I have successfully used my network card, and now I want to turn
it into an access point.

uname -a
Linux egoff.miragenetworks.com 2.6.17-1.2157_FC5 #1 SMP Tue Jul 11 22:53:56 EDT 2006 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

My ifcfg file:
# Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
# for the documentation of these parameters.
ONBOOT=no
BOOTPROTO=static
USERCTL=no
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=no
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=eth0
HWADDR=00:90:4b:c6:1f:57
ESSID=foo
MODE=Master
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
IPADDR=192.168.0.1
BROADCAST=192.168.0.255
DOMAIN=somedomain.com

When I run ifup, it seems to be configured ok:
/sbin/iwconfig eth0
Warning: Driver for device eth0 has been compiled with version 20
of Wireless Extension, while this program supports up to version 19.
Some things may be broken...

eth0 IEEE 802.11b/g ESSID:"foo" Nickname:"egoff.somedomain.com"
Mode:Master Frequency=2.484 GHz Access Point: 00:0F:B5:21:14:4E
Bit Rate=11 Mb/s Tx-Power=19 dBm
RTS thrff Fragment thrff
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


But no other computers can see it.

Thanx for any info.
Eric

I think you have to switch it to ADHOC or some crap. I just switched distro's and found myself without a GUI on slackware so I cant really help too much, well I can I reinstalled Ubuntu but I'm tired zzz. Open up your system configuration and look under wifi and eth0 do some snooopin around. It also couldnt hurt to maybe look at your configuration for the card itself. You basically need information I usually just snoop around looking for ideas or hints.


---- And Also.... How are you wireless exactly? Are you wireless off a router which your then gonna go wireless off your desktop, Creating a double bridge.... or are you plugged in with an ethernet cord (I think you can do this) and then acting as an access point.

Allright I've gotten on my laptop. It's Windows XP but whatev I think you've got it not quite setup all the way possibly. Either on the end with your computer broadcasting. Or on the other end of the other computer or whatever recieving the signal, more specifically picking up the signal and accesses those kinds of connections.

Here's what my Windows says, three buttons each a setting:
Networks To access:

Any available network (Access point preffered)
Access point(infrastructure) networks only
Computer-to-Computer (ad hoc)networks only.

Now the question is is your computer communicating as a computer-to-computer with the other computer and vise versa. And the next question is how far away is your access point from your other desktop or whatever it is you plan to hook up. I was just looking at what you wrote.........
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Your dead in the water it looks to me. You arent putting out anything. Your basically a CB radio that's turned off.

Not to insult your intelligence or anything. But in order for the other computer to be connected wirelessly it must also have a wireless card. You should tell me about your hardware what computers you got, routers, servers, cable modems, ethernet cables etc.

I have a computer with 2 network cards. One is wireless, one is wireful.
I want to turn this computer into a wireless router.

I included the iwconfig of itself just in case it was
useful to anyone who knew what I might have been doing wrong.

There are 2 scenarios that I can see:
The bcm43xx drivers are not capable enough to support MASTER mode.
My ifcfg-eth0 is not right.

I am hoping someone can tell me which or add a third.

Thank you,
Eric

I'm gonna try to isolate your problem here I found this by googling it's a start, note a command iwspy :

Hi,

I've successfully installed the HostAp driver with a D-Link DWL-650/DWL-500 configuration, running Kernel 2.4.19.

Setting the card in Managed mode everything works great and I get a fairly high link quality:

iwconfig wlan0 gives:

Warning : Device wlan0 has been compiled with version 13 of Wireless Extension, while we are using version 12. Some things may be broken...

wlan0 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"default"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437GHz Access Point: 00:50:18:05:A5:FA
Bit Rate=11Mb/s Tx-Power:-6 dBm Sensitivity=1/3
Retry min limit:8 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Link Quality:80/92 Signal level:-53 dBm Noise level:-100 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:212 Invalid misc:15864 Missed beacon:0



When setting the card in Master mode, i.e.

iwconfig wlan0 mode Master essid test

and checking the link quality with iwspy, I get:

wlan0 Statistics collected:

00:02:2D:23:FE:49 : Quality:19/92 Signal level:-77 dBm Noise level:-98 dBm

typical/average : Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0

As you can see the link quality is very low. Checking my the link quality on the other end (a windows machine) confirms the results.

iwconfig at this stage gives:

wlan0 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"test"
Mode:Master Frequency:2.422GHz Access Point: 00:05:5D:5B:BA:8A
Bit Rate:2Mb/s Tx-Power:-6 dBm Sensitivity=1/3
Retry min limit:8 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:7 Invalid misc:581 Missed beacon:0


The Bit Rate is now 2Mb/s instead of 11Mb/s.....changing Tx-Power has no effect.... Any ideas?

Regards,

Rickard

.......... This is Ray btw lol

I'm looking at my Atheros AR5005G Wireless card configuration on my WindowsXP. And it's got a list like this:

Property, value:

802.11b preamble, long and short
---
map registers, 256
---
Network address, not present
---
power save mode, normal
---
Radio On/off, On
---
Scan valid interval, 30



Allright... Notice the part that says Radio On/off and how mine says on. This is very curious. Especially considering: Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0

Maybe have a look see at your wireless card configurations.

