J.Keßler wrote:

> Hello Bernard,
>
> I'm not a complete expert since I got my WLAN stuff working via GNOME
> tools I suggest you try the instructions which can be found here:
>
> http://wiki.debian.org/WPA
>
> Since we don't know which version of Debian you use, you have to
> decide yourself which instructions will suit your problem best.


Even though it is an old machine (Thinkpad 600), I have recently
installed Debian Etch (4.0) on it, with kernel 2.6.18

>
> Also it would be helpfull to write which commands and settings you
> alread executed and set. Also in which files.


I have not executed and set much, since most things were already
installed with the distro. I went to the wiki/debian/wpa doc, where it
is suggested to use 'wext' together with wpa_supplicant. However, I
don't have 'wext' on that system. I have 'wext' on my Desktop on Debian
Sarge, but not on my laptop with Debian Etch, and I can no longer find
any wext package, since it does not seem to belong to the Etch system
and the Sarge files are no longer available, or if they are, I don't
know where to get them from. In any case, even with the 'backports'
options, apt-cache search wext gives nothing. However, if I write, in my
/etc/network/interfaces file :

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid Livebox-46db
wpa-psk 7795.......

a /etc/init.d/networking restart does not seem to complain about non
existing 'wext' package. Here is what I get:

Reconfiguring network interfaces... SIOCDELRT: No such process
There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.wlan0.pid with pid 4218
killed old client process, removed PID file
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.4...
wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:02....
Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:02....
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 15
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 14
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 9
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
No DHCPOFFERS received
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping
done.

>
> Johannes
>
> Bernard schrieb:
>
>> Hi to Everyone,
>>
>> I have given up any further attempts to get my router 'fonera' to
>> work in
>> a client mode to wirelessly connect to various networks. Instead, I
>> am now
>> trying to get a wifi card working.
>>
>> I got a 'deXlan' pcmcia 802.11b card. It seems to get reckognized right
>> away, as 'pccardctl ident' says:
>>
>> Socket1
>> product info: 'INTERSIL" "HFA384x/IEEE" "version 01.02
>> manfid 0x0156, 0x0002
>> function 6 (network)
>> MAC: 00026F...
>> FCC ID: NI3-2511CD-PLUS
>>
>> #iwconfig
>>
>> lo no wireless extensions
>>
>> irda0 no wireless extensions
>>
>> wifi0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID: "test"
>> Mode:Master Access Point: Not Associated Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
>> Sensitivity=1/3
>> Retry min limit:8 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
>> Encryption key: off
>> Power Management: off
>>
>> wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID: "test"
>> Mode:Master Access Point: Not Associated Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
>> Sensitivity=1/3
>> Retry min limit:8 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
>> Encryption key: off
>> Power Management: off
>> Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
>> Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
>> Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
>>
>> *****************************
>>
>> I suppose that the interface that interrests me for my purpose is
>> wlan0 (I
>> don't know what irda0 and wifi0 are for ; I don't have anything like
>> that
>> on my desktop: just one interface ra0).
>>
>> In my system, I have hostap and hostap_cs modules loaded. These are
>> said to be proper drivers for my pcmcia wifi card. But I still don't
>> know how to get that card to wirelessly connect to my DSL box. To do
>> so, I
>> have tried to use commands similar to those in the 'interfaces' file
>> on my
>> Desktop, but this does
>> not work, and some commands are not reckognized :
>>
>> ******************
>> /etc/network/interfaces :
>>
>> auto lo
>> iface lo inet loopback
>>
>> auto wlan0
>> iface wlan0 inet dhcp
>>
>> ****************
>> with this above abreged 'interfaces' file,
>> if I run ifup wlan0, I get :
>>
>> wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
>> wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
>> Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:02....
>> Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:02....
>> Sending on Socket/fallback
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 11
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 20
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 17
>> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
>> No DHCPOFFERS received
>> No working leases in persistent database - sleeping
>>
>> *********************
>>
>> Now, I knew that my wifi card could not connect to my DSL box that way,
>> since there is no mention of ssid or keys in my interfaces file, and
>> that, of course, my DSL box is not set to open. But then, if I add those
>> mentions as they figure in the config file of my desktop, I get a reply
>> saying that such commands are unknown :
>>
>> the following line, added to the 'interfaces' file:
>>
>> pre-up iwpriv wlan0 set AuthMode=WPAPSK
>> etc...
>>
>> generate the following error : 'invalid command SET'. If I remove
>> 'SET', I
>> get 'invalid command AuthMode'...
>>
>> I wonder if 'wpasupplicant', which appears to be installed on my system,
>> does intervene in this process, and if it would be wise to wonder if and
>> how I should modify a config file in there
>>
>> I have found no doc concerning the hostap driver and daemon, there is no
>> man page and no doc or readme file installed.
>>
>> Thanks in advance for any useful input
>>
>> Bernard
>>
>>
>


