Hey guys. I have a Netgear MA101 on my Mandrake box. I had it all working at my friend's house. Their router/access point is a Linksys 802.11b something. I brought my box home and tried to get it all working, but I'm having some major issues.

I didn't change anything between here and there. I plugged in my box and booted up. I have it all configured with iwconfig, then I run dhclient, but it times out. Now, I KNOW we have dhcp running here at my house, because my roommates both use it on their windows machines. (coincidently, I can't get dhcp working with my zaurus either). if I run ifconfig 'eth0 192.168.0.105 up' it works, but it doesn't do anything. I can't ping either inside or outside the network.

The only thing I can think of is a incompatibility issue between my MA101 and our Netgear WGR614 V4 router/access point upstairs.

We put my ma101 on my roommates laptop and it wouldn't work until we set the router to only work with 802.11b (instead of g).

Does any one know of issues with the ma101 and 802.11g access points?

I may just buy a wireless bridge and use that as my access if I can't get this working. Please let me know if you need more info!

Funny, Netgear website does not list a product called MA101, but I guess you mean a wireless USB adapter...

This is very unlikely to help, but you might want to know that my Netgear DG834 only worked with dhcp3-client...

forgive the question, but- is that a newer version of dchp, or the client program that I need to install on my linux box?? Or is that gonna be a firmware update for both the router and the USB point??

Yeah, the MA101 aparently is an older product. It's not immediatly on their websight, but they still have the driver link and all the tech info on it (which, BTW doesn't mention anything I need to know).

It is a DHCP client program. My computer was installed from debian 3.0r0 and had a dhcp2.x; After upgrading to dhcp3-client (requires dhcp3-common) my router start working.

I don't know what distribution you are using, but Google's 'I'm feeling lucky' with 'dhcp3-client' will take you to a site where you can download the rpm.

Also, any information as for what's going on in your system can help. Submit the ifconfig output if you can. And calling ifconfig eth0 x.x.x.x up shouldn't do the tirck; if you can't see eth0 in your ifconfig, you should run your dhcp-client (should be in /sbin) and see what happens.

If your box with the MA101 worked in your friend's house, you are more close to solution than you think.

Feel free to ask more.

Okay, I spent some time and I found out that I already have dhcp-client 3 installed. How do I use it?? if i just run dhclient eth0 that should be it right?

When I run 'ifconfig' this is what i get:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:09:5B:37:03:BB
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:100
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

eth0:9 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:09:5B:37:03:BB
inet addr:169.254.170.212 Bcast:169.254.255.255 Mask:255.255.0.0
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:283 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:283 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:27471 (26.8 Kb) TX bytes:27471 (26.8 Kb)

I'm not sure why it keeps installing eth0:9 and giving it that address. My dhcp server SHOULD assign a local address like "192.168.0.5" or something

If I run iwconfig, I get:eth0
ATMEL RFMD503A ESSID:"ScottsHome" Nickname:"ScottsHome"
Mode:Managed Channel:11 Access Point: 00:09:5B:86:0B:26
Bit Rate:11Mb/s
RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key:BE62-0CB4-0F Encryption modepen
Link Quality:100 Signal level:40 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

The key is right and the everything else is right. My USB adapter is on eth 0, but on bootup, I get a message when it tries to bring up the eth0. It looks like it's trying to ask the dhcp server, then in forces it into the 169.254.170.212 address and sets up eth0:9 AFTER that, it says 'eth1 up' I had a nic card that I took out just to make sure it wasn't interfering with the eth0 setting for the usb adapter.

after bootup, I still have to run iwconfig eth0 enc open key [1] xxxxxxx to get it set up right. Here's the output of dmesg (at least, what I thought was relavent to the problem).

usbvnetr: driver version 1.0.1, compiled Jan 2 2004 17:18:41 (dbg_mask xfe7d7ef8)
MAC addr 00:09:5B:37:03:BB firmware 1.103.2.164
bulk-in polling started
RxInit OK
Multicast is enabled
setting Radio On
vnetusba.c: usb eth0 initialized and registered
CMD_SetRadioOn
Before SetIRoaming
International Roaming : 0
setting Mib value
last cmd: SetMib
ScanReq for ssid international 0 type infrastructure (ch 10)
Scan OK (rx_urb->status -115 StationState 01)
last cmd: Scan
!Found : 0 BSSID's , Desired BSSID not found
freeing all pending tx packets
stopping the net queue
ScanReq for ssid international 0 type infrastructure (ch 10)
Scan OK (rx_urb->status -115 StationState 01)
found BSS ch 11, bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, cap x0011, RSSI 22
SSID:
found BSS ch 11, bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, cap x0011, RSSI 24
already in list
last cmd: Scan
desired ssid , opmode infrastructure, 1 bss in list
International Roaming :0
0. BSS: ssid , rssi 22, bsstype 2, long preamble, wep 1
SelectedBSSId : BSSID 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, ssid
!Found : 1 BSSID's , Desired BSSID found
setting Mib value
last cmd: SetMib
setting Mib value
last cmd: SetMib
setting Mib value
last cmd: SetMib
setting Mib value
last cmd: SetMib
usb.c: registered new driver keyboard
input0: Silitek IBM USB HUB KEYBOARD on usb1:4.0
usbkbd.c: :USB HID Boot Protocol keyboard driver
usb.c: registered new driver hiddev
usb.c: registered new driver hid
input1: USB HID v1.00 Pointer [Silitek IBM USB HUB KEYBOARD] on usb1:4.1
hid-core.c: v1.8.1 Andreas Gal, Vojtech Pavlik <vojtech@suse.cz>
hid-core.c: USB HID support drivers
mice: PS/2 mouse device common for all mice
usb.c: registered new driver usbvnetr
freeing all pending tx packets
stopping the net queue
PairWise - Transmission key: 0 - 1
setting Mib value
last cmd: SetMib
setting Mib value
new SSID ScottsHome
rescanning
ctrl_wait cb1db8a0 wait @ cb367c50 Adapter @ cbfa6000
state f1 status tx_urb 0 ctrl_urb 0
freeing all pending tx packets
stopping the net queue
state 01 status tx_urb 0 ctrl_urb 0
International Roaming : 0
setting Mib value
last cmd: SetMib
ScanReq for ssid ScottsHome international 0 type infrastructure (ch 11)
Scan OK (rx_urb->status -115 StationState 01)
found BSS ch 11, bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, cap x0411, RSSI 24
SSID: ScottsHome
found BSS ch 11, bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, cap x0011, RSSI 24
already in list
found BSS ch 11, bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, cap x0411, RSSI 21
already in list
last cmd: Scan
desired ssid ScottsHome, opmode infrastructure, 1 bss in list
0. BSS: ssid ScottsHome, rssi 24, bsstype 2, long preamble, wep 1
SelectedBSSId : BSSID 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, ssid ScottsHome
!Found : 1 BSSID's , Desired BSSID foudevice

