[Linux-users] wireless configuration?

[Lonni J Friedman]

On 8/14/07, Rick Bowers <rwbowers at gmail.com> wrote:
> At 8/14/2007 12:45 PM, you wrote:
> >On 8/14/07, Rick Bowers <rwbowers at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Hi all,
> > >
> > > I've run linux for a while on a few servers, but never have used
> > > wireless. I'm trying to load linux now (I've tried FC7 and OpenSUSE
> > > both) on my Dell laptop.
> > >
> > > Everything loads okay, but I can't get my wireless to communicate.
> > > The dialog says the system sees the card but when I try to "activate"
> > > it, it won't connect.
> > >
> > > I use WEP on my router, and entered the appropriate passphrase; I've
> > > tried ASCII and Hex both. Neither seems to work.
> > >
> > > Does anyone have any suggestions on how to connect using wireless?
> > > Hints, pointers, documentation references, etc. are all welcome.
> > >
> > > BTW: My laptop is a Dell D610.
> >
> >I don't know anything about your laptop.  That said, exactly how did
> >you configure the wifi NIC in the OS?  Also, if possible, you might
> >want to temporarily disable WEP and see if things improve (plus WEP is
> >effectively useless security at this point).  That will let you
> >determine whether the problem is WEP, or something else.
> >
> >Also what exactly isn't working?  What kind of wifi NIC do you have?
>
> What isn't working is, when I attempt to "activate" the connection, I
> get a message saying it can't connect. I'll write down the exact
> message. I'll have to boot linux again.
>
> The NIC is a "Dell Wireless 1370 WLAN Mini-PCI Card"

Dell doesn't make wireless cards.  You need to figure which chipset
that thing is using, and ensure that its even supported in Linux.

>
> I used the GNome wireless configuration utility. It asks for channel
> and WEP/WPA and passcode. I don't know if I can get screen shots of
> the config.  or not to send.

Ugh.  Which distro are you currently using?  This will likely be a ton
easier to debug if you aren't using some GUI frontend.

>
> I'll try disabling security.
>
> My laptop works fine with my router using Windows. But I'd like to
> run linux on it, too.

Also check /var/log/messages

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
L. Friedman                                    netllama at gmail.com
LlamaLand                       http://netllama.linux-sxs.org