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On Tue, Nov 04, 2008 at 07:29:50PM +0100, Bernard wrote:
> I got a 'deXlan' pcmcia 802.11b card. It seems to get reckognized right
> away, as 'pccardctl ident' says:
>
> Socket1
> product info: 'INTERSIL" "HFA384x/IEEE" "version 01.02

seems to be compat with orinoco_cs module

> irda0 no wireless extensions

that's the IrDA interface

> wifi0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID: "test"

hm ...

> wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID: "test"

hmmm ...

post output from 'lsmod'.
Also, post output from 'dmesg|egrep 'wifi|wlan|ndis'


> pre-up iwpriv wlan0 set AuthMode=WPAPSK
> etc...

%man iwpriv
....
Without any argument, iwpriv list the available private commands available on each interface
....

> I wonder if 'wpasupplicant', which appears to be installed on my system,

yes, RTFM

> I have found no doc concerning the hostap driver and daemon, there is no

not needed, unless you want your notebook to act like an access point.


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Le Wed, 05 Nov 2008 00:30:14 +0100, Paolo a écrit:

> On Tue, Nov 04, 2008 at 07:29:50PM +0100, Bernard wrote:
>> I got a 'deXlan' pcmcia 802.11b card. It seems to get reckognized right
>> away, as 'pccardctl ident' says:
>>
>> Socket1
>> product info: 'INTERSIL" "HFA384x/IEEE" "version 01.02
>
> seems to be compat with orinoco_cs module
>
>> irda0 no wireless extensions
>
> that's the IrDA interface
>
>> wifi0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID: "test"
>
> hm ...
>
>> wlan0 IEEE 802.11b ESSID: "test"
>
> hmmm ...
>
> post output from 'lsmod'.

