I have a Intel(R) 5100 WiFi (802.11n) notebook card and I am trying to connect to a network not broadcasting its' SSID. The network is running WPA2 Personal, in mixed mode, router is Linksys E4200. I will be making NO CHANGES to my router! When I try to connect to my network, it asks for the passphrase and then again a short time later. I am not typing the passphrase in wrong, and I know my card is capable of connecting to the network as I also run Win 7 on this machine and connect to it all the time. So I am wondering what may be the problem.... any ideas?

Hi:

Welcome to Linux Questions!

Sounds like a driver or firmware issue.

http://homecommunity.cisco.com/t5/Wi...00/td-p/381485
http://drivers.softpedia.com/get/FIR...Build-11.shtml
http://drivers.downloadatoz.com/down...sys-e4200.html
http://forums.linuxmint.com/

Once you download the driver you would use your terminal to install the driver or firmware.
Sudo (put in your password)

can you give me a clue as to the convention for the file I need to append to that? new to linux...

When you download the driver or the firmware your Linux Mint should put it in your Downloads Directory.
Open your Download's Directory and look to see that the driver or firmware is sitting in that directory/in a file. Keeping that directory open; open your terminal and execute that command in the terminal and hit enter.

The terminal will install the driver for you.
This thread should help you to understand the terminal using Linux Mint
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=91809

yeah, I know how to use terminal... and first of all, I downloaded the driver from intel (iwlwifi-5000-ucode-5.4.A.11.tar.gz), it contains a useless readme, license, and iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode, which I have no idea what to do with...

You say that the "Read Me" file is useless-
Why?

It should provide you with instructions on how to install the driver out of the .tar.gz-
It also should of came with a "Install" file as well-

This was the only Solved thread in any regard to the 5000-1.ucode and what can be done to address it.
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=73337

I'm not the expert but it sounds like the driver for the kernel is working but the file ( iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode) is failing.
http://forums.opensuse.org/english/g...5300-agn-opens

I'll see what Linux Mint has to say about your situation-

Did some searching into this a bit more.

Firmware is not usually backported unless the kernel is also backported.
Installing another version of the kernel should fix it.

If you run:
And the output is
Than this is your way of knowing it's not a backport issue and moving up the most recent version of the kernel is one of of your options. A newer version of the kernel provides plenty of support for hardware issues or performance issues that folks may have with their system.
http://www.kernel.org/

Intel 5100 Wireless Drivers Location <SOLVED>
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopi...23517&p=680101

Thanks, and I think the biggest problem I was having was the fact that no one pointed out that I would have to run modprobe, in my case "modprobe iwlagn". And that I would need to add a line for iwlagn to /etc/modules for boot time loading. I'm rather glad I had this issue though, now I have at least a rough idea on how to solve some basic driver issues when trying out a less than complete linux distro in the future, All I know is mint has been more than helpful in easing me into learning linux... I have tried linux in the past but quit each time only a few days or hrs in, due to the fact that they would always crash from simple tasks like opening simple folders... I do have one question though Ztcoracat, what exactly is backporting?

Basically, keeping your backported wireless modules up to date when you up grade the linux kernel.

Backporting explained here in these threads.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1060074

Here's a more in depth description in regard to 'backports' from The Linux Foundation.
http://www.linuxfoundation.org/colla...river-backport

BTW, we do have a Forum dedicated to "Linux Mint" reading through all of our members posts there will help you to learn as well. The more you learn about Mint the happier and more comfortable you'll be with your distro. Linux Mint is a good place to learn from as well.
Official documentation
http://www.linuxmint.com/documentation.php

When I first installed Fedora I spent quite a bit reading and learning about my distro.
Until I did Fedora was a little intimidating-