adding the WEP key causes problem

[ORION]

I'm new to using knoppix(and still pretty new to linux also for that matter), I have installed knoppix 3.4 on a Toshiba Satellite A10 and there are no problems at all with the wireless. It says it is using orinoco_cs intersil PRISM2 card, and it works fine, WITH THE ENCRYPTION TURNED OFF. N ow I live in a downtown urban area and like to keep at least 128-bit encryption on my D-LINK hub/router, cause I know other idiots who drive around with laptops looking for an open wireless signal.
Anyway, I've tried to use wlcardconfig(as root) to try and set the WEP key on the laptop. When I've tried this it seems to fail and immediately afterward(says it no longer detects a wireless card). Does anybody else get this and know why it happens and how to fix it? In reading these forums I found someone said I'd have to type pump -i ath0(is that it?) I haven't had the opportunity to try that yet, does it save the settings I entered using wlcardconfig?? I also tried "wlan configuration" under the knoppix menu and it did the same thing. All I want to do is set my ESSID to either "any" or the actual ESSID name and add the WEP key. I also know that my router uses channel 6; should I be entering this parameter as well? It works in "managed" mode...I'm not too sure what I need to enter since it does offer to configure many settings. I've googled around for a solution but still can't find it. Is there a wlcardconfig howto out there I haven't found? Arrgghh! help please.

[sokminer]

you might try the iwconfig command.

iwconfig key xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xx essid yyyyyyyyy

hope this helps
Bill

[tearinghairout]

Hi Orion

This may be a bit off topic from your original question, but you might like to consider this anyway.

Most wireless A/P's seem to have a feature where you can restrict access to certain nominted mac addresses. This will help if you are worried about random people driving past and highjacking your internet connection to download kiddy porn etc.

If you are more worried about actually encrypting your own traffic to protect from prying eyes then I was under the impression that WEP is pretty useless anyway.
Depending on your network usage, you might consider using something like ssh to tunnel traffic through a pretty strongly encrypted session.

Disclaimers:
1. In 2001 I was told that WEP had been broken because it didn't have enough bits. Since then I haven't bothered to pay attention to WEP because I figure it is all hardware based so isn't going to change any time soon.
2. If the other end of your wifi network connection is some sort of proprietary product like windows, then you will have to put up with whatever half-baked 'encryption' system their marketing department felt was sufficient to play along with the whole "trustworthy computing" charade.

[ORION]

Thanks a lot for the replies, folks. tearinghairout, I you are referring to MAC address filtering, correct? I thought that only blocks computers that are already connected through the LAN; I thought that one could still connect through wireless?(on my router configuration it is says with regards to MAC-address filtering:"Filters are used to allow or deny LAN users from accessing the Internet." I am reading this as LAN users, not neccessarily wireless users as well)Am I wrong? I'm already using MAC-address filtering on my wireless hub, is it enough?
I did get the wireless to work with WEP after entering the ESSID and WEP key; I used "KNOPPIX>Internet>Wavelan Configuration" and entered the ESSID name, "auto" for mode and the WEP key. Everthing else I left blank. After that when I turned the encryption back on on the hub the laptop was connecting! I could go to websites no probs, but when I rebooted, once again it could no longer even detect eth0. Is there something I'm missing or what. Maybe I'll just drop using encryption if I can't get this going and just use MAC-filtering, though I would feel better having both. Thanks again!

[ORION]

OK I'm starting to go crazy now. I re-installed knoppix (that was the only way I could figure out how to get it recognizing eth0 again), and once again tried to set the WEP key so I can use encryption. Once again I used >KNOPPIX>Network/Internet>Wavelan Configuration and it brings up wlcardconfig and I went through it again, naming the ESSID, setting mode to "auto" and entering the WEP key. Once again it works fine as soon as I turn the encryption back on; I can get online. This time I opened a terminal, su to root and type pump -i eth0 thinking that this will save the settings for after reboot. I read to do it that way somewhere. (can you tell that I'm new at this?
) I reboot and....NOTHING!!!!! egad I am getting frustrated.

[tearinghairout]

Regarding mac address filtering, I am pretty sure it is used for wireless as well as wired clients. I have two base stations (different brands) and they both seem to treat both kinds of clients the same.

pump is the dhcp client. It doesn't save anything, but asks your network card to broadcast the dhcp request packet so that any dhcp servers will respond with offers of ip addresses and such things.

I can't really say why the wavelan configuration thingy is not saving your settings because I don't use it myself. In the past I have manually edited the /etc/network/interfaces file to specify my settings at boot up.
Failing that I usually just manually type ifconfig and pump commands on the command line (I'm a bit of command line junky).

I am wondering if it has something to do with the way you have installed Knoppix. I read on this forum somewhere that there are several different ways of installing, and one of them basically re-does all the Knoppix hardware detection each time you boot. Maybe this is blowing away all your configuration information. I'm not sure about this last bit, just guessing.

[ORION]

You could very well be right about my installlatio method. Whenever I've done it I've used option #1"Beginner", not #2"knoppix" or #3"debian". the last option says "the old installer way"; that almost sounds like a lot of work. But I'll try it anyway. I would like to know for sure though, I guess It'll be another late night. Thanks for the tip.

[tearinghairout]

Funnily enough it seems to have started affecting me too.
This morning my usually-super-reliable linksys wpc11 v3 card wouldn't work when I booted 3.4 on the HD. No amount of pumping and ifconfiging would make it go.
So I rebooted an older 3.3 HD partition, and it came up working.
Knoppix just doesn't seem to work as reliably from the HD since 3.4

Good luck with the re-install
THO

[ORION]

thanks SO much for the tip tearinghairout! I did the full Debian install(option#3) and it did let me enter the WEP key! problem solved. Still works after reboot! Thanks again.