WPA2 network; ndiswrapper wireless; Ubuntu 9.04; have to reset router to get online
 

Hi, all. I've been having a network problem that I've been able to temporarily solve by rebooting the router, but even that can be shaky at times, and it can sometimes disturb others' internet activites, so I'd really like to tackle this while I can. I had an old thread about this, but it's ancient history by now, and plus which, I've got a bit more Linux experience and patience than I did before. :)

The basic problem is that NetworkManager will associate and connect to my home wireless network, but a) it won't let me ping the router or anywhere else ("Destination Host Unreachable"), and b) the connection lasts for maybe a couple minutes at most. If I reset the router, however, 9 times out of 10 it will associate and connect successfully and I can get online, but I have to run a constant ping to the router with a 10-second interval, otherwise it drops the connection, unless I'm doing a lot of other heavy network activity.

ping 192.168.1.1 (the router):

I've tried wpa_supplicant, but this is what I get (it's apparently unsuccessful...? ESSID/MAC addresses censored where necessary):

The last prompt line is included because I cancelled it myself; it didn't abort on its own. If left unmonitored, it basically keeps doing this over and over, with no visible network activity at all.

With NetworkManager, I can keep selecting the network's ESSID over and over, and it seems to reconnect, but I still can't ping out anywhere. I'm using a Netgear WN111v1 wireless adapter with ndiswrapper and the Windows drivers. I have no idea what the chipset is, and I doubt that Linux drivers exist for it, even if I knew what it was. :( The router is using WPA2 security (hence my trying wpa_supplicant)

lsusb:

ifconfig wlan0 (while connected; IP/MAC addresses censored where needed):

ifconfig wlan0 (while not connected; IP/MAC addresses censored where needed):

wpa_supplicant.conf (ESSID and PSK passphrase censored):

I only include this for format checking purposes. The commented out "psk" is the actual text passphrase, while the uncommented one is (presumably) a hex representation of the same key. Is this correct? I've never done this with wpa_supplicant before, I've only used NetworkManager (which is a pain in the @$$ because it requires X to run, and so it disconnects any time I log out/back in :mad:).

Is there any hope of getting my wireless connection permanently working, so that I don't have to reset the router every time I need to reboot or log out/back in?

I apologize if this was a long read, but I wanted to make sure I was giving enough info to help diagnose the problem.

Just going to basics, is there any chance another device is clashing with you on the same IP? Is it possibe your firewall settings are blocking the outbound ping?

I don't think so. There are only two wireless connections sharing the same router: my desktop (192.168.1.4) and a Windows 7 laptop (192.168.1.2). There is also another desktop machine with a direct wired connection to the router (192.168.1.3).

I'm not sure what you mean; the iptables settings on my computer, or the router's settings? I think the only setting I've enabled in iptables is to do packet forwarding/NAT on a wired interface to my other desktop running Arch. I think it goes as 192.168.1.5 from the router's perspective, but it's known locally from Ubuntu's perspective as 192.168.0.2, if that makes any difference.

Thanks for the reply, by the way! :)

You did not tell how does your desktop get IP address and other settings about network. Does it use dhcp, or is it static?

Thanks

It's static. I really would like to know how to (properly) use wpa_supplicant, rather than NetworkManager. I've read the man page, and that's how I came up with the first command, but if I try it with the "-D ndiswrapper" option, I just get "Unsupported driver 'ndiswrapper'.", even though the man page says it's a driver option.

First of all - wpa_supplicant doesn't have any relation to NetworkManager.
So, please, change something in your "wpa_supplicant.conf", do it like:
Next, please, check if "wpa_supplicant" is loaded and works:
ps -A | grep wpa_su
If you will see in an output PID for "wpa_supplicant", do: kill -p <PID>.

Then, make sure that wireless interface is UP, do: ifconfig wlan0 up

Then open root console and type to execute "wpa_supplicant", like:
change path to ".conf" file if yours is different.

When "wpa_supplicant" starts it will write debug information onto console.

Try and do not do anything with NetworkManager - we need to check "wpa_supplicant" first.

Thanks

Here's a pastebin of the output of "wpa_supplicant -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0 -d".

And the same thing with "-D ndiswrapper":

I think the problem is that it's trying to use the "wext" driver, and it's not working with the adapter. I'm not sure, though; I'm just guessing based on the output of the first command. :confused:

I also changed the /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file to read like:

And when you say "try to not do anything with NetworkManager", do you mean to just leave it disconnected, or shut it down entirely?

"try to not do anything with NetworkManager" - I meant, do not try to connect with it to anywhere.

Ok, lets try that way.
Now start "wpa_supplicant" like this:
Also please, post output to pastebin.
Thanks

:confused: I already tried it that way, and it didn't work...see my post above. ^

This has all been with NetworkManager disconnected, by the way; I only re-connect it (and reset the router to get online) to make these posts.

You have tried "-D ndiswrapper" - with SPACE

Have you tried without: -Dndiswrapper?

Also, please execute in root console:

wpa_supplicant -h

In the output will be "drivers:", what do you get there?

Okay, so ndiswrapper isn't there. How would I go about adding it, then? I know I have it (and the Windows drivers) installed, because they work with NetworkManager.

Also, spaces vs. no spaces doesn't seem to make a difference:

I apologize if I seem like a n00b about this; I really don't know a whole lot about wireless security.

You know, it looks like you do not need option "-Dndiswrapper". Should be -Dwext enough.

Can you please, in root console type:
iwlist wlan0 scan.
Can you cut only your AP and post output here.
Thanks

Here's the output of iwlist wlan0 scan (my AP only):

Can you please, try some more. Please change "scan_ssid" from 1 to 2:
And start supplicant:

wpa_supplicant -Dwext -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -iwlan0 -d