Warning: Driver for device eth0 has been compiled with version 20
of Wireless Extension, while this program supports up to version 19.
Some things may be broken...

^^^ that probably is the source of the problem, something about drivers for your wireless card.

OK, while I'm filling this out I just got some important info, read:

Is master mode supported?
No! NDIS doesn't support Master/Repeater/Monitor modes. The only modes supported are Ad-Hoc and Managed. Note that some drivers may support features that are not in NDIS e.g., showing signal noise and possibly Master mode, but they are proprietary and no documentation available for them, so such features won't be supported by ndiswrapper.

OK OK OK. I'm guessing ur nappin. But here it is I think this will end all your problems............

Re: Drapper and the broadcom 43xx linux drivers (wifi)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE!! new kernel 2.6.15-23 has a fix for the 11Mb/s issue.

the native driver now runs at 36Mb/s, 3 times faster than before!!!!

now if you are using my script in a 'pre-up' in your /etc/network/interfaces

then you can simply change the line that reads

Code:
iwconfig $myInterface rate 11M # &>/dev/nullto

Code:
iwconfig $myInterface rate 36M # &>/dev/nullor you can simply add

Code:
wireless-rate 36M below your interface in /etc/network/interfaces.


(the native driver is set to 11M automatically so you need to over-ride it.)

thanks to wheeler who let me in on the news


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Re: Drapper and the broadcom 43xx linux drivers (wifi)

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi guys? I removed WIFI Radar as there is some bug, I blacklisted both ndiswrapper and the bcm43xx before doing steps from Dapper section at the following link. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/WifiDocs/Dri...f2ed327edefdfb
I'm down to #2.2.3 at sudo iwconfig eth1 ap any
If you look at my teminal output you'll see that the scan and also the 11M setting commands didn't work.
I finally got the light on and some additional info which I am posting, its looking brighter! First I need to know a couple things:
1. do I need to re enter the essid in terminal since blacklisting ndiswrapper? (it is in the network settings along with the wep #) I don't see my essid or the broadcom4306 listed in the terminal for eth1 anymore (had them once)
2. Can someone tell me about this out put where it says DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 (is this correct or should it be looking at 255.255.255.0 ?)

I still need help and guidance since I am now growing tired of the back and forth stuff, BUT I THOUGHT SOME OF THIS MIGHT HELP THE REST, just not sure how do do some othe other stuff listed on this page since some things don't work in terminal... maybe some of you can try this link and you may discover more that will help me also. THANKS!!!!
David
TERMINAL output below:

dspring@laptop:~$ wget http://ubuntu.cafuego.net/pool/bcm43...3xx-firmware_1 .1-0ubuntu1_all.deb
--09:07:08-- http://ubuntu.cafuego.net/pool/bcm43...are_1.1-0ubunt u1_all.deb
=> `bcm43xx-firmware_1.1-0ubuntu1_all.deb'
Resolving ubuntu.cafuego.net... 64.5.53.83, 202.125.40.144
Connecting to ubuntu.cafuego.net|64.5.53.83|:80... connected.
HTTP request sent, awaiting response... 200 OK
Length: 40,738 (40K) [application/x-debian-package]

100%[====================================>] 40,738 111.67K/s

09:07:09 (111.14 KB/s) - `bcm43xx-firmware_1.1-0ubuntu1_all.deb' saved [40738/40 738]

dspring@laptop:~$ sudo dpkg -i bcm43xx-firmware_1.1-0ubuntu1_all.deb
Selecting previously deselected package bcm43xx-firmware.
(Reading database ... 98058 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking bcm43xx-firmware (from bcm43xx-firmware_1.1-0ubuntu1_all.deb) ...

Setting up bcm43xx-firmware (1.1-0ubuntu1) ...
Note that you need to DISABLE ndiswrapper and wifi-radar for this driver to work properly!

dspring@laptop:~$ sudo modprobe bcm43xx
dspring@laptop:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 IEEE 802.11g ESSIDff/any
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:25 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Power Managementff
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

dspring@laptop:~$ sudo iwlist ethX scan
ethX Interface doesn't support scanning.

dspring@laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig ethX rate 11M
Error for wireless request "Set Bit Rate" (8B20) :
SET failed on device ethX ; No such device.
dspring@laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig eth1 rate 11M
dspring@laptop:~$ iface eth1 inet dhcp
bash: iface: command not found
dspring@laptop:~$ pre-up sudo iwconfig eth1 rate 11M
bash: pre-up: command not found
dspring@laptop:~$ iface eth1 inet dhcp
bash: iface: command not found
dspring@laptop:~$ iwconfig eth1
eth1 IEEE 802.11g ESSIDff/any
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:25 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Power Managementff
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

dspring@laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig eth1 ap any
dspring@laptop:~$ ifup eth1
ifup: failed to open statefile /var/run/network/ifstate: Permission denied
dspring@laptop:~$ sudo ifup eth1
Password:
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.3
Copyright 2004-2005 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP

Listening on LPF/eth1/00:90:4b:a2:ad:a1
Sending on LPF/eth1/00:90:4b:a2:ad:a1
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 12
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 14
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.
dspring@laptop:~$


THE LIGHT IS ON, LIGHT IS GOOD.