Ubuntu and Wireless
#1
Posted 2007-August-22, 13:34
I am using a NC4200 HP laptop with an Intel 2200BG wireless chipset. Everything else on the machine is working the way I expect it to, except the wireless.
I have attempted to follow the directions, but admittedly they are very confusing to me since I'm not an UNIX guru at all.
I'm a little frustrated right now, and getting the wireless to work correctly will allow me to start testing the software and clones thereof for work purposes.
Anyone out there have a clue?
#2
Posted 2007-August-22, 16:25
#3
Posted 2007-August-22, 19:11
The card is seen, but I have WPA encryption which seems to be trouble for this.
#4
Posted 2007-August-23, 04:06
Make sure you have wpasupplicant installed.
CLI: What does "iwlist scan" say?
GUI: Does NetworkManager list it in WirelessNetworks?
#5
Posted 2007-August-23, 04:18
That said I still have problems with many wireless networks. Often Ubuntu persists in defining a LAN domain which I have to delete manually. And sometimes the DNS must be entered manually.
As a true Linux apostel I found comfort in the fact that the situation was even worse under Windows

#6
Posted 2007-August-23, 07:25
[interface] frequency
[interface] channel
[interface] bitrate
[interface] rate
[interface] encryption
[interface] key
[interface] power
[interface] txpower
[interface] retry
[interface] ap
[interface] accesspoints
[interface] peers
[interface] event
That's when I type it in Terminal.
In the GUI, it does show as a "wireless connection". I do have wpa_supplicant installed I believe.
Edit: Performed an ifconfig -a and got this:
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0F:B0:76:10:7C
inet addr:172.21.30.40 Bcast:172.21.255.255 Mask:255.255.0.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20f:b0ff:fe76:107c/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:1109 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:952 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:667378 (651.7 KiB) TX bytes:195519 (190.9 KiB)
Interrupt:16
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:00:13:C0:D0
inet6 addr: fe80::215:ff:fe13:c0d0/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0


Interrupt:21 Base address:0x6000 Memory:d8000000-d8000fff
eth1:avah Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:15:00:13:C0:D0
inet addr:169.254.7.95 Bcast:169.254.255.255 Mask:255.255.0.0
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
Interrupt:21 Base address:0x6000 Memory:d8000000-d8000fff
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:101 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:101 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:8879 (8.6 KiB) TX bytes:8879 (8.6 KiB)
#7
Posted 2007-August-23, 13:41
eth0 172.21.30.40
eth1 169.254.7.95
I bet one of these is your wireless lan. I think it is eth1.
It is connected and should work, but maybe your system tries to contact the net on the other interface.
I also think that your default route points to eth0, so if you don't have a cable in there, you won't get a data transfer.
So please check that using the 'route' command at the command prompt.
Perhaps 'route -n' will give enough information about it.
#8
Posted 2007-August-23, 14:30
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 1000 0 0 eth0
172.21.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth0
0.0.0.0 172.21.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 U 1000 0 0 eth1
I also have verified my wpasupplicant is installed, has it set to dhcp. There is a listing for wlan0 evidently.
Iwconfig states this:
lo no wireless extensions.
eth1 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:off/any
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s
RTS thr=1600 B Fragment thr=2304 B
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
eth0 no wireless extensions.
When I try to configure my wireless I only see WEP; no indication of WPA.
#9
Posted 2007-August-23, 15:12
keylime, on Aug 23 2007, 10:30 PM, said:
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s
RTS thr=1600 B Fragment thr=2304 B
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
This proves that eth1 is your WLAN card and that it got it's IP-Address from a DHCP-Server.
keylime, on Aug 23 2007, 10:30 PM, said:
Destination Gateway Genmask Flags Metric Ref Use Iface
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 0 0 0 eth1
169.254.0.0 0.0.0.0 255.255.0.0 U 1000 0 0 eth0
This is bad, because you should not access the same subnet on both interfaces.
Quote
0.0.0.0 172.21.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 0.0.0.0 U 1000 0 0 eth1
0.0.0.0 172.21.1.1 0.0.0.0 UG 0 0 0 eth0
This line means:
Any IP that is not in the subnets above, should be accessed using the gateway 172.21.1.1 using interface eth0.
This often happens if you use automated services with 2 network cards.
The generated routing commands are wrong.
Since i don't use Ubuntu and i can't access a linux machine right now, i don't know where you need to change the routing.
Manually you can delete any routing entry using:
route del ....
and add new ones using:
route add ....
The commands you have to use must be something like:
route del -net 169.254.0.0/24
route del default gw 172.21.1.1
route add default gw IP_OF_YOUR_WLAN_GATEWAY
There must be some sort of linux routing howto somewhere ......
#10
Posted 2007-August-23, 15:36
Ubuntu setup should be able to get the routing right, so you can make sure the routing is the only problem.
#11
Posted 2007-August-23, 20:21
Helene, the DHCP server rewrites by default /etc/resolv.conf if the DHCP server gives DNS servers and domains to search, unless told otherwise.
Dwayne, "iwlist scanning" lists all the Access Points it sees.
you can use the CLI to configure it (/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf) or the GUI,
NetworkManager (apt-get network-manager-gnome), if already there, should show an icon in the tray, letting you choose between wired or wireless network, and then, which wireless network between those available. It will ask authentication method (be sure to pick the right one) and password.
#12
Posted 2007-August-24, 08:12
When I implement the command I get this output:
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.
eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.
eth1 No scan results
#13
Posted 2007-August-24, 11:09

#14
Posted 2007-August-29, 11:17
After much help from Gerardo, Dan, Gert, and others, I have been able to get the device nearly functional.
The only issue I am having is the fact that I am getting a lot of reception errors. It's dropping a lot of packets. This is causing me not to be able to access the wireless here at work.
I am currently using wicd manager which is helping immensely.
Any thoughts?