Can' connect with Intel wireless 3945ABG and Knopppix 5.3.1

**alcor** · 01-17-2009, 03:51 PM

Hi,
I'm not expert both of wireless networking and Knoppix/Linux.
I'm getting crazy trying to setup internet connection with my wireless card
Intel Wireless Pro/3945ABG and last Knoppix 5.3.1 DVD.
It seems card is detected, but I'm not able to get IP address from my router with DCHP enabled.
And still, I'm not able to ping any host even if I try to disable DHCP.
Below you can find printout of commands iwconfig, ifconfig (in case of attempt with DHCP enabled), and lsmod.
Please, help me! Thanks!

root@Knoppix:/# ifconfig
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:1058 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1058 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:111592 (108.9 KiB) TX bytes:111592 (108.9 KiB)

root@Knoppix:/# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:myESSID
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: YYY
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr

ff Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key:XXX (the same set on the router)
Link Quality=67/100 Signal level=-66 dBm Noise level=-127 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

root@Knoppix:/# lsmod | grep 45
iwl3945 95080 0
mac80211 133388 1 iwl3945
firmware_class 13824 2 iwl3945,pcmcia

**chip.ling** · 01-17-2009, 06:18 PM

According to your iwconfig listing, it seems to me that your setting to the wireless is there. But then on your ifconfig listing, it shows the wireless device has not been activated.

First try out the following:

Code:

# ifconfig wlan0 up
# pump -i wlan0

If the above fail, try to disable the encryption on your wireless router, and try again. The objective on this step is trying to isolate the potential problem area (i.e. the encryption part).

If you cannot make the wireless works on a encryption free network, try to use the ndiswrapper method. You may find it helpful by reference to http://www.knoppix.net/wiki/Network_FAQ question 2, 11, 12, 13 for detail steps.

When your wireless connection passes the above step, then move on to the encryption part.

Good luck. If possible, you are more than welcome to report your successful story here so other users can be benefit from your experience.

Rgds,
Chip

**alcor** · 01-18-2009, 02:34 PM

First of all, thanks a lot for your feedback!
But I'm not able to get IP (DHCP failure) yet.
Both with encryption enabled and disabled pump -i wlan0 fails.
Below you can find related iwconfig and ipconfig printout commands.

# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"my_ESSID"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: xxx
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr

ff Fragment thr=2346 B
Encryption key

ff
Link Quality=68/100 Signal level=-65 dBm Noise level=-127 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

# ifconfig wlan0 up

# ifconfig
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:900 (900.0 B) TX bytes:900 (900.0 B)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:02:3d:a5:6c
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:20 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:4032 (3.9 KiB)

wmaster0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr yyy
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

# pump -i wlan0
Operation failed.

With encryption disabled I tried to use ndiswrapper as suggested.
Windows drivers for my card should be:
oem11.inf
w39n51.sys

# ndiswrapper -i /oem11.inf
installing oem11 ...
# ndiswrapper -l
oem11 : driver installed
device (8086:4222) present (alternate driver: iwl3945)
# modprobe ndiswrapper
# lsmod | grep ndiswrapper
ndiswrapper 200900 0

# pump -i wlan0
Operation failed.

I tried also to remove iwl3945 before ndiwrapping but result was
that my PC was completely stuck after ndiswrapper.

# lsmod | grep 45
iwl3945 95080 0
mac80211 133388 1 iwl3945
firmware_class 13824 2 iwl3945,pcmcia

Could be a firmware matter? What else?

**chip.ling** · 01-18-2009, 11:16 PM

Don't sound really good in this case. I have one eMachine desktop with a PCI wireless card installed and I never been able to use wireless under knoppix.

However, if you want to identify whether this is a firmware driver issue or not, issue the command

Code:

# dmesg | more

and take a look at the output listing. Try to look for error message related to firmware as well as wireless card device.

But it is a long listing and it takes a while to finish it.

