HTH

Posted by zramiam on July 21 2007,05:10

OH! OH! oh! it works.

You sir are a genius! Thank you!

I tried to write this reply on my linux laptop... but I guess with the 29Megs (3meg shared video) of ram it cann't handle the big internet...

but I did make it to google and a search before freezing up trying load up dsl forums!

When I boot, the pcmcia card is recognized and the cardmgr jumps in and tries to set things up with a final ignoring unrecognized device eth0, why is that? and should I do anything about it (other then pull the card out during bootup)

thanks again

Oh, and how do I save my wireless settings? should i run the prism2 in the console?

Posted by slick204 on July 22 2007,02:59

Quote (zramiam @ July 20 2007,22:44)

I'm having the same problem with the same card. I tried all the suggestions in this thread but I still can't get mine to work.

The iwconfig command works but the pump -i eth0 comes back with Operation failed.

iwconfig show:

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"Slick204" Nickname:"Prism I"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462GHz Access Point: 00:11:50:3C:5B:AF
Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3
Retry min limit:8 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
pwr management:off
Link Quality92/92 Signal level:5/153 Noise level:112/153
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:6 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

No lights have ever come on, on the card.

What else should I try?? Thanks.

Posted by slick204 on July 22 2007,03:17

Also, I ran lsmod and it looks like orinoco_cs, orinoco, hermes, and ds modules are loaded. I tried to rmmod these but get "Device of resource busy".

I assume this is part of the problem. Help!

Posted by zramiam on July 23 2007,00:17

Check your essid mine did not work, the first time I tried Roberts last instruction. The second time I tried it I typed it in ALL CAPS and it worked.

So make sure you check that.

Oh and don't forget to type "sudo" before the "iwconfig eth0 essid SLICK204 key 12:34:56:78:90" and the "pump -i eth0"

Posted by slick204 on Aug. 06 2007,18:31

I now have my wireless card working and it may have been working before and I didn't know it. For some reason the LED's don't come on at all but I'm still connected.

Anyway, to save these settings do I add the iwconfig and pump commands to the bootlocal.sh file?

Thanks.

Posted by slick204 on Aug. 08 2007,18:11

I hate to reply to my own post, but can anyone tell me if this is the correct way to save my settings? Please

Thanks!

Posted by ^thehatsrule^ on Aug. 08 2007,21:28

Should be fine