Totally confused by network mangager/fedora 8 (newb)

[benjumanji]

I can see that there has already been a slew of threads on this already, I have tried decrypting what is going on, but I only jumped on the Linux bandwagon yesterday and I feel rather overwhelmed.

The problem:

I used the Live-CD to install FC8 the other night, everything worked peachy, i then let pup do it's thing and now the wireless is broken. I probably shoudl have known better than to install all those updates without checking if there was any problems with them. I am using a Belkin F5D7000.

Things I have tried:

Rebooting from the older kernel, but this failed to alleviate the problem.

What really confuses me is this:

If I click on the network manger panel icon I can see all the wireless networks etc. But If I go System>>Administration>>Network Configuration It tells me that the device is inactive? If I try and activate it i get:

Determining IP information for wlan0... failed.

If I try and connect to a wireless network, network manager starts to do its thing, then just disappears never to return, although Linux assures me that it is still running I have no idea how to interact with it

here is the info from lspci (i don't know if this is helpful but everyone seems to ask for it)

00:00.0 Host bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 761/M761 Host (rev 02)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SG86C202
00:02.0 ISA bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] SiS965 [MuTIOL Media IO] (rev 48)
00:02.5 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 5513 [IDE] (rev 01)
00:02.7 Multimedia audio controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] AC'97 Sound Controller (rev a0)
00:03.0 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.1 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.2 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 1.0 Controller (rev 0f)
00:03.3 USB Controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] USB 2.0 Controller
00:04.0 Ethernet controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 190 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
00:06.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] PCI-to-PCI bridge
00:07.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] PCI-to-PCI bridge
00:08.0 IDE interface: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] Unknown device 0183 (rev 01)
00:09.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
00:1f.0 PCI bridge: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] PCI-to-PCI bridge
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: Silicon Integrated Systems [SiS] 661/741/760 PCI/AGP or 662/761Gx PCIE VGA Display Adapter (rev 03)

If I do iwlist wlan0 scan it finds the router.. It uses WPA I. Should I try wpa_supplicant?

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[stevea]

NetworkManager(NM) and "System>>Administration>>Network Configuration" re two entirely separate ways ofd configuring an interface. You can't use the System>>... tool if you use Network Manager.

NM configures the supplicant for you.

Just left click on the NM panel icon, and select "Connect to Other Network" then enter the details and the WPA key. After that, when you select the router on the pulldown it should connect and setup the supplicant and all that junk.

best wishes,
-S

[benjumanji]

Thanks for your reply. This is the thing: NM doesn't work. I select a my wireless network, supply the key, the two computers turn into two green dots, they light up and the blue swirl thing swirls around, then they dissapear and the internet doesn't work. I am at a total loss.

[bbfuller]

Hello benjumanji

I have two Belkin F5D7000 cards to play with here, one uses the rt61 driver and the other the rt2500 and I know that they both connect to my WPA encrypted network.

NetworkManager has moved on a lot since the original on the fedora installation media. Have you, or can you, manages to get a wired connection and get your machine up to date to give you the best chance of getting connected.

[benjumanji]

Thanks for the reply.

I'm probably not explaining myself very well.. the wireless worked out of the box, I then downloaded all the updates for the packages on the live cd that were suggested and the wireless/NetworkManager ceased to function (in the way described in my previous post). I have just gone out and purchased a length of cable for said linux box and am using it to post this message. Does anyone have any clues as to how I can fix this/find out what exactly the problem is?

[MrHappy]

Hi benjumanji

From your original post.

00:09.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2561/RT61 802.11g PCI

This means you need the rt61pci driver to make your wireless work.

Using your wired connection update to the latest kernel "2.6.24.3-50.fc8" ensure you have NetworkManager enabled and things should start working.

Also worth reading is http://fedoramobile.org/wireless which has general help for wireless devices in Fedora.

MrHappy

[nyjetshead]

Does it work without encryption?
Check to be sure that wpa supplicant is not set to start on boot, NM needs to control wpa supplicant.
Second:If no joy with the above turn, off NM temporarily and try to run the interface directly using wpa supplicant, if this works you may have an issue driver compatibility issue.
NM works with drivers that support wext.

[benjumanji]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I still can't work it out (and yes.. latest kernel latest NM etc). Given that it works with the wire I think I'll leave it for a while until I understand the CLI/Fedora a bit better.

[bbfuller]

Hello benjumanji

Just one thing you might want to try before you retire for a while.

NetworkManager has changed several times during the life of Fedora 8.

I think this was partially suggested in an earlier post, but did you go to:

Gnome Menu - System - Administration - Network

In that, highlight your card and click "Edit"

In the new screen, your card must NOT be set to "Activate device when computer starts" and there is a new option with the later NM's saying "Controlled by NetworkManager". That should be ticked. Some people have reported that it can make a difference

[benjumanji]

Yeah, I tried that too (that's how it's currently set up) but still no love. Nevermind, it's nice to know there is a forum with willing helpers when I get the urge to try and crack it again