Hello,

I'm a newbie - let's put that clear ;-)

First of all : as output of iwlist or iwconfig when there is stated "Access Point", do they mean the MAC Address of the router ?

If so, I have the *impression* that iwconfig wlan0 gives me the wrong AP.

If use the following commands both give me the good ESSID and an AP that is different than the one of the wireless router.
- iwconfig wlan0
- iwlist wlan0 scan

If my understanding of AP/MAC is correct I believe that I first of all have to solve this issue before proceeding and being able to connect to my network.

Any help ?

thanks,
michel

Actually, "Access Point" is usually used as a generic term for whatever device is being used to control wireless access. In fact, at least on my box, "Access Point" isn't part of either the iwlist or iwconfig output.

The iwconfig command is completely dependant on the configuration a user has set, so if you haven't used iwconfig to enter the ESSID, WEP key, etc., then yes, you aren't seeing the right information. However, iwconfig has no way of finding the right information on its own.

OK, of those two command, only the iwlist command will be capable of showing you information about the wireless router. As I said above, iwconfig can only tell you about the information you've told it. If iwconfig wlan0 is giving you the proper ESSID, then it must be getting that from a config file you've set up.

At this point, why don't you post the output of iwconfig wlan0 and ifconfig wlan0 and we'll see where you are. And in case you didn't know, you can use a redirect to capture the output of those commands in a text file and save yourself a lot of typing:

iwconfig wlan0 > iwconfig_output.txt (you can use any filename here, not just the one I have). The > bit sends the output to the file rather than the screen, and then you can open it in a text editor.

herewith the history of some commands and names of output-files:

- boot computer
1. iwconfig_output01.txt
2. ifconfig_output01.txt
# iwconfig wlan0 ESSID annapurna
# iwconfig wlan0 key off
3. iwconfig_output02.txt
4. ifconfig_output012.txt
5. iwlist_scan_output02.txt

ps: under Windows everything works fine, this to say that the HW itself is ok.

I hope that this may help you ...

1. iwconfig_output01.txt
wlan0 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"Home - USR9106" Nickname:"(none)"
Mode:Managed Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=0 dBm
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:4524-3BB6-B3DE-D045-13FF-D397-72
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 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

---> resulting ESSID is the ESSID of earlier definded router.

2. ifconfig_output01.txt
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:C0:49:A9:4D:D7
inet6 addr: fe80::2c0:49ff:fea9:4dd7/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:16 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

--> HWaddr is the one of my PCMCIA card (USR5410)

3. iwconfig_output02.txt
wlan0 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"annapurna" Nickname:"(none)"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: 00:C0:49:D4:14:6A
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=0 dBm
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=41/94 Signal level=-49 dBm Noise level=-154 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

--> Access Point = should this be the MAC of the router ? (if so, it's not)

4. ifconfig_output012.txt
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:C0:49:A9:4D:D7
inet addr:192.168.1.3 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::2c0:49ff:fea9:4dd7/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:75 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:22 errors:20 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:10565 (10.3 Kb) TX bytes:3196 (3.1 Kb)

5. iwlist_scan_output02.txt
wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:C0:49:D4:14:6A
ESSID:"annapurna"
Mode:Managed
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality:94/94 Signal level:-10 dBm Noise level:-154 dBm
Encryption key:off
Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100

Somehow I have the feeling that I'm almost there ... I do hope that someone can help me ...

Um, I'm a touch confused. From the outputs of 3 and 4 you should be able to connect to the internet. What happens when you try to do that? Also, are you assigning a static IP address to this card or are you using DHCP to obtain one from the access point?

Yes, I'm using DHCP, this is confirmed by Yast/Network Devices / Networking Card Configuration Overview

when I'm connected through wire (eth0) the internet connection works fine ...

Hangdog42, you asked what happens when I try to connect wireless to the internet. This is the error message I'm getting in the browser (Konqueror):
An error ocured while loading http://www.google.be
Unknown host www.google.be

That kind of error could be a symptom of a few different things. I'd like you to try to connect to two things. First try

http://www.linuxquestions.org

I'm assuming that will give you the same error you see trying to connect to google.be. Then try

http://64.179.4.149

That is the IP address for LQO. If you can connect with the IP address but not the name, then you've got a problem with the nameserver. If you can't connect either way it is something more basic.

Oh, and one more thing. Don't have the wired connection enabled at the same time you are trying to connect wirelessly. I've seen systems behave badly if they have both a wired and a wireless connection live at the same time. If you boot with the CAT5 cable unplugged you should be fine.

well i think i'm having the more basic problem ... nor the http://64.179.4.149 is working ....

how do I make that the wired connection is not enabled ?

That's easy. Either make sure the CAT5 cable is NOT plugged into your computer when you boot, or use ifconfig eth0 down at the command line (assuming your wired connection is eth0).

Since it isn't a DNS problem, please post the output of route. The gateway listed there should be your router. What also might be informative is if you first get the output of route when your just using wireless, then reboot with a wired connection and look at the output then.

first of all a big thank for all your effort Hangdog42 !

herewith the outpout of route. The 1st one without and the second one with eth0 up.

Without eth0 running
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo


With eth0 running
Kernel IP routing table
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
192.168.1.0 * 255.255.255.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
link-local * 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
loopback * 255.0.0.0 U 0 0 0 lo
default 192.168.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0


does this give you any or THE hint ?

Assuming that wlan0 was active in both cases, it looks as if your DHCP request through wlan0 isn't being answered, or your system isn't completely understanding the answer. However, the fact that you get an IP address on wlan0 is really strange. Have you set the wlan0 IP address statically somewhere?

Assuming that you haven't set the IP address, lets not mess with using DHCP and instead setting everything manually and see if you can get on the Internet.

After booting your computer, configure wlan0 with your SSID using iwconfig. Once you've checked that it is set, next set a static IP address:

ifconfig wlan0 192.168.1.25 (or use whatever IP address you think is appropriate)

Next, you want to set up so that your gateway points to your router:

route add default gw 192.168.1.1 (assuming that 192.168.1.1 is the IP address of your router). Run route again to make sure that the settings took.

The final step is to add your ISPs DNS servers to your /etc/resolv.conf file. If your router is connected to your ISP, on one of the settings pages you should be able to see the IP address for the DNS servers it uses. Write those down. Now open up /etc/resolv.conf in a text editor and for each DNS server your ISP has add a line like this:

nameserver 1.2.3.4

Only replace 1.2.3.4 with the real IP address of the DNS server. Remember, one line per server. Save the file and then you should be able to connect to the internet.

just to let you know that it works after following your last instructions !! Thanks !

i'll come back to you with more information and / or questions this evening.

michel

If it works by setting it manually, that means something is definitely going wrong with DHCP. I'd have a look through your logs for clues.

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