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Just installed Linux, wireless card cannot activate

Hi,

I just installed CentOS on my laptop (dual booting with vista) and my wireless card does not activate. When I try to activate it this is the error I get

Code:

Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :

    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.



Determining IP information for wlan0...SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory

SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory

 failed.

The similar problems I found on forums didn't help me out much due to different os, invalid package names, etc.

Thanks,
Chris

It would help to know what wireless card, I would advise looking into Fedora for what I am guessing is a laptop over CentOS, CentOS is meant as a Server Distribution not a desktop distribution like Fedora is. Fedora and CentOS are similar as Distributions go but Fedora would suit more in this case. Fedora is more likely to have your wireless card in it too, but if you want to countine with CentOS, then we are gunna need to know what wireless card you are on about atleast. Probably just needs a better hardware driver then the one that comes as stock with CentOS.

Command...

Try the command "lshw"or "lspci" in a terminal as su to get a list of your hardware and post the results.

The reason for not using CentOS is that it is based on RHEL, which is based an older, but well tested, version of fedora. Server linux is somewhat dated, fine for reliability, not for new hardware usability.

Looks like you're missing the firmware (microcode). If it's an intel card go to intellinuxwireless.org and d/l the microcode and install in /lib/firmware.

HTH

Thanks rkski, that's where my problem is. Have you gone through this process already? I'm missing the kernel makefile and the steps I followed on one CentOS kernel source tutorial didn't give me the makefile (I followed all steps and everything worked but still get error when building the driver).

As many people have said, you should post your 'lspci' and/or 'lshw' output to see what is your wless card.

My bad, I thought it was implied it was an Intel. I'm trying to figure out the installation but I'm not doing something write somewhere as I posted above about the kernel Makefile.

Code:

06:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

Code:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express PCI Express Root Port (rev 03)

00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 01)

00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 01)

00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 01)

00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 01)

00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 01)

00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 01)

00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 01)

00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 01)

00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 01)

00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e1)

00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 01)

00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 01)

00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 01)

00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 01)

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation G70 [GeForce Go 7600] (rev a1)

06:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

08:06.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller

08:06.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller

08:06.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)

08:06.3 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller

08:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation PRO/100 VE Network Connection (rev 01)

The driver for the 3945 should be installed already.
What's the output of :

Code:

#lsmod |grep iwl

All I had to do for my CentOS install was download the firmware and copy to /lib/firmware.

I have them installed but my error when activating still exists.

Code:

[root@localhost ~]# lsmod |grep iwl

iwl3945                93249  0 

mac80211              138057  1 iwl3945

cfg80211              30793  2 iwl3945,mac80211

I already have the firmware copied

Code:

[root@localhost firmware]# ls

iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode

When I go to activate the wireless here is the full output:

Code:

Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :

    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.



Determining IP information for wlan0...SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory

SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory

 failed.

On my CentOs laptop (with intel4965agn) the output of #lsmod |grep iwl is (note line in bold):

Code:

iwlagn                94425  0

iwlcore                86085  1 iwlagn

mac80211              137801  2 iwlagn,iwlcore

cfg80211              30793  3 iwlagn,iwlcore,mac80211

Your error message, if I remember right, seems similar to one I got when I didn't have the firmware installed.

Also I have an alias line for the module loading in /etc/modprobe.conf:

Code:

alias wlan0 iwl4965

HTH

Hi,

what is the output of 'ifconfig' ?

Btw, you need to activate it via hardware (i.e., button / switch) and software (ifconfig wlan0 up)