FC8 and FC9 wireless problem.

[SirTwist]

I am using, right now, a HP Omnibook 6000 with a linksys wireless G notebook adapter, and everytime I attempt to use it, I get SELinux errors, and unable to connect to the internet, unless it's a wired connection. I installed the card using bcm43xx-fwcutter. I tried using ndiswrapper, but got nowhere with it. So, I am stuck using a wired connection, until I can work this problem out.

[bbfuller]

Hello SirTwist

If you have installed your card correctly, you should have said you used b43-fwcutter as that is the program that works with the b43 broadcom driver in Fedora.

Would you like to post back the results of the following commands from a terminal:

su -

to obtain a full root command prompt first. The space and the minus sign are very important in that respect.

lspci

where it relates to your broadcom card.

iwconfig

and

iwlist wlan0 scan

If an interface other than 'wlan0' is identified from 'iwconfig', substitute that instead.

[SirTwist]

Output of lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)
00:07.0 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:07.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 03)
00:0a.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1420 PC card Cardbus Controller
00:0a.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1420 PC card Cardbus Controller
00:0b.0 Ethernet controller: 3Com Corporation 3c556 Hurricane CardBus [Cyclone] (rev 10)
00:0b.1 Communication controller: 3Com Corporation Mini PCI 56k Winmodem (rev 10)
00:0d.0 Multimedia audio controller: ESS Technology ES1983S Maestro-3i PCI Audio Accelerator
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage Mobility P/M AGP 2x (rev 64)
06:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

iwconfig:
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=0 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
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:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

pan0 no wireless extensions.

iwlist wlan0 scan:
wlan0 Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

And this is what I get when I tryto access the wireless card via Network Manager:
Determining IP information for wlan0... failed.

[bbfuller]

Hello SirTwist

I have a broadcom 4318 myself, so I know it's fairly easy to set up once you do it the Fedora way.

Two things to consider, first you say:

And this is what I get when I try to access the wireless card via Network Manager:
Determining IP information for wlan0... failed.

NetworkManager doesn't actually give out error messages. When you see someone talking about seeing "Determining IP information............" you can be pretty sure they are using something identified on its title bar as 'Network Configuration'. That is no longer the default in Fedora 9.

NetworkManager lives on the top Gnome Panel, in the notification area, just to the left of the clock.

If you left click on it, then it should give you a list of wireless access points to left click on..........if the card is set up correctly. NM will interfere with all other methods of controlling wireless cards and so I wouldn't be surprised that you were getting that error message.

If you had the card correctly installed though and had followed the notes in post #2 then the 'iwlist' command should have produced results.

If you didn't use the 'b43-fwcutter" program to cut the required firmware then it would probably give those results. Note that there is a lot of difference between 'b43-fwcutter" and 'bcm43xx-fwcutter". Both are installed in Fedora 9, only the former will work with the kernel module assigned to a 4318 card.

These are the standard notes for working with the b43 driver:

Download this file and put it into a directory somewhere:

http://mirror2.openwrt.org/sources/b...0.10.5.tar.bz2

Acquire full root rights over your machine with this command in a terminal window:

su -

That's a space and a minus sign after the su. It gives you full root rights over your machine rather than just root rights over your ordinary users environment without it.

Use the cd command to navigate into the directory where you downloaded the above file. Issue the command:

tar xjf broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5.tar.bz2

That unpacks the file archive you downloaded and will create you a new directory where you are working called 'broadcom-wl-4.150.10.5'.

cd into that and then the 'driver' directory within that and use the command:

b43-fwcutter -w /lib/firmware wl_apsta_mimo.o

That cuts the required firmware for your card from the downloaded file and places it in the correct place for the b43 driver to find it.

Check and see if you have NetworkManager showing on the top Gnome Panel to the right in the notification area. If you have ignore the next part.

Go to the "Gnome System Menu - Administration - Services", tick NetworkManager and NetworkMangerDispatcher, make sure they are started and the settings are saved so they start at next boot.

{The above paragraph is only necessary for Fedora 8 definitely not for Fedora 9}

Restart the machine and left clicking on the NetworkManager icon should bring up a list of wireless access points to connect to.

Post back with any problems or questions.

[SirTwist]

Ok, I now have wireless connection. Dude, thanks so much. I can now go away from the house and use my laptop anywhere, for now. Again, thanks. I'm going to go now and look for a few helpful programs.

[bbfuller]

Hello SirTwist

That's an extra that may need to be done in earlier installs of F8. In F9 NetworkManager is the default method of network connection and should already be in place controlling wired network interfaces as well.

It should already be showing on your Gnome Panel in the notification area just to the left of the clock.

[SirTwist]

I see it there, like I had it before. No Selinux problems, either.
This is networking related, somewhat. I installed aircrack-ng, but I don't see it. I installed via .rpm file. I tried doing it through yum, and that says it's installed. Any solutions to this? Is it possible that I should also install kde to run it?

[bbfuller]

Hello SirTwist

I don't know if that program has a gui interface or if it's command line. If it's the latter then it won't appear in the menu system but will require starting from the command line. That should be in the documentation.

It would also be possible to start a gui program from the command line as well.

The new KDE is a bit reluctant to include new items in its menu structure. It's necessary to restart the menu in some way.

One of those is to log out and in again.

The other is to right click on the "f" button in the bottom left of the screen and change from "Kickoff" menu style to "Classic" menu style and back again - or vice versa - that forces the menu to reload and works for me.

[SirTwist]

I'll do some research on aircrak-ng before I go on with it. But I'll also be careful. Anyway, here soon I'll be getting some new tools, to do stuff with. I'm not using the aircrack to get into a network, but to see what kind of security it has. However, I think wireless assistant does that as well. And, again, thanks for your help, bbfuller.

[bbfuller]

Hello SirTwist

su -

and then

iwlist wlan0 scan

will tell you what sort of security all of the networks in the vicinity of your computer are using.

Obviously, if your wireless interface is not wlan0 then change that.