Need assistance with wireless network setup...

thekid · 12-01-2007, 08:25 PM

This laptop is running Kubuntu Feisty and I have a Belkin N1 WiFi PCMCIA card model F5D8013 and a Linksys WRT300N WLAN router. I've installed the driver that came with the card using Ndiswrapper, and it is detected now

Code:

keith@Drone:~$ iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11FH  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Bit Rate=1 Mb/s   Sensitivity=-200 dBm
          RTS thr=2346 B   Fragment thr=2346 B
          Power Management: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

When I try to connect to my WLAN, I get KWiFiManager telling me I am out of range, even when I have the machine right next to the router. I click scan for networks and it sees my network but the switch to network button is grayed out. Can anyone give me some ideas? Thanks!

pentode · 12-03-2007, 12:24 PM

Never had much luck with kwifimanager - you may need to be root to connect. Try iwconfig wlan0 from command line as root. If you get an error, you may need to install wireless-tools.

Look at man iwconfig and use the commands to enter the correct essid for your router and any necessary security password (WEP/WPA).

It's usually easier if you can turn off any security on the router long enough to see if you can get connected in the clear.

thekid · 12-10-2007, 04:22 PM

OK, well, I think it's a problem with Kubuntu. The card works under windows, so I know it's not a hardware issue. I'm leaning towards Kubuntu itself because I am unable to use the iwconfig commands to change the card configuration, using sudo, of course. I thought it might be something to do with the kwifimanager and knetworkmanager, so I uninstalled both and am still unable to change the card settings, such as changing the card mode to auto rather than managed, or the AP, or anything else. I type in the command, it asks me for the password, acts like it performs the command, but when I look at it nothing changes. I'm gonna try Slackware, I just haven't been impressed with Kubuntu, and I really feel disconnected from the operations of my machine with it.