wpa and network manager

[black veils]

i have been trying to get wireless working on an old laptop with for someone who has wpa encryption. it seems to have driver support, and detects networks, but i cant get it to connect with wpa using network manager or wicd. yes wpa-supplicant is installed (if actually needed), i even tried messing about with a config file for it (following official website).

network manager doesnt have any wpa option in the dropdown box, so i went to edit connections, and this didnt enable it to do anything either (tried after reboot also).

wicd kept saying bad password, despite making sure to remove all remnants of network manager, and obviously rebooting.

i am confused as to why it wont work, seems like it should.

here is some info

nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected

- Device: eth0  [Auto eth0] ----------------------------------------------------
  Type:              Wired
  Driver:            sis900
  State:             connected
  Default:           yes
  HW Address:        00:E0:18:D4:90:01

  Capabilities:
    Carrier Detect:  yes
    Speed:           100 Mb/s

  Wired Properties
    Carrier:         on

  IPv4 Settings:
    Address:         192.168.1.4
    Prefix:          24 (255.255.255.0)
    Gateway:         192.168.1.1

    DNS:             192.168.1.1


- Device: wlan0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 WiFi
  Driver:            hostap_pci
  State:             disconnected
  Default:           no
  HW Address:        00:05:3C:07:82:3C

  Capabilities:

  Wireless Properties
    WEP Encryption:  yes
    WPA Encryption:  yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes

  Wireless Access Points 
    AndroidBlackVeils: Infra, 70:05:14:88:D1:C6, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 69 WEP

and where it says AndroidBlackVeils is wep, its wpa2

[chili555]

AndroidBlackVeils: Infra, 70:05:14:881:C6, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 69 WEP

Network Manager thinks it's WEP and isn't going to give you a WPA dropdown for a WEP network. Let's bypass NM altogether:

sudo iwlist wlan0 scan

Does it say WEP or WPA? Can you double-check the encryption method in the administration pages of the hotspot?

This may be useful: http://wicd.sourceforge.net/punbb/viewtopic.php?id=649

[black veils]

wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 70:05:14:88:D1:C6
                    ESSID:"AndroidBlackVeils"
                    Mode:Master
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Signal level=-40 dBm  Noise level=-95 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

yes the problem is the person's network is encrypted with wpa (per their choice), and couldnt get this laptop to connect to it. they had the same problem as me, i am testing it with my android phone hotspot, so i know it is wpa.

[chili555]

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 70:05:14:88:D1:C6
ESSID:"AndroidBlackVeils"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Signal level=-40 dBm Noise level=-95 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

Looks like perfect WEP to me. This is what WPA scans like:

Cell 01 - Address: xx:13:10:62:8D:xx
Channel:11
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=58/70 Signal level=-52 dBm
Encryption key:on
ESSID:"GBR1"
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
Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
Mode:Master
Extra:tsf=000000450654bf6c
Extra: Last beacon: 8ms ago
IE: Unknown: 000447425231
IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
IE: Unknown: 03010B
IE: Unknown: 2A0100
IE: Unknown: 2F0100
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : CCMP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
IE: Unknown: DD09001018020010000000
IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101800003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F 00

What does this tell us?

iwconfig
dmesg | grep hostap

[chili555]

Further research: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ols/+bug/36718

since hostap right now defaults to start in Master mode(as an access point), while mode 2 / Managed mode
is the one needed to work as a client.

So, if your iwconfig shows Mode:Master, then do:

sudo modprobe -r hostap_pci
sudo modprobe hostap_pci iw_mode=2

Now can you connect? If so, we'll write a quick file and make it permanent.

