Can't ssh, ping, etc. laptop with wireless nic
 

I have a strange problem (or maybe not). I'm using Slackware-current on a Dell Inspiron 1200 with a wireless card (it's PCMCIA). I can connect just fine with it and surf the web, vpn in to work, and ssh into my servers. The only problem I have is trying to see the laptop from other machines on the LAN. I can't ping it, ssh into it or anything. I'm using ndiswrapper and wpa_supplicant. I use iptables but it doesn't matter if I ditch my rules and set my tables' policies to accept or not. I know I'm not giving very much info here but I'm hoping someone else has seen these symptoms.

Welcome to LQ!

A few things to think about:

- Do you have entries in your /etc/hosts.allow and /etc/hosts.deny?
- If you use a wired connection instead of a wireless one, can you then ping and ssh?
- Have you tried logging at your firewall to see if the packets are even reaching your system?
- Are you sure your changes to your firewall have been accepted (I know this is pretty elementary, but it happens).

Re:
 

I don't have any entries in my hosts.allow or deny files and I can ping and ssh when I'm connected with a wire. I have watched my firewall log and double checked my settings. Really strange.

You're right, that is strange.

Can we get some more details about this? It is pretty easy to write rules in iptables that would disable ping and ssh access over a wireless connection, but not a wired one, so it is possible that your firewall is doing this. Seeing the rules might help. Also, you might post some log entries from the firewall, and maybe someone can spot something. Another approach would be to run wireshark (the program formerly known as ethereal) and see if you can spot what is happening to the packets on that laptop.