Wlan

[Sticks]

I have a Dell Inspiron 1501. The problem I am having is that when I try and type in a wireless ssid connect to the wireless network and when it trys and connects it says disconnect. I know I have the right web key cuz I tried it on my home router.

P.S. Is there a program like in windows that you can view wireless networks without having to type in the ssid and wep key.

[ValHolla]

if you are running a Dell are you sure your wireless is "active"? which wireless does the 1501 use?

generally (despite valiant efforts) wireless does not work out of the box most flavors of Linux.
They are getting much closer and there are a plethora of tutorials on how to set it up.

you can find out by opening a terminal and and run lspci that will list all the PCI devices you have on the system. figure out which wireless card you have and search these forums for how to enable it.

to search for wireless networks:
from a terminal window you can run iwlist scan {device} ex:$ iwlist scan wlan0 to see all the wireless networks broadcasting their SSID.
if you are using network manager, that will be able to see the networks much like windows

[Sticks]

ok here is my wireless card.

05:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI (rev 01)

[wraithe]

Are you using network manager..??
This should show you any available networks...

[ValHolla]

Have a look at THIS (http://www.fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=198621&highlight=broadcom) Thread. it deals with troubleshooting/setup of Dell 1525 broadcom wireless :cool: *should be close enough to get it working, sub your drivers accordingly.

a link to instruction: Here (http://www.fedoraguide.info/index.php?title=Main_Page#Broadcom_b43_.28Method_2 .29)

NOTE: this page contains several very good "how-to"s

[Sticks]

Are you using network manager..??
This should show you any available networks...
Well thats the problem I don't see the network manager and when I tried to install it I must have done something wrong.

[wraithe]

If you right click on the panel bar and click "add to panel"
when that opens, scroll down to "network manager" and click on that...
It will place the icon on the panel bar, if you left click on it, it will show available networks...
or if there not active then it will show what network device is...
if you have an inactive device, then right click on the icon and see if they are ticked to be active...
you can also go down to "edit connections" and ensure they are set right...
That should simplify things for you...

[Sticks]

If you right click on the panel bar and click "add to panel"
when that opens, scroll down to "network manager" and click on that...
It will place the icon on the panel bar, if you left click on it, it will show available networks...
or if there not active then it will show what network device is...
if you have an inactive device, then right click on the icon and see if they are ticked to be active...
you can also go down to "edit connections" and ensure they are set right...
That should simplify things for you...


Well what if I don't see that in the list?

[Sticks]

I looked in yum search for Network Manager but there was alot of them but I going to see if I can find the network manager package that I need.

[wraithe]

The link provided by Valholla, to the fedora guide, would be about the best place to start...
http://www.fedoraguide.info/index.php?title=Main_Page#Broadcom_b43_.28Method_2 .29

When it comes to some drivers, you have to use an alternate, thats just the way some firmware works...
It may pay for you to either try using yum in a terminal..
Type
yum install NetworkManager-gnome

or use Valholla'a directions

[Sticks]

This is what I get but how come I can't add it to the panel?

[root@localhost ~]# yum install NetworkManager-gnome
Loaded plugins: dellsysidplugin, fedorakmod, refresh-packagekit
livna | 2.1 kB 00:00
fedora | 2.4 kB 00:00
adobe-linux-i386 | 951 B 00:00
ftp://ftp.uci.edu/mirrors/fedora/linux/updates/9/i386.newkey/repodata/repomd.xml: [Errno 4] IOError: [Errno ftp error] timed out
Trying other mirror.
updates-newkey | 2.3 kB 00:00
Not using downloaded repomd.xml because it is older than what we have:
Current : Mon Sep 15 08:25:48 2008
Downloaded: Sat Sep 13 01:02:42 2008
updates | 2.6 kB 00:00
Setting up Install Process
Parsing package install arguments
Package 1:NetworkManager-gnome-0.7.0-0.9.4.svn3675.fc9.i386 already installed and latest version
Nothing to do
[root@localhost ~]#

[Sticks]

See this is what I get when I try and add it.

http://memoria.lsdhosting.com/~sticks/screenshot.png

[wraithe]

Have you done what Valholla suggested above...
That should give you a reliable wireless to start with..

if yum says networkmanager-gnome is installed then networkmanager itself should be...
But if you go thru what has been suggested by valholla, then it should set the wireless up correctly as well, and in there it shows the terminal commands and setup for networkmanager as well...