BleepingComputer.com: Wireless Network Not Working

Hey everybody and thank you for reading.

I'm having real difficulties in keeping my wireless internet working on Ubuntu 7.10 all the time. Before I upgraded from 7.04 I did not have any real difficulties connecting my wireless to the router, but since I've upgraded the wireless has been very tempremental. Today it won't work at all, before the upgrade Ubuntu only asked me for the wireless network key, but now it still asks me for the wireless network key, and also the passphrase to access 'BTVOYAGER2091-6B'.

I think all my tampering, changing and editting must have something to do with not being able to connect to the internet at all today. When it does appear to connect, it says I have 0% signal so am unable to gain access to the internet (I use google.com as my internet tester on mozilla, I've also tried 'ping'ing the website ubuntu.com in the terminal. Here at the ping commands I've tested:

Ubuntu Terminal said:

Excuse the censoring of my name. The troubleshooting and other help files on Ubuntu were not helpful and hard to understand. I'm not quite sure what other information you require so I'll leave it at that for now.

Thank you.

Mod Edit: Topic moved from Linux & Unix to more appropriate forum~ TMacK

There are basically only a couple things to consider when setting up your wireless on Linux. And, I know that wireless can be a real pain, but it's relatively simple on most occassions.

1 - you need your firmware. Many Linux distros will come with drivers, but it's the firmware that you'll need to install. See some info at my debtoots site here, here, and here. Those will handle the most popular wireless options. Here is a post about setting up wireless with the Intel 4965 card.
2 - DNS, it's always DNS. Make sure your nameservers are OK. I edit my /etc/resolv.conf file to use the opendns ip addys:
My resolv.conf file reads as follows:

machiner@lapbox{~}: cat /etc/resolv.conf 
# domain MY ISP
# search  MY DOMAIN
nameserver 208.67.222.222
nameserver 208.67.220.220
# nameserver ISP NAMESERVER

Your's may read similarly. The "search MY DOMAIN" and "domain MY ISP" settings are automatic. I comment them out and only keep the 2 lines for opendns.

3 - the right security. WPA is better but a royal pain. WEP sucks but is brain-dead simple to work with your networking scripts, et al. No security at all is OK if you don't mind letting others in your neighborhood share your service.

4 - correct entries in /etc/network/interfaces -- my own file is empty save

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

because I use the wicd script. It's terrific. See a post

If not using wicd or similar, your /etc/network/interfaces (different location on different Linus distros) would read something like this:

iface wlan0 inet static
address 192.168.1.102
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.1.0
gateway 192.168.1.1
wireless-essid rXXXXXXXXXX
wireless-key XXXXXXXXXX
auto wlan0

On my Debian Lenny box with this wireless card:

02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN Network Connection (rev 61)

I set my networking up as follows:

Install base system
install firmware-iwlwifi, wicd
# modprobe iwl4965

click on wicd in the menu, fill in the password, surfing....

Of course, this means that I have an ethernet connection. Without said connection it's more difficult, but simple enough if you have the required software already downloaded so you can compile, install it. With broadcom (the one I was was using) it was simple because I already had the bcm43xx firmware I needed all extracted. I simply copied the *.fw files to /lib/firmware, # modprobe bcm43xx, copy back a saved /etc/network/interfaces file, ran # /etc/init.d/networking restart and I was surfing. I have the files you need on my site if you run broadcom. Piece of pie.


OK -- there's always more to it -- but it's not at all difficult and we can get very specific with issues if you like. I'm no expert, but we've got this thing down.

Computers suck - go outside and meet your neighbors again.

Thank you very much, I'll try this soon. Right now I'm battling with a hardware related problem. I'll get that sorted first then get the latest Ubuntu then attempt the wireless again with your input you have provided.

So, where are we at?