I was directed to this site by a member from another forum. I think I'll just start all over with my question to see if I can get some help. I am a ubuntu newbie and I can't easily visualize the basic framework of the operating system, so I have trouble knowing what is meant by some of the suggestions I've been reading in other posts - like how to check or change certain values, and which system or admin programs to use to do so. I was told that I have a TrueMobile 1150 Series PC Card. So anyway, here's the question:


I'm sorry I am so new with Ubuntu and anything related to it, and cannot even decipher the Q&A in the FAQ results I see. Here is my problem. I have been going to Panera Bread for free wi-fi on my laptop and have been able to connect there with absolutely no problem for months. I don't know anything about system commands and software in Ubuntu. I only have Ubuntu on my computer because that's what it came with and I thought it would be okay. I don't know what happened, but about two or three weeks ago, my wireless icon went gray and the words "Wireless Network" and "Wired Network" are also gray when I go to Panera Bread. I cannot click on them in the tool tray and I cannot connect to the Internet anymore. I don't understand what I read when I try to search for help. Is it possible that a recent upgrade wiped out my capability? Might I have disabled something unknowingly? Part of the problem is that in order to access online help I have to come back home and connect, in which case I do have easy access to the Internet. But I don't have the luxury of then running back to Panera to see if what I've tried has worked. The next time I get to Panera, I've had to start all over again and I don't know what to do. I need to be able to work away from home and all was well until recently. I really need some hand-holding, step-by-step help from someone who can walk me through exactly where to find what files and statuses, and tell me exactly what to do to restore my wireless capability to where it was before. Is there anyone out there like that?

Try these commands. If it complains about perm,issions, become root. The effects are shown after the # and are for your benefit only
ifconfig wlan0 up #Turns on wireless card
iwconfig # shows wifi card state. Provided it gives a few lines (not 'no wireless extensions')
iwlist wlan0 scan |less #searches for networks look for a comment on encryption. They could have changed their settings.

Post some results. We don't need the list if networks, just if the encryption is off on one

Thank you and I apologize for being so long getting back. I've had to conduct business from another computer and had gotten tied up. I tried the commands. I'll comment on the last one first. When I entered the command "iwlist wlan0 scan |less" I got several lines of a single "~" and then the phrase "(END)" at the bottom, erasing all the other terminal output. I don't know what that means. Anyway, the other commands yielded this output - you can see that I shortened the ifconfig command to test other output as well, and it looks like I got the dreaded "no wireless extensions":

customer@customer-laptop:~$ ifconfig wlan0 up
wlan0: ERROR while getting interface flags: No such device
customer@customer-laptop:~$
customer@customer-laptop:~$ ifconfig wlan0
wlan0: error fetching interface information: Device not found
customer@customer-laptop:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:08:74:9d:7e:b4
inet addr:192.168.2.4 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::208:74ff:fe9d:7eb4/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1492 Metric:1
RX packets:11680 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:1 frame:0
TX packets:9518 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:12661939 (12.6 MB) TX bytes:1332035 (1.3 MB)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0x4c00

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2d:58:bb:06
UP BROADCAST RUNNING 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:5 Base address:0xe100

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:240 (240.0 B) TX bytes:240 (240.0 B)

customer@customer-laptop:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"" Nickname:"HERMES I"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457 GHz Access Point: None
Bit Rate:2 Mb/s Sensitivity:1/3
Retry limit:4 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Power Managementff
Link Quality=0/92 Signal level=-122 dBm Noise level=-122 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

customer@customer-laptop:~$

Hi. I guessed wrong; Your wireless adapter is eth1, not wlan0
It seems to be sitting up. Can you turn off encryption in the router, and we will try to get you online this way
ifconfig eth1 up #Just in case
iwlist eth1 scan |less # scans for networks

Find your network; There will be a line like
Cell nn - Address: 00:11:22:33:44:55

underneath are Encryption key & ESSID lines. make sure it's your essid, encryption is off, and copy the address (run the mouse over it). Then type
iwconfig eth1 essid YOUR_ESSID ap 00:11:22:33:44:55

iwconfig should then have the magic word 'Associated' in the top line. Kill dhcpcd, or dhclient and start them again with the argument eth1

dhclient eth1
You should get an IP from the router. You are online

I tried the first command (the "just in case" ifconfig for eth1) and got Permission Denied. When I typed "iwlist eth1 scan |less" I got this:
eth1 No scan results

(END)

I'll bet that's not what you were expecting...but I'm going to keep trying what you suggest. Awaiting your next post. Thanks.

