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**arochester** · Feb 20, 2008, 09:03 AM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

On my laptop I have found the app "wifi-radar" very good. It lets you see various wireless signals which are available in the area and which you can fasten on to - which are locked and which are open.

**Linuxgirl** · Feb 20, 2008, 10:24 AM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

OK, I'll try that.

Thank you

**monte48lowes** · Feb 20, 2008, 02:01 PM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

Has the SSID on the router changed since the reboot?

Mike

**Linuxgirl** · Feb 22, 2008, 08:52 AM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

Well, I tried the wifi-radar and checked the SSID.The first didn't work, the second hasn't changed. The system recognizes my network but won't let me connect.

Any ideas

??

Thanks for replying guys

**monte48lowes** · Feb 22, 2008, 01:46 PM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

I have experienced some problems with wireless (both in windows and kubuntu) that were related to the type of wireless encryption. Make sure that which ever you are using on the router matches what you are using with knetworkmanager (or which ever utility you are using now). I temporarily drop the password on the router to see if the problem still exists. Additionally check with channel the router is using.

Mike

**Linuxgirl** · Feb 23, 2008, 11:28 AM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

Well, I did what I do best-played around and messed up everything.
The situation now is:

ana@Happy:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 unassociated ESSID

ff/any
Mode:Managed Frequency=nan kHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power:16 dBm
Retry limit:15 RTS thr

ff Fragment thr

ff
Power Management

ff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

So, naturally:

ana@Happy:~$ iwlist eth1 scan
eth1 No scan results

In case it makes sense to anyone:

ana@Happy:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Contoller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 5 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
02:04.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b6)
02:04.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 02)
10:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
18:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5787M Gigabit Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)

I'm thinking about reinstalling the entire system since it worked fine out of the box...if there is anything on a smaller scale that can be done to fix my wifi please let me know.

Thanks

**arochester** · Feb 23, 2008, 01:12 PM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

Have a look at "WifiDocs/WiFiHowTo" on https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WiFiHowTo

Your wireless card shows up:
10:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)

There may be a clue in the bit that says:

"If all devices listed say "no wireless extensions." then your wireless card is not configured. You need to go back and get it setup. Please see the top of this document and also WifiDocs/Driver/Ndiswrapper for more information. Alternativly, the device may be disabled - you could try

sudo ifconfig wlan0 up

Then try iwconfig again to see if the device is now recognised.

Based on the iwconfig output from above, we know that "wlan0" is our WiFi card's linux device name. Knowing this you'll be able to use the Networking GUI tool to connect to your wireless router. (You may also see ath0 or even eth1 come up as your device name. Don't worry, that's totally fine, it just depends on the type of card you have and the drivers that are accessing it.) "

... so this suggests that you could try instead

sudo ifconfig eth1 up

...and then try iwconfig again

**pkiula** · Feb 23, 2008, 06:30 PM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

I am trying this for such a long time but this is not working (so much for Kubuntu being homeuse-ready) - https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/WiFiHowTo

The utility called "network-admin" is nowhere to be found. The "gnome-system-tools" thing is not on the Kubuntu CD anyway.

When I do

iwlist eth1 scan

it lists my wireless network (which two Win
XP laptops have recognized without any problem and setup automatically).

Cell 01: Address.
ESSID: "MyWireless"
Mode: Master
Frequency:..

The link above says that when I do "lspci", I should see something called "Network controller". But I don't have anything like that. I have

Host bridge
PCI bridge
USB controller
PCI bridge
ISA bridge
IDE interface
Multimedia audio controller
Modem: Intel Corporation
VGA Compatible controller: nVidia
Eternet controller: 3Com
Cardbus Bridge
Cardbus Bridge
Firewire
Cardbus Bridge

So what should I do now? The geeky guide above says that if the wireless doesn't work out of the box, then try https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...er/Ndiswrapper

Well, so I installed ndiswrapper from the Kubuntu CD. But ndiswrapper doesn't work. Do I need to SEPARATELY download the "common", "utils", etc from different computer and then install it on this computer? If so, why is something so obvious and commonly required not included on the kubuntu CD itself

Also guides like these keep talking about "System --> Administration" menu. I am on Kubuntu. There is NO such menu. Is there a guide for people who are using Kubuntu and reflective of the Kubuntu interface? It's very confusing and annoying to have to use a guide for a different GUI.

Seriously, is there a simpler human way of getting my wireless to work on this supposedly modern OS?

Thank you for any tips.

**monte48lowes** · Feb 23, 2008, 08:59 PM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

What is the actual output of 'lspci'? This will help in determining which method is best.

michael@racing-nu:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Contoller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
05:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation NetLink BCM5906M Fast Ethernet PCI Express (rev 02)
06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5006EG 802.11 b/g Wireless PCI Express Adapter (rev 01)

Here is mine. Note that my wireless card 'Atheros Communications' is not listed as a Network Controller, but as an Ethernet controller.

Network-Manager is the default network controller. KDE uses knetworkmanager to control Network-Manager. If the wireless card is setup correctly right clicking on the knetworkmanager icon in the system tray will open a window that will show the available wireless networks and allow a connection to one of them.

