Fedora FC8 and Belkin Wireless G desktop adapter

[Fedooter]

Greetings,

I'm trying to get a Belkin Wireless G Desktop Adapter to work on my recently installed FC8 system.

The card works, but I can't get it to connect to the station. KDE asks for the key over and over again. I read somewhere that this may be a Gnome network manager problem creating a conflict.
(KDEnetworkmanager asks for the key)

I initially tried the ndiswrapper, but it seems to have used another driver instead, and then tried madwifi and now it recognizes the card, and gives me the above problem.
[root@localhost ~]# ndiswrapper -l
blkwgd : driver installed
device (168C:001A) present (alternate driver: ath5k)


What I'm noticing though is I have 2 wireless cards when I do iwconfig:
[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wifi0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID:"" Nickname:""
Mode:Managed Channel:0 Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power:0 dBm Sensitivity=1/1
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=0/70 Signal level=0 dBm Noise level=0 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0


I left the system on overnight and it's not showing now, but the wifi0 talks to the network and receives and sends data, It sent 32mb and received around 5Mb overnight. ??? The wlan0 sent/received 0K.

more:
dmesg|grep wlan0
net wlan0: device_rename: sysfs_create_symlink failed (-17)
udev: renamed network interface ath0 to wlan0
wlan0: no IPv6 routers present


more:
# Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
# for the documentation of these parameters.
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=wlan0
HWADDR=*************
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
NETMASK=
DHCP_HOSTNAME=
IPADDR=
DOMAIN=
ONBOOT=no
USERCTL=yes
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=yes
ESSID=*************
CHANNEL=7
MODE=Managed
RATE=Auto


Please help! this is so frustrating!

[Fedooter]

I forgot to add that I installed MADWIFI and thats when the card started seeing the stations, but won't let me connect.

[Brian1]

Post output of the wireless nic from the command ' /sbin/lspci -v '.
Also post brand, model, revision of the nic.
Is the system 32bit or 64bit?
Might fill out your sig detailing system.

Now madwifi is for Atheros based nics. Ndiswrapper should work just about any nic using the Windows inf driver.

Brian

[Fedooter]

This is what I'm talking about.

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:5058 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5058 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:3610884 (3.4 MiB) TX bytes:3610884 (3.4 MiB)

wifi0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-11-snip--14-C8-1D-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:92282 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:56935
TX packets:36853 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:199
RX bytes:10569649 (10.0 MiB) TX bytes:1818598 (1.7 MiB)
Interrupt:10

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:11:snip:14
inet addr:192.168.0.253 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::211:50ff:fed4:7414/64 Scope:Link
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:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

[Fedooter]

Thanks Brian!

It's a 32bit system. Fairly old system.

2gb Athlon, 512MB ram, Biostar 2MV??? MB, peripherals below.
Belkin Wireless G Desktop Card Mfg Part #: F5D7000
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?ref=google&pfp=BROWSE&No=20&N=200752&product_code=301438

[root@localhost ~]# /sbin/lspci -v
00:00.0 Host bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333]
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0
Memory at e0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=64M]
Capabilities: [a0] AGP version 2.0
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:01.0 PCI bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8366/A/7 [Apollo KT266/A/333 AGP] (prog-if 00 [Normal decode])
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 0
Bus: primary=00, secondary=01, subordinate=01, sec-latency=0
Memory behind bridge: e4000000-e5ffffff
Prefetchable memory behind bridge: d0000000-dfffffff
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:09.0 Ethernet controller: National Semiconductor Corporation DP83815 (MacPhyter) Ethernet Controller
Subsystem: Netgear FA311 / FA312 (FA311 with WoL HW)
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 12
I/O ports at d000 [size=256]
Memory at e7012000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=4K]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at 30000000 [disabled] [size=64K]
Capabilities: [40] Power Management version 2

00:0a.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Video Capture (rev 02)
Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. WinTV Series
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 7
Memory at e7010000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:0a.1 Multimedia controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt878 Audio Capture (rev 02)
Subsystem: Hauppauge computer works Inc. WinTV Series
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 7
Memory at e7011000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=4K]

00:0b.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs SB Live! EMU10k1 (rev 07)
Subsystem: Creative Labs Unknown device 8071
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at d400 [size=32]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1

00:0b.1 Input device controller: Creative Labs SB Live! Game Port (rev 07)
Subsystem: Creative Labs Gameport Joystick
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32
I/O ports at d800 [size=8]
Capabilities: [dc] Power Management version 1

00:0c.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5005G 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
Subsystem: Belkin Unknown device 700c
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 168, IRQ 10
Memory at e7000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=64K]
Capabilities: [44] Power Management version 2

