How To: Manual Network Configuration without the need for Network Manager

[vexingmodstwo]

Yes, can you post the following:

lshw -C network
iwlist scan

I would just like to check a few parameters!

Result of lshw -C network

*-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:05:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: 00:1b:fc:de:c6:9e
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ndiswrapper+bcmwl5 driverversion=1.52+Broadcom,10/12/2006, 4.100. latency=0 link=no module=ndiswrapper multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:08:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:1c:23:8e:62:77
       size: 100MB/s
       capacity: 100MB/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=b44 driverversion=2.0 duplex=full ip=192.168.1.4 latency=64 link=yes module=ssb multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100MB/s

Result of iwlist scan

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0     No scan results

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

Thanks for the help! BTW... I'm going to eventually do the WEP option but I want to see if the wireless card can work at ALL first.

[kevdog]

Something is wrong with your wireless driver -- seems like you may be a victim of the new b44/ssb/ndiswrapper conflict, although from what you posted things seem correct.

Couple of things to check
dmesg
See jamie jackson's tutorial:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...eisty_No-Fluff

[vexingmodstwo]

Something is wrong with your wireless driver -- seems like you may be a victim of the new b44/ssb/ndiswrapper conflict, although from what you posted things seem correct.

Couple of things to check
dmesg
See jamie jackson's tutorial:
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Wi...eisty_No-Fluff

Thanks, I'll keep digging.

On a lark a remembered I had an old Linksys USB Network Adaptor and plugged that in. It shows up fine and even picks up a signal from my router and a couple of my neighbors' routers. BUT I can't connect to them. Could it be that my problem is in the wireless protocol itself and / or the Network Manager module? How would I check that?

[kevdog]

It could be a lot of things.

Manual connection initially is the way to go if you are having problems. A lot of times debugging messages are presented that give you a clue what is not working. Once you getting it working and figure some things out, you can then migrate to NWM or WICD.

[vexingmodstwo]

It could be a lot of things.

Manual connection initially is the way to go if you are having problems. A lot of times debugging messages are presented that give you a clue what is not working. Once you getting it working and figure some things out, you can then migrate to NWM or WICD.

Did everything in Jackson's how to. Still nothing.

the lshw thing is coming up with everything that it is supposed to come with (except the part that says link=no which is like the thing is mocking me, but that's another story).

Is anyone else having this problem?

[kevdog]

Check dmesg to see if you are getting any errors surround the install of the ndiswrapper/driver combo into the kernel.

[vexingmodstwo]

Check dmesg to see if you are getting any errors surround the install of the ndiswrapper/driver combo into the kernel.

The list of errors is so large I wouldn't know where to look. AND I rebooted and it's back to square one. Nothing stuck. The wireless card doesn't show the "wlan0" interface in lshw and the module is back to being ssb.

This is bordering on ridiculous.

EDIT: This is what I see when I reboot and then run the sudo lshw -C network:

 *-network               
       description: Network controller
       product: BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:05:00.0
       version: 01
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list
       configuration: driver=b43-pci-bridge latency=0 module=ssb
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:08:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:1c:23:8e:62:77
       size: 100MB/s
       capacity: 100MB/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=b44 driverversion=2.0 duplex=full ip=192.168.1.4 latency=64 link=yes module=ssb multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100MB/s

Then I go through the "Try it out" part of Jamie's How To.

Then I get this with lshw:

  *-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:05:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 01
       serial: 00:1b:fc:de:c6:9e
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ndiswrapper+bcmwl5 driverversion=1.52+Broadcom,10/12/2006, 4.100. latency=0 link=no module=ndiswrapper multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX
       vendor: Broadcom Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:08:00.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:1c:23:8e:62:77
       capacity: 100MB/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=b44 driverversion=2.0 latency=64 link=no module=ssb multicast=yes port=twisted pair

This means it worked, right? But I still can't connect through the wireless card. And this time on reboot the friggin wifi light turned on just to taunt me.

[kevdog]

Did you do the following to make it permanent?:

echo -e '#Hardy ssb/ndiswrapper workaround, added' `date` '\ninstall ndiswrapper modprobe -r b43 b44 b43legacy ssb; modprobe --ignore-install ndiswrapper $CMDLINE_OPTS; modprobe ssb; modprobe b44;' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper

If you just cut and paste, it should bring you back to where you are currently at boot. You will never need to do this again since that script simply or addends things to the /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper file. Take a look and the file to see if these things are not duplicated.

Please look in dmesg for something if regards to ndiswrapper. That is what you are looking for. Forget everything else.

[vexingmodstwo]

Did you do the following to make it permanent?:

echo -e '#Hardy ssb/ndiswrapper workaround, added' `date` '\ninstall ndiswrapper modprobe -r b43 b44 b43legacy ssb; modprobe --ignore-install ndiswrapper $CMDLINE_OPTS; modprobe ssb; modprobe b44;' | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper

If you just cut and paste, it should bring you back to where you are currently at boot. You will never need to do this again since that script simply or addends things to the /etc/modprobe.d/ndiswrapper file. Take a look and the file to see if these things are not duplicated.

Please look in dmesg for something if regards to ndiswrapper. That is what you are looking for. Forget everything else.

Yeah, this second go around I made it permanent and the changes stuck. I still can't connect through wireless. WICD sees the wireless networks (mine and a few of my neighbors') but locks up when I try to connect to mine.

I ran the dmesg and found references to ndiswrapper (I'm putting in everything from the first reference to the last):

[   47.261352] ndiswrapper version 1.52 loaded (smp=yes, preempt=no)
[   47.376977] ndiswrapper: driver bcmwl5 (Broadcom,10/12/2006, 4.100.15.5) loaded
[   47.377183] ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:05:00.0[A] -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 16
[   47.377219] PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:05:00.0 to 64
[   47.380544] ndiswrapper: using IRQ 16
[   47.755746] wlan0: ethernet device 00:1b:fc:de:c6:9e using NDIS driver: bcmwl5, version: 0x4640f05, NDIS version: 0x501, vendor: 'NDIS Network Adapter', 14E4:4311.5.conf
[   47.755789] wlan0: encryption modes supported: WEP; TKIP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK; AES/CCMP with WPA, WPA2, WPA2PSK
[   47.759907] usbcore: registered new interface driver ndiswrapper

[kevdog]

Ok things look good.

With the wired device down, and the wireless device up, please make sure you can see some other networks with
(sudo ifconfig eth0 down, sudo ifconfig wlan0 up)

iwlist scan

Then try connecting if you can to a router or access point with no enabled encryption. Can you do this?