Re: Problems with a Linksys WMP11 [wireless setup]

[Rob <robsheldon_(_at_)_gmail_(_dot_)_com>]

On Apr 7, 2005 4:47 AM, Pedro la Peu <pedro_(_at_)_am-gen_(_dot_)_org> wrote:
> On Thursday 07 Apr 2005 11:25, Rob wrote:
>
> > [ The relevant line from dmesg: ]
> > wi0 at pci0 dev 8 function 0 "Intersil PRISM2.5" rev 0x01: irq 10
> > wi0: PRISM2.5 ISL3874A(Mini-PCI), Firmware 1.0.5 (primary), 1.3.1
> > (station), address 00:06:25:03:9e:89
>
> The list archives are your friend here, but suffice to say that firmware
> is old. It may work fine, but it may be causing you problems.

OK. I'll see if I can dig up some info on updating the firmware for
the card (if it's doable).

> > [ Output from "wicontrol wi0": ]
>
> Noted.
>
> > [ Output from "ifconfig wi0": ]
>
> Noted.
>
> Better if you post your hostname.wi0 too. The classic mistake is to
> twiddle every knob when it's usually unnecessary. The output from
> wicontrol suggests you may have done this. Try the following:

[ hostname.wi0: ]
inet 192.168.1.128 255.255.255.0 NONE
!wicontrol wi0 -p 3

I've twiddled just about every knob using wicontrol. Apparently the
wicontrol settings persist between netstarts but not reboots. I
haven't found a way to set the card to its original settings yet,
short of rebooting the server each time.

> 192.168.1.28 255.255.255.0 NONE media autoselect \
>     mediaopt hostap nwid IBSS
>
> Note: The above assumes you really did want to set your network ID to
> "IBSS". Is that really what you wanted?

Naw, it apparently got set by default. I haven't changed it since the
last reboot; as near as I could tell, the network ID didn't really
matter. At least, not until it's actually working. :-)

...

So, I made that change to the hostname.wi0 file, rebooted, and ...
SONUVAGUN! It worked straight off.

Comparing my wicontrol outputs, changing that file caused:

1. "Process 802.11b Frame" to be set "Off"  (previously, when this was
"Off", the network wouldn't even appear on the laptop...)
2. "Create IBSS" to be set "Off"

and that's it. I'm pretty sure I'd isolated both those options before
... is there any chance that executing wicontrol from the hostname.wi0
file caused the problem?

> Finally, if the above does not help, rather than trying to decipher
> tcpdump output, put the interface into debug mode and post the output:
>
> ifconfig wi0 debug

Hey neat, I didn't know I could do that.

> Also check what association state the client laptop has attained with
> 'wicontrol -l'.

IIRC, that usually returned nothing. -L would only show other (weak)
wifis in the area.

Wow, that was super cool. It works! Thank you.

...Now I have to go rename it, set it up for encryption, ipsec it, authpf it...

- Rob.