00:11.0 ISA bridge: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT8233A ISA Bridge
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. Unknown device 0000
Flags: bus master, stepping, medium devsel, latency 0
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:11.1 IDE interface: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE (rev 06) (prog-if 8a [Master SecP PriP])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82C586/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT8233/A/C/VT8235 PIPC Bus Master IDE
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
[virtual] Memory at 000001f0 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8]
[virtual] Memory at 000003f0 (type 3, non-prefetchable) [size=1]
[virtual] Memory at 00000170 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8]
[virtual] Memory at 00000370 (type 3, non-prefetchable) [size=1]
I/O ports at dc00 [size=16]
Capabilities: [c0] Power Management version 2

00:11.2 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 23) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. (Wrong ID) USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at e000 [size=32]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

00:11.3 USB Controller: VIA Technologies, Inc. VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller (rev 23) (prog-if 00 [UHCI])
Subsystem: VIA Technologies, Inc. (Wrong ID) USB Controller
Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 11
I/O ports at e400 [size=32]
Capabilities: [80] Power Management version 2

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: nVidia Corporation NV17 [GeForce4 MX 440] (rev a3) (prog-if 00 [VGA])
Subsystem: PROLINK Microsystems Corp Unknown device 1101
Flags: bus master, 66MHz, medium devsel, latency 32, IRQ 10
Memory at e4000000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=16M]
Memory at d0000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=128M]
Memory at d8000000 (32-bit, prefetchable) [size=512K]
[virtual] Expansion ROM at d8080000 [disabled] [size=128K]
Capabilities: [60] Power Management version 2
Capabilities: [44] AGP version 2.0

[root@localhost ~]#


IRQ conflict with video card?

[Brian1]

Not sure about that version of chipset if it is ready for the old Atheros madwifi drivers. Seems to work with the ath5k module but not done anything with it as of yet. Check out madwifi page and read the ath5k section.

Brian

[nyjetshead]

If you have a weak signal the connection will try to connect but wont, asking you for the security key
over and over. The interface is wlan0

What does iwconfig give you?

Since you are using madwifi try this:
uninstall ndiswrapper.

Blacklist ath5k
echo "blacklist ath5k" >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

Reboot... my guess is ath5k is messing you up.

[Fedooter]

yes, I'm thinking that ifconfig is bringing up wifi0 with a strange hardware address.

I've been tweaking a few things. One thing I'm seeing in iwconfig is that my frequency keeps changing.

OK, so I did ifconfig wifi0 down and it shut wifi0 down and left wlan0 running(up).

Then I shut down wlan o with ifconfig wlan0 down.

When I brought wlan0 back up, it also started wifi0.... is it supposed to do that?

I remember settingup something like this with my wg311 in RH using ath0 instead of wifi0...

So am I missing a bridge or alias ??? that would tell the system wifi0 is the same as wlan0?

Here's my ifconfig now.
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0*********
inet addr:192.168.0.250 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::202:e3ff:fe16:c71c/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:2068 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:2122 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1632062 (1.5 MiB) TX bytes:315736 (308.3 KiB)
Interrupt:12 Base address:0xe000

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:5225 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5225 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:3393648 (3.2 MiB) TX bytes:3393648 (3.2 MiB)

wifi0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-11-50-D4-74-*****37-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:9521 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:16464
TX packets:5958 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:199
RX bytes:1075647 (1.0 MiB) TX bytes:279544 (272.9 KiB)
Interrupt:10

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:11:50:D4:74:14
inet6 addr: fe80::211:50ff:fed4:7414/64 Scope:Link
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:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)


Notice the strange elongated HW address for wifi0.

ndis has been uninstalled and ath5k has been blacklisted from the beginning

[nyjetshead]

Do you have an access point you are trying to connect to?
Do you see access points with network manager?
I can't explain the address issue with wlan0.
etho is the wired LAN connection.
The connection is made with wlan0 not wifi0 they are the same interface.
What do you intend to do use the AP as your only connection?

[Fedooter]

Do you have an access point you are trying to connect to?
Yes

Do you see access points with network manager?
Cell 02 - Address: 00:0F:B5:21:snip
ESSID:"TARDsnip"
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.442 GHz (Channel 7)
Quality=45/70 Signal level=-50 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Encryption key:on
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:ath_ie=dd0900037f0101000e0000


I can't explain the address issue with wlan0.
me either

etho is the wired LAN connection.
yes... it works fine, I'm using it now.

The connection is made with wlan0 not wifi0 they are the same interface.
yes, but are they causing conflicts or should there be an alias to tell the system they are the same?

What do you intend to do use the AP as your only connection?
yes. I have an old house and it's difficult to run wires in plaster/stucco walls.

Thanks for trying!

[nyjetshead]

There is no conflict with wlan0 and wifi0 wifi0 is the physical connection.
The driver creates and uses wlan0.
Signal level is low your interface is working, the signal looks like its an issue.
Try to get the access point closer to the PC to confirm this, you don't need to be connect to the internet, put the access point next to the pc and see if you get it to connect.