Wifi w/ BCM4306 on a dell 1150.

retropetrol · 01-14-2009, 08:10 PM

I'm about ready to pull my hair out on this wifi. I'm using Debian etch with the 2.6.18-4-686 kernel. I installed ndiswrapper and configured it ok.
I know this because I could connect to an open network. My problem started when I tried to connect to a secure network with WPA2 TKIP. I've loaded and tried so many things now. I'm having trouble keeping it strait. Now I cannot connect to a open network. I've reloaded my distro and started ever'thing from scratch.

There seems to be a lot of info using this code and that code. Modifying /etc/interfaces and what not. basically I can see the network in KWiFiManger. And on some networks I can get a strength level. At home I cannot. All I can see is the network and whether it is open or protected. Here are some of my outputs. I don't seem to be getting an IP for some reason even in DHCP. What gives?

Code:

christopher@debian:~$ uname -a
Linux debian 2.6.18-4-686 #1 SMP Mon Mar 26 17:17:36 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

ifdown code ---
There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.eth1.pid with pid 3404
killed old client process, removed PID file
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.4
Copyright 2004-2006 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/eth1/00:0b:7d:06:34:16
Sending on   LPF/eth1/00:0b:7d:06:34:16
Sending on   Socket/fallback
christopher@debian:~$ sudo ifup eth1
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.4
Copyright 2004-2006 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/eth1/00:0b:7d:06:34:16
Sending on   LPF/eth1/00:0b:7d:06:34:16
Sending on   Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 16
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 18
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13
DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.
christopher@debian:~$ sudo ndiswrapper -l
Password:
installed drivers:
bcmwl5          driver installed, hardware (14E4:4324) present (alternate driver: bcm43xx)
christopher@debian:~$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
nls_iso8859_1           4256  0
isofs                  32540  0
udf                    73156  0
ipv6                  226016  8
i915                   17600  2
drm                    61332  3 i915
ppdev                   8676  0
parport_pc             32132  0
lp                     11012  0
parport                33256  3 ppdev,parport_pc,lp
button                  6672  0
ac                      5188  0
battery                 9636  0
i8xx_tco                7032  0
dm_snapshot            15552  0
dm_mirror              19152  0
dm_mod                 50232  2 dm_snapshot,dm_mirror
loop                   15048  0
tsdev                   7520  0
joydev                  9088  0
pcmcia                 34140  0
firmware_class          9600  1 pcmcia
snd_intel8x0           30332  0
snd_intel8x0m          15980  0
snd_ac97_codec         83104  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m
snd_ac97_bus            2400  1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm_oss            38368  0
snd_mixer_oss          15200  1 snd_pcm_oss
ndiswrapper           165776  0
yenta_socket           24460  1
rsrc_nonstatic         11840  1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core            36852  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
snd_pcm                68676  4 snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_timer              20996  1 snd_pcm
snd                    47012  7 snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_timer
soundcore               9248  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          9640  3 snd_intel8x0,snd_intel8x0m,snd_pcm
psmouse                35016  0
serio_raw               6660  0
rtc                    12372  0
pcspkr                  3072  0
shpchp                 33024  0
pci_hotplug            28704  1 shpchp
intel_agp              21148  1
agpgart                29896  3 drm,intel_agp
evdev                   9088  2
ext3                  119240  1
jbd                    52456  1 ext3
mbcache                 8356  1 ext3
ide_disk               14848  3
ide_cd                 36064  0
cdrom                  32544  1 ide_cd
piix                    9444  0 [permanent]
b44                    24396  0
mii                     5344  1 b44
ehci_hcd               28136  0
generic                 5476  0 [permanent]
ide_core              110504  4 ide_disk,ide_cd,piix,generic
uhci_hcd               21164  0
usbcore               112644  4 ndiswrapper,ehci_hcd,uhci_hcd
thermal                13608  0
processor              28840  1 thermal
fan                     4804  0
christopher@debian:~$ sudo ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0F:1F:22:F0:7B
          inet addr:192.168.1.2  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::20f:1fff:fe22:f07b/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:5563 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:2656 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:3751947 (3.5 MiB)  TX bytes:345289 (337.1 KiB)
          Interrupt:7

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0B:7D:06:34:16
          inet6 addr: fe80::20b:7dff:fe06:3416/64 Scope:Link
          UP 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:11 Memory:fcffc000-fcffe000

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:88 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:88 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:6096 (5.9 KiB)  TX bytes:6096 (5.9 KiB)

--- /etc/interfaces file ---

# This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
# and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
address 127.0.0.1
netmask 255.0.0.0

# The primary network interface

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp
wireless-essid Home_Network

I've opened my home network for now, No IP/connection. :-(

I'd like a step by step. I'm familiar with how TCP/IP works. My issue is following these steps thru the tree. I'd like to know how to automate this connection on boot as well.

Thanks for any help.

Retro-

Hangdog42 · 01-15-2009, 07:21 AM

If you're simply looking for a fairly easy way to manage networks, have a look at wicd (there is almost certainly a debian package for it). I've found using it has removed a LOT of the hassle of managing different networks, provided your card works right in the first place. Wicd has a daemon that can be launched at boot time and will automatically connect to networks you've configured.

