problems with WEP connection

[lindaonline15]

hi.. I'm having problems with connecting to wifi connections that use WEP using a passphrase key share.
im having other OS on my laptop windows and other linux distros but only in ubuntu im unable to connect. and when WEP does not require a key, it can connect, the problem is only when it uses a key, it passes configuring network interface, but on setting network address gets stuck and cannot connect after that... also the kde control module keeps asking the password after a while...
any ideas how i can fix this? I have to use WEP and I have to use a passphrase key...

[GreyGeek]

Re: problems with WEP connection

You might be having the "Bad password" problem caused by incompletely removing KNetworkManager and installing Wicd. IF that is the case then read this thread through, especially reply #45, and see if it helps your problem.

[lindaonline15]

Re: problems with WEP connection

actually before posting this topic I did search and saw that one... no thats not my case since i did not do any changes to the Knetworkmanager. should be any other reason... any other suggestions to solve this problem?
i really am suffering from this... makes me switch to windows which I really hate to do so...

[GreyGeek]

Re: problems with WEP connection

....
i really am suffering from this... makes me switch to windows which I really hate to do so...

I don't blame you... but, Windows was designed to allow one to turn off their brain and let Windows "do its thing" with minimal or no input from the user. Also, consider that you were not born knowing how to run Windows. You had to go through a learning curve. Linux has a learning curve, too. However, because the user has so little input running WEP without a password on Kubuntu would be safer than running Windows under any conditions. Your Kubuntu is not susceptible to emailed viruses or Trojans, or even downloaded files. And, if you stick with packages that are in the repository you won't have any problems. About the only way you can get an infection on Linux is if you do it to yourself by letting someone "social engineer" you into MANUALLY downloading a file, MANUALLY adding the execute bit, and MANUALLY running the file because some web page Java applet "scanned" your system and "found" a Windows virus ( ), and you were scared witless into doing those steps.

Keep in mind that running Windows you don't even have to open an email msg to have its payload get executed by windows. Also consider that of the 2 to 3 MILLION viral programs unleashed at Windows every year, almost ALL of them have at least a some period of time to infect thousands or millions of Windows boxes before they are detected, analyzed and a vaccine added to a DAT file which your AV product then must download in order for your box to be protected. By then, your bank account could already be empty or someone has purchased a vehicle or other expensive item using your credit and for which you are responsible until you can prove you didn't do the transaction.. Some windows viruses are NEVER reported by Microsoft, or if they are the "cure" is to upgrade to the next relea$e. Many Windows users let their AV subscriptions lapse for a variety of reasons, the primary one being that because the virus didn't destroy their Windows setup immediately they never knew it was on their machine and that their machine had become a zombie in a giant Windows botfarm. Sometimes their Windows began running like molasses because the botfarm controller was telling it to send thousands of packets to some target IP address. The hapless, cluless user wrote it off as the "occasional" Windows behavior, or assumed that Windows was doing some sort of "housekeeping" that made it run slow.

Microsoft needed to combat the growing failure of Windows users to keep their AV product upgraded and assumed it was due to the price. So, they offered their own AV product for free, Microsoft Security Essentials, and hooked it into a regular upgrade process automatically, so that the use would not have to do anything. That's good for the delinquent AV upgrade problem, but doesn't solve the security hole created by the difference in time between when a virus is released into the wild and it is detected AND a vaccine is included in the next MSSE update.

However, if you feel compelled to return to Windows then ... good luck.

But, lets work on your Kubuntu wifi problem.

What is in the deamon.log? In a Konsole do
kdesudo kwrite /var/log/daemon.log

If that doesn't give anything significant then we'll try a quick shot. Even if KNetworkManager crashes your settings and password may be correct (and your problem is not the result of a bad password -check your wireless configuration and make sure, or reset your login password again, carefully, just to be sure) you can still get a connection by opening a Konsole and entering:
sudo dhclient

If that doesn't work report the error msg, and then give us the make and model of your wifi chip/device? Use lspci or lsusb to find out. Post the output of lsmod. And, the output of "dpkg -l | grep network".

[lindaonline15]

Re: problems with WEP connection

Windows was designed to allow one to turn off their brain and let Windows "do its thing" with minimal or no input from the user.

yes, and thats exactly why I said I hate to switch to windows... makes me feel really weak and dumb
anyways, thanks alot Grey for the comprehensive lecture on that topic... I totally agree all your says and to be honest, its been long time Im planning to completely switch to linux but any time I faced something I got scared and somehow made me to switch back, but this time I really wont give up and thats why I really need your help here as well...
I've worked with linux command line but only for some specific intentions hence in some areas I havent touch it yet, so please bear with me if in the way if I ask really basic questions...

ok, back to your instructions:

What is in the deamon.log? In a Konsole do
kdesudo kwrite /var/log/daemon.log

this is what I got when I run the command:
linda@linda-VAIO:~$ kdesudo kwrite /var/log/daemon.log
QInotifyFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: inotify_add_watch failed: No such file or directory
QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /home/linda/.config/ibus/bus

reset your login password again

got a big problem here since I could not even connect to my router...

sudo dhclient

i did run this, and didnt see any results...

ok, another thing, I tried manually configure all the settings in knetworkmanager (setting IP, DG, DNS, ... ):

• what im supposed to enter in search domains field?
• when I entered all the values -except search domains- the knetworkmanager showed that its connected (by showing the green tick that connection is established) but still I could not surf (socket connection timeout), could not connect to my router and I pinged a website in konsole after a while got: unknown host.

