Fedora 12 installation did not pick up my wireless card.

[hatewindows]

1- I just installed Fedora 12 on my Gateway laptop. It picked up my ethernet card w/o any problems, but it failed to pick up my wireless card. Below i cut and pasted the output of 'ifconfig -a", can someone help please. When you give instructions, please remember that i am new with all this.

[root@irvine etc]# ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:E0:B8:895:7E
inet addr:192.168.2.5 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::2e0:b8ff:fe89:c57e/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:33576 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:20656 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:41153027 (39.2 MiB) TX bytes:1995690 (1.9 MiB)
Interrupt:16

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13E:B1:F1:62
inet6 addr: fe80::213:ceff:feb1:f162/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1 errors:0 dropped:5 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:84 (84.0 b)
Interrupt:17 Base address:0x8000 Memory:b8006000-b8006fff

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:96 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:96 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:8081 (7.8 KiB) TX bytes:8081 (7.8 KiB)

[root@irvine etc]#

2- In Fedora 12, where is named.conf? i thought it should be in /etc/named.conf, but it's not.


Many thanks in advance for your time.

[stoat]

Hello hatewindows,

Well, Fedora has built-in wireless drivers for many wireless chipsets. But there's still a possibility that you need to install a driver. You can find out what to do next by identifying your wireless chipset.

lspci -nn | grep -i -e network -e wireless
lsusb

One of those may produce some results that will help sort it all out.

[hatewindows]

Hi there stoat -- Thanks so much for your help. Below please find the output of those two commands:

[root@irvine etc]# lspci -nn | grep -i -e network -e wireless
06:04.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection [8086:4220] (rev 05)
[root@irvine etc]# lsusb
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
[root@irvine etc]#

---------- Post added at 11:12 PM CST ---------- Previous post was at 10:43 PM CST ----------

P.S. as I was playing around with my new Fedora, I've noticed a network icon on the top right corner of my session (next to date and my name). I opened the menu and saw the last command 'Create New Wireless Network", so I executed it, it asked me for my network key which I provided and looks like it configured it (please see below and notice it now has an "inet addr"), but still my internet connection doesn't work (cannot go to any site).

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13E:B1:F1:62
inet addr:10.42.43.1 Bcast:10.42.43.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::213:ceff:feb1:f162/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:5 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:3285 (3.2 KiB)
Interrupt:17 Base address:0x8000 Memory:b8006000-b8006fff

---------- Post added at 11:36 PM CST ---------- Previous post was at 11:12 PM CST ----------

Alright, here is the latest: after playing around with it a little bit, the wirless connection is now working; thanks for your quick reply to help.

Can you please tell me where is my named.conf file in Fedora 12; thx.

[stoat]

That chipset is supported by a built-in driver and firmware in Fedora. Here is sort of a shotgun blast of things to consider or try or check (everything I could think of)...

1. Confirm that the firmware package (ipw2200-firmware.noarch) is installed...

   rpm -qa | grep ipw2200

2. Confirm that the driver (ipw2200) is being loaded...

   lsmod | sort

3. Try disabling the network service, enabling NetworkManager, and rebooting. Check the NetworkManager panel applet for available networks (left-click it).

   su
   chkconfig network off
   chkconfig NetworkManager on
   reboot

4. If there is a wireless connection established in the Network Configuration utility (system-config-network), then edit it and check the box "Controlled by NetworkManager" and uncheck the box for "Activate device when the computer starts". Reboot and check the NetworkManager panel applet again.
   
   
5. Some longshot stuff...
   
   
   1. If Windows is installed, confirm that Windows did not disable the card (it happens). Try powering down and powering back up into Fedora without first booting into Windows. Try booting into Windows and look for a setting that disables the wireless card and stop it.
      
      
   2. Confirm that a physical hardware switch for the wireless card or the antenna is not turned off (it happens all the time).

There. I don't use that chipset, but it's very common and been around a long time. It usually "just works". At least I legitimately bumped your thread. Maybe someone that uses the chipset will see it and have an idea.

[hatewindows]

Hey stoat -- Thanks so much for all your help, I really appreciate it. This forum is extreemly useful, and I cannot wait to learn more about Linux and start contributing to it.

[sanaulhaq]

Originally Posted by hatewindows

Hey stoat -- Thanks so much for all your help, I really appreciate it. This forum is extreemly useful, and I cannot wait to learn more about Linux and start contributing to it.

I have exactly the same prb with my laptop.....and have done all the steps recommended by stoat........................
It is my bad luck that still my wireless card does not work......I am confused as driver is properly installed....I can see mac address of the driver but in GUI interface of Network Configuration, the Activate and Deactivate buttons are not highlighted at all and I can not connected to another laptop wirelessly...

can anyone help me....????

{I am faced with same prb as hatewindows was faced with.......i.e.... same driver and same fedora12}

[stoat]

Well, I can't say much about Ad Hoc networking. Sorry. Maybe somebody else can help with that later. But back to the driver, firmware, and interface...

First, you don't really need to do anything in that system-config-network applet (the one with the Activate and Deactivate buttons that you can't use). Those buttons are not available because you have "Controlled by NetworkManager" checked for the interface. They become available when that box is unchecked. But there is no reason to uncheck it IMO. And there is nothing else that you need to do in system-config-network IMO. Stick with NetworkManager for now. Forget system-config-network.

Next, if you have confirmed that the firmware is installed and the driver module is being loaded (see post #4), and you do not have available networks listed in the NetworkManager panel icon (left-click the panel icon), then start thinking about things that can disable the wireless device (it happens all the time). See post #4. One additional thing for that subject is rfkill. See here about that...

http://fedoraforum.org/forum/showthread.php?t=245404