was working fine... but weird problems with wireless

mrchaos · 05-10-2005, 05:16 PM

I'm using the madwifi drivers (rev. 2005318) to power my d-link DWL-G520 wireless PCI adapter. The problem lies not in my connection to the wireless router nor does it lie in setting up the drivers. The problem I have is a weird one that occurs occasionally during times when my computer is on, and always when the computer boots.

I never quite figured out how to load my wireless information at startup, so I just do it manually. It's not a big deal, except for my unorthodox method of carrying out this task. I compiled my kernel such that the module ath_pci (subsequently loading ath0 and wlan) is available at startup. I know because

Code:

root@ZAXCOMP:/home/zax# lsmod|grep ath
ath_pci                53152  0
ath_rate_amrr           7044  1 ath_pci
wlan                  107484  4 wlan_wep,ath_pci,ath_rate_amrr
ath_hal               146640  2 ath_pci
root@ZAXCOMP:/home/zax#

but when I type in the following at startup, I get this error:

Code:

root@ZAXCOMP:/home/zax# iwlist ath0 scan
ath0      Interface doesn't support scanning : Operation not supported

This is a major problem, b/c not only can I not scan for my network, but even if I plug in ALL of the information regarding the router, nothing is identified. So, I figured out how to fix this, but it requires the x-server (something that bothers me). I go to the kwifi-manager, go to configuration editor, then I click the buttons that say "Load these settings" and "activate."

Now, when I try scanning, it yields:

Code:

root@ZAXCOMP:/home/zax# iwlist ath0 scan
ath0      Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:0F:B5:64:A4:A4
                    ESSID:"NETGEAR"
               ............................................

My question is: what's up with the drivers that don't allow me to scan on startup, and how can I fix this problem so that this task is allowed???

dimgr · 05-12-2005, 01:46 AM

iwlist wlan0 scan?

post your ifconfig

mrchaos · 05-12-2005, 08:04 AM

wlan0 is not a proper module on my system. The module that represents my wireless card is ath0. Hence the reason why I iwlist ath0 scan

PhoenixofMT · 05-30-2006, 08:35 PM

I am having the same problem. Using the madwifi drivers the interface is named ath0. Untill the wireless is set up and connecting to an AP, the interface doesn't support scanning. If you are connected, scanning works but is less useful now that you are connected. This is very annoying. If anyone figures this out, please let me know.

PhoenixofMT · 05-30-2006, 09:02 PM

oops. double post

mrchaos · 06-03-2006, 01:21 PM

nowadays I just

Code:

ifconfig ath0 down

then

Code:

ifconfig ath0 up

to reenable the network device. As for the actual problem, I never did figure it out