Configuring administration items in KDE can be accomplished by using kcontrol. Similar to the 'Control Panel' on windows.

Alt-F2 > kcontrol > enter

I find the search box at the top rather useful for finding things.

Finally, I understand your frustration with getting things to work; however, your post didn't provide information that would have been helpful. Please be kind to those of us who are trying to help by providing our time.

Mike

**Pajoe** · Feb 24, 2008, 05:03 AM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

I am not a linux guru but found that when we were having problems with my wife's Dell 1420N wireless the majority of the problems were caused by things that we did. We were not sure what the problems were, hardware, or software. it was ironic because we could use our neighbors wireless network but not our own.

The way we got out of the mess was to first use a live cd. After booting a live cd, we did not try to connect to the wireless network but rather created a new user, logged out and back in as the new user. As a new user all we had to do was click on the signal strength graph and enter the information as it needed it. Once we knew it worked OK from the live cd, then we knew the problem was things that we changed and needed to get back to where it was from the first installation. In our case it was easy because it was a new computer with a fresh install, so we just reinstalled everything.

In the end I think the most important thing for our setup was to make sure kwallet had the passwords for the network. Now whenever my wife boots up and logs on the first thing that comes up is KDE Wallet asking for the password so knetwork manager can do it's thing - once she types that in, a few minutes later all is well.

We did eventually install a few additonal packages to use WPA rather than WEP encryption. The key thing was not to mess around too much, let the program do it's thing because once you start changing too many things manually you can accidently shut down the auto-magical features.

There is a good guide at:

http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...98244#msg98244

I want to quote the most helpful part for us:

*** begin quote****

Notes:

Many of the problems occur because people do not realize that the way to connect is by clicking a bar-graph network line when first opening the Networkmanager icon. Clicking the signal graph display is a non-intuitive way of adding a password.. They try other options in the drop down preferences list to try to connect and/or add WPA passwords etc. -- sometimes by turning off roaming, and adding entries manually. Then they try to save this new configuration for loading when Ubuntu starts up. The effect of this change is to alter the etc/network/interfaces file so that auto-scanning of networks is now disabled. The program now tries to open only the connection they specified manually -- no other networks are visible, and often the one they specified was incorrectly set up or they have moved their location and it is no longer available. Restoring the interfaces file as above removes the saved manual entry, and auto scanning is restored.

People also often assume that because they see their preferred network in the drop down list, but aren't yet connected, that they have problems with their wifi network card drivers. So they attempt to add ndiswrapper drivers, etc.This can make things worse.

Most of these user problems are NOT due to driver problems, but a simple misunderstanding of how to use the program to connect to a wireless netwok.

*** end quote****

**Linuxgirl** · Feb 25, 2008, 05:40 AM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

Hi again,

I tried to solve my issue with Live CD. I did get to the graphs but after I typed my password...nothing happenned, the Knetworkmanager notified me that it can't connect to my home network. I can't get into /etc/network/interfaces via CLI ( it says permission denied, if I type sudo /etc/.... it says sudo: command not found (that actually happens with a lot of commands), so when I physically looked into root folder and found the interfaces file, the out put was like this:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
address 127.0.0.1
netmask 255.0.0.0

auto eth1
iface eth1 inet dhcp

So I guess that's OK, right?

Is there a way to change Kubuntu back to default settings ( besides reinstalling it) - you know, like the option that the mobile phones have...?

**Guest** · Feb 25, 2008, 06:13 AM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

i don't know the extent of the problem ur facing - but i can help u get the list of network connections back.

use this command:

kdesu kate /etc/network/interfaces

then, u should see this:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
address 127.0.0.1
netmask 255.0.0.0

there will be some text below, about ur connection SSID name etc. Comment out all those text - later on, u can delete it safely if u want.

after this, when u right-click on knetworkmanager - u should see all the available wireless networks.

If, now u don't see any networks - maybe u had some problems when installing ndiswrapper. So, if u don't mind re-installing.. (its fast.. =p) do check out this guide on setting up wireless:

http://www.micahcarrick.com/11-04-20...l-notes.html#4

the only thing u may need to change is - the driver. he (and me) are using that bcm43xx type of wifi card, so we get our driver with this command:

wget http://ftp.us.dell.com/network/R151517.EXE

You may need to change this address, to suit ur driver.

yeah... hope that helped a bit. i'm new as well, and it took me a long time to set up my wireless.. =) btw, use "kdesu", not sudo... i think.. ^_^

**Pajoe** · Feb 26, 2008, 07:28 PM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

When we used the live cd we had to create a new user before it would work. After we logged out and logged back in as that newly created user everything worked. I don't remember what the problems were, but we were unable to connect until we logged in as a new user - I was ready to give up thinking it will never work but then tried creating a new user and it worked.

This was the only way it would work: Boot up live gutsy cd, create a newuser, selected shutdown then log out, when it returned to kdm log in screen log in as the new user.

**Linuxgirl** · Feb 27, 2008, 05:31 AM

Re: Wireless breakdown--don't know where to start

Well, as usually I forgot the important ( creating a new user ) part.

Thanks for reminding me!!!