[GreyGeek]

Re: problems with WEP connection

....
lecture on that topic...

Oh dear, the older I get the more frequently I seem to be lapsing into the lecture mode.

ok, back to your instructions:

What is in the deamon.log? In a Konsole do
kdesudo kwrite /var/log/daemon.log

this is what I got when I run the command:
linda@linda-VAIO:~$ kdesudo kwrite /var/log/daemon.log
QInotifyFileSystemWatcherEngine::addPaths: inotify_add_watch failed: No such file or directory
QFileSystemWatcher: failed to add paths: /home/linda/.config/ibus/bus

Well, that didn't help.

reset your login password again

got a big problem here since I could not even connect to my router...

sudo dhclient

i did run this, and didnt see any results...

Ah, the problem is deeper than just configuring the wifi. Seems like you aren't even connecting to it.

ok, another thing, I tried manually configure all the settings in knetworkmanager (setting IP, DG, DNS, ... ):

• what im supposed to enter in search domains field?
• when I entered all the values -except search domains- the knetworkmanager showed that its connected (by showing the green tick that connection is established) but still I could not surf (socket connection timeout), could not connect to my router and I pinged a website in konsole after a while got: unknown host.

[/quote]

First, for consultation purposes, the documentation for Natty networking is here.

Let's start on first base.
Have you identified the wifi chip in your computer? If not, in a Konsole do either
lspci (if your chip is on the motherboard)
lsusb (if your wifi is plugged into a usb slot)
Report back what you find.

Then, also in a Konsole, lets see what ports already exist:
ifconfig
Mine gives me this:

$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1d:ba:1b:08:5a
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)
Interrupt:16

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:202 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:202 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:22240 (22.2 KB) TX bytes:22240 (22.2 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:16:ea:4d:58:aa
inet addr:192.168.1.100 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::216:eaff:fe4d:58aa/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3407 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1633 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1626553 (1.6 MB) TX bytes:303809 (303.8 KB)

eth0 is my ethernet port to which I have nothing connected. Generally, if you plug an ethernet cable from the back of your wifi router to your eth0 port you will get an automatic Internet connection without the use of either KNetworkManager or Wicd, the two most popular networking tools.

lo is short for "Loopback". It is the domain name of your computer, which has the IP address of 127.0.0.1
If lo is not present you have serious problems.

wlan0 is the name of my wifi dhcp connection. It shows that I have a lease on the IPv4 address of 192.168.1.100. That lease is renewed every 24 hours or when I log into my wifi, which ever comes first. The rest of the connection info is set automatically. inet6 is the IPv6 address. The last four lines give connection information which could be helpful if your connection has lots of errors, etc...

Another command to use to test your wifi setup is
iwlist scanning
Mine gives:

$ iwlist scanning
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

pan0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: D8:5D:4C:B9:F4:BA
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=70/70 Signal level=-24 dBm
Encryption keyn
ESSID:"GreyGeek"
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
Bit Rates:24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=00000000014f3542
Extra: Last beacon: 63290ms ago
IE: Unknown: 0008477265794765656B
IE: Unknown: 010882848B960C121824
IE: Unknown: 030101
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : CCMP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : CCMP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: Unknown: 32043048606C
IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101060003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F 00
IE: Unknown: DD1E00904C334E101BFFFF0000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000
IE: Unknown: 2D1A4E101BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000 000000
IE: Unknown: DD1A00904C34010D0800000000000000000000000000000000 000000
IE: Unknown: 3D16010D0800000000000000000000000000000000000000
IE: Unknown: DD0900037F01010000FF7F
IE: Unknown: DD0A00037F04010004000000

vboxnet0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

The first three domains do not support scanning so they are obviously not wifi connections. The wlan0 connection is what the iwlist command found to be the name of my wifi connection. It shows that there is only one wireless operating within about 300 feet of my home.... mine.

Report back your wifi chip make and model and the results of the ifconfig and iwlist scanning commands.

[perspectoff]

Re: problems with WEP connection

My WEP with a passphrase never works.

However, my WEP with a hex key always does.

Some of my Windows connections have the same limitation. For connections that accept the passphrase, I use it. For those that don't, I use the hex equivalent.

