No DHCP with Atheros Wireless


Forum: Networking
Topic: No DHCP with Atheros Wireless
started by: Max

Posted by Max on Sep. 10 2004,03:34
Using DSL 0.8.1

I'm using an IBM T42 which has an Atheros Mini PCI b/g wireless card (IBM OEM).

Out of the box, DSL recognizes the card and assigns it as ath0 instead of eth0 and also does not configure this card correctly.  I can manually configure the card by creating a ifcfg-ath0 file in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts.  After I bring the card up with ifup I can see that it connects to my access point.  But I cannot get the card to pick up an IP address.  Tried "network restart" but that didn't help.

(Also tried stopping and starting DHCP off the MyDSL Panel even though I have no idea what that is acutally for.  I assume it's so the machine will perform a DHCP broadcast)

Note that DHCP works fine with a Lucent Orinoco gold card, but DSL configures this card as eth0.

Also note that I can manually configure the IP address and gateway from the command line and then the Atheros card will work properly (that's how I'm sending this note now.)

Do I need to make some kind of change to a config file somewhere so that DHCP will look at ath0 in addition to eth0???

Much thanks for any help....

FYI...here's the ifcfg-ath0 file contents which I picked up off a RH website.....
# Atheros Communications, Inc.|AR5212 802.11abg NIC
DEVICE=ath0
ONBOOT=no
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ESSID=any
WIRELESS=yes
MODE=Managed
USERCTL=no
PEERDNS=no
TYPE=Unknown
IPV6INIT=no

Posted by ke4nt1 on Sep. 10 2004,03:45
Try " pump -i ath0 "

73
ke4nt

Posted by Max on Sep. 10 2004,03:58
That worked perfectly!  Much thanks.

Now...how do I get the  ifcfg-ath0 file onto the CD image so that DSL uses it at boot up (I have a feeling this part will be more complicated!?!? is that a re-master chore?)

Posted by ke4nt1 on Sep. 10 2004,04:53
Not too difficult..
If you are going to continue to run from LiveCD ( I always do )
You'll want to pick a spot to save your BACKUP .
I use an extra partition on my HD, either fat, fat32, or ext2 will do, even a usbkey
Add the lines you used to make your card work to your opt/bootlocal.sh file.
Make sure you have the line " opt/bootlocal.sh " in your /home/dsl/filetool.lst file.
( Should already be in there )
Mount your backup partition using the mount tool on your slit dock .
Make a backup > either from the dslpanel or from menu System > Backup / Restore
After a successful backup , you can reboot your box, and at the new boot prompt
type at least " dsl restore=hda* "
( using whatever partition your BACKUP is on, hda2, hda3, etc.. )
Then your restored bootlocal.sh will run automatically .

73
ke4nt

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