Rgds,
Chip

**alcor** · 01-19-2009, 11:27 PM

This is part of the printout related to wireless card, I suppose...
There are some warnings and some printout with
"link is not ready" corresponding to wlan0...have you any idea?
Or maybe it's better to move to another distro?

iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network Connection driver for Linux, 1.1.17ks
iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2007 Intel Corporation
r8169: eth0: link down
ACPI: PCI Interrupt 0000:03:00.0[A] -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
PCI: Setting latency timer of device 0000:03:00.0 to 64
iwl3945: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
iwl3945: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 23 802.11a channels
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-3945-rs'
warning: process `hwsetup' used the deprecated sysctl system call with 1.23.
pcmcia: Detected deprecated PCMCIA ioctl usage from process: hwsetup.
pcmcia: This interface will soon be removed from the kernel; please expect breakage unless you upgrade to new tools.
pcmcia: see http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/util...ia/pcmcia.html for details.
cs: IO port probe 0xc00-0xcff: clean.
cs: IO port probe 0x100-0x4ff: excluding 0x3b0-0x3df
cs: IO port probe 0xa00-0xaff: clean.
warning: process `hwsetup' used the deprecated sysctl system call with 1.49.
warning: process `hwsetup' used the deprecated sysctl system call with 1.49.
device-mapper: ioctl: 4.12.0-ioctl (2007-10-02) initialised: [email protected]
r8169: eth0: link down
NET: Registered protocol family 10
lo: Disabled Privacy Extensions
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

**chip.ling** · 01-20-2009, 03:25 AM

Originally Posted by alcor

This is part of the printout related to wireless card, I suppose...
There are some warnings and some printout with
"link is not ready" corresponding to wlan0...have you any idea?
Or maybe it's better to move to another distro?

:
warning: process `hwsetup' used the deprecated sysctl system call with 1.23.
:
warning: process `hwsetup' used the deprecated sysctl system call with 1.49.
warning: process `hwsetup' used the deprecated sysctl system call with 1.49.
:
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): eth0: link is not ready
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

Those warnings mean the program or process uses some old way to run (i.e. old syntax) that will soon obsolete. But it is not an error so I believe it is still ok.

The "link is not ready" means not connected.

Can you try once again and inspect through the whole listing. Maybe pay attention to "wlan0", "phy0" and "ERROR".

Rgds,
Chip

**alcor** · 01-20-2009, 10:41 AM

Hi Chip,
unfortunately I can not find any occurrence of errors in dmesg,
or other occurrences of "wlan0" and "phy0" except what I posted before.
I actually don't know how to proceed...in another forum they talked about another Linux driver
for this Intel card, the ipw3945...but I'm almost going to give up with Knoppix...

Rgds,
Umberto

**alcor** · 01-20-2009, 11:42 PM

I made a little step further tonight!
I uninstalled Vmware, and at least with no encryption it seems DHCP does not fail (command pump -i wlan0 ok).
I get IP address but still I'm not able to ping any host (also my router does not reply to ping)!

Rgds

**chip.ling** · 01-21-2009, 04:40 AM

Originally Posted by alcor

I made a little step further tonight!
I uninstalled Vmware, and at least with no encryption it seems DHCP does not fail (command pump -i wlan0 ok).
I get IP address but still I'm not able to ping any host (also my router does not reply to ping)!

Do you have another machine within the same network to ping to?

Or else, try to connect to internet.

BTW, do you mean at the beginning you run knoppix inside one of the virtual machine on the top of vmware server?

Rgds,
Chip

**alcor** · 01-21-2009, 10:00 AM

"Do you have another machine within the same network to ping to?"

Yes, I have a PC connected through Ethernet card (via cable) and I'm able to to connect to internet and to my router.

"BTW, do you mean at the beginning you run knoppix inside one of the virtual machine on the top of vmware server?"

No, of course I simply run knoppix from DVD, I have just installed Vmware, but no virtual machine was running.