Re: Netgear WPN311 Wireless G problems

["Andrew J. Barr" <andrew.james.barr@gmail.com>]

Florian Kulzer wrote:
> On Mon, Apr 09, 2007 at 11:37:03 -0400, Grok Mogger wrote:
>
> [...]
>
> >  Hey everyone, thanks a lot for the advice!  I ended up getting a Netgear 
> >  WPN311 Wireless G PCI card.  Now I'm just trying to get the darn thing 
> >  working.  Right now, I'm actually using the desktop install of Ubuntu 6.10, 
> >  Edgy Eft.  I've followed the advice here: 
> >  http://www.ubuntugeek.com/enable-wpa-wireless-access-point-in-ubuntu.html
> >
> >  to the letter.  No dice.  I don't see the small graphic of blue bars that 
> >  the author has pictured.  What I find really strange is that my card just 
> >  doesn't seem to be finding any wireless networks at all.  I click the icon 
> >  that looks like two little black monitors, and I have a "Wired Network" 
> >  option, but then under the "Wireless Networks" there is just nothing.  Like 
> >  my card isn't picking up anything.  (I know there are a few wireless 
> >  networks in my area that it should see)
> >
> >  In Device Manager the card is identified as a "AR5212 802.11abg NIC" and it 
> >  has two entries underneath it, a "WLAN Interface" and an "Unknown Device".
> >
> >  I figure whatever I've messed up, I've done such a fantastic job of it that 
> >  I'll just have to figure out for myself, but does anything jump out at 
> >  anyone right away?
>
> Step 1 is: Run "iwconfig" as root and post the output here.
>
> Further steps depend on the outcome of step 1.

Also worth noting is that in the past NetworkManager had problems with 
madwifi because of it's unique behavior when scanning. I do not know if 
a) this has been fixed, or b) if the driver you are using includes the 
fix, if any.

Full disclosure: I'm not a fan of madwifi for reasons beyond (but 
including) the licensing of the HAL. I tried to run a Madwifi-based AP 
for a few months about 18 months ago and had nothing but terrible 
results (hard lockups, and when it did work performance was awful). I 
may revisit this when/if an open HAL becomes usable for my hardware, but 
wasting time with seldom-revised closed code that only a select few 
people can fix isn't a way I choose to spend my time. If I want that, I 
could purchase a $10 router and usually end up with better results.

Andrew