There are (online) utilities that will tell you what the hex equivalent of your passpharase is.

I used one of those and then just used the resulting hex key for all my connections.

Eventually I just went to hex keys for all connections and just didn't use the passphrase for any of them.

Saved me a lot of head scratching.

(BTW, I have never switched completely to Linux because Netflix refuses to release a DRM module that permits streaming to a Linux OS (firmware embedded DRM in Linux players like Roku being the exception). Apparently 30% of Internet traffic in the US these days is due to Netflix.

Also, there are a handful of applications that are available only in Windows that doesn't work well in Wine, and for which I just haven't found an equivalent in Linux. Of course, the reverse is true, too. There are lots of programs in Linux for which there are no good replacements in Windows (at least not unless one wants to cough up oodles of money).

So I keep Windows on several computers for that reason. Also, I never remove Windows from a retail computer that comes with an OEM version. (Hard drives are big enough these days that there's no real reason to.)

[GreyGeek]

Re: problems with WEP connection

My WEP with a passphrase never works.

However, my WEP with a hex key always does.

Some of my Windows connections have the same limitation. For connections that accept the passphrase, I use it. For those that don't, I use the hex equivalent.

There are (online) utilities that will tell you what the hex equivalent of your passpharase is.

I used one of those and then just used the resulting hex key for all my connections.

Eventually I just went to hex keys for all connections and just didn't use the passphrase for any of them.

Saved me a lot of head scratching.

I used to set up that way. It is a function of how you configure your wifi, not your OS. If you set your wifi configuration to use the HEX of the passphrase you have to enter your passphrase in the dialog presented by the Wifi configuration window running in your browser. Then click the button marked "Generate HEX key", or something similar, with the option of key length being 1, 2, 3, or 4 HEX keys. I always chose 1 because I am lazy. Later I got even more lazy and just turned off the HEX key requirement and just used the passphrase itself.

(BTW, I have never switched completely to Linux because Netflix refuses to release a DRM module that permits streaming to a Linux OS (firmware embedded DRM in Linux players like Roku being the exception). Apparently 30% of Internet traffic in the US these days is due to Netflix.

Ya. Probably paid by MS to do that.

I use Amazon Instant Videos. As an Amazon Prime member I have free viewing of over 5,000 recent movies and the greatest classics. For a price ranging from 0.99 to $3.99 I can watch a recent release. Two nights ago my wife and I snuggled up in bed with this widescreen Sony VAIO laptop and I streamed "The King's Speech".

Also, there are a handful of applications that are available only in Windows that doesn't work well in Wine, and for which I just haven't found an equivalent in Linux. Of course, the reverse is true, too. There are lots of programs in Linux for which there are no good replacements in Windows (at least not unless one wants to cough up oodles of money).

So I keep Windows on several computers for that reason. Also, I never remove Windows from a retail computer that comes with an OEM version. (Hard drives are big enough these days that there's no real reason to.)

All true. I run my legal copy of XP as a guest OS in Virtual Box, even though I only open it about once a month for security updates and to backup my iPad Touch.

[lindaonline15]

Re: problems with WEP connection

ok Grey, I did what you asked me to do, except for natty documentation since I need to be connected to dowload wicd and will do that tomorrow.

for the rest of your instructions, here are all the results:

it can identify my wireless network adapter, I got its info using lspci:
02:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

then for ifconfig:

linda@linda-VAIO:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 54:42:49:f6:c0:80
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)
Interrupt:18

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:19013 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:19013 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:552377 (552.3 KB) TX bytes:552377 (552.3 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 4c:0f:6e:e6:a9:d5
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 scanning gave me these results which ofcourse my wireless didnt show what I wanted:

linda@linda-VAIO:~$ iwlist scanning
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 No scan results

so what are my next steps ?

[GreyGeek]

Re: problems with WEP connection

Ah, your atheros chip is detected and the wlan0 device created. It's just not active. It requires the ath9k module, which I assume is loaded, and which gives the following information:

$ modinfo ath9k
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.35-25-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ath9k.ko
license: Dual BSD/GPL
description: Support for Atheros 802.11n wireless LAN cards.
author: Atheros Communications
srcversion: 30BA823139AB475E4E4C260
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Esv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Dsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Asv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000029sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000027sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000024sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000023sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: ath9k_hw,mac80211,led-class,ath,cfg80211,ath9k_common
vermagic: 2.6.35-25-generic SMP mod_unload modversions
parm: debugebugging mask (uint)
parm: nohwcryptisable hardware encryption (int)

Using lspci in a console should give you a listing which has an identical vendor number (v0000168C) and a product number which is one of the d*******sv values above. If not, then your Atheros card may not work.

