NetworkManager only displays Wireless AP after eth0 is plugged--can't connect?

Zerimas · 01-14-2009, 10:24 PM

I managed to sort of get my wireless card (Atheros AR928x) working in Fedora 10. However, when I initially boot up the system and eth0 is not active, the GNOME NetworkManger detects no access points. This all occurs despite the fact that my /etc/rc.local config is set to turn on my wireless card using the command echo 1 > /sys/devices/platform/asus-laptop/wlan. Furthermore, once the access points are visible I cannot connect to any of them. Here is some hopefully relevant information:

ifconfig:

Code:

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:22:15:60:E2:AA  
          inet addr:129.97.241.231  Bcast:129.97.241.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: 2002:8161:f15e:9:222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: 2002:8161:d160:9:222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: fec0::9:222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Site
          inet6 addr: 2002:8161:f147:9:222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: 2002:8161:dea2:9:222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: fec0::b:222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Site
          inet6 addr: 2002:8161:f16d:b:222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: fec0::a:222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Site
          inet6 addr: 2002:8161:f1a4:a:222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: 2002:8161:d5d4:a:222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Global
          inet6 addr: fe80::222:15ff:fe60:e2aa/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:8098 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3176 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:4316597 (4.1 MiB)  TX bytes:548719 (535.8 KiB)
          Interrupt:17 Base address:0x4000 

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:22 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:22 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
          RX bytes:1828 (1.7 KiB)  TX bytes:1828 (1.7 KiB)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:15:AF:CD:ED:33  
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

wmaster0  Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-15-AF-CD-ED-33-C0-94-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00  
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

iwconfig:

Code:

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:""  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Tx-Power=27 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B   
          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

pan0      no wireless extensions.

iwlist scan:

Code:

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0  Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:1A:1E:A7:A6:82
                    ESSID:"uw-secure"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=39/100  Signal level:-70 dBm  Noise level=-95 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : 802.1x
                    Bit Rates:5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s
                              18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=00000008b54f23f0
                    Extra: Last beacon: 30ms ago

pan0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

Thanks!

asymptote · 01-15-2009, 07:19 AM

I don't think I can help you troubleshoot this device on an electrical level, so let me ask some dumb questions just in case you haven't tried them:

It seems that your wireless card is recognized and operable. I supposed your AP is issuing addresses? Do you have any MAC filtering or restrictions on the AP? Are you able to try connecting to a different AP? Is there another way to set your wireless card to start up on boot other than the method you have specified? Could you try using ifup and ifdown?

farslayer · 01-15-2009, 07:45 AM

Can you disable all security on the WAP and see if you can connect ? maybe the only issue is your WPA settings aren't correct..

are you running the ath9k Driver for that wireless card ?

Zerimas · 01-15-2009, 07:59 AM

Thanks for the help! I am using the ath9k driver. The wireless access points don't have any kind of MAC filtering. I also tried connecting to my university's wireless AP that uses some form of WPA encryption, and their unsecured wireless network; I couldn't get a connection on either. I'll try the ifup/ifdown commands at some point later today.

farslayer · 01-15-2009, 08:09 AM

for your other issue of the card not coming up.. you could look at ditching network-manager and switching to wicd.
http://wicd.sourceforge.net/

It allows you to create profiles for each device, and decide which ones should come up automatically, and will run scripts on startup / shutdown of an interface if desired. Just a thought. works great with my Atheros ar5007.

asymptote · 01-15-2009, 11:35 PM

This is really odd - my output is almost exactly like his except my wireless card has an IP address assigned to it.