IBM X30 FC6 wireless problem

accretion · #1 13th December 2006, 07:57 PM

I just installed FC6 on an IBM X30. Everthing seem to be OK except for the wireless connection. FC6 can detect the wireless card but I just can't connect to the outside world. When I type iwconfig eth1, it shows

Mode:Master Frequency:2.447 GHz Access Point: 00:05:3C:06:22:A6
Bit Rate=11 Mb/s Sensitivity=1/3
Retry min limit:8 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:720 Invalid misc:16317 Missed beacon:0

lspci shows 01:02.0 Network controller: Intersil Corporation Prism 2.5 Wavelan chipset (rev 01)

It can't detect any wireless network around. With XP, I know that there're several wireless signals around my area. Using wireless assistant in FC6, it shows "No networks found". I appreciate any help. Thanks.

Albert

cwebster · #2 14th December 2006, 02:17 AM

I'm still trying to get my ipw3945 going so I can't help much, but if you've got the wireless-tools installed (rpm -qa | grep wireless) you should be able to scan for a list of nearby access points with "iwlist scan". I believe mine is ready, but I'm waiting for a WEP key from the owner of the AP to activate the connection.

If it's not installed do this:

Code:

yum -y install wireless-tools

Before you attempt to connect to any neighboring AP's you should secure the permission of the owner, though. It would be bad manners to piggy-back on someone elses bandwidth without asking. Lack of access restrictions does not constitute tacit approval.

Here's what the output of the "iwlist scan" command looks like, assuming your driver, daemon, and netconfig are settup and running properly:

Code:

[root@wizard ~]# iwlist scan
lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth1      Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:12:17:D8:F6:46
                    ESSID:"cnet"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:6
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Quality=87/100  Signal level=-46 dBm  Noise level=-46 dBm
                    Extra: Last beacon: 934ms ago
          Cell 02 - Address: 00:16:B6:B2:1E:5D
                    ESSID:"chamorro"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:6
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Quality=37/100  Signal level=-87 dBm  Noise level=-87 dBm
                    Extra: Last beacon: 4376ms ago
          Cell 03 - Address: 00:12:17:DA:5C:B1
                    ESSID:"jorge"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:6
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Quality=30/100  Signal level=-91 dBm  Noise level=-91 dBm
                    Extra: Last beacon: 975ms ago

To setup your connection you can use "wpa_gui". This provides a nice graphical interface to find the right AP and set/save the network config in /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf. If you don't have that you'll need to get it separately:

Code:

yum -y install wpa_supplicant-gui