Almost there (I think) wireless network config question.

pete1234 · 05-23-2005, 02:43 AM

Hey, I'm currently running Slackware 10.1.0 on my laptop. I'm trying to configure my Ralink 802.11G built in wireless card. I believe I've got the Module installed correctly due to my iwconfig output:

ra0 RT2500 Wireless ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412GHz Bit Rate:1Mb/s
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
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've read the README file that came with the driver (version rt2500-1.1.0), however, none of the instructions given for configuration seem to work for me. I've tried editing the rc.wireless.conf file. which reads:

# Generic example (decribe all possible settings)
*)
INFO="Fill with your own settings..."
# ESSID (extended network name) : My Network, any
ESSID="any"
# NWID/Domain (cell identifier) : 89AB, 100, off
NWID=""
# Operation mode : Ad-Hoc, Managed, Master, Repeater, Secondary, auto
MODE="Ad-Hoc"
# Frequency or channel : 1, 2, 3 (channel) ; 2.422G, 2.46G (frequency)
FREQ=""
CHANNEL="0"
# Sensitivity (cell size + roaming speed) : 1, 2, 3 ; -70 (dBm)
SENS=""
# Bit rate : auto, 1M, 11M
RATE=""
# Encryption key : 4567-89AB-CD, s:password
KEY=""
# RTS threshold : off, 500
RTS=""
# Fragmentation threshold : off, 1000
FRAG=""
# Other iwconfig parameters : power off, ap 01:23:45:67:89:AB
IWCONFIG=""
# iwspy parameters : + 01:23:45:67:89:AB
IWSPY=""
# iwpriv parameters : set_port 2, set_histo 50 60
IWPRIV=""
;;
esac

However, none of this seems to be passed to the card. I run an open network, and have ruled out the possibility that it's my router. I'm just not sure where to go fron here. Any help is appreciated.

XavierP · 05-23-2005, 03:11 AM

Have a look at "man iwconfig" for the various settings. Basically, you need to do:

Code:

iwconfig wlan0 "your_network_name"
iwconfig wlan0 nick "nickname of pc"
iwconfig wlan0 <etc etc etc>
dhcpd wlan0

and substitute "wlan0" for whatever your card is called.

pete1234 · 05-23-2005, 05:54 AM

Thanks for the reply. I did as you suggested, however, I still have no wireless conectivity, but my wireless device now shows up in the out put of ifconfig :

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:40:45:26:9B:6F
inet addr:192.168.0.2 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:4876 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:3934 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:3118634 (2.9 Mb) TX bytes:451304 (440.7 Kb)
Interrupt:23 Base address:0xe800

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 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:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

ra0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:11:09:F8:13:01
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:12 errors:1 dropped:1 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:517 (517.0 b)
Interrupt:16
and here's iwconfig for fun:

ra0 RT2500 Wireless ESSID:""
Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:2.412GHz Cell: 7E:FE:8A:90:BA:B5
Bit Rate:11Mb/s
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Link Quality:60 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

My router log shows no wireless conections, and no dropped packets. I'm stumped. Any help is appreciated.

XavierP · 05-23-2005, 12:10 PM

OK, here's a copy of what I run:

Code:

iwconfig wlan0 essid "<my_essid>"
iwconfig wlan0 nick <my_pc_nickname>(optional)
iwconfig wlan0 ap auto
iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
iwconfig wlan0 key restricted <my_key>
dhcpcd wlan0

and that works every time (for me :)) I run it manually as su when I log in - because I switch between wired and wireless.

Iwconfig gives me

Code:

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

sit0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"<my_essid>"  Nickname:"<my_pc_nickname>"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412GHz  Access Point: 00:0F:B5:A4:14:DE
          Bit Rate=54Mb/s   Tx-Power:10 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3
          RTS thr=4096 B   Fragment thr=4096 B
          Encryption key:<my_key>   Security mode:restricted
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:100/100  Signal level:-53 dBm  Noise level:-256 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

pete1234 · 05-24-2005, 03:13 AM

Thank you very much. That did it, however, my router for some reason is dropping the packets, and giving the reason that they're a "spoof attack". Though I am showing up as connected, which is good.

pete1234 · 05-24-2005, 03:55 AM

Okay, that was easily fixed. I can now achieve wireless connectivity, however, my whole system locks up after I've been connected about a minute or so. I tried not sending any data whatsoever accros the network and opened ethereal to verify, and it still froze up. I imagine this is a problem with the driver? *Edit* I changed the driver, but to no avail. I'm going to change the driver version from a beta to a stable and see about that, but if anyone has any incite it's always appreciated.

pete1234 · 05-24-2005, 09:10 AM

I fixed it. I spent the last few hours googling about. Apparently I had SMP support enabled, and Ralink doesn't support that. So I recompiled with SMP disabled and bingo. Just want to thank everyone for their help.