Re: Can Anyone Explain the over-all view of Wireless Networking?
Chance Platt wrote:
> Kent West wrote:
>> Here's some relevant information, I believe:
>>
>> 01:08.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One
>> 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
>> Subsystem: Linksys WMP54GS version 1.1 [Wireless-G PCI Adapter]
>> 802.11g w/SpeedBooster
>> Control: I/O- Mem+ BusMaster+ SpecCycle- MemWINV- VGASnoop- ParErr-
>> Stepping- SERR+ FastB2B- DisINTx-
>> Status: Cap- 66MHz- UDF- FastB2B- ParErr- DEVSEL=fast >TAbort-
>> <TAbort- <MAbort- >SERR- <PERR- INTx-
>> Latency: 64
>> Interrupt: pin A routed to IRQ 17
>> Region 0: Memory at feade000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
>> Kernel driver in use: b43-pci-bridge
>>
>> westk@evoljasen:~$ sudo iwlist wlan0 scan
>> wlan0 Scan completed :
>> Cell 01 - Address: 00:1A:1E:A2:55:20
>> Channel:11
>> Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
>> Quality=42/70 Signal level=-68 dBm
>> Encryption key:off
>> ESSID:"ACUwireless"
>> Bit Rates: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
>> Bit Rates:48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
>> Mode:Master
>> Extra:tsf=0000000060a63181
>> Extra: Last beacon: 100ms ago
>> IE: Unknown: 000B414355776972656C657373
>> IE: Unknown: 01088B8C121618243048
>> IE: Unknown: 03010B
>> IE: Unknown: 2A0102
>> IE: Unknown: 3202606C
>> IE: Unknown: DD0A00037F04010000000000
>>
<snip>
>> westk@evoljasen:~$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
>> # This file describes the network interfaces available on your system
>> # and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5).
>>
>> # The loopback network interface
>> auto lo
>> iface lo inet loopback
>>
>> # The primary network interface
>> #allow-hotplug eth0
>> auto eth1
>> iface eth1 inet dhcp
>>
>> auto wlan0
>> iface wlan0 inet dhcp
>> # wireless_essid humanslivehere
>> wireless-essid ACUWireless open
>> wireless-keymode open
>> #wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
>>
>> (the wired interface works with the above setup. the wireless works at
>> the other location (humanslivehere) when that line and the wpa-conf
>> lines are uncommented and the other two uncommented lines are not in the
>> file)
<snip>
>> westk@evoljasen:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
>> Running /etc/init.d/networking restart is deprecated because it may not
>> enable again some interfaces ... (warning).
>> Reconfiguring network interfaces...There is already a pid file
>> /var/run/dhclient.eth1.pid with pid 17310
>> killed old client process, removed PID file
>> Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.3
>> Copyright 2004-2009 Internet Systems Consortium.
>> All rights reserved.
>> For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/
>>
>> Listening on LPF/eth1/00:0d:56:2c:5e:d6
>> Sending on LPF/eth1/00:0d:56:2c:5e:d6
>> Sending on Socket/fallback
>> DHCPRELEASE on eth1 to 150.252.128.107 port 67
>> There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.wlan0.pid with pid 18812
>> killed old client process, removed PID file
>> Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.3
>> Copyright 2004-2009 Internet Systems Consortium.
>> All rights reserved.
>> For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/
>>
>> Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:18:f8:29:b5:96
>> Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:18:f8:29:b5:96
>> Sending on Socket/fallback
>> DHCPRELEASE on wlan0 to 192.168.1.1 port 67
>> send_packet: Network is unreachable
>> send_packet: please consult README file regarding broadcast address.
>> Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.3
>> Copyright 2004-2009 Internet Systems Consortium.
>> All rights reserved.
