"iwconfig retry" screwed up my wireless config? (BCM4318

[vyco10]

I recently installed Ubuntu 8.10 on my Dell Latitude 110L laptop. Wireless has worked from the beginning... up until yesterday afternoon (March 3rd). I was trying to figure out how to refresh/rescan for wireless connections and, not really knowing what I was doing, typed "iwconfig retry" in terminal and since then the internal wireless card hasn't worked.

My wireless card is the "Broadcom BCM4318 Air Force One" card. I'm really stumped as to what is going on with the card. I tried uninstalling network-manager and installing wicd, but that didn't do anything.

Thanks for your help

[Crafty Kisses]

Try running these commands, see if you get any results:
sudo ifdown wlan0
sudo ifup wlan0

[vyco10]

I ran "sudo ifdown wlan0" and got:

interface wlan0 not configured

...which doesn't make any sense because the card was working yesterday afternoon.

Now, I have since started using an external Linksys Wireless-G 2.4 GHz PCI adapter which works, but that may have caused some problems with the other card and confused something in the configuration. I have no idea. But right now the external Linksys adapter is disconnected and it's not even being recognized right now.

I ran "sudo ifup wlan0" and got:

Ignoring unknown interface wlan0=wlan0.

http://www.websitetoolbox.com/images/boards/smilies/confused.gif

[Ayuthia]

Can you post the result:
lshw -C network

It might help us see if the wireless module is active and if a logical name has been assigned.

[vyco10]

Can you post the result:
lshw -C network

It might help us see if the wireless module is active and if a logical name has been assigned.

Here is the output from "lshw -C network":

*-network:0
description: Network controller
product: BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 3
bus info: pci@0000:02:03.0
version: 02
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master
configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=64 module=ssb
*-network:1
description: Ethernet interface
product: 82562ET/EZ/GT/GZ - PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller Mobile
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 8
bus info: pci@0000:02:08.0
logical name: eth0
version: 03
serial: 00:12:3f:17:47:24
size: 10MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e100 driverversion=3.5.23-k4-NAPI duplex=half firmware=N/A latency=64 link=no maxlatency=56 mingnt=8 module=e100 multicast=yes port=MII speed=10MB/s
*-network:0 DISABLED
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 2
logical name: wlan0
serial: 00:14:a4:33:ac:29
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
*-network:1 DISABLED
description: Ethernet interface
physical id: 3
logical name: pan0
serial: a6:ad:c3:f7:e7:15
capabilities: ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion=2.3 firmware=N/A link=yes multicast=yes

[vyco10]

I ran across another troubleshooting step-by-step guide when searching Google for the results I got from the commands above, which can be found here (http://www.denis-talbot.com/forum/index.php?topic=5578.0;wap2), and it was saying that I would need to edit the interfaces file in the /etc/network directory. Anyway, this is what is in the interfaces file right now:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback


If that helps at all.

[vyco10]

Bump

[vyco10]

Again, I could really use some help here. Thanks.

[vyco10]

Check that the device is on
(https://help.ubuntu.com/8.10/internet/C/troubleshooting.html)
1.

Many wireless network devices can be turned on or off. Check to see if there is a hardware switch, some devices can be switched off from Windows and may need to be turned back on from Windows.


I figured out the problem: my own stupidity. I had forgotten all about hitting fn + F2, which is what turns the wireless card off internally, the day it "stopped working".

[Ayuthia]

Sorry for not posting back earlier, but sometimes you can find out that the switch is off by checking dmesg:
dmesg|grep b43
Usually the b43 module can tell if the switch is off and will mention it in dmesg.

[vyco10]

Sorry for not posting back earlier, but sometimes you can find out that the switch is off by checking dmesg:
dmesg|grep b43
Usually the b43 module can tell if the switch is off and will mention it in dmesg.

That's alright (delayed response). I'm just glad it was something simple and not some obscure configuration I screwed up that would've taken forever to find the fix for... or taken me through a reinstall. lol It was getting me down because I've decided, at least on my laptop, to finally and permanently switch to Ubuntu/Linux. I'd finally found the version of Linux that works with my BCM4318 Air Forece card straight "out of the box" without me having to go to the forums to find out how to install ndiswrapper or whatever and then having wireless crap out on me a few days later.

But anyway, I'm back in the airwaves and riding that wave of Linux freedom to glory. Or something. And thanks for the dmesg command. That will probably save me another headache in a couple of days.

[kevdog]

So what was the problem?

[vyco10]

So what was the problem?

Me. Hitting "fn + F2" on my laptop turns wireless on and off. I had turned it off and forgotten that I had turned it off.