please help set up a wi-fi connection router-ubuntu 10.04

**eR2** · August 1st, 2011

I apologize for probably starting a topic that has been discussed over and over here but I feel I have reached a point where I won't be able to set up the network without the help of the community - so, please help!

A long story short: I've been using a 10.04 Ubuntu PC, it had (PPPоE) Internet connection and shared it with a Windows 7 netbook through a wi-fi card. I cannot recall how exactly I set this up (after reading so many forums) but I've set static ip and gateway in etc/network/interfaces for the PC. I also had to specify some of the wi-fi settings through "sudo iwconfig wlan0..." (essid, ad-hoc type etc.) every session, since I couldn't do it through Network Manager for some reason. The connection worked ok most of the time, but I couldn't set up protection for it, also when I attached to the PC my Windows smartphone I lost my Internet connection, and so on, so I decided to make it the right way.

I got a Zyxel Keenetic router, attached it to the Ubuntu PC through a cable, changed the gateway to 192.168.1.1, set up the MAC address for the router, the PPPoE and DHCP settings. Windows 7 immediately got on-line, Ubuntu couldn't.
I changed interfaces to
[spoiler]
interfaces
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto dsl-provider
iface dsl-provider inet ppp
pre-up /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up # line maintained by pppoeconf
provider dsl-provider

auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.1.40
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
[/spoiler]

I tried setting up NM, it seemed to establish a wi-fi connection ('Auto' appeared before the essid name), but as soon as I detached the cable from the router, it lost the connection again, no ping. If I put the cable back and reboot, I can get on-line again, very low speed, though.

At this point I realized I messed things up so much I couldn't fix it without the community help. I don't even understand where to start from.

PS More stupid questions:
1. Who has priority over who? Network Manager or interfaces? If I change smth in interfaces, it doesn't appear in the NM settings and vice versa, so what has more priority for the system?
2. NM doesn't show my PPPoE connection - is this normal?
3. NM doesn't show my PC and router cable connection - is this normal?

Thanks!

**chili555** · August 1st, 2011

Network Manager and manual methods; e.g. /etc/network/interfaces seldom work and play well together. NM has a tight grip on networking and it will be difficult to wrest control in interfaces. Moreover, if you have set up the router with PPPoE information such as user and password, it shouldn't be necessary to do it again in interfaces:

auto dsl-provider
iface dsl-provider inet ppp
pre-up /sbin/ifconfig eth0 up # line maintained by pppoeconf
provider dsl-provider

I'd think you could connect easily and quickly with NM and this interfaces file:

Code:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

as soon as I detached the cable from the router, it lost the connection again, no ping. If I put the cable back and reboot, I can get on-line again, very low speed, though.

It sounds like wired is working and wireless is not. Let's have a look at your wireless card details. Please run and post:

Code:

lspci -nn | grep 0280

Thanks.

**eR2** · August 2nd, 2011

chili555
Thanks a lot for your detailed answer. I did just as you suggested - cleaned interfaces and NM immediately connected. Everything works now. Thanks for the NM vs. interfaces explanation - obviously I didn't realize how the two interacted.

Thanks again! Ashamed it was so easy