eth0 entered promiscuous mode
device eth0 left promiscuous mode
device eth0 entered promiscuous mode
JoinReq: ssid ScottsHome bsstype 2 bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26
Join Out
Join OK (ctrl_urb->status 0 flags 00122121)
last cmd: Join
getting operational rates
AuthReq to bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, WEP no, algorithm nr 0, seq nr 1, challenge text len 192
waking up the net queue
Auth response from BSSID 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, status 0, trans_seq x2
Authentication Response Success (no WEP)
AssocReq to bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, ssid ScottsHome, capa x11, rates 82848b96
Assoc response from BSSID 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, status 0, assoc id 2
stopping the net queue
waking up the net queue
stopping the net queue
waking up the net queue
stopping the net queue
waking up the net queue
stopping the net queue
waking up the net queue
stopping the net queue
waking up the net queue
freeing all pending tx packets
stopping the net queue
PairWise - Transmission key: 0 - 1
setting Mib value
freeing all pending tx packets
stopping the net queue
PairWise - Transmission key: 1 - 1
WEP Key #1:<6>BE<6>62<6>0C<6>B4<6>0F<6>
WEP Key #2:<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>
WEP Key #3:<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>
WEP Key #4:<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>
setting Mib value
freeing all pending tx packets
stopping the net queue
PairWise - Transmission key: 1 - 1
WEP Key #1:<6>BE<6>62<6>0C<6>B4<6>0F<6>
WEP Key #2:<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>
WEP Key #3:<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>
WEP Key #4:<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>00<6>
setting Mib value
last cmd: SetMib
JoinReq: ssid ScottsHome bsstype 2 bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26
Join Out
Join OK (ctrl_urb->status 0 flags 0212e121)
last cmd: Join
getting operational rates
AuthReq to bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, WEP no, algorithm nr 0, seq nr 1, challenge text len 192
waking up the net queue
Auth response from BSSID 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, status 0, trans_seq x2
Authentication Response Success (no WEP)
AssocReq to bssid 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, ssid ScottsHome, capa x11, rates 82848b96
Assoc response from BSSID 00:09:5b:86:0b:26, status 0, assoc id 2

Is this usb adapter stuck in scan mode or something? i'm at a loss.

Can you try to boot your system, and after linux load:

# ifconfig eth0 down

now run these commands and send us the output:

# ifconfig

# dhcp3-client

# ifconfig

# route


And yes... what distribution do you use? have you got resolve.conf somewhere? (/etc/network for debian.) can you send it as well?

okay, I run ifconfig eth0 down, then ifconfig, i get
lo link endcap (etc)
I run dhclient, I get
dhcpdiscover on eth0 to 255.255.255.0 port 67 interval 6
that displays about 10 times, then it say:
no dhcp offers recieved No working leases in persistant database - sleeping

ifconfig:
eth0 link encap Ethernet HWaddr (my USBs mac address)
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST
so on so forth, but no assigned IP address

route
Kernal IP routing table
Destination Gateway, Genmask Flags Metric Ref, Use Iface

I'm running Mandrake 9.1

I tried a few things on the router and this is what I came up with.
I have to use 64bit encryption. Appartenly, my USB box doesn't like 128.

okay, so it WORKS now, but I'm having to do some jerry rigging on bootup. When I first boot up, I have to run
iwconfig eth0 enc on key open [1] mykeyhere
When I run
ifconfig
I get a eth0 and and eth0:9.
So, I run the GUI network setup wizard from the Mandrake Control Center. I tell it to auto detect. It finds my NIC, then restarts the network. After that, i run
ifconfig and I get an eth0 and an eth1 both of which work under dhcp, and then I can get on the internet. SO, now, my only problem is that I'd like to automate this whole process so that when I boot up, it works. Can any one help me with that?

thanks