The stuff you posted looks OK, with the exception of ifup bombing out. Please post the output of iwconfig and maybe we can spot a configuration issue.

retropetrol · 01-15-2009, 07:34 PM

Wow I found it!!! a syntax error with my network essid. There IS a difference between; Home_Network and Home Network. The underscore was throwing off the config. ifup was looking for a space in the network name when there was a "_" instead.

I just heard about Wicd today, funny you should mention it. I have three different net works I routinely use. I hope this is the end all for my WiFi troubles. Thanks H-Dog! BTW here is my iwconfig being up. I'm not liking my network open. If this doesn't work, I'll just lock out my MAC id's at home.

Code:

christopher@debian:~$ sudo iwconfig
Password:
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"Home Network"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 00:18:01:FD:B2:41
          Bit Rate:54 Mb/s   Tx-Power:32 dBm
          RTS thr:2347 B   Fragment thr:2346 B
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:78/100  Signal level:-46 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

sit0      no wireless extensions.

Hangdog42 · 01-16-2009, 09:33 AM

Congrats!

Just something to look out for, if your wireless SSID has a space (or other funky character) you may have to escape it. For example, if your SSID is "Home Network", you may have to enter "Home\ Network" for it to work. I think most gui tools like wicd or NetworkManager probably deal with this, but if you use any console tools, you'll likely have to escape the characters.

retropetrol · 01-17-2009, 02:04 PM

To continue my troubles I tried to install Wicd and got a failure when it tried to start. I used a repository from

Code:

deb http://apt.wicd.net debian extras

it looked like a good install until it came back in red " failure!"

Code:

 christopher@debian:~$ sudo apt-get install wicd
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree... Done
The following extra packages will be installed:
  python-dbus python-libxml2
The following packages will be REMOVED:
  network-manager network-manager-kde
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  python-dbus python-libxml2 wicd
0 upgraded, 3 newly installed, 2 to remove and 18 not upgraded.
Need to get 521kB of archives.
After unpacking 1130kB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? y
Get:1 http://apt.wicd.net debian/extras wicd 1.5.8 [233kB]
Get:2 http://ftp.debian.org etch/main python-libxml2 2.6.27.dfsg-6 [169kB]
Get:3 http://ftp.debian.org etch/main python-dbus 0.71-3 [119kB]
Fetched 521kB in 5s (101kB/s)
(Reading database ... 101010 files and directories currently installed.)
Removing network-manager-kde ...
Removing network-manager ...
Stopping network connection manager: NetworkManager.
Stopping network events dispatcher: NetworkManagerDispatcher.
Selecting previously deselected package python-libxml2.
(Reading database ... 100886 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking python-libxml2 (from .../python-libxml2_2.6.27.dfsg-6_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package python-dbus.
Unpacking python-dbus (from .../python-dbus_0.71-3_i386.deb) ...
Selecting previously deselected package wicd.
Unpacking wicd (from .../archives/wicd_1.5.8_all.deb) ...
Setting up python-libxml2 (2.6.27.dfsg-6) ...

Setting up python-dbus (0.71-3) ...
Remove stale byte-compiled files...

Setting up wicd (1.5.8) ...
ls: /opt/wicd/encryption/configurations/: No such file or directory
Starting Network connection manager: wicd failed!

Its acting like a module is broken when I run "wicd"

Code:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/wicd/wicd-daemon.py", line 55, in ?
    import wicd.wpath as wpath
ImportError: No module named wicd.wpath
christopher@debian:~$

.

I was reading on the Developer site and some Jerk had the same problem and didn't post his fix!!! He had the same errors too! any ideas?

thnxs Reto-

Hangdog42 · 01-17-2009, 02:50 PM

There is an Ubuntu thread that suggests simply creating that directory may do the trick. Since Ubuntu is a Debian derivative, it may work in Debian as well.

retropetrol · 01-21-2009, 06:54 PM

OK so I can connect. However not through WICD! Since I removed the Network Manager I have to scan and configure manualy. Let me tell you this is getting old.

I have tried to remove and reinstall WICD, and this is the result.

Setting up wicd (1.5.8) ...
Starting Network connection manager: wicd failed!

christopher@debian:~$ wicd
bash: wicd: command not found
christopher@debian:~$ sudo wicd
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/wicd/wicd-daemon.py", line 55, in ?
import wicd.wpath as wpath
ImportError: No module named wicd.wpath

THere is not much out there on this one.

vinnywrite · 01-21-2009, 09:40 PM

if you have a list of comands that work to bring up your net you should be abel to add them to /etc/rc.d/rc.local in the order that gets you resaults ----if that exists in Debian?(I'v never used it)to bring them up at boot

retropetrol · 02-11-2009, 11:02 AM

Well apparently the latest version of WICD is not supported in Etch! I found a link to sourceforge that has all the versions of WICD. I down loaded and installed 1.4.2 and Bada-Bing, I have both network recognition and WPA... Sweet. Now I'd like to know if WICD will or could be launched at boot? Any Ideas? Thanks for every ones help. Here is the link.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showf...29460%E2%80%8F

Hangdog42 · 02-11-2009, 11:52 AM

Quote:

Now I'd like to know if WICD will or could be launched at boot?

Well, I know it can because it does on all my Slackware boxen. Since wicd is a daemon/client system, basically, all you need to do is have the wicd daemon program run at boot time. You could do that through your rc.local file or create your own file to run at boot time. I bet if you did some searching, someone has already written an Etch script that does this.