>> For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/
>>
>> Listening on LPF/eth1/00:0d:56:2c:5e:d6
>> Sending on LPF/eth1/00:0d:56:2c:5e:d6
>> Sending on Socket/fallback
>> DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
>> DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
>> DHCPOFFER from 150.252.8.1
>> DHCPREQUEST on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
>> DHCPACK from 150.252.46.1
>> bound to 150.252.12.59 -- renewal in 79090 seconds.
>> Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.1.3
>> Copyright 2004-2009 Internet Systems Consortium.
>> All rights reserved.
>> For info, please visit https://www.isc.org/software/dhcp/
>>
>> Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:18:f8:29:b5:96
>> Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:18:f8:29:b5:96
>> Sending on Socket/fallback
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 4
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 11
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 11
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
>> No DHCPOFFERS received.
>> No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.
>> done.
>>
>> What other info can I provide?
>>
>> Thanks!
>>
>
> Sure.
>
> I admittedly don't understand the plumbing of wireless networking, but
> I've broken it and fixed it enough to notice a couple of things.
>
> Step One - from what you've shown, it appears your card is being
> recognized by the appropriate kernel driver and is functioning.
> That's a big step, and it's working for you.
>
> Step Two - comment out everything in your /etc/network/interfaces file
> that has to do with wlan0 and wireless. Mine is simply:
>
> auto lo
> iface lo inet loopback
> allow-hotplug eth0
>
> <Don't change yours to this since your eth1 is working fine, just
> comment out the wireless and wlan lines.)
>
> You do this to uncomplicate....
>
> Step Three - don't worry about the plumbing. Use either
> NetworkManager or WICD. These take care of the plumbing, and they
> work. If they don't work with your particular network, try connecting
> to an unsecured network first to check the above assumptions (kernel
> working, etc.) and then troubleshoot the secured network.
>
> WICD and NetworkManager have a boot-time service and a per-user
> client. Once installed, either reboot or start the appropriate
> service, and then as your user, start the client and configure.
>
> http://wiki.debian.org/WiFi/HowToUse
>
I don't know what WICD or NetworkManager are, but shooting in the dark I
did an "aptitude install wicd", which installed/configured four or five
packages, and gave this error:
Setting up python-wicd (1.7.0-3) ...
Setting up wicd-daemon (1.7.0-3) ...
Starting Network connection manager: wicd failed!
Setting up wicd-gtk (1.7.0-3) ...
Setting up wicd (1.7.0-3) ...
Now when I run ifconfig, I get:
westk@evoljasen:~$ sudo ifconfig
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0d:56:2c:5e:d6
inet addr:150.252.12.59 Bcast:150.252.15.255 Mask:255.255.248.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20d:56ff:fe2c:5ed6/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:679852 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:179791 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:650585566 (620.4 MiB) TX bytes:14268638 (13.6 MiB)
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:317 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:317 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:21912 (21.3 KiB) TX bytes:21912 (21.3 KiB)
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:18:f8:29:b5:96
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
And when I run "wicd-client -n" as per the instructions at the wiki site
you reference, I get a gui window that says "No wireless networks found".
Also, a negative to this approach is that it requires X to be working,
which is okay in this case, but it'd be nice to have some documentation
that explains how to step-by-step diagnose things in a bare minimum
environment. But that's less important right now than just getting the
network running. Any suggestions from this point?
Thanks!
Oh, wait, wait. I just found in the preferences a place to enter
"wlan0". Now I'm getting something. It now sees several ACUWireless
connections, but when I click on Connect on one, the program froze. I'm
giving it a few minutes before I kill it....
Oh, wait; it froze up the box. I was ssh'd into it. So I walk over to
the box in question; yep, it's frozen.
Now I've bounced the power.
Mathew Moore suggested I use wicd-curses.
So I did; found the ACUWireless node; tried pressing "c" to connect;
nothing happened; then tried "C", and the machine froze up again.
Arg.
--
Kent West <*)))><
http://kentwest.blogspot.com
Praise Yah! \o/
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