wireless card

garrett.allen · #1 8th February 2007, 06:13 AM

i've a belkin wireless g card running in a newly configured amd64 motherboard. i'm running core 6 as the o/s and am attempting to follow the install directions for madwifi. i use the ATrpms at http://atrpms.net/dist/fc6/madwifi/ but i seem to be in a bit of circular logic. there are two rpms:
madwifi-kmdl-2.6.19-1.2895.fc6-0.9.3-33_r2088.fc6.at.x86_64.rpm and madwifi-hal-kmdl-2.6.19-1.2895.fc6-0.9.3-33_r2088.fc6.at.x86_64.rpm.

there are several pairs and i'm not sure of all the nomeclature diffs. i realize i need the 86_x64 as the amd processor is 64 bit but beyond that its random digits for all i know. anyway, after saving the rpms to the desktop i then double click to open and install. the installation proceeds but then fails on a dependency, which appears to be the other module. load the other module and it fails on a dependency of the other module. obviously i've missed something but i'm not sure what at this point. the box is current with other patches, over 220 were applied after installing the core 6 os.

any hints or thougths appreciated. i've been through various faqs, how to's, etc. but no joy thus far.
thanks in advance.

garrett.allen · #2 8th February 2007, 06:14 AM

i should add the obvious, yes there is a wired nic in the unit as well. hence the ability to download, etc.

bino · #3 8th February 2007, 07:09 AM

Have you installed the x86_64 version of Fedora as well?
Cause that didn't seemed so obvious from your explanation?
Thought about the 802.11 stack?
Grtz

garrett.allen · #4 8th February 2007, 09:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bino

Have you installed the x86_64 version of Fedora as well?
Cause that didn't seemed so obvious from your explanation?
Thought about the 802.11 stack?
Grtz

yes, 86_64 core 6 installed. i've thought of retrograding back to 5 but not sure if that would result in a working solution either. i'm going to read through some more faqs tonite but it is perplexing as to why the rpms engage in a deadly embrace. meh.

bino · #5 9th February 2007, 10:36 AM

Why don't you install it with yum?
I just checked and the files you specified above are available.
Grtz

garrett.allen · #6 10th February 2007, 08:42 PM

the files are available but unfortunately there seems to be a circular reference between them.

garrett.allen · #7 11th February 2007, 02:06 AM

the saga continues, however one problem resolved. to avoid the circular logic where rpms are mutually dependent upon one another, enter both on the same "rpm -i" line. they both install fine.

the device is now recognized but is inactive. any attempt to activate it results in a dhcp timeout. the log file entry reads
"Feb 10 20:33:49 localhost dhclient: wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
Feb 10 20:33:49 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wifi0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
Feb 10 20:33:56 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wifi0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 15
Feb 10 20:34:10 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wifi0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 18
Feb 10 20:34:28 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wifi0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 21
Feb 10 20:34:49 localhost dhclient: No DHCPOFFERS received."

i edited the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts to add the ssid, but still no joy. my other wireless device can see the network fine (a windows laptop) using the same ssid.

and the device appears to be found by
"lspci -v
00:08.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5005G 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
Subsystem: Belkin Unknown device 700c
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 18
Memory at e8120000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2"

still plugging away, but i am farther than before. hopefully some of this will be of value to others.

garrett.allen · #8 11th February 2007, 02:12 AM

more details of the kernel

"[root@localhost ~]# uname -p
x86_64
[root@localhost ~]# cat /etc/fedora-release
Fedora Core release 6 (Zod)
[root@localhost ~]# uname -r
2.6.19-1.2895.fc6"

garrett.allen · #9 11th February 2007, 06:01 PM

substantial progress today. fwiw here is what i did (smc wireless router w/o wep, yet)

[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

wifi0 no wireless extensions.

ath0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"" Nickname:""
Mode:Managed Channel:0 Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power:31 dBm Sensitivity=0/3
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=0/94 Signal level=-98 dBm Noise level=-98 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:129 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

[root@localhost ~]# ifconfig ath0 up
[root@localhost ~]# modprobe wlan_scan_sta
[root@localhost ~]# wlanconfig ath0 list scan
SSID BSSID CHAN RATE S:N INT CAPS
SMC 00:04:e2:92:ea:f4 6 11M 46:0 100 E
[the smc buggar is mine]
linksys-3xyz 00:14:bf:7d:13:3d 6 54M 14:0 100 EP

[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig ath0 essid "SMC"
[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

wifi0 no wireless extensions.

ath0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"SMC" Nickname:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.442 GHz Access Point: Invalid
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s Tx-Power:31 dBm Sensitivity=0/3
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=41/94 Signal level=-51 dBm Noise level=-92 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:3677 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

[almost there - notice the invalid access point. smc did like a name only ref, so i entered the mac next time]

[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig ath0 ap 00:04:e2:92:ea:f4
[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

wifi0 no wireless extensions.

ath0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"SMC" Nickname:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:04:E2:92:EA:F4
Bit Rate:11 Mb/s Tx-Power:31 dBm Sensitivity=0/3
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=43/94 Signal level=-50 dBm Noise level=-93 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:3710 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

[and below is the syslog entry where dhclient bound an ip address to him]
[snip]
feb 11 11:08:17 localhost dhclient: bound to 192.168.2.184 -- renewal in 240263 seconds

so now it works without wep. turned on wep and a whole other set of cascading probs, but one step at a time

garrett.allen · #10 11th February 2007, 06:03 PM

oh yes, i forgot to mention, i'm using it as i post here having downed the ethernet and removed his cable. now to go through the smc wep materials. will reattach the cable when i start that mess again as its a hassle to move to another computer to config the smc router.

garrett.allen · #11 12th February 2007, 03:52 PM

flashed the smc to current rev. enabled wep 64 on the smc no problems. i did not let it create the wep hash based on a passphrase and instead i entered the hash direct. that was per the smc pdf that came with the current rev flash download. after i enabled the wep on the router the wireless card could no longer see the wireless router. so i used the "key" keyword with iwconfig and afterwards all was good.

next time i try one of these i would first go to the router and get the channel, ssid, etc instead of trying autodiscovery. also i would avoid the gui network admin tool which works for basics but not for something like this.

this was substantially more involved that a comparable windows wifi install.