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

[vexingmodstwo]

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?

I can see networks with eth0 down and wlan0 up.

I then turned off encryption on my access point and tried to connect with wlan0 and it didn't work. It did lock up WCID again but amazingly I'm still connected after I turned eth0 back up.

The wifi light is on, I see networks, but any attempt to connect to one fails (and locks up WCID).

It's like this laptop doesn't want to be wireless...

[kevdog]

Connect trying the command line:



sudo ifconfig eth0 down
sudo ifconfig wlan0 down
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid <ESSID>
sudo dhclient wlan0

[vexingmodstwo]

Connect trying the command line:



sudo ifconfig eth0 down
sudo ifconfig wlan0 down
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid <ESSID>
sudo dhclient wlan0

I received errors with the iwconfig and dhclient commands.

When I ran sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid <ESSID> I received this:

bash: syntax error near unexpected token `newline'

When I ran the sudo dhclient wlan0 I received this:

There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.pid with pid 6069
killed old client process, removed PID file
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.6
Copyright 2004-2007 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

Terminated

[kevdog]

sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "ESSID_IN_QUOTES"

[vexingmodstwo]

sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid "ESSID_IN_QUOTES"

Ooops...

Here's the output the the sudo dhclient wlan0:

There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.pid with pid 23707
killed old client process, removed PID file
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.6
Copyright 2004-2007 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:1b:fc:de:c6:9e
Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:1b:fc:de:c6:9e
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 14
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.

[kevdog]

can you post
iwlist scan

and tell me the exact parameters you typed on the command line?

[vexingmodstwo]

can you post
iwlist scan

and tell me the exact parameters you typed on the command line?

I typed exactly what you wrote: iwlist scan and got this:

lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:18:4D:80:23:3A
                    ESSID:"NETGEAR"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality:10/100  Signal level:-89 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 02 - Address: 00:15:05:EE:47:3F
                    ESSID:"pumpkin"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:95/100  Signal level:-35 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 03 - Address: 00:E0:98:CF:B2:26
                    ESSID:"04Z410189167"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:1/100  Signal level:-95 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
                              6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
                              36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=200
                    Extra:atim=0
          Cell 04 - Address: 00:1C:10:34:BE:F0
                    ESSID:"Beaton Home Network"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.452 GHz (Channel 9)
                    Quality:3/100  Signal level:-94 dBm  Noise level:-96 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; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
          Cell 05 - Address: 00:15:05:ED:D0:72
                    ESSID:"29OU7"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.452 GHz (Channel 9)
                    Quality:7/100  Signal level:-91 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

[kevdog]

Which network are you trying to connect to? If its Network #1 -- the signal quality 10/100 is very poor. The remainder of the networks have some form of encryption.

[vexingmodstwo]

Which network are you trying to connect to? If its Network #1 -- the signal quality 10/100 is very poor. The remainder of the networks have some form of encryption.

Cell 2 That's mine.

EDIT: I don't know how or why but while I was waiting for some further help I decided to scrap WICD and install wifiradar... and it worked! Now let's hope it stays that way.

[kevdog]

Good luck -- I hope it stays working. If I look at Cell #2:

Cell 02 - Address: 00:15:05:EE:47:3F
ESSID:"pumpkin"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
Mode:Managed
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Quality:95/100 Signal level:-35 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Encryption keyn
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:bcn_int=100
Extra:atim=0

It states the encryption key=on. I wasn't feeding you any encryption parameters with my earlier instructions b/c I had instructed you to initially turn off the encryption. I'm assuming its WEP encrypted by your output, but this requires an additional configuration parameter in order to connect

sudo ifconfig wlan0 key <key>