problems with pcmcia wifi card
Hi to everyone,
I have an old laptop (Thinkpad 600) running on Debian Etch, and I am
trying to get a pcmcia 'deXlan' wifi card (Intersil Prism2 chipset)
working on it. I want WPA encryption, and I am told that my Hostap driver
is supposed to work WPA provided that the daemon 'hostapd' is running and
wpa_supplicant is associated.
I had so far no success in my trials. For one thing, even though the
hostap driver (hostap_cs) is running, I can't launch the hostapd daemon :
#'/usr/sbin/hostapd /etc/hostapd.conf' tells me the following :
ioctl(SIOCGIFINDEX): No such device
hostap driver initialisation failed
rmdir[ctrl_interface]: no such file or directory
My hostapd.conf does not contain much, I left the minimum in it for a
start:
interface=wlan0
debug=3
dump file=/tmp/hostapd.dump #(nothing in it)
ctrl_interface=/var/run/hostapd
ssid=Livebox46db
.....
if, in the config file, I don't disable 'passive scanning', I get this
reply:
"Could not set passive scanning. Unknown error 4294967295"
So, 'hostapd' is not running, which could be a good reason why I can't
connect
to my network (DSL box/router) with WPA encryption. There may also be
another reason
: in the doc written by the author of hostap, I have picked this :
"Station firmware version needs to be 1.7.0 or newer to work in WPA mode"
I suppose that the so called 'station firmware', or 'STA firmware', is the
peace of software that is inside the pcmcia card... ? How am I to know
which version it is ? There is nothing written on it for that matter.
I have also carried a test with wpa_supplicant, according to one of the
README files. At first, the most important part of the output, then the
whole output below
#wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -d
SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=20 WE(source)=18 enc_capa=0xf
capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf
Added alternative ifindex 5 (wifi0) for wireless events WEXT: Operstate:
linkmode=1, operstate=5 Added alternative ifindex 5 (wifi0) for wireless
events Own MAC address: 00:02:6f:05:f4:41 wpa_driver_hostap_set_wpa:
enabled=1
IOCTL[PRISM2_IOCTL_PRISM2_PARAM]: Operation not supported Driver does not
support WPA.
then the whole of it, where it shows that the system detects two access
points including mine, but fails to connect, which is most probably due to
the fact that it does not support WPA :
begin copy/paste
********************************
Initializing interface 'wlan0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver
'default' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A' Configuration file
'/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' Reading
configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
ctrl_interface='/var/run/wpa_supplicant' Priority group 0
id=0 ssid='Livebox-46db'
id=1 ssid=''
Initializing interface (2) 'wlan0'
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state
NO_KEY_RECEIVE EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE EAP: EAP entering
state DISABLED
EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0 EAPOL: External notification
- portValid=0 SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=20 WE(source)=18 enc_capa=0xf
capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf
Added alternative ifindex 5 (wifi0) for wireless events WEXT: Operstate:
linkmode=1, operstate=5 Added alternative ifindex 5 (wifi0) for wireless
events Own MAC address: 00:02:6f:05:f4:41 wpa_driver_hostap_set_wpa:
enabled=1
IOCTL[PRISM2_IOCTL_PRISM2_PARAM]: Operation not supported Driver does not
support WPA.
wpa_driver_hostap_set_key: alg=none key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_key: alg=none key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_key: alg=none key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_key: alg=none key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_countermeasures: enabled=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_drop_unencrypted: enabled=1 Setting scan request: 0
sec 100000 usec Added interface wlan0 RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0
ifi_flags=0x1002 () Wireless event: cmd=0x8b06 len=8
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP]) RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME:
Interface 'wifi0' added RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'wlan0' added RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0
ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP]) RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'wlan0' added
State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING
Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID)
Trying to get current scan results first without requesting a new scan to
speed up initial association Received 332 bytes of scan results (2 BSSes)
Scan results: 2
Selecting BSS from priority group 0
0: 00:90:4b:c3:7d:42 ssid='Livebox-46db' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0
caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
1: 00:16:41:65:93:51 ssid='Alice-c685' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
No suitable AP found.
Setting scan request: 0 sec 0 usec
Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID)
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP]) Wireless event:
cmd=0x8b19 len=8
Received 332 bytes of scan results (2 BSSes) Scan results: 2 Selecting BSS
from priority group 0
0: 00:90:4b:c3:7d:42 ssid='Livebox-46db' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0
caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
1: 00:16:41:65:93:51 ssid='Alice-c685' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
No suitable AP found.
Setting scan request: 5 sec 0 usec
Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID)
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP]) Wireless event:
cmd=0x8b19 len=8
Received 332 bytes of scan results (2 BSSes) Scan results: 2 Selecting BSS
from priority group 0
0: 00:90:4b:c3:7d:42 ssid='Livebox-46db' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0
caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
1: 00:16:41:65:93:51 ssid='Alice-c685' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
No suitable AP found.
Setting scan request: 5 sec 0 usec
Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID)
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP]) Wireless event:
cmd=0x8b19 len=8
Received 332 bytes of scan results (2 BSSes) Scan results: 2 Selecting BSS
from priority group 0
0: 00:90:4b:c3:7d:42 ssid='Livebox-46db' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0
caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
1: 00:16:41:65:93:51 ssid='Alice-c685' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
No suitable AP found.
Setting scan request: 5 sec 0 usec
CTRL-EVENT-TERMINATING - signal 2 received Removing interface wlan0 State:
SCANNING -> DISCONNECTED
wpa_driver_wext_set_operstate: operstate 0->0 (DORMANT) WEXT: Operstate:
linkmode=-1, operstate=5 No keys have been configured - skip key clearing
EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0 EAPOL: External notification
- portValid=0 wpa_driver_hostap_set_wpa: enabled=0 Failed to disable WPA
in the driver.
wpa_driver_hostap_set_drop_unencrypted: enabled=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_countermeasures: enabled=0 No keys have been
configured - skip key clearing WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=0, operstate=6
cancelling scan request
********************************
end copy/paste
Now, here are the contents of my wpa_supplicant.conf file :
begin copy/paste
**************************************
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
### Example of basic WPA-PSK secured AP network={
ssid="Livebox-46db"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
proto=WPA
pairwise=TKIP
group=TKIP
psk="7799****************73**ad"
}
}
### Associate with any open access point ### Scans/ESSID changes can be
done with wpa_cli network={
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}
**********************************************
end copy/paste
Thanks in advance for your help
Bernard
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