centos 5.1

[Polanski]

To whom it may concern,

I have just installed centos 5.1 on my ibm laptop and I am trying to get my wireless internet connection back up. I have an internal wireless card in the laptop and in the installation process I tried to set the connection manually by putting in the ip addr and so on and it was not working. So I just installed the program. How can I put in the ip addr etc. manually or through the terminal? My connection is a dhcp connection.

[Polanski]

Here are all the specs for dmesg,lspci,and iwconfig. The first one is dmesg:
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
wifi0: LinkStatus: BSSID=44:44:44:44:44:44
wifi0: LinkStatus=6 (Association failed)
The second one is lspci:
lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset Host Bridge (rev 04)
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82845 845 [Brookdale] Chipset AGP Bridge (rev 04)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 83)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Radeon Mobility M6 LY
02:00.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI1510 PC card Cardbus Controller
02:02.0 Network controller: Intersil Corporation Prism 2.5 Wavelan chipset (rev 01)
02:07.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments TSB43AB21 IEEE-1394a-2000 Controller (PHY/Link)
02:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB PRO/100 VE (MOB) Ethernet Controller (rev 83)
The third one is iwconfig:

iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

wifi0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"jigoku" Nickname:"jigoku"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: None
Bit Rate=2 Mb/s Sensitivity=1/3
Retry min limit:8 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption key:3035-3536-4437-3131-3830-3833-38 Security mode:restricted
Power Managementff

wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"jigoku" Nickname:"jigoku"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: None
Bit Rate=2 Mb/s Sensitivity=1/3
Retry min limit:8 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption key:3035-3536-4437-3131-3830-3833-38 Security mode:restricted
Power Managementff
Link Quality=0/70 Signal level=-73 dBm Noise level=-73 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:61 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:1342 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

sit0 no wireless extensions.

[bwkaz]

I'm not sure what the syntax is (having never messed with wireless on Linux enough to know the syntax), but you need to tell your card to actually associate with some network (and you'll have to be allowed on as well; that's a function of WPA, usually) before expecting it to work. ;)

If you're using no encryption (recommended TEMPORARILY for testing), there should be an iw* command to program in a given SSID string, and then I think the card should connect on its own. You may have to program in the BSSID from "iwlist wlan0 scan", though (or "iwlist wifi0 scan"? I can never keep those two interface names straight; try both). The BSSID looks like a MAC address; choose the one from the nearest AP on the network you're trying to join.

Or, fire up NetworkManager?

[drsatch]

I think it's (at least with Mandriva):

iwconfig ssid "SSID of network"

[Polanski]

Here is what I get when I do iwlist wifi0 scan and wlan0 scan. The first one is wifi0:

iwlist wifi0 scan
wifi0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:0F:66:9E:23:EA
ESSID:"jigoku"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Signal level=-56 dBm Noise level=-99 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:resp_rate=10
Cell 02 - Address: 00:03:93:E8:D8:32
ESSID:"Dan's Airport"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.457 GHz (Channel 10)
Signal level=-80 dBm Noise level=-98 dBm
Encryption key:off
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:resp_rate=10
Cell 03 - Address: 00:0F:B5:6C:54:E8
ESSID:"Other Eye"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Signal level=-76 dBm Noise level=-96 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:resp_rate=10
Cell 04 - Address: 00:16:B6:C7:16:44
ESSID:"linksys"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Encryption key:off
The second one is wlan0 scan:
iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:0F:66:9E:23:EA
ESSID:"jigoku"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Signal level=-51 dBm Noise level=-100 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:resp_rate=10
Cell 02 - Address: 00:03:93:E8:D8:32
ESSID:"Dan's Airport"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.457 GHz (Channel 10)
Signal level=-76 dBm Noise level=-97 dBm
Encryption key:off
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:resp_rate=10
Cell 03 - Address: 00:0F:B5:6C:54:E8
ESSID:"Other Eye"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Signal level=-80 dBm Noise level=-97 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:resp_rate=10

[Polanski]

When I ping the local ip address it tells me that it is on the network. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bwkaz]

OK -- so which of those networks do you want to connect to? You need to at least run drsatch's iwconfig ssid "xxxx" (replacing xxxx with the ESSID from the network you want to connect to, of course). You may also need to tell iwconfig which interface to use (something like iwconfig wlan0 ssid "xxxx").

I see that "wifi0" is an interface that's only exposed so that some internals can be gotten at from various programs; it seems that users are supposed to ignore it and use wlan0 instead. (http://lists.shmoo.com/pipermail/hostap/2005-July/011139.html, for instance.) So I'd recommend that; ignore wifi0 and use wlan0 for everything. ;)

(Also, [code] tags help with that kind of output, because they ensure that the whitespace stays in the post. It's not impossible to tell what's going on in your post, but it is slightly hard. :))

[Polanski]

How can I delete wifi0 and make wlan0 the primary device?

[phlipant]

When I ping the local ip address it tells me that it is on the network. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You`re driver seems to work properly, why not use NetworkManager (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NetworkManager). It will manage multiple wireless networks for you.

