wireless network not connecting
 

I am using Mandrake 2005LE, on an ASUS 5100N laptop, dual-booting with WinXP. I am trying to set up a wireless network. XP can connect, but I am having some problems with Mandrake.

The wireless interface appears OK - ifconfig shows (eth2 is the wireless)

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0E:A6:13:CF:B3
inet addr:192.168.0.199 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20e:a6ff:fe13:cfb3/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:47 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:58 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:8611 (8.4 Kb) TX bytes:5431 (5.3 Kb)
Interrupt:16 Base address:0x2800

eth1 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-E0-18-00-03-13-9E-68-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING 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)

eth2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:F1:06:47:02
inet6 addr: fe80::20c:f1ff:fe06:4702/64 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:18 Base address:0x6000 Memory:fe8fe000-fe8fefff

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:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

sit0 Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4
inet6 addr: ::192.168.0.199/96 Scope:Compat
inet6 addr: ::127.0.0.1/96 Scope:Unknown
UP RUNNING NOARP MTU:1480 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:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

I don not know what sit0 is. This is new, since I tried to set up the wireless connection. So the output from iwconfig looks like this:

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 no wireless extensions.

eth2 unassociated ESSID:off/any Nickname:"loony.burf.org"
Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency=2.462 GHz Cell: 00:00:00:00:00:00
Bit Rate=0 kb/s Tx-Power:off
Retry:on RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
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

sit0 no wireless extensions.


But when I try to connect, I get the following in /var/log/messages:

Jul 8 20:54:31 loony dhclient: sit0: unknown hardware address type 776
Jul 8 20:54:31 loony dhclient: eth1: unknown hardware address type 24
Jul 8 20:54:32 loony dhclient: sit0: unknown hardware address type 776
Jul 8 20:54:32 loony dhclient: eth1: unknown hardware address type 24
Jul 8 20:54:33 loony dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 4
Jul 8 20:54:37 loony dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
Jul 8 20:54:43 loony dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
Jul 8 20:54:50 loony dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
Jul 8 20:54:59 loony dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
Jul 8 20:55:08 loony dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 18
Jul 8 20:55:26 loony dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth2 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
Jul 8 20:55:34 loony dhclient: No DHCPOFFERS received.

Note that eth1 is unrelated (the laptop has a firewire connection that thinks it should be an ethernet interface).

It looks like a simple wireless network config problem. My WAP is using no encryption etc (for now), channel 11. I have tried setting both Mandrake and the WAP to "Ad-hoc", channel 11, but they are not talking. Where should I look next? Or is there any documentation I should find? I am working slowly throuh the Wirles HOWTO, but it takes time if you are relatively inexperienced. Any thoughts or assisitance appreciated.

Jim

Since you using Ad-hoc I assuse you aint got a wireless router?

I tried ad-hoc because I didn't understand the options! I am using a Linksys WRT54G router, connected to a small network. Should I be using "managed"?

Jim

My wireless card it set to managed and works fine with my wireless router. I think ad-hoc is only if you aint got a router.

Yes, definitely managed. What is the name of your AP? If it is called "point" then do this:

iwconfig eth2 essid point
iwconfig eth2 channel 11 <- Usually not needed with managed

Then either ifconfig the interface or run the dhcp client
(i.e. dhcpcd eth2)

Thanks for the advice - I have a connection, but can't use it! I am now getting errors in ifconfig - as follows:

eth2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0C:F1:06:47:02
inet addr:192.168.1.111 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20c:f1ff:fe06:4702/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:54 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:172 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:6030 (5.8 Kb) TX bytes:17508 (17.0 Kb)
Interrupt:18 Base address:0x6000 Memory:fe8fe000-fe8fefff

iwconfig looks Ok, as follows:

eth2 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"Private" Nickname:"loony.burf.org"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:13:10:F4:04:3F
Bit Rate=11 Mb/s Tx-Power:off
Retry:on RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=100/100 Signal level=-40 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

I was a bit slow replying, as I initially thought the local firewall was stopping connection (also I manged to inadvetantly kick out the power on the wired switch, which makes life harder than it needs to be!) . I think this may also be a problem, but disabling it made no difference (I only need the local machines firewall when connected to wireless at work). I appear to have a connection, but the packets all error. Any ideas?

Jim

try typing route and post the results

route returns:

root@loony log]# route
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.0.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 10 0 0 eth0
default ipcop.burf.org 0.0.0.0 UG 10 0 0 eth0

ipcop is the main gateway. It is working for eth0 now.

It seems I may have a very confused network - I think both ipcop and the linksys router are probably thinking they run DHCP. Is this the problem? However, XP works, but I didn't try swapping in and out of the network without repooting - I' try disconnecting the wired and reboot, and try again.

Jim

How did you set the ip for the wireless card?

OK, it works, looking good.

If it isn't too much trouble, another question.

How do I set up WPA? I will be running the router at work, nd do not wish to run an open wireless network. I have a couple of simple options, limiting the number of router connections to 1, and filtering by MAC address, but encryption seems an obvious start. I tried this, and got " invalid argument: my-dodgy-encryption-key". I must be doing domething wrong!

Jim

No idea, I use WEP.

Sorry Priller- we must have posted at about the same time. The laptop has wireless on the motherboard, and I set it up as a DHCP client - IP from DHCP - so there were some problems running through the router, I think, as both the wireless router and the main gateway were using the same class C IPs. This would be a bit confusing when the wired network is attached to the main gateway, and the wireless is talking to the wireless router, which is a child (sic) of the gateway. Anyway, I think that was the problem. Working now! I just need to get some security on the system, then I can work on getting the wireless router to talk to the wireless modem (not wifi, something stranger with 20km range!). Lookng fairly good, so far! The aim is the ability to walk onto a client site with a comlete small network, and an independent internet connection. It means two laptop bags, one for the laptop, and one for the network, but with the wireless modem, an NSLU2 Samba server, a couple of hard drives and a laptop, I can supply everything we need for a small project team (and I am not the techy bloke in this arangement!)

Jim