Greets! I'm not looking for help; just wanted to share my experience over the last couple of days trying to get the iwl4965 Intel driver working with my laptop - which, in the end, didn't happen. I didn't want to use my PCMCIA WAG511v2 for regular Internet use, but since there seems to be a hardware compatibility issue with this laptop and the 4965 driver and/or firmware, that's what I'm doing for now. Here's the tale.
Current Specs:
OS - 7.10
Kernel - 2.6.22-14-generic x86_64
Wireless - WAG511v2 (Atheros), WPA-PSK, madwifi-tools, wpasupplicant
Network Manager - Wicd
Issues with Intel 4965:
- LED on 8510w does not function (note, it's a touch-sensitive switch which enables/disables wireless)
- Persistent "kill switch" error in dmesg, with stock 7.10 iwl4965/mac80211, and the newest from intellinuxwireless.org. Applicable entries in dmesg looked like this:
Although I've seen many folks using this wireless card, I haven't noticed any specifically using the same model laptop as mine. So, I followed advice in several threads trying to get this working;
First thread I found: Howto: Ubuntu on HP dv9000 series laptop
- I had high hopes since its obviously also an HP laptop. Although there is some great information in the guide, the only way it helped me was providing a link to my next resource.
Second and subsequent threads: guide for using iwl4965 for intel 4965 agn WIFI card
- Extremely helpful thread. Most people running the 4965 card got theirs working with the information in this thread. I used the instructions to update to the latest subsystem, driver, and firmware, found here, since a user reported the LED was supposedly fixed in this thread. He followed up by saying it didn't work for him, but I'm stubborn and have to learn everything the hard way. He also linked a blog post that I had high hopes for, but which didn't work either.
I'll mention now that I had reinstalled Kubuntu 3x by this point, out of concern for my tweaking buggering things up so bad that even if I did find the fix, it wouldn't work right.
So, on the third go, I took Apt up on the version upgrade, thinking maybe Hardy, with a newer default kernel, would make a difference - nope. I went through various adaptations of the previously-mentioned advice, even though the Intel site specifically says the latest gear isn't intended for kernels > 2.6.23.
Now I'm fed up; so I reinstall 7.10 again, and pull out my trusty wireless pen-testing card: Netgear WAG511v2, with the Atheros chipset. I had this card working in Feisty last year, so didn't expect too much trouble.
It was very easy to get up and running. I installed madwifi-tools, wpasupplicant, and wicd from Apt; followed the instructions here to add a systray icon for Wicd, and voila!
I have to be honest though, and mention that, prior to remembering that I installed Wicd, I began configuring my wireless connection manually, i.e.;
Get interface information.
Set the channel the target router is running on (usually 6 or 11).
Find the AP/network; output is truncated, showing only the one I was looking for.
Set the essid.
Set the AP's mac.
At this point, I realized I forgot the supplicant, and at the same time, remembered I had installed and configured Wicd. So, I grabbed the supplicant, opened Wicd, hit preferences and added 'ath0' as the wireless iface, hit refresh, and found all the networks near my house. I configured the PSK for my STFO wlan, and started this post.
Note: The point of explaining that I was configuring the wlan connection manually is that I don't know if any of those commands had anything to do with Wicd seeing the iface, YMMV. Also, the two missing commands from my manual setup were (...key <hex wep key>) and 'dhclient' to get an IP. So, if you use WEP, that should have your ath0 connection sorted out.
I hope this thread helps someone. I'll check back with the Intel crew later to try and get the 4965 working, but in the meantime, I'll have to avoid hitting the end of pcmcia card on anything 8)
Current Specs:
OS - 7.10
Kernel - 2.6.22-14-generic x86_64
Wireless - WAG511v2 (Atheros), WPA-PSK, madwifi-tools, wpasupplicant
Network Manager - Wicd
Issues with Intel 4965:
- LED on 8510w does not function (note, it's a touch-sensitive switch which enables/disables wireless)
- Persistent "kill switch" error in dmesg, with stock 7.10 iwl4965/mac80211, and the newest from intellinuxwireless.org. Applicable entries in dmesg looked like this:
Code:
iwl4965: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN driver for Linux, 1.2.25 iwl4965: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN iwl4965: Radio disabled by HW RF Kill switch
First thread I found: Howto: Ubuntu on HP dv9000 series laptop
- I had high hopes since its obviously also an HP laptop. Although there is some great information in the guide, the only way it helped me was providing a link to my next resource.
Second and subsequent threads: guide for using iwl4965 for intel 4965 agn WIFI card
- Extremely helpful thread. Most people running the 4965 card got theirs working with the information in this thread. I used the instructions to update to the latest subsystem, driver, and firmware, found here, since a user reported the LED was supposedly fixed in this thread. He followed up by saying it didn't work for him, but I'm stubborn and have to learn everything the hard way. He also linked a blog post that I had high hopes for, but which didn't work either.
I'll mention now that I had reinstalled Kubuntu 3x by this point, out of concern for my tweaking buggering things up so bad that even if I did find the fix, it wouldn't work right.
So, on the third go, I took Apt up on the version upgrade, thinking maybe Hardy, with a newer default kernel, would make a difference - nope. I went through various adaptations of the previously-mentioned advice, even though the Intel site specifically says the latest gear isn't intended for kernels > 2.6.23.
Now I'm fed up; so I reinstall 7.10 again, and pull out my trusty wireless pen-testing card: Netgear WAG511v2, with the Atheros chipset. I had this card working in Feisty last year, so didn't expect too much trouble.
It was very easy to get up and running. I installed madwifi-tools, wpasupplicant, and wicd from Apt; followed the instructions here to add a systray icon for Wicd, and voila!
I have to be honest though, and mention that, prior to remembering that I installed Wicd, I began configuring my wireless connection manually, i.e.;
Get interface information.
Code:
slackero@gunslinger:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
wifi0 no wireless extensions.
ath0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"STFO" Nickname:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:18:F8:5F:D9:A8
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power:16 dBm Sensitivity=1/1
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=35/70 Signal level=-58 dBm Noise level=-93 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:93099 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
Code:
slackero@gunslinger:~$ sudo iwconfig ath0 channel 11
Code:
slackero@gunslinger:~$ iwlist scan
Cell 02 - Address: 00:18:F8:5F:D9:A8
ESSID:"STFO"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=34/70 Signal level=-61 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : WEP-40
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : WEP-40
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Code:
slackero@gunslinger:~$ sudo iwconfig ath0 essid STFO
Code:
slackero@gunslinger:~$ sudo iwconfig ath0 ap 00:18:F8:5F:D9:A8
Note: The point of explaining that I was configuring the wlan connection manually is that I don't know if any of those commands had anything to do with Wicd seeing the iface, YMMV. Also, the two missing commands from my manual setup were (...key <hex wep key>) and 'dhclient' to get an IP. So, if you use WEP, that should have your ath0 connection sorted out.
I hope this thread helps someone. I'll check back with the Intel crew later to try and get the 4965 working, but in the meantime, I'll have to avoid hitting the end of pcmcia card on anything 8)
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