Wi-fi don't want to work

antarctidaonline · 06-12-2013, 01:59 PM

Some time ago updated to Debian Wheezy - and wi-fi worked unstably for some time, and then switched off finally. What's my configuration:
- OS: Debian Wheezy, Gnome as window manager (or whatever right name it has);
- wi-fi router: D-Link DIR-300;
- wi-fi network protected, WPA2 (of course, I know password and type it correctly);
- wi-fi card: D-Link DWA-525;
- all tunings done through GUI Network Manager, there is no such files as /etc/network/interfaces, /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf and so on - they are deleted.
Now router is switched to my computer by ethernet cable - and everything works fine. I can do following:
1. log in to router, open log page;
2. switch off wired interface by Network Manager. Then - swich on wireless interface. Network Manager icon changes, showing that connection establised, and shows proper network name (SSID). There is no questions about password or key, or messages that it is incorrect.
3. Then I try to ping my router. 100% pings are lost.
That's ifconfig output:

Code:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:"homenet"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 1C:BD:B9:28:1C:3E   
          Bit Rate=43.3 Mb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off - what is it?!!
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=70/70  Signal level=-39 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:3  Invalid misc:1   Missed beacon:0

Why there is a string "Encryption key: off"? My network is protected! But I think Network Manager must ask a question about it...
ifconfig:

Code:

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:25:22:e7:27:cf  
          inet6 addr: fe80::225:22ff:fee7:27cf/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:12215 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:6795 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:16339442 (15.5 MiB)  TX bytes:895457 (874.4 KiB)
          Interrupt:42 Base address:0xe000 

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 1c:af:f7:7b:48:33  
          inet addr:192.168.0.102  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::1eaf:f7ff:fe7b:4833/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:11 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:63 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:2678 (2.6 KiB)  TX bytes:11790 (11.5 KiB)

Nothing useful, as I can see...
4. Well, network is not working. Now I switch it off by Network Manager, switch on wired interface and update router log page. Here it's contents:

Code:

"Jun 10 22:33:53  ","DHCP: Server sending ACK to 192.168.0.100. (Lease time = 86400)"
"Jun 10 22:33:53  ","DHCP: Server receive REQUEST from 00:25:22:e7:27:cf."
"Jun 10 22:32:06  ","DHCP: Server sending ACK to 192.168.0.102. (Lease time = 86400)"
"Jun 10 22:32:06  ","DHCP: Server receive REQUEST from 1c:af:f7:7b:48:33."
"Jun 10 22:32:06  ","DHCP: Server sending OFFER of 192.168.0.102."
"Jun 10 22:32:04  ","DHCP: Server receive DISCOVER from 1c:af:f7:7b:48:33."
"Jun 10 22:32:04  ","DHCP: Server sending NAK to 1c:af:f7:7b:48:33."
"Jun 10 22:32:04  ","DHCP: Server receive REQUEST from 1c:af:f7:7b:48:33."

Does router say that everything is fine? But why nothing working?

rtmistler · 06-13-2013, 02:27 PM

Not sure if this will help. I've had to set up MontaVista networking manually and manage WPA2 or WEP depending on the preferences. Also included was either static IP addressing or DHCP capabilities and adding a route to my table when all was done. Here's some of what the script does. It may not be relevant to you, kernel is 2.6.31, so it's pretty old.

For WPA I use wpa_supplicant and wpa_passphrase.

Code:

rm -f /home/myuser/config/wpa.conf;
/sbin/start-stop-daemon -K -x /sbin/wpa_supplicant;
/usr/bin/wpa_passphrase $ESSID $PSK > /wand/config/wpa.conf; # where ESSID is my ssid and PSK is my key
/sbin/wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i$IFACE -c/home/myuser/config/wpa.conf

Then getting the IP is either ifconfig for static or dhclient if DHCP. Also if static I have to do a "route add default gw <gateway address>".

antarctidaonline · 06-16-2013, 02:47 PM

Unfortunately, this does not work. Trying to start wpa_supplicant, I receive a message:

Code:

ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument

Of course, I can run it in debug mode, and get a tons of ununderstandable messages... Then I have to tune up /etc/network/interfaces file, and think, which option must be in it file, which - in wpa.conf, and which option is necessary, and which is superfluous... I tried all of it, without succes. Maybe I have to try hardly? Or I still can do something through graphic interface?
Anyway, thank you for command "start-stop-daemon": now I know that wpa_supplicant in my system is not running :-)

rtmistler · 06-17-2013, 07:49 AM

If you go non encrypted can you at least ping the WIFI router after attaching? Maybe there's some odd setting which allows you to attach, but is blocking internet connectivity. Or are there any other wireless devices on the network which you can ping? Another thing to look at is when attached to the WIFI, go through the WIFI webserver status pages and see whether or not it shows your system, check for the proper MAC address/IP combo and make sure they agree with what you see in ifconfig on your system. I can't recall seeing a secure wireless network that allowed you to attach and then not pass any data even to the router unless there was some additional problem either with the network or the local IP settings.