[bwkaz]

How can I delete wifi0 and make wlan0 the primary device? You don't delete it; just ignore it. wlan0 already is the primary device. ;)

If you've already done the iwconfig wlan0 ssid "whatever", and it's working, then yeah, fire up NetworkManager and configure it through there. That should allow you to configure whatever WPA/WPA2 security you need. :)

[phlipant]

You don't delete it; just ignore it. wlan0 already is the primary device. ;)

If you've already done the iwconfig wlan0 ssid "whatever", and it's working, then yeah, fire up NetworkManager and configure it through there. That should allow you to configure whatever WPA/WPA2 security you need. :)

As strange as this may sound, I kind of recommend WEP. For some reason, for the life of me, I can`t get the keyring to manage WPA security keys.

[Polanski]

What about the mac address? What should I put into iwconfig? The mac address of the router or the mac address of the laptop? Maybe that could be the problem. And by the way does centos 5.1 support wpa security or is it still buggy?

[phlipant]

What about the mac address? What should I put into iwconfig? The mac address of the router or the mac address of the laptop? Maybe that could be the problem. And by the way does centos 5.1 support wpa security or is it still buggy?

You do not need any mac addresses, nor do you need iwconfig. WPA support is not buggy.

My comment about WPA was in reference to using the keyring to store the security key. With WPA, I have to enter the security key in every time I reboot. WPA is as secure as any system. With WEP, the keyring stores and uses the security key, so that I never have to retype the key.

NetworkManager knows all, sees all.

The only thing you need is NetworkManager, nothing else. Make certain you have installed the wpa_supplicant, hal, dbus and NetworkManager rpms (yum install). The services you need to run are NetworkManager, haldaemon, messagebus and wpa_supplicant (System->Administration->Services). At which point, your wireless should just work.

The keyring is a differant beast and most likely a new post. You do not need the keyring to use wireless, it is just a convenience.

[bwkaz]

As strange as this may sound, I kind of recommend WEP. Your network will be secure for 60 seconds -- well, certainly no more than that. But probably less now that machines have gotten faster in the year or so since that particular attack was published...

How well keyring works with WEP is sort of irrelevant if your "encryption" method was put together so stupidly that someone can break it in 60 seconds. ;)

Polanski -- my comment about the MAC address was only relevant if you couldn't just program the SSID into the card using iwconfig. Since you can program the SSID into the card using iwconfig, ignore the bits about the BSSID and the MAC address. They're irrelevant. (And in fact, if you use NetworkManager like we've been saying, you probably don't even need iwconfig -- the only thing that iwconfig gets you is that you're testing less of the system at a time. If for some crazy reason NetworkManager doesn't work, you'll need to fall back to the iw* programs to figure out what in the system isn't working.)

[Polanski]

How can I find out if the card is really being detected on wlan0 or if it is labeled something entirely different? Can I do that with iwconfig? I am asking this because NetworkManager is not working. I am putting in the passphrase when it says wep-128 bit encryption and I have also tried all the keys with that too. I have tried the same thing with the 128/64 bit hex digits also. It is still not working. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[bwkaz]

If you really think you're looking at the wrong interface (you're not, by the way, since that's the interface that showed you all the wireless scan results), you can check what's in the /sys/class/net/wlan0/address file and see if it matches the MAC address on the card.

But NetworkManager not working has many more causes than the interface name being wrong. But to know which cause you're seeing, we're going to need the error message.

[phlipant]

This has been driving me nuts for days. I finally got WPA WPA2(Personal) working. It turns out, wpa_supplicant is configured, by default, to only use its own configuration files and ignore NetworkManager.

In order to ignore the configuration files and use NetworkManager, including the keyring, You need to create a file called /etc/default/wpasupplicant, which contains ENABLED=0.

Now, it works like a charm.

[phlipant]

If you really think you're looking at the wrong interface (you're not, by the way, since that's the interface that showed you all the wireless scan results), you can check what's in the /sys/class/net/wlan0/address file and see if it matches the MAC address on the card.

But NetworkManager not working has many more causes than the interface name being wrong. But to know which cause you're seeing, we're going to need the error message.

One of the funnier problems i`ve seen is where a person is using the default ssid. I knew a guy with a linksys router with the predictable ssid=linksys. His neighbor had a linksys router with ssid=linksys. Half the time he couldn`t connect, because his passphrase wouldn`t work on his neighbor`s router.

Moral of the story, use a unique ssid.

[bwkaz]

Moral of the story, use a unique ssid. Well, um, yeah. :p When two different BSSIDs (two different real or virtual APs) both have the same SSID string in their beacons, it means they're both part of the same extended network (which is why half the documentation refers to the SSID as an ESSID). That's the way the 802.11 spec was written: multiple BSSIDs are all interchangeable, as long as they're all accepting associations for the same SSID.

We have eight different APs at work that all broadcast the same set of four SSIDs (with a different BSSID for each). We have eight BSSIDs per SSID; wireless clients can associate with any of those eight and get the exact same set of services. That's sort of the point: we can't cover our entire building with a single AP. ;)

(And how much do you want to bet that both of those APs -- your friend's and his neighbor's -- used the same default administrative password as well? Nobody seems to change that either... :()