wlan-ng is driving me crazy!
 

Sorry for the long post~

I just installed Slackware 9.0, but I can't get linux-wlan-ng working on it.

I'm running into trouble when I actually try to connect with my network. Here is what I try to do to get it up and running.

$wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable

$wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_autojoin ssid=Higgnet authtype=opensystem

$ifconfig wlan0 up

$route add default gw 192.168.0.1 dev wlan0

For some reason this isn't getting me connected (ie I can't even ping the server). So far as I can see, my server isn't even recieving any packets from the new host.

I have the modules loaded. My card is supported. The light in the back blinks.

Any hep would be much appreciated

~Andrew

PS. I'm new to slack, so how do I edit the /etc/rc.d/rc.S file to make this work?

In order to get a decent reply here, you should provide information on:

1) the type of card or USB device you are using
2) the output of the command <<ifconfig wlan0>>
3) any strange messages you got from the <<wlanctl-ng>> commands

That would help you to get up and running a bit faster...good luck!

1) DWL-520 PCI card
2) ifconfig wlan0 give all of the normal information, except it doesn't have any adresses assigned (my server/router) has dhcp.
3) wlanctl-ng doesn't give any weird messages

I was using the same software a while back (until I ran an extra cable in the house).

I found that even though I was also using dhcp it helped to enter a static ip address (that may be a quirk of older versions of the software)

before the wlanctl-ng commands I would enter something like

ifconfig wlan0 192.168.0.xxx up

I still had to re-enter the ifconfig wlan0 up command a second time after the 2 wlanctl-ng commands were entered.

It worked, even if it wasn't the "right" way. Give it a try...

cheers,
john

the wlan-ng modules always make me gag...

I hate answering an "it hurts when I do this" question with a "don't do that" answer, but the orinoco modules are already there, compiled, and they actually work well with the DWL520. With kernel 2.4.20 you got .11b of the driver, which handles the newer firmware of the prism2.5 cards that the DWL-520 (and a bunch of others is based on). It hacks and barfs on encryption.

However, the .13x series of the orinoco is much better at WEP, and actually compiles easily...

modprobe orinoco_pci
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.23 up
iwconfig eth0 essid Higgnet (on an opensystem actually unnecessary)
route add default gw 192.168.0.1

Cheers,

Finegan

NO WAY! I had no idea that dwl-520 was supported by orinico!!!

I'm not at the house with the slack-box in questions, but I think I will drive over this weekend and compile the oronico modules into a 2.4.20 kernel : )

I'll post again once i know how this works out.

Thanks a bunch to finegan and jpohara

~Andrew

No kidding....

Well, if you're bored, you might also want to try the kickass little hostap module set:

http://hostap.epitest.fi/

It works on a clean "make" "make install", and will run your card in master mode so it can be the access point on a BSS network... sweet....

Cheers,

Finegan

I tried to compile the needed modules into my kernel, but I'm having a little bit of trouble.

I managed to get orinico_cs in there with all of its necessary components, but orinico_pci is nowhere to be found. The only other module in there is plain old orinoco.

I'm pretty sure the problem is that I didn't enable PLX9052 based PCI cards, which it told me to do for full functionality, but I can't find that option in 'menuconfig'. I'm wondering if there's a way that I can just find the source for it, and compile and insert it into /lib/modules by hand.

Is that allowed/possible?

Thanks for your help,
Andrew

: ( : ( : (

I located orinoco_pci. It turns out it was experimental, and I had it so that it wouldn't prompt me for experimental options.

The modules are installed and working, but I still can't get the thing to connect to my server! I have no idea what is going on here. My network does not have a wep, and I have eth0 aliased to orinoco_pci .

There aren't any error messages generated, yet it still doesn't actually connect to my network. I can't even use 'route' to add the default gw. please help me!!

Thanks~

Andrew

What's the output of iwconfig and the goop at the end of "dmesg" about the card binding?

Cheers,

Finegan

I won't be able to access the slack-box in question for a couple of days. As soon as I can, I'll give you those outputs, and I've got a few things I want to try, so hopefully this'll be over with pretty soon.

all better now
 

ok~

I got back to the house with the slackware box, and had my wlan up in no time. The real problem was that I didn't understand the BSD init system, so I was bringing up eth0 with iwconfig a little too late. There were also some other trivial proglems with my neighbors stupid linksys router, but I got that under control in no time.

Thanks a lot for all of your help,
Andrew

more problems~

i don't know if anyone is reading this post anymore, but i though i'd put my problem in here:

sometimes when i'm using my wireless nic, it just inexplicable crashes. i've heard of this problem before, but i've never heard of the fix. any ideas?

What card, what modules set, and what kind of crash?

As in the machine locks up, or the network gets dumped?

The devil's in the details man.

Cheers,

Finegan

Finegan~

I just spent a while debugging this, and I've found pretty much what causes it, and (maybe) what goes wrong. I am using a DWL=520 with the orinico_pci module.

"The crash" is basically network services being dumped. This doesn't happen in the way that the device loses its assigned adress, but that my card becomes disconnected from the wireless network. It happens almost immediately if I connect to the server from inside the network for ftp or vnc, but not when i connect for ssh.

Do get the network service back up, I have to bring the interface down, unload the module, and then re-run the network startup scripts.

Thanks in advance for you help,
Andrew