[solved] built madwifi, can see wireless network but can't use it (ath)

[dochawk]

[note: this is for a different laptop than my other questions; this is a Compaq F767NR which uses atheros. ath_hal .10.5.6 works with absolutely no troubles on this machine under FreeBSD]

I've hunted down the source for madwifi (it wasn't in any of the places I found on instruction pages) and made and installed it.

I've added "ath_pci wlan_scan_sta" to /etc/modules, and they load:

root@redtail:~# lsmod | grep -e ath -e wlan
wlan_scan_sta     21376 1 
ath_rate_sample    21248 1 
ath_pci       216632 0 
wlan         240752 4 wlan_scan_sta,ath_rate_sample,ath_pci
ath_hal       312288 3 ath_rate_sample,ath_pci

I can see the network:

root@redtail:~# nm-tool 

NetworkManager Tool

State: disconnected

- Device: eth0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
...

- Device: ath0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
 Type:       802.11 WiFi
 Driver:      ath_pci
 State:      disconnected
 Default:     no
 HW Address:    00:1F:3A:B8:BF:B0

 Capabilities:
  Supported:   yes

 Wireless Settings
  WEP Encryption: yes
  WPA Encryption: yes
  WPA2 Encryption: yes

 Wireless Access Points
  V1500:     Ad-Hoc, 02:E2:16:E5:0C:59, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 11 Mb/s, Strength 15
  aerie:     Infra, 00:13:46:A8:40:A8, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 74

I've tried both using knetworkmanager, which sees my network and another, and replacing /etc/network/interfaces to read:

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto ath0
iface ath0 inet static
    address 192.168.0.20
    netmask 255.255.255.0
    network 192.168.0.0
    broadcast 192.168.0.255
    gateway 192.168.0.1
    # dns-* options are implemented by the resolvconf package, if installed
    dns-nameservers 192.168.0.1
    dns-search aerie

Neither actually gets me a connection to the aerie wireless network, but it happily reports on the signal strength for aerie and that other network.

It works without a hitch under FreeBSD (although I have to download the .10.5.6 source and recompile the kernel).

hawk
I'm at a loss. Any suggestions?

[Detonate]

Re: built madwifi, can see wireless network but can't use it (ath)

Does your network use encryption?

[rthuey]

Re: built madwifi, can see wireless network but can't use it (ath)

trying to work this out myself
different hardware then you

so with your  current setup you can not even see wireless through the icon in the lower right correct?

try commenting out all this

# The primary network interface
auto ath0
iface ath0 inet static
        address 192.168.0.20
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        network 192.168.0.0
        broadcast 192.168.0.255
        gateway 192.168.0.1
        # dns-* options are implemented by the resolvconf package, if installed
        dns-nameservers 192.168.0.1
        dns-search aerie

and after the restart you should be able to see and connect to the wireless from the icon in the lower right

seems to be sticking with a mention of static on the interface page

[dochawk]

Re: built madwifi, can see wireless network but can't use it (ath)

1. No encryption yet; I haven't gotten that far.

2. I assume that you mean the knetworkmanager earth icon as the one at the lower right? Both that and the K menu have migrated as I had to add the K back when it vanished and the networkmanager kind of vanished and had to be restarted.

Anyway, starting from that was the very first thing I tried. It offers the network, allows me to configure either statically or by dhcp, and then doesn't connect.


Also, I've found that when I describe it statically in the interface file, I *can* ping to the router (192.168.0.1), but can't lookup internet addresses.

thanks

hawk

[rthuey]

Re: built madwifi, can see wireless network but can't use it (ath)

yes the knetworkmanager icon

when working properly if you right click it. you get a list of all wireless in the area.

right now on mine that icon is a rectangular white box looking at an angle. and if i right click i see 5 lines

knetworkmanager
manual configuration
options
help
quit

and i have items other than

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

in my interface file

stuff like what i mentioned to comment out of yours

[rthuey]

Re: built madwifi, can see wireless network but can't use it (ath)

i just redid my interface file to only have

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

now the knetworkmanager in sys tray looks like a large square with that previous rectangular icon subset into the lower right of the square, on the lower left of same square is a red x, because i have not chose a network to connect to.

if i right click now i get a much huger box that has the same 5 items from below in addition to

Wired Networks
Wireless Networks

are now options and the 20 something networks floating through my body presently are available under wireless

[dochawk]

Re: built madwifi, can see wireless network but can't use it (ath)

I've been through that manager countless times. It sees and offers to configure, claims to do so, and just doesn't. It continues to report on network strength.

The wireless adapter definitely works with ath_hal .10.5.6; I'm using that under FreeBSD with the same network to type this.

hawk, still baffled

[dochawk]

[solved] built madwifi, can see wireless network but can't use it (ath)

This was bizarre, but I've found a way to get it working.

It seems to have been a problem with resolv.conf. Even though it contained the correct value (the ip of my router), it wasn't being used. I could reach the outside world by ip address, but not name.

I deleted the file, and then fought with my router to set a static ip for this machine, finally winning.

Do I have this marked properly as solved?

hawk