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Intel PRO Wireless 3945ABG: Help!

Ive just done my first real install of a Linux distro, installing Backtrack 2 on my laptop. Now thoug Im trying to get the wirless card working (a Intel Wireless 3945ABG) but dont really know where to start.

I downloaded a Linux driver off the Intel website which contained an INSTALL file, following this i got as far as the # ./load debug=0 command with a few minor errors mainly related to the tar commands ("Cannot change ownership to uid 100, gid 100: Operation not permitted" << I have no idea what this means or what caused it but it *seems* to extrac the files anyway?). However, when i type in the # ./load debug=0 command i just get the message "no such file or directory".

Can anyone explain what Im doing wrong and what I have to do to get my WLAN working in Linux?

Thanks (i really am just starting out so please be patient)

Code:

First, we build and install the ieee80211 subsystem.  You can obtain 

the latest ieee80211 subsystem from h**p://ieee80211.sf.net.  We 

recommend version 1.1.12 or newer:



        % tar xzvf ieee80211-1.1.12.tgz

        % cd ieee80211-1.1.12

        % make 

        # make install  <--- You may need to be root

        % cd ..



If you encounter problems with the above, you may need to install the 

ieee80211 sources into your kernel and then build it as part of your 

kernel image.  See the INSTALL and README.ieee80211 files provided in 

the ieee80211 subsystem package for more information.



Once the ieee80211 subsystem is installed, we build the ipw3945.ko module:



        % tar xzvf ipw3945-1.0.0.tgz

        % cd ipw3945-1.0.0

        % make



Now we install the firmware files (first finding where to install them):



        % wget http://bughost.org/ipw3945/ucode/ipw3945-ucode-1.13.tgz .

        % DIR=$(sed -ne "s:^FIRMWARE_DIR=\([^, ]*\).*:\1:p" \

                /etc/hotplug/firmware.agent)

        % tar xzvf ipw3945-ucode-1.13.tgz 

        % less ipw3945-ucode-1.13/LICENSE.ipw3945-ucode

        # cp ipw3945-ucode-1.13/ipw3945.ucode $DIR



NOTE:  'DIR' above typically works out to /lib/firmware.



Now we obtain the regulatory daemon:



        % wget http://bughost.org/ipw3945/daemon/ipw3945d-1.7.18.tgz.

        % tar xzvf ipw3945d-1.7.18.tgz

        % less ipw3945d-1.7.18/LICENSE.ipw3945d



Depending on your architecture perform one of the following        



For 32-bit systems:



        # cp ipw3945d-1.7.18/x86/ipw3945d /sbin



or for 64-bit systems:



        # cp ipw3945d-1.7.18/x86_64/ipw3945d /sbin



And now we can try to load the module, first clearing the kernel log:



        # ./load debug=0



Finally we can check to see if things worked:



        # iwconfig eth1



You should see something like:



eth1      unassociated  ESSID:off/any

          Mode:Managed  Channel=0  Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00

          Bit Rate=0 kb/s  Tx-Power=20 dBm

          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



And now you are ready to go.  Configure your AP using iwconfig:



        # iwconfig eth1 essid Whatever

        # iwconfig eth1 key DEADBEEF00

        # iwconfig eth1



eth1      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"Whatever"

          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 00:11:95:18:18:30

          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s  Tx-Power=20 dBm

          RTS thr:off  Fragment thr:off

          Encryption key:DEAD-BEEF-00  Security mode:open

          Power Management:off

          Link Quality=98/100  Signal level=-53 dBm  Noise level=-81 dBm

          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0

          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0  Missed beacon:0



The specifics of how to bring up the interface is heavily dependent on 

the specific distribution you are using from here on out.

This looks like a pretty well designed instruction sheet. Load is a shell script:

./load

The ./ tells bash to forget about the PATH variable, and only look in the current working directory for the command. So, there is a file named load, somewhere, and you need to be in the same directory as load when you run ./load. Debug=0 is a parameter for the load script telling it to flush the kernel log, /var/log/syslog. Find load. If you cant find it, do this as root:

updatedb --prunepaths='/proc, /sys, /var/tmp, /tmp, /usr/tmp, /dev'

and wait until the prompt comes back. Then:

locate load | less

q to exit less.