Become root. Use
sudo ifconfig eth1, etc or su to root

sudo <command>
su

I need to rewind because I don't understand what "sudo" is all about (I'm VERY new to Linux and Ubuntu). So I typed and got responses to the following, because I don't think I understood your instructions and how to apply them:

customer@customer-laptop:~$ su to root
Unknown id: to
customer@customer-laptop:~$ su root
Password:
su: Authentication failure
customer@customer-laptop:~$ sudo ifconfig eth1, etc or su to root
[sudo] password for customer:
etc: Unknown host
ifconfig: `--help' gives usage information.

Sorry to be so troublesome, but I'm still just learning what all this means. I've missed something in your instructions, so I need very basic, "Type this '______' then this '_____'."

Thanks.

I also did this, based on your previous post instructions:

customer@customer-laptop:~$ sudo iwlist eth1 scan |less

I got this response:
[sudo] password for customer:

I put in customer password and got this:
eth1 Interface doesn't support scanning.

(END)

Open new console,
type there:
su , press enter
then type your root password.

Then in this console, type
ifconfig eth1 down
ifconfig eth1 192.168.2.5 up
iwlist wlan0 scan

1 members found this post helpful.

Thanks. I forgot to mention in my last post that I don't ever get past the authentication failure at "su."

What does "su" mean, and what is the password for "root?" I've never knowingly set one for it, and don't have a clue what it could be.

And, is "root" the most basic level of the operating system, or what? This is not intuitive for me yet.

Thank you to those who are helping...please be patient with me as I try to learn. Remember I've started with just trying to get my wireless connection back, but I realize these other things I'm seeing will make the eventual solution easier for me to understand. So I thank you sincerely.

ok, su = super user, user can do system changes and system configuration.
You have to be careful, when you do anything under su=root privileges, always read manuals for any command that you type. To find out what command means you can type ALWAY as normal user, "man <command>, for example "man su", without "".

To check your privileges, type "ifconfig -a" without "", It gives you information about all interfaces on your computer.
Post output here.

1 members found this post helpful.

I meant you to do either

su
<enter root password>
ifconfig eth1

or sudo ifconfig eth1

Okay - here's the output of the "ifconfig -a" (by the way, I'm still missing how to come up with a password for su).

customer@customer-laptop:~$ ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:08:74:9d:7e:b4
inet addr:192.168.2.4 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::208:74ff:fe9d:7eb4/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1492 Metric:1
RX packets:189853 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:2 frame:0
TX packets:107306 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:131552967 (131.5 MB) TX bytes:19027527 (19.0 MB)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0x4c00

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2d:58:bb:06
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:5 Base address:0xe100

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:8 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:480 (480.0 B) TX bytes:480 (480.0 B)

According to the fact, that you got output for "ifconfig -a", you are ALWAYS su or root.
So I strongly recommend to execute only that command, you know what they do.

So now do:

ifconfig eth1 down -- turns off wireless interface.
ifconfig eth1 192.168.2.10 -- gives IP for wireless
ifconfig eth1 up -- turns on wireless

then

iwlist wlan0 scan -- it may not work, it should ask your wireless to scan for wireless AP


Post those outputs here

Thanks

1 members found this post helpful.

Here's everything:

customer@customer-laptop:~$ ifconfig eth1 down
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Permission denied
customer@customer-laptop:~$ ifconfig eth1 192.168.2.10
SIOCSIFADDR: Permission denied
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Permission denied
customer@customer-laptop:~$ ifconfig eth1 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: Permission denied
customer@customer-laptop:~$ iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.