iB::Topic::Wireless ethernet card problem

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Topic: Wireless ethernet card problem, Ndiswrapper installs OK, but no internet

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Confused

Group: Members
Posts: 2
Joined: Feb. 2007

Posted: Feb. 19 2007,17:41

Please advise what might be the problem with my setup. I have an SMC2835W-V3 wireless card. This card does not support PRISM so I'm using the WinXP driver, under Ndiswrapper. It's definitely the right driver for this card.

Ndiswrapper reports that the driver is installed and the hardware is present, and Ndiswrapper is enabled with modprobe. However, there is no connection to my home LAN ethernet router, which should assign an IP address automatically by DHCP. Using the DSLpanel, all attempts to obtain an IP address by DHCP fail. IWconfig also fails.

Naturally, I can't ping anything at all ("ping: sendto: Network is unreachable"). I can't login to my router either ("route: SIOC[ADD|DEL]RT: Network is unreachable").

Here's another odd thing. When I type "ifconfig" I only get the "lo" local loopback entry. However, if I type "ifconfig eth0" I get:

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx: (numbers I replaced by 'x')
BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:11

And if I type: ifup eth0, I get "ifup: ignoring unknown interface eth0"

If I type: iwconfig eth0, I get:

eth0 NOT READY! ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Channel:6 Access point:00:00:00:00:00:00
Tx-power=31 dBm Sensitivity=0/200
Retry min limit:0 RTS thr=0 B Fragment thr=0 B
Encryption key: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

I believe something is seriously wrong, because this should be working. Thanks for any advice.

^thehatsrule^ Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 3275
Joined: July 2006

Posted: Feb. 19 2007,18:31

You need to configure your network settings first.

Try running wlanconfig (under DSLPanel)

Confused

Group: Members
Posts: 2
Joined: Feb. 2007

Posted: Feb. 19 2007,19:53

Thanks a lot for the response ^thehatsrule^. Please stick around and help me to configure this card.

I tried to set up the network settings under wlanconfig as you suggested, but unfortunately it didn't work. The only difference in the iwconfig response to the one I had earlier, is that now my SSID is correctly displayed (rather than showing "any"), but it still shouts "NOT READY!" as before. I have not entered the encryption key, which should be optional on my network. I've allowed it to auto-select the channel number, and it chose 11 when I was expecting 6. If this was Windows, the card would be running in "Infrastructure Mode". As that's not an option under wlanconfig, I tried both "Managed" and "auto", but still it doesn't work. I'm right next to the router, but all attempts to get an IP by DHCP fail. Any more ideas?

^thehatsrule^ Offline

Group: Members
Posts: 3275
Joined: July 2006

Posted: Feb. 20 2007,01:15

Quote

but all attempts to get an IP by DHCP fail.

I think you need to run `pump -i eth0`

If that still doesn't work, there's some other similar forum threads you can check out.

Wittfella

Group: Members
Posts: 33
Joined: Sep. 2006

Posted: Feb. 20 2007,03:14

Hey Confused,

Are you sure your encryption settings are optional? If you have no security, your wlan card should associate with the router as soon as you set the ESSID.

ie. once ndiswrapper is up and running, at a terminal type

Code Sample

iwconfig eth0 essid YOURESSID

It should associate with the router. Check this by

Code Sample

iwconfig

If connected it will show a bunch of info like connection speed etc. If it didn't connect it sounds like you need to set the security info. Assuming you use WEP, the key can be 'open' or 'shared', with iwconfig it is called 'open' and 'restricted'. I believe iwconfig defaults to restricted. If you wanted to use 'open' you would connect with:

Code Sample

iwconfig eth0 essid YOURESSID key open XXXXXXX

Once again, check connectivity with just 'iwconfig'. Either way, once your associated with the router, you can then (if using DHCP):

Code Sample

sudo pump -i eth0

Finally check everything with:

Code Sample

ifconfig

It should show your IP address etc., if everything went well.

Another useful command just to check, if you are not associating with the router is:

Code Sample

iwlist scan

It should at least list your router, showing essid and various other stats.

Hope this helps, Wittfella