I think I will try and get it working with WEP encryption first and then tackle the heady heights of WPA.

Wish me luck
Thanks for everyones help

Right well i'm currently on linux while typing this, using WEP encyption - which is nice.

However, Firefox is behaving oddly...for the vast majority of web addresses it works, but for some results from Google and for example www.thinkwiki.org - it keeps saying it cannot find the server.

So either the server is actually down or something is going wrong?
Any ideas? I thought maybe its my security policy but I haven't blocked anything specifically.

No the site is up, check your /etc/resolv.conf file some times it is best that it reflects the nameserver information for your ISP (the same as the wireless router uses), example;

nameserver XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
nameserver XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX
nameserver <your wireless router internal IP address here>

How bizarre...I just did all of the stuff to use WPA-PSK encryption and I didnt really know if it had worked because when I ran
./wpa_supplicant -d -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -ieth1 -Dwext

it would freeze when it got to:

EAPOL: startWhen --> 0

and I would have to terminate it...so I try it with:

./wpa_supplicant -B -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -ieth1 -Dwext

and it seems to work, then I:
./ifup eth1

and it works...so I try one of the websites in question, and that also works - having not changed anything in resolve.conf!?

I think I have cracked it!!

Will I have to run that wpa_supplicant command everytime I start up or can I write a script to do it or will it be done automatically?

EDIT: Okay just realised that the majority of the other websites don't work lol, weird...is there a way I can find the IP address of my router from linux or will I have to log into the router?

Check around in the /etc/wpa_supplicant directory, you should find something!!

You can try: netstat -r

netstat -r gives me:

Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags MSS Window irtt Iface
192.168.0.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
169.254.0.0 * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
default 192.168.0.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth1

So many numbers which do I choose??? I have tried adding the 192 addresses to resolv.conf because I am pretty sure they are for my router. However, it hasn't made any difference.

The 192.168.0.1 is your wireless router, like i suggested add the nameserver info for yor ISP in /etc/resolvf.conf. Yes you can get this info from your router.

Okay I have added that address to revolv.conf, however things seem to be quite random.

Different websites load when I connect different times.

Also certain websites don't display in the right way its like they have their style sheets off (when they are on).

Hmmm its all a little confusing

When I did ./ifup eth1, sometimes I got failed and other times it said failed no cable and then it just worked. I checked my dmesg...

ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready
ndiswrapper (iw_set_freq:384): setting configuration failed (00010003)
eth1: no IPv6 routers present
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth1: link is not ready
ndiswrapper (iw_set_freq:384): setting configuration failed (00010003)
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth1: link becomes ready
eth1: no IPv6 routers present

I don't know if I have a setting wrong somewhere or what but things are not working as they should

I have just noticed a file:
/etc/sysconfig/wpa_supplicant

which reads:

# wlan0 and wifi0
# INTERFACES="-iwlan0 -iwifi0"
INTERFACES="-iwlan0"
# ndiswrapper and prism
# DRIVERS="-Dndiswrapper -Dprism"
DRIVERS="-Dndiswrapper"

Both of these attributes do not seem appropriate for my setup. Do you think it may be this thats causing a problem?

From reading the problems you are having, I am willing to bet your problem resides in your setup for wpa_supplicant. Either that, or you are not specifically assigning an IP address to your wireless adapter once it is actually "on line". It took me about a week to get my wireless adapter (a Broadcom bcm43xx chipset adapter in a Compaq Presario C504US) up and working. The hardest, trickiest part was getting wpa_supplicant to work properly.

I created a file that contains all the steps I took to finally get things operating properly. While I did it under Slackware, I'm sure with a little creative thinking, you can re-write it a bit to work with your distribution. the URL is: http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...d.php?t=550053

I hope that helps. I know that now my wireless adapter works properly. Not only can I surf the net, and jam on my favorite Internet radio station, I can also use samba to share files with the other Slackware machine and the Windoze machines on my LAN as well. You could say I got it working properly.

Please let me know if the document is helpful.

Blessed be!
Pappy

The problem was my DNS settings in the end, there was one little box I hadn't ticked in system-config-network that was causing me all the trouble.

Thanks to one and all who helped me with this problem.