my laptop is an acer 4420 and i have dual boot backtrack 4 and windows 7.
i installed backtrack yesterday and was able to connect to wifi hotspots by going to services - network - start network. then it allowed me to open wicd network manager. there i found all the wifi networks i connect to in windows. i used it all day and loved it. but when i rebooted and tried to connect wicd network manager says no network detected. i mucked about a bit in terminal yesterday using code i got from forums trying to get aircrack to work. i dont know if that has anything to do with it cos the internet still worked fine for hours after doing so. im not big on codes yet so please be gentle

Hello and welcome to LinuxQuestions,

My BT4 installation worked like a charm out of the box so I can only assume that it had something to do with the commands you ran. It's a fact that on first install the wicd and wicd-client don't start up, you'll have to do that manually and next configure it. But I assume from your post that you already figured that part out.

So, main question, what commands did you run and/or what config files did you change.

If nothing is important on the laptop then most likely a fresh re-install will be the fastest and cleanest way to repair your installation if you really cannot remember what you did.

You could try to see if your wireless card is detected/changed.

Run:
Check if your wireless card is listed.
Run
to see if it has wireless extensions enabled and if the NIC name hasn't changed.

Post your results.

Kind regards,

Eric

ok so i typed lspci and it said network contoller: broadcom corp. cardbus bridge 02 micro inc.
i typed in iwconfig and it said lo no wireless extensions
et0 no wireless extensions
irda0 no wireless extensions
the commands i typed in were something like airmon-ng then airmon-ng start et0. something like that. i was trying to follow these steps but my output was much different than shown. http://www.corelan.be:8800/index.php...hn-the-ripper/

Ok, I think the best thing to do, since you are not an experienced Linux user, is to just reinstall from the CD so that you got your system up and running again. I'm not sure up to what extent the air* apps change your systems config but apparently to much to just recover in an easy way.

A word of kind advice, and don't take it the wrong way. If you're 'not big on codes' start out with a more user friendly distro and not something this specialized as BackTrack4. Get to know Linux commands and the works before you venture into hacking and cracking.

Furthermore, as stated in the LQ rules (I'm sure sooner or later a mod will point you to it) we don't offer support on that level (the hacking and cracking). So if you burn your fingers (and working system) trying out what's explained on the Cheatsheet, be sure to have the cure.

Kind regards,

Eric

yes i will do a fresh install.

i have tried many distros and can never seem to get either wifi or my sierra wireless aircard to work on them other than opensuse and fedora both of which are a lil glitchy with me and i dont like them much. if u could point me in a direction on getting started learning linux commands that would be appreciated.

no sir i would never ask for support on hacking and cracking here. i was merely experimenting with my neighbors wifi with permission.

thank you for your help!

Hello,

Learning Linux in my opinion is just getting your hands dirty trying out different distros. You can start at The Linux Documentation Project to get you started or one of the command line references like this one.

Main thing to remember is that you can always rely on Google to help you in your searches.

I'd say just look at Distrowatch, download a bunch of distros and learn hands on. Any question, problem or error you can post here and I'm sure someone will help out in a heartbeat.

If for example you install a distro and the only thing you cannot get working is your wireless then connect using a cable and post that particular question with as much information as possible. That's the best way to try to troubleshoot and fix it. And also the best way to learn. If you just reinstall until you encounter a distro that has it working, then what will you have learned? Just how to install, nothing more.

Kind regards,

Eric