Hello everyone,

I cannot get my PCI-based CNet CWP 854 wireless NIC working in Knoppix 5.1.1. It has a chip labelled Ralink 2561ST. This network card does work in Kubuntu Feisty Fawn (7.04), however. (To be precise, I can access the internet in Kubuntu. I use a wireless router.)

I have tried several methods in an attempt, but to no avail. I am quite a newbie, but I believe that I have the ability to attempt to get it working. First, some preamble of the problem. There is an ACT light and a Ready light on the back of the card. Upon first powering on the computer, none of the lights are illuminated. In Kubuntu Feisty, after a while into its boot-up procedure, the Ready light illuminates. However, no lights illuminate during Knoppix's boot-up procedure.

In Kubuntu Feisty, the only module loaded that I believe is relevant to the network card is "rt61" (found by lsmod).
In Knoppix 5.1, the following modules are loaded:
Code:
80211
rc80211_simple
rt61pci
crc_itu_t
firmware_class
First method: K-menu --> KNOPPIX --> Network/Internet --> Wireless LAN.
This starts KWLan. Firstly, I start WPA supplicant for wlan0 (if I don't do this, later all the options for SSID and WEP key are greyed out). But an error message comes up: "could not find network in wpa_supplicant configuration." I continue by pressing OK. I double-click wlan0's icon in the bottom-left and this brings up a box. I click the "New" button, and I fill in my SSID. I change "Encryption" from "None" to "WEP", and type my WEP key in all four boxes. Click OK, then click Activate. Nothing happens.
I right-click wlan0 icon, and click Enable. But a message pops up: "Kwlan was unable to Enable interface."

(Interestingly, going back to wlan0's window and click Edit shows my SSID greyed out and my WEP key boxes empty.)

Second method: K-menu --> Knoppix --> Network/Internet --> Network card configuration.
This brings up what appears to be a script. A window asks me to select a network device, listing:
wmaster0 Wireless
wlan0 Wireless
eth0 LAN

(Oddly, there in Kubuntu Feisty, in the network settings, only eth0 and r0 are listed.) I choose wlan0. But a pop-up window says "no wireless card found." Then, now-useless questions are asked, starting with "Obtain address automatically (DHCP)?"

This second method worked on my friend's laptop to get his network card working. I can't remember the exact specs of his computer, but I know his wireless card has an Intel chipset. I can check if necessary. I tried kwlan on his, but no joy. Instead, running the script asked questions about SSID, WEP key and other wireless-specific questions. Then, the internet could be accessed.

So... I don't know what to do! For 'conciseness', I have not mentioned my attempts with iwconfing and ifup and ifconfig. I can describe them later, if anyone needs the info.

I haven't included an lspci, lsmod or dmesg. (I'm typing this in Kubuntu, and I forgot to do it while in Knoppix :P) If needed, I can post these.

Can anyone help please? Preferably without ndiswrapper... if it can be done with just free OSS drivers in Kubuntu, it would be nice to do the same in Knoppix.