WLAN connection with Intel Wifi Link 5100 AGN

[nafihsus]

I have a brand new Fujitsu Lifebook A6220 with a Intel Wifi Link 5100 AGN. Neither a Hardy out of the box installation nor following this thread (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5754065&postcount=62) solved the problem (even though the procedure ran without any problems).

My private WLAN remains invisible in the network config. So far I kept the MS Vista partition, where the WLAN works without problems.

Any idea?

[nafihsus]

2 weeks passed by without any proposals. I therefore add all info recommended for wan posts and hope this will help someone to dig deeper.

[jward3010]

Firstly, this is odd.
lspci -nn | grep Intel
18:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Unknown device [8086:4232]


wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:21:5d:a2:25:e6
inet addr:192.168.2.98 Bcast:192.168.2.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
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:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Did you set this manually, or connect to something.


cenk@cenk-lifebook:~$ iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 No scan results
Do the above with "sudo" in front.

Tips from me, firstly run the following and post output:

nm-tool

sudo iwlist scan

Something that can often help:

sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
Then

sudo iwlist scan

[tenmoi]

What if you installed wifi-radar and then ALT+F2 -> gksu wifi-radar.

NOte: let your A.P assign IP for your lap by modifying your interfaces file

iface wlan0 inet dhcp

[nafihsus]

Sorry for the delay - I was on a business trip and had no time on the weekend. I had installed the driver based on the link in the first post of this thread. Here the posts:

cenk@cenk-lifebook:~$ nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected

print_devices(): didn't get a reply from NetworkManager.
There are no available network devices.

cenk@cenk-lifebook:~$ sudo iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:22:75:32:A0:C1
ESSID:"eldewlan"
Mode:Master
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=98/100 Signal level:-27 dBm Noise level=-127 dBm
Encryption key:on
IE: Unknown: 2D1AEE1117FFFF0000010000000000000000000000000C0000 000000
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
18 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=00000064444be2ea
Extra: Last beacon: 1660ms ago


cenk@cenk-lifebook:~$ sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
cenk@cenk-lifebook:~$ sudo iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wmaster0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:22:75:32:A0:C1
ESSID:"eldewlan"
Mode:Master
Channel:6
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality=63/100 Signal level:-69 dBm Noise level=-127 dBm
Encryption key:on
IE: Unknown: 2D1AEE1117FFFF0000010000000000000000000000000C0000 000000
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
18 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s
24 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=0000006449185a99
Extra: Last beacon: 1552ms ago

[jward3010]

OK, I may have had a similar problem with a Dell Vostro and an Intel 5300 AGN. The good news is that the kernel can talk to your wireless card, it wouldn't have returned those results if it didn't. This could be an rfkill problem. Post the output of
rfkill -list

Also you might want to try "wicd", another network manager. That is of course if you can get a wired internet connection somehwere.

sudo apt-get install wicd

My particular bug might help as well: https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/441768

[nafihsus]

The rfkill command is not found.
By the way - all the outputs posted are produced whilst being connected wired!

[jward3010]

What version of Ubuntu are you using? Is it still Hardy?

[nafihsus]

yes. Hardy 8.04.

PS: Tomorrow I leave for a 1 week China private trip. No access to Internet. I'll be back Sunday 25th.

[jward3010]

Maybe rfkill had no place in 8.04, it's prevelant in 9.04 and 9.10 and is the root of a few wireless problems at the mo. Enjoy China and hopefully we'll have something for you when you come back

[jward3010]

Here's a mad one to try, it helped me, albeit in 9.10 and a Dell laptop. Go to Fujitsu Siemens site and see if there are BIOS upgrades, if yes, install. I had an Intel 5300 AGN which couldn't enable in Karmic, BIOS update did it.

The process rfkill (although not applicable to you, I don't think) couldn't read the BIOS status of the wireless switch and although it Ubuntu could understand the card it couldn't switch on the radio. Updating the BIOS fixed this "read-status" problem, maybe some other daemon that read's status is borked in your Hardy.

[nafihsus]

After a great week in Yunnan province, surrounded by 5500m mountains and a very busy week in office I am back to my WLAN problem. I checked the Fujitsu pages but could not find any link to a BIOS software, only OS drivers. My BIOS is V1.08. and I guess I a miss something much simpler to get WLAN running.
I already have bad thoughts ... (Win7) - just a joke

[jward3010]

Ah well, worth a try.