#lsmod
Module Size Used by
rfcomm 34712 0
l2cap 21760 5 rfcomm
bluetooth 46020 4 rfcomm,l2cap
nvram 8328 1
uinput 8288 1
button 6672 0
ac 5188 0
battery 9636 0
dm_snapshot 15552 0
dm_mirror 19152 0
dm_mod 50200 2 dm_snapshot,dm_mirror
loop 15048 0
orinoco_cs 15844 0
orinoco 36084 1 orinoco_cs
hermes 7008 2 orinoco_cs,orinoco
hostap_cs 53652 3
hostap 96580 1 hostap_cs
ieee80211_crypt 5952 1 hostap
snd_opl3_lib 9920 0
tsdev 7520 0
snd_hwdep 8836 1 snd_opl3_lib
snd_cs4231_lib 23232 0
irtty_sir 7808 0
sir_dev 15492 1 irtty_sir
snd_pcm 68676 1 snd_cs4231_lib
snd_timer 20996 3 snd_opl3_lib,snd_cs4231_lib,snd_pcm
snd_page_alloc 10184 2 snd_cs4231_lib,snd_pcm
snd_mpu401_uart 8064 0
pcmcia 34140 2 orinoco_cs,hostap_cs
firmware_class 9600 1 pcmcia
snd_rawmidi 22560 1 snd_mpu401_uart
snd_seq_device 7820 2 snd_opl3_lib,snd_rawmidi
nsc_ircc 20912 0
snd 47012 8 snd_opl3_lib,snd_hwdep,snd_cs4231_lib,snd_pcm,snd_ timer,snd_mpu401_uart,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq_device
rtc 12372 0
parport_pc 32132 0
parport 33256 1 parport_pc
analog 10784 0
irda 162588 3 irtty_sir,sir_dev,nsc_ircc
ns558 4832 0
crc_ccitt 2240 1 irda
ad1848 28028 0
uart401 11172 0
sound 69736 2 ad1848,uart401
soundcore 9248 2 snd,sound
gameport 14632 3 analog,ns558
serio_raw 6660 0
psmouse 35016 0
floppy 53156 0
i2c_piix4 8268 0
pcspkr 3072 0
i2c_core 19680 1 i2c_piix4
yenta_socket 24460 4
rsrc_nonstatic 11840 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 36852 5 orinoco_cs,hostap_cs,pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nons tatic
evdev 9088 0
ext3 119240 1
jbd 52456 1 ext3
mbcache 8356 1 ext3
ide_cd 36064 0
cdrom 32544 1 ide_cd
ide_disk 14848 3
generic 4868 0 [permanent]
uhci_hcd 21164 0
piix 9444 0 [permanent]
usbcore 112644 2 uhci_hcd
ide_core 110504 4 ide_cd,ide_disk,generic,piix
thermal 13608 0
processor 28840 1 thermal
fan 4804 0

#dmesg|egrep 'wifi|wlan|ndis'
hostap_cs: Registered netdevice wifi0
wifi0: NIC: id=0x800c v1.0.0
wifi0: PRI: id=0x15 v1.1.0
wifi0: STA: id=0x1f v1.4.9
wifi0: defaulting to bogus WDS frame as a workaround for firmware bug in Host AP mode WDS
wifi0: registered netdevice wlan0
prism2: wlan0: operating mode changed 3 -> 2
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
***above two lines repeated eleven times ! ***
wlan0: Preferred AP (SIOCSIWAP) is used only in Managed mode when host_roaming is enabled
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
*** above two lines repeated eleven times again ****
wlan0: Preferred AP (SIOCSIWAP) is used only in Managed mode when host_roaming is enabled
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
wlan0: Preferred AP (SIOCSIWAP) is used only in Managed mode when host_roaming is enabled
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
etc... four times
wlan0: Preferred AP (SIOCSIWAP) is used only in Managed mode when host_roaming is enabled
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
four times repeat
wlan0: Preferred AP (SIOCSIWAP) is used only in Managed mode when host_roaming is enabled
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
line repeated 11 times
wlan0: Preferred AP (SIOCSIWAP) is used only in Managed mode when host_roaming is enabled
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
line repeated 4 times
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
wlan0: Preferred AP (SIOCSIWAP) is used only in Managed mode when host_roaming is enabled
wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
line repeated 23 times




> --
> paolo
>
>
>


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On Wed, Nov 05, 2008 at 01:11:19AM +0000, bd wrote:
....
> orinoco_cs 15844 0
> orinoco 36084 1 orinoco_cs
> hermes 7008 2 orinoco_cs,orinoco
> hostap_cs 53652 3
> hostap 96580 1 hostap_cs
> ieee80211_crypt 5952 1 hostap
....
> hostap_cs: Registered netdevice wifi0
> wifi0: NIC: id=0x800c v1.0.0
> wifi0: PRI: id=0x15 v1.1.0
> wifi0: STA: id=0x1f v1.4.9
> wifi0: defaulting to bogus WDS frame as a workaround for firmware bug in Host AP mode WDS
> wifi0: registered netdevice wlan0
> prism2: wlan0: operating mode changed 3 -> 2
> wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
> wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
> ***above two lines repeated eleven times ! ***
> wlan0: Preferred AP (SIOCSIWAP) is used only in Managed mode when host_roaming is enabled

so hostap is taking the hardware; I guess you just want to connect to your
AP, ie act as client, so remove/don't load hostap*.


