Hello friends,
Thanks for reading the email.
I am using Slackware linux with the following Kernel:
Linux 2.6.21.5-smp

I have a Broadcom wireless card in my Compaq laptop. I have tried configuring the wifi network with many things but I am still unable to connect to my ADSL route. What I have tried is as under:-
-I am using the bc43xx driver, bcm43xx-fwcutter-006 and its associated driver wl_apsta-3.130.20.0.o.
-The output of my ifconfig and iwconfig is as under:

oot@vlaptop:~# ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:163:A5:F8:7F
inet addr:192.168.1.10 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::216:d3ff:fea5:f87f/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:9595 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:10145 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:5669176 (5.4 MiB) TX bytes:1576939 (1.5 MiB)
Interrupt:20

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1A:73:03:F2:FD
inet addr:192.168.1.11 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:866 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:43185 (42.1 KiB)
Interrupt:11 Base address:0x8000

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:2248 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2248 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:247523 (241.7 KiB) TX bytes:247523 (241.7 KiB)

root@vlaptop:~# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 IEEE 802.11b/g ESSID:"VivekHome" Nickname:"vlaptop"
Mode:Managed Frequency=2.422 GHz Access Point: 00:1B:57:EF:4B:01
Bit Rate=1 Mb/s Tx-Power=18 dBm
RTS thr:500 B Fragment thr:1000 B
Encryption key:7368-7269-6B72-6973-686E-616A-69 Security mode:restricted
Link Quality=0/100 Signal level=-256 dBm Noise level=-256 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0



I have configured my /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf and /etc/rc.d/rc.wireless.conf as under:-
inet1.conf
# Config information for eth0:
IPADDR[0]="192.168.1.10"
NETMASK[0]="255.255.255.0"
USE_DHCP[0]=""
DHCP_HOSTNAME[0]=""

# Config information for eth1:
# I am uncommenting below to make wifi work.
IFNAME[1]="eth1"
IPADDR[1]="192.168.1.11"
NETMASK[1]="255.255.255.0"
#USE_DHCP[1]="yes"
#DHCP_HOSTNAME[1]=""


wireless.conf

# Generic example (decribe all possible settings)
*)
INFO="WiFi lan from adsl router"
ESSID="VivekHome"
NWID=""
MODE="auto"
FREQ="2.422G"
CHANNEL="11"
SENS=""
RATE="auto"
KEY="s:mykey"
RTS="500"
FRAG="1000"
IWCONFIG=""
IWSPY=""
IWPRIV=""
;;

When I run iwconfig, it shows me that the link quality is 0, whereas I can connect using another laptop running windows. I have tried all combinations I could think of and I am unable to figure out what is happening.

Can you please help me do it, I will be very grateful.


Thanks and regards,
Vivek.

dunno if this has anything to do with you but after having troubles with my wireless for so long, i finally realized it was all because my router was set to WEP:Open.

after knowing that instead of
i did
hope it helps...

Are you sure your wireless card is set up properly? Do you have any other wireless network connectivity?

The reason I ask is that most Broadcom wireless cards need to be installed with ndiswrapper. Just because the config files are set up, does not mean that the card is working.

Hi All,
Thanks for replying the email. I was using bcm43xx-fwcutter-006. Let me try and use ndiswrapper and see if it helps.

Thanks and regards,
Vivek.

Hi All,
Here is the latest:
I installed ndiswrapper and the associated inf file. I also configured /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf and started the wpa_supplicant.

Here is what I get:
root@vlaptop:~# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"VivekHome" Nickname:"vlaptop"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:1B:57:EF:4B:01
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:32 dBm
RTS thr=500 B Fragment thr=1000 B
Encryption key:4707-853C-5435-0095-98D2-CB94-2DCA-E257-5B5D-738E-57A2-D899-C056-E65E-F453-26F7 Security mode:restricted
Power Managementff
Link Quality:78/100 Signal level:-46 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0



ifconfig

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1A:73:03:F2:FD
inet addr:192.168.1.11 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21a:73ff:fe03:f2fd/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:40 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2822 (2.7 KiB) TX bytes:1056 (1.0 KiB)
Interrupt:21 Memory:b3000000-b3004000



iwlist shows this:
root@vlaptop:~# iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:1B:57:EF:4B:01
ESSID:"VivekHome"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
Mode:Managed
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality:76/100 Signal level:-47 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Encryption keyn
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:atim=0
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK



But still I have no clue how to connect to the network. Can you help me find that out? I would be very grateful.

Thanks and regards,
Vivek.

Did you remember to blacklist the previous driver? That can shut you down, as well as the modprobe step... If you did, and feel confident about the ndiswrapper installation ( I know it took me three tries the first time I did it ), you should run GNOME's network manager service, or it's equivalent, so that you can use it to see what SSID's the card can see, etc., and work from there.

Hi grejon04,
I have done that. I do a rmmod the bc43xx and then do a modprobe ndiswrapper. After doing that, I run the wpa_supplicant script and get things up. ( If I dont use the wpa_supplicant script, I cant see the signal strength of the wifi network). I use the kwifimanager which shows me 75% signal strength and also the ESSID of the adsl router, saying it sees this network. But how do I connect to the network. If I remove my lan cable, I cant ping the ADSL router. I can see the wifi network but can't connect to it.

Thanks and regards,
Vivek.

You could try some of these commands.