Excellent. thanks for your help.
I located the load script, but when i ran it i got:

Quote:

BT ipw3945-1.0.0 # ./load debug=0
Unloaded: ieee80211 ieee80211_crypt
insmod: can't read './ipw3945.ko': No such file or directory

Load failed.
ipw3945d - regulatory daemon
Copyright (C) 2005-2006 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
version: 1.7.18
2006-12-27
22:33:13: ERROR: opening /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw3945:
No such file or directory (2)
2006-12-27
22:33:13: ERROR: Could not find Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection

any ideas what has gone wrong and how i rectify things?

thanks again...

Code:

 BT ipw3945-1.0.0 # ./load debug=0

Unloaded: ieee80211 ieee80211_crypt

insmod: can't read './ipw3945.ko': No such file or directory



Load failed.

ipw3945d - regulatory daemon

Copyright (C) 2005-2006 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.

version: 1.7.18

2006-12-27

22:33:13: ERROR: opening /sys/bus/pci/drivers/ipw3945:

No such file or directory (2)

2006-12-27

22:33:13: ERROR: Could not find Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection

From the highlighted, it can't find the specified module. Try searching your system for that module. If you have it make a sym link or copy the module to the current directory. don't have a linux station in front of me so I can't find the modules directory. But I think they can be found under /lib/modules/`uname -r`/

Thanks. That worked aswell! getting there slowly. LOL

Now I have loaded the module but I am hitting a problem at the stage :

Code:

And now you are ready to go.  Configure your AP using iwconfig:



        # iwconfig eth1 essid Whatever

        # iwconfig eth1 key DEADBEEF00

        # iwconfig eth1

When I enter my WPA encryption key for my WLAN I get the error:

Code:

Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) : 

      invalid argument "<my wireless key>"

yet if I set it to DEADBEEF00 as in the example in the intel file, it sets fine.

Any ideas what that error means?

I wont have to go through this process every time I boot the machine will i? :confused:

Thanks again for the help - seems like im making a little progress at least!

Not real familiar with BackTrack2 distro but you might want to build you a script with all the commands that you are typing and have it run on boot up.

as far as your error goes what is the full command that you are typing in. from the error stand point it means that you supplied the wrong argument.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstephens84

Not real familiar with BackTrack2 distro but you might want to build you a script with all the commands that you are typing and have it run on boot up.

That's a good idea. How would I go about that then getting it to run automatically? :p

Quote:

Originally Posted by jstephens84

as far as your error goes what is the full command that you are typing in. from the error stand point it means that you supplied the wrong argument.

Im just typing in

Code:

iwconfig eth1 key j065467876

which is the key I use for the WLAN in windows. for some reason it doesn't seem to like it though?

Thanks again m8

I think you have to tell it what key number it corresponds too like 1, 2, 3, 4.

to make the script just create a file and add in all the commands to the file. then chmod it to 755. then place it into what ever directory your distro looks into for startup scripts.

http://tldp.org/HOWTO/Bash-Prog-Intro-HOWTO.html - tells you everything you need to know about scripting with bash for beginners.

http://www.linuxcommand.org/man_pages/iwconfig8.html - Iwconfig manual. shows you all the parameters you might need and how to use them.

OK, making some progress here guys! (working hard for it mind!!! ;) )

I now have The Wireless setup rinning - sort of. (Well, the WIFI light on the laptop is flashing lol!) Now though, I dont know how to configure the encryption. In KDE there is a wireless assistant which allows you to set your IP address, mask, gateway, DNS etc and also allows you to specify te WEP key. Thing is, my WLAN doesn't use WEP, but WPA-PSK (TKIP), but I dont know how to set and configure this?

Any hints welcomed again,

thanks

Make sure your card supports this and also wireless assistant does not work that great when setting up wpa. That will have to be a manuall setting. What distro are you using again?

Thanks again mate, Im using backtrack2 [http://www.remote-exploit.org/](not really sure this was the wisest choice for a starting distro, but in for a penny!)

I would have to agree with you on that one. Before you get to involved with setting up your workstation with your current distro I would probably check out another distro. Either Ubuntu or Debian. If you don't mind to get your hands dirty then I really suggest Slackware. People say it's not for beginners but I have to disagree. Ubuntu also has pretty good driver support right out of the box. I am currently running it on my laptop but I am about to put slackware back onit.

succeded in installing the wireless card

Thanks alot guys for your help! your posts have been very useful, i would like to highlight some aspects:

1. You have to have the kernel source installed
2. after installing ieee80211 Reboot the PC

Then The MCC could recognise the wireless card (or ifconfig)

I run Mandriva 2007 Spring Free DVD on an HP nx6310 laptop

Walter