Regardless, a possible solution is here:
http://www.jlacroix.me/?p=1999

Even with Kubuntu being as great as it is, I have a few complaints. The first is the wireless speed. With my Atheros card, it’s so slow it can take up to five minutes for a page to load, if it loads at all. However, this is not a Kubuntu problem, it’s a bug with the 2.6.38 Linux kernel and has already been reported, and is being worked on. It’s easily fixed by adding “options ath9k nohwcrypt=1″ to the /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf file (that file didn’t already exist on my system, so I had to create it [as root]) and then after a reboot, it was fine.

What to do?
First, make sure that your PC has a mechanical wireless on/off button it is on. Some have keyboard on/off buttons, not mechanical ones, like mine.

Second, as root create the /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf file and put
options ath9k nohwcrypt=1 (no spaces around the "=")
You can do that by opening a konsole and issuing
kdesudo kwrite /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf
adding the line, and saving the file. Then close kwrite. (If you don't have kwrite installed use kate).

Reboot. (could stop and restart network services but reboot makes sure it will work, if it does work, when ever your PC is booted).

Try KNetworkManager and see if you can connect to your wireless. If you can't then in a konsole do
sudo dhclient wlan0
followed by
iwlist scanning
and see if you get your wireless essid point listed under wlan0. If you do then retry KNetworkManager.
IF you don't we'll have to figure something else out.

[lindaonline15]

Re: problems with WEP connection

alright, followed your instructions, these are results for the modinfo:

linda@linda-VAIO:~$ modinfo ath9k
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.38-8-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/ath/ath9k/ath9k.ko
license: Dual BSD/GPL
description: Support for Atheros 802.11n wireless LAN cards.
author: Atheros Communications
srcversion: 01818FC37C72588C93B13E4
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000032sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000030sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Esv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Dsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd0000002Asv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000029sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000027sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000024sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v0000168Cd00000023sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends: ath9k_hw,mac80211,cfg80211,ath9k_common,ath
vermagic: 2.6.38-8-generic SMP mod_unload modversions
parm: debugebugging mask (uint)
parm: nohwcryptisable hardware encryption (int)
parm: blink:Enable LED blink on activity (int)
parm: btcoex_enable:Enable wifi-BT coexistence (int)

and then, turned the wireless mechanical key off, tried both kwrite and kate and unfortunately faced this problem:

root@linda-VAIO:/home/linda# kdesudo kwrite /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf
No protocol specified
kdesudo: cannot connect to X server :0
root@linda-VAIO:/home/linda# options ath9k nohwcrypt=1
options: command not found
root@linda-VAIO:/home/linda# kdesudo kate /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf
No protocol specified
kdesudo: cannot connect to X server :0

why could not connect to X server?

[GreyGeek]

Re: problems with WEP connection

I probably forgot to include a parameter (like "-c" or something... I keep forgetting). So ...

Open a konsole and issue
kdesudo kate

That should come up because kate is installed by default. Then, using "File --> New"

In the new file enter
options ath9k nohwcrypt=1

and then use "File --> Save As" to save it as /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf
(there are no spaces in that path and name)

Then reboot.

Or, you can use in a Konsole
kdesudo kate /etc/modprobe.d/options.conf
and put
options ath9k nohwcrypt=1
in it and save it.
Then reboot.

[Snowhog]

Re: problems with WEP connection

root@linda-VAIO:/home/linda# kdesudo kate /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf
No protocol specified
kdesudo: cannot connect to X server :0

why could not connect to X server?

The problem is you 'became root' by issuing the command: sudo su (I can tell from the displayed prompt above, as it shows /home/linda# [that happens when, after opening a console, you type sudo su]. That command switches to the root user, but keeps the non-root user's environment - not a good thing to do!) Given this, there is a good chance some of the files in your user /home directory have become owned by root - not a good thing. To ensure this is not the case, close any consoles you might have open, then open a console and type:

sudo chown -R linda:linda /home/linda

Type the command above exactly (or just copy and then paste it). This will change the ownership:group of any files/directories in /home/linda to linda:linda (if any are not so owned/belong to linda:linda).

With the above done, and if you are still in the console, now type:

kdesudo kate /etc/modprobe.d/ath9k.conf

You should be prompted for your password, and then Kate will open with a blank document (named ath9k.conf) ready for you to type in the line provided. Type that line in and press Enter so there is an end-of-line marker set. Then Save and Close Kate.

[GreyGeek]

Re: problems with WEP connection

Good catch, Snowhog. I should have noticed that...

[Snowhog]

Re: problems with WEP connection

It isn't that my eyesight is any better (or worse) than yours. Rather, it's that I have that large magnifying glass (what Sherlock Tux wouldn't be without one!) with me at all times.

Often, we are focused on the problem, and overlook the details that makeup/contribute(d) to it. As my avatar quotes:

"It is a capital mistake to theorize in advance of the facts." -- Sherlock Holmes