[black veils]

iwconfig

wifi0     IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:"g\xC6isQ\xFFJ\xEC)\xCD\xBA\xAB\xF2\xFB\xE3F|\xC2T\xF8\x1B\xE8\xE7\x8DvZ.c3\x9F\xC9\x9A"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.447 GHz  Access Point: None   
          Bit Rate:2 Mb/s   Sensitivity=1/3  
          Retry short limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          
lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:"g\xC6isQ\xFFJ\xEC)\xCD\xBA\xAB\xF2\xFB\xE3F|\xC2T\xF8\x1B\xE8\xE7\x8DvZ.c3\x9F\xC9\x9A"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.447 GHz  Access Point: None   
          Bit Rate:2 Mb/s   Sensitivity=1/3  
          Retry short limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=0/70  Signal level=-73 dBm  Noise level=-73 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:5   Missed beacon:0

eth0      no wireless extensions.



dmesg | grep hostap

[   15.740470] hostap_pci 0000:00:0c.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNKB] -> GSI 11 (level, low) -> IRQ 11
[   15.741931] hostap_pci: Registered netdevice wifi0
[  188.832136] Modules linked in: dm_crypt joydev snd_intel8x0 pcmcia ppdev snd_ac97_codec ac97_bus snd_pcm snd_timer parport_pc snd irda hostap_pci hostap soundcore asus_laptop sparse_keymap crc_ccitt input_polldev lib80211 snd_page_alloc psmouse shpchp i2c_sis96x serio_raw yenta_socket pcmcia_rsrc pcmcia_core lp parport mac_hid vesafb floppy sis900 sis_agp

[chili555]

wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"g\xC6isQ\xFFJ\xEC)\xCD\xBA\xAB\xF2\xFB\xE3F|\xC2T\ xF8\x1B\xE8\xE7\x8DvZ.c3\x9F\xC9\x9A"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.447 GHz Access Point: None

I don't know if this means you have a very unhappy driver or if you just haven't associated with an AP yet. So far, your readings are unremarkable.

Sometimes a competing driver loads. Please check:

lsmod | grep -e orin -e host

Let's also look at the entire message log. We'll copy it to a text file, zip it and you can post it here for our examination:

dmesg > veils.txt
zip veils.zip veils.txt

Look in your user directory and find the file veils.zip. Post it in your reply using the paperclip tool at the top of the reply box.

[black veils]

lsmod | grep -e orin -e host

hostap_pci             52851  2 
hostap                106404  1 hostap_pci
lib80211               14040  2 hostap_pci,hostap

[chili555]

I notice this:

[ 12.634537] wifi0: NIC: id=0x8013 v1.0.0
[ 12.634702] wifi0: PRI: id=0x15 v1.0.7
[ 12.634860] wifi0: STA: id=0x1f v1.3.6

Please see this site: http://wiki.debian.org/hostap

WPA support requires station firmware version 1.7.4 or later.

Also see: http://linux.junsun.net/intersil-prism/

Flashing the firmware has been mention as a solution at post #29 here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1738941&page=3

[black veils]

thank you, i will have a look at those links


EDIT:

i have been rereading things, here are my queries:

1. Download hostap package from CVS or a release
that is dated after Aug 3, 2003. Release 0.1.0 or later
have this feature as well.

[just hostap utils in synaptic?]

2. Enable PRISM2_DOWNLOAD_SUPPORT and
PRISM2_NON_VOLATILE_DOWNLOAD in driver/
modules/hostap_config.h. You simply just
uncomment those two define's.

[i remove all hash symbols from the start of relevant lines?]

3. Compile the driver and install them to the kernel
using your favorite method.

[how?]

4. cd utils and make prism2_srec program.

[what do i do for this step?]

5. Download the firmware files that you want to
upgrade to.

6. NOTE THAT YOU HAVE TO RUN prism2_srec AS
ROOT. Do a test run with
prism2_srec -v wlan0 <primary firmware> <station firmware>

[i enter sudo etc^ in terminal and just look at output?]

Note if you only need to flash station firmware,
simply omit the "primary firmware" argument.
However, NEVER NEVER flash primary firmware
alone!!!

7. Check for any incompatiable warnings in the
previous test run. If things look OK, keep your
finger crossed and run

prism2_srec -v -f wlan0 <primary firmware> <station firmware>

or simply if you only update station firmware
prism2_srec -v -f wlan0 <station firmware>


[if i made a mistake, would the computer be corrupted, or would reinstalling a linux distro fix it? not that i want to reinstall, i just configured everything! it is bodhi linux, based on ubuntu]

[the commands which say about primary and secondary, do i put the names of files i downloaded instead?]

yes messing with drivers is out of my league.