Laptop can't see router

mutexe · 12-17-2009, 10:00 AM

Hi,
I guess this is the main problem on which my other wireless problems stem from, so if i could solve this i'll be a happy man.

1. "iwlist wlan0 scan" reveals lots of network devices in the area, but not my router's ESSID.
2. My router is not set up to hide it's ESSID.
3. If i boot up into my ubuntu partition (on the same laptop as my slack 13 partition) this can see my router no problem.
4. As well as number 1 above, I have also installed WICD to see if my network shows up in there, but it doesn't.
5. There's another laptop in the house - a windows one - that can also see my router.

I have a dell xps 1330. If anyone has any solutions or ideas for more testing I would be very grateful. Thanks in advance,

mute

Person_1873 · 12-17-2009, 10:11 AM

what distro are you running first off? you've said that booting into ubuntu works, so what distro is actually giving you troubles?

also have you made sure that the wifi switch on the machine is switched on? and have you tried

Code:

#sudo ifup wlan0

mutexe · 12-17-2009, 10:24 AM

Sorry. i did meantion it but i wasnt very specific. I'm running slackware 13. My wifi switch on the machine is definately on. I shall try your ifup wlan0 command when i get home tonight, although i'm seeing other networks in the area on my slackare partition so that's telling my wireless *is* working as such, just not seeing my router.

Thanks for your reply mate.

manwichmakesameal · 12-17-2009, 10:50 AM

What is the wireless adapter that you have? What is the output of lspci?

Person_1873 · 12-17-2009, 10:57 AM

this seems to be some weird bug, it's strange, what is the signal level like in the area where you've been testing this machine?

AutoBot · 12-17-2009, 12:59 PM

It sounds like a driver issue, you probably have a broadcom based dell 1490 wireless card that's using the b43 module when it should be using the b44 module or vice versa.

Open a terminal (command prompt) and do without quotes "lsmod | grep b4" and if it says b43 then try "sudo ifconfig wlan0 down" and "sudo rmmod b43" then "sudo modprobe b44" and finally "sudo ifconfig wlan0 up"

If it says b44 then try "sudo ifconfig wlan0 down" and "sudo rmmod b44" then "sudo modprobe b43" and finally "sudo ifconfig wlan0 up"

If you have a different type of wlan card then post the type of card it is.

mutexe · 12-20-2009, 05:37 AM

CHeers for the replies all.

@manwichmakesameal: lspci:

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 02)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 02)
03:01.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 05)
03:01.1 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 22)
03:01.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C592 Memory Stick Bus Host Adapter (rev 12)
03:01.3 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd xD-Picture Card Controller (rev 12)
09:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

so is "Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M" my card?

@autobot: that grep command doesn't return anything back I'm afraid.
Here's the full output of lsmod:

Code:

Module                  Size  Used by
i915                  151464  1 
drm                   137856  2 i915
snd_seq_dummy           2464  0 
snd_seq_oss            29792  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      5980  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                47984  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          6088  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            37728  0 
snd_mixer_oss          14300  1 snd_pcm_oss
ipv6                  243508  12 
pcmcia                 33772  0 
pcmcia_core            32016  1 pcmcia
cpufreq_ondemand        6632  2 
speedstep_lib           3840  0 
acpi_cpufreq            7500  0 
freq_table              3420  2 cpufreq_ondemand,acpi_cpufreq
ppdev                   7200  0 
lp                      9316  0 
parport_pc             24036  0 
parport                30700  3 ppdev,lp,parport_pc
fuse                   54008  1 
btusb                  11728  0 
bluetooth              52068  1 btusb
joydev                  9504  0 
snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi    12028  1 
snd_hda_codec_idt      56156  1 
snd_hda_intel          23624  0 
snd_hda_codec          53788  3 snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
iwl3945                87988  0 
sdhci_pci               6844  0 
sdhci                  15520  1 sdhci_pci
snd_hwdep               6816  1 snd_hda_codec
uvcvideo               58184  0 
mmc_core               45304  1 sdhci
mac80211              155588  1 iwl3945
snd_pcm                68128  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
video                  16492  0 
videodev               38688  1 uvcvideo
output                  2396  1 video
snd_timer              19108  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
rtc_cmos               10124  0 
thermal                15096  0 
snd                    50820  12 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_intelhdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
tg3                   109024  0 
processor              38600  4 acpi_cpufreq,thermal
v4l1_compat            13184  2 uvcvideo,videodev
rtc_core               15992  1 rtc_cmos
wmi                     6280  0 
led_class               3392  2 iwl3945,sdhci
dell_laptop             3388  0 
thermal_sys            10756  3 video,thermal,processor
soundcore               5824  1 snd
intel_agp              25628  1 
rtc_lib                 2332  1 rtc_core
rfkill                  9296  3 dell_laptop
lib80211                5216  1 iwl3945
psmouse                41676  0 
i2c_i801                8784  0 
battery                 9856  0 
button                  5708  0 
agpgart                29256  3 drm,intel_agp
ac                      3840  0 
serio_raw               5024  0 
snd_page_alloc          7972  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
hwmon                   2104  1 thermal_sys
libphy                 17756  1 tg3
dcdbas                  7068  1 dell_laptop
cfg80211               36468  2 iwl3945,mac80211
sg                     24912  0 
evdev                   9152  17

Thanks for the help guys, I guess i have to do find drivers then or something?

mute

Person_1873 · 12-20-2009, 06:41 AM

you seem to be running an intel pro wifi card, i'll have a look around the web for a minute and get back to you

Person_1873 · 12-20-2009, 06:46 AM

if you live outside the USA try this

Code:

To work around this, add the following line to the `/etc/modprobe.d/options` file 
if you use this driver and need to use European wireless channels: 
{{{
options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom=EU
}}}

Alternatively, add the following line if you use this driver and need to use 
Japanese wireless channels: 
{{{
options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom=JP
}}}

source: https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubun...ux/+bug/288401

mutexe · 12-20-2009, 09:58 AM

Thanks for the link mate. I dont appear to have an options file in that folder. And is that an ubuntu bug rather than a slackware one?

Shall i just add an options file in that folder?
Thanks again.

mute

manwichmakesameal · 12-20-2009, 10:24 AM

You don't have to put that in an options file, you'll probably need to create a cfg80211.conf in /etc/modprobe.d and put

Code:

options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom=EU

in it. I would check if you have something similar in your Ubuntu install.

mutexe · 12-20-2009, 11:49 AM

OMFG!!!! I can now see my router on the wicd list!!! I can't thank you enough everyone! I can start using slackware all of time now!
Thanks again to everyone, especially to manwichmakesameal and Person_1873.
Now to sort out my security :O)

mute

Person_1873 · 12-21-2009, 06:09 AM

mutexe, the bug was with the intel driver and not just with ubuntu, this is why i thought it may be a fix for you

mutexe · 12-21-2009, 07:47 AM

Cool, i just wanted to check.
Thanks again, you're a life saver.