Cant connect to wireless network

shinycisco · 09-20-2006, 03:52 PM

I recently installed Suse 10.1 on a ThinkPad x60 but I cant seem to be able to connect to wireless networks. My wireless card is Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Mini-PCI Express Adapter and I'm using KWiFiManager as the wireless LAN client manager.

Can anyone point me to a potential solution? Would it be that the drivers need updating to be able to handle linux? Or, is it simply that this card does not support linux yet?

Thanks

docinthebox · 09-20-2006, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shinycisco

I recently installed Suse 10.1 on a ThinkPad x60 but I cant seem to be able to connect to wireless networks. My wireless card is Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Mini-PCI Express Adapter and I'm using KWiFiManager as the wireless LAN client manager.

Can anyone point me to a potential solution? Would it be that the drivers need updating to be able to handle linux? Or, is it simply that this card does not support linux yet?

Thanks

Try KANOTIX 2006-01 RC2 released on 9/18/06. Hardware recognition is a major strength of Kanotix, and this new release candidate is the first live CD that works perfectly for my Dell Inspiron E1405. I use WPA encryption with an unbroadcast SSID and this live CD works really well. No other live CD works for me with this wifi configuration.

basileus · 09-21-2006, 01:21 AM

If the kwirelessmanager show wireless networks the card works. Then the problem is elsewhere. If it doesn't, then it's possibly a driver (=kernel module) problem. You might have to use ndiswrapper to use your Windows driver with your card:

http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/

It is also possible that the card is supported natively. Try www.google.com/linux with your wireless card's chipset. You'll probably find it out by typing "lspci" into a console.

shinycisco · 09-21-2006, 10:03 AM

The wireless manager does not show available networks (the error is: "The scan is complete, but no networks have been found."). But Suse did recognize the wireless card during install as it shows in the network config window in Yast.

When I try to change the configuration settings in KWiFiManager I get the following error "Unable to autodetect wireless interface."

Could it be something in the network configuration that can be fixed through Yast?

Thanks!

noxious · 09-21-2006, 03:29 PM

It sounds like your ipw card needs some firmware - it is proprietary software, so you won't find it in a kernel or repository. Do a google search for "ipw 3945" and if it's out there, you should find it.

The firmware will have to be extracted and installed in the /lib/firmware folder.

Try this: http://bordeaux.freshrpms.net/rpm.html?id=1044

there's also some interesting stuff here:
http://atrpms.net/dist/common/

basileus · 09-22-2006, 06:18 AM

I actually have a SMC2635W wireless card and if I try using any generic wireless applets iwconfig just reports that "the interface does not support scanning". I guess we're having the same problem.

The only way (so far) that I can (graphically) connect to wireless networks is with the RaConfig2400 tool, which is crap and sometimes jams my laptop. It is also ment only for wireless NICs with rt2400 chipset.

So if somebody knows how to make an interface to support scanning please let us know

shinycisco · 09-25-2006, 09:49 PM

ok, I got my wireless card to work on 10.1!!!

I used a bit of everyone's advice plus some help from the suse.org site. Basically I found this page (http://en.opensuse.org/HCL/Network_A...%28Wireless%29) which pretty much tells you what to do at a high level.

Things to do:
- get the add-on CD and install needed components
- configure cards using networkmanager (not ifup)

That's what worked for me in a nutshell.

Thanks everyone!