iwconfig not working

mikeinf · 05-12-2009, 07:48 AM

Hello,

this is what I get using iwconfig to associate to the best AP:

Code:

mike@mike-laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig eth0 ap auto
Error for wireless request "Set AP Address" (8B14) :
SET failed on device eth0 ; Operation not supported.

What's wrong?

I'm using Ubuntu 8.10 with kernel version 2.6.27

Thanks,
Mike

MoonMind · 05-13-2009, 01:53 AM

Are you sure that "eth0" is the correct address for your wireless device? If your machine has an ethernet port, the wireless probably won't be "eth0" since this is normally reserved for the ethernet. Try "iwconfig" without options to see which devices are available.

It's also possible that your wireless doesn't accept this setting, but that's not very probable - did you try "any" in place of "auto"? Same result?

Last question: Why are you using the CLI? The NetworkManager window and panel widget offer lots of useful functions for connecting to wireless networks...

M.

mikeinf · 05-13-2009, 03:09 AM

Sorry but I post the wrong piece of code..

Code:

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

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"OpenWrt"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.432 GHz  Access Point: 00:14:Bla:bla:bla
          Bit Rate:48 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   Sensitivity=8/0  
          Retry limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=95/100  Signal level=-10 dBm  Noise level=-91 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:5

pan0      no wireless extensions.
mike@mike-laptop:~$ iwconfig eth1 ap auto
Error for wireless request "Set AP Address" (8B14) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not permitted.
mike@mike-laptop:~$ iwconfig eth1 ap any
Error for wireless request "Set AP Address" (8B14) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not permitted.

as you can see it is still not working.

Thanks for your reply but also thanks for your last question:
I'm using CLI because I've noticed that with NetworkManager when I lose the network connection it tries to reconnect for let say 30 seconds; if it does not succeed it give up and it will try again in let say 2 minutes.
In the software I would like to develop I need some way to suggest him to try an association, whenever I know that there is one available, with the best AP.

If you know any other technique, please let me know.
Thanks again for your reply.

Mike

mikeinf · 05-13-2009, 08:30 AM

Step by step I'm getting closer to the final solution..

the problems related to the errors on

Code:

mike@mike-laptop:~$ iwconfig eth1 ap auto
Error for wireless request "Set AP Address" (8B14) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not permitted.
mike@mike-laptop:~$ iwconfig eth1 ap any
Error for wireless request "Set AP Address" (8B14) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not permitted.

have been solved, it was enough to act as super user

Code:

mike@mike-laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig eth1 ap auto
mike@mike-laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig eth1 ap any

still it doesn't work but in the man page I've just read you should commit your changes to get them working immediately.

BUT..

Code:

mike@mike-laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 commit
Error for wireless request "Commit changes" (8B00) :
   SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.

The same error as before!!
so why?

Thanks,
Mike

netlynker · 05-28-2009, 03:41 AM

Dear,

Before you make change with iwconfig, you should down your interface by

#ifconfig eth1 down
then you can make changes with iwconfig.
After finish you have to
#ifconfig eth1 up

Hoping it will help you.

Netlynker

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikeinf

Step by step I'm getting closer to the final solution..

the problems related to the errors on

Code:

mike@mike-laptop:~$ iwconfig eth1 ap auto
Error for wireless request "Set AP Address" (8B14) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not permitted.
mike@mike-laptop:~$ iwconfig eth1 ap any
Error for wireless request "Set AP Address" (8B14) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not permitted.

have been solved, it was enough to act as super user

Code:

mike@mike-laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig eth1 ap auto
mike@mike-laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig eth1 ap any

still it doesn't work but in the man page I've just read you should commit your changes to get them working immediately.

BUT..

Code:

mike@mike-laptop:~$ sudo iwconfig wlan0 commit
Error for wireless request "Commit changes" (8B00) :
   SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.

The same error as before!!
so why?

Thanks,
Mike

mikeinf · 05-28-2009, 04:55 AM

Thank you Netlynker but it didn't work..