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Paolo wrote:

>On Wed, Nov 05, 2008 at 01:11:19AM +0000, bd wrote:
>...
>
>
>>orinoco_cs 15844 0
>>orinoco 36084 1 orinoco_cs
>>hermes 7008 2 orinoco_cs,orinoco
>>hostap_cs 53652 3
>>hostap 96580 1 hostap_cs
>>ieee80211_crypt 5952 1 hostap
>>
>>
>...
>
>
>>hostap_cs: Registered netdevice wifi0
>>wifi0: NIC: id=0x800c v1.0.0
>>wifi0: PRI: id=0x15 v1.1.0
>>wifi0: STA: id=0x1f v1.4.9
>>wifi0: defaulting to bogus WDS frame as a workaround for firmware bug in Host AP mode WDS
>>wifi0: registered netdevice wlan0
>>prism2: wlan0: operating mode changed 3 -> 2
>>wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
>>wifi0: dropped unencrypted TX data frame (drop_unencrypted=1)
>>***above two lines repeated eleven times ! ***
>>wlan0: Preferred AP (SIOCSIWAP) is used only in Managed mode when host_roaming is enabled
>>
>>
>
>so hostap is taking the hardware; I guess you just want to connect to your
>AP, ie act as client, so remove/don't load hostap*.
>
>

Very difficult to remove or don't load hostap. 'rmmod' says that
'hostap' being in use, I can't remove it, same for hostap_cs. There is a
warning about using the --force option, which says that it may be very
dangerous to force remove a module in use. I then searched for a
modprobe.conf file, only to find '/etc/discover-modprobe.conf'. In this
file, I added the following line :

skip="hostap hostap_cs"

I then rebooted. After reboot, the hostap modules did not appear in
'lsmod' output, but then it did not take long for me to realize that
this module did not load at boot time, whether the skip line was there
or not. The hostap modules load right after you have introduced the
pcmcia wifi card in its slot. So, I don't really know how to get away
with the hostap module, unless I perform a 'apt-get remove hostap' but
then it might lead me into unexpected problems. In any case, in my
/etc/network/interfaces file, I have tried replacing

wpa-driver wext

by wpa-driver orinoco

and then by

wpa-driver hostap

with no difference whatsoever as far as end results were concerned.

By the way, some more details of what exactly happen, with the
interfaces file as follow:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wpa-driver wext
wpa-ssid Livebox-46db
wpa-psk 7799........

#/etc/init.d/networking restart
Reconfiguring network interfaces...
wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:02:...
Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:02:...
Sending on Socket/fallback
ioctl[SIOCSIWAUTH]: Operation not supported
WEXT auth param 7 value 0x1 - Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.4
wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:02:...
Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:02:...
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 15
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
No DHCPOFFERES received
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping
done.





>
>
>


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On Wed, Nov 05, 2008 at 01:02:05PM +0100, Bernard wrote:
....
> pcmcia wifi card in its slot. So, I don't really know how to get away
> with the hostap module, unless I perform a 'apt-get remove hostap' but
> then it might lead me into unexpected problems. In any case, in my

no problems, unless you want your machine to act like an AP.
Removing the pkg is the simplest way to get rid of it, else check pkg's
docs to learn how to configure/disable it.

> wpa-driver wext

check 'wpa_supplicant --help' for drivers wpa_supp understands; however,
wext should be the safe choice on recente kernels.

> wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801

no news here, remove/disable hostap.

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Paolo wrote:

>On Wed, Nov 05, 2008 at 01:02:05PM +0100, Bernard wrote:
>...
>
>
>>pcmcia wifi card in its slot. So, I don't really know how to get away
>>with the hostap module, unless I perform a 'apt-get remove hostap' but
>>then it might lead me into unexpected problems. In any case, in my
>>
>>
>
>no problems, unless you want your machine to act like an AP.
>Removing the pkg is the simplest way to get rid of it, else check pkg's
>docs to learn how to configure/disable it.
>
>
>
>>wpa-driver wext
>>
>>
>
>check 'wpa_supplicant --help' for drivers wpa_supp understands; however,
>wext should be the safe choice on recente kernels.
>
>
>
>>wifi0: unknown hardware address type 801
>>
>>
>
>no news here, remove/disable hostap.
>
>

I have somewhat moved forward... I mean that I have read quite a bit of
doc here and there, and I know a little more about wifi. However,
nothing works still, and I now wonder if I can get this to work.

If I am not mistaking, the reason why I can't wirelessly connect to my
DSL box is that I don't provide the appropriate password : the pasword
that I send is a wpa pasword, and hostap does not support wpa as is ; it
may support wpa when associated with wpa_supplicant with an appropriate
config file, AND a running daemon 'hostapd'. Besides my DSL box, I don't
have any other network that I could test and try to connect to : I can
see three other networks that appear during scanning, but they are also
encrypted. I could try to change the settings of my DSL box so as to set
it for WEP paswords, but I am not keen to do that, even for a test : I
bet it would work, but then it is not my purpose to have that DSL box
WEP encrypted. I intend to be able to occasionnally connect to WEP
encrypted Access Points when travelling, but none of that at home. In
any case, if I can't connect my laptop to my DSL box at home using WPA
encryption, my pcmcia wifi card will be of no use, except maybe 5 or 6
times a year during travels.

According to what I have read, the 'orinoco' driver that is supposed to
also work for my 'intersil prism2' pcmcia card, does not support WPA.
Before I learnt that, I did try to remove 'hostap'. I tried several
times, with no success. I have removed the 'hostap-utils' packages
(apt-get remove hostap-utils). This removal seemed to have worked all
right. But then, once the pcmcia card was introduced into its slot, the
hostpad and hostpad_cs modules came back into action, with exactly the
same results as previously. I believe that the internal firmware of the
wifi card does download a few hostap files onto my system. Still, the
latter said, whenever queryed, that the 'hostap-utils' package was not
installed. Then I thought that I had better install it properly again,
and see if that made a difference : the package got newly installed all
right, but there was no difference in the behaviour of my pcmcia wifi
card. As soon as you introduce that card in its slot, dmesg and other
reports tell you that hostpad driver has been started, whether or not
the debian package is installed. Later on, I realized that I could have
tried to change files in /etc/pcmcia/ : config, config.opts,
hostap_cs.conf, so as to bind my intersil card to orinoco, but, by then,
I had realized that in any case this was not wpa compatible, so I didn't
bother.

So, now, I have read some more doc about wpa_supplicant. I have written
an /etc/wpa_supplicant.config file, a very simple one for a test :

begin copy/paste
**************************************

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

### Example of basic WPA-PSK secured AP
network={
ssid="Livebox-46db"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
proto=WPA
pairwise=TKIP
group=TKIP
psk="7799****************73**ad"
}

### Associate with any open access point
### Scans/ESSID changes can be done with wpa_cli
network={
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
}
**********************************************

end copy/paste

From there on, I tried a wpa_supplicant command as suggested in one of
the readme files or man pages so as to test the system and debug :

#wpa_supplicant -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -d

Here is what I got. At first, a copy/paste of what bears the most
important information : Driver does not support WPA !

SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=20 WE(source)=18 enc_capa=0xf
capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf
Added alternative ifindex 5 (wifi0) for wireless events
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
Added alternative ifindex 5 (wifi0) for wireless events
Own MAC address: 00:02:6f:05:f4:41
wpa_driver_hostap_set_wpa: enabled=1
IOCTL[PRISM2_IOCTL_PRISM2_PARAM]: Operation not supported
Driver does not support WPA.


then the whole of it :

begin copy/paste
********************************

Initializing interface 'wlan0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'default' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
ctrl_interface='/var/run/wpa_supplicant'
Priority group 0
id=0 ssid='Livebox-46db'
id=1 ssid=''
Initializing interface (2) 'wlan0'
EAPOL: SUPP_PAE entering state DISCONNECTED
EAPOL: KEY_RX entering state NO_KEY_RECEIVE
EAPOL: SUPP_BE entering state INITIALIZE
EAP: EAP entering state DISABLED
EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0
EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0
SIOCGIWRANGE: WE(compiled)=20 WE(source)=18 enc_capa=0xf
capabilities: key_mgmt 0xf enc 0xf
Added alternative ifindex 5 (wifi0) for wireless events
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=1, operstate=5
Added alternative ifindex 5 (wifi0) for wireless events
Own MAC address: 00:02:6f:05:f4:41
wpa_driver_hostap_set_wpa: enabled=1
IOCTL[PRISM2_IOCTL_PRISM2_PARAM]: Operation not supported
Driver does not support WPA.
wpa_driver_hostap_set_key: alg=none key_idx=0 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_key: alg=none key_idx=1 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_key: alg=none key_idx=2 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_key: alg=none key_idx=3 set_tx=0 seq_len=0 key_len=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_countermeasures: enabled=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_drop_unencrypted: enabled=1
Setting scan request: 0 sec 100000 usec
Added interface wlan0
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1002 ()
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b06 len=8
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'wifi0' added
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'wlan0' added
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
RTM_NEWLINK, IFLA_IFNAME: Interface 'wlan0' added
State: DISCONNECTED -> SCANNING
Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID)
Trying to get current scan results first without requesting a new scan to speed up initial association
Received 332 bytes of scan results (2 BSSes)
Scan results: 2
Selecting BSS from priority group 0
0: 00:90:4b:c3:7d:42 ssid='Livebox-46db' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
1: 00:16:41:65:93:51 ssid='Alice-c685' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
No suitable AP found.
Setting scan request: 0 sec 0 usec
Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID)
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b19 len=8
Received 332 bytes of scan results (2 BSSes)
Scan results: 2
Selecting BSS from priority group 0
0: 00:90:4b:c3:7d:42 ssid='Livebox-46db' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
1: 00:16:41:65:93:51 ssid='Alice-c685' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
No suitable AP found.
Setting scan request: 5 sec 0 usec
Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID)
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b19 len=8
Received 332 bytes of scan results (2 BSSes)
Scan results: 2
Selecting BSS from priority group 0
0: 00:90:4b:c3:7d:42 ssid='Livebox-46db' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
1: 00:16:41:65:93:51 ssid='Alice-c685' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
No suitable AP found.
Setting scan request: 5 sec 0 usec
Starting AP scan (broadcast SSID)
RTM_NEWLINK: operstate=0 ifi_flags=0x1003 ([UP])
Wireless event: cmd=0x8b19 len=8
Received 332 bytes of scan results (2 BSSes)
Scan results: 2
Selecting BSS from priority group 0
0: 00:90:4b:c3:7d:42 ssid='Livebox-46db' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
1: 00:16:41:65:93:51 ssid='Alice-c685' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
No suitable AP found.
Setting scan request: 5 sec 0 usec
CTRL-EVENT-TERMINATING - signal 2 received
Removing interface wlan0
State: SCANNING -> DISCONNECTED
wpa_driver_wext_set_operstate: operstate 0->0 (DORMANT)
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=-1, operstate=5
No keys have been configured - skip key clearing
EAPOL: External notification - portEnabled=0
EAPOL: External notification - portValid=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_wpa: enabled=0
Failed to disable WPA in the driver.
wpa_driver_hostap_set_drop_unencrypted: enabled=0
wpa_driver_hostap_set_countermeasures: enabled=0
No keys have been configured - skip key clearing
WEXT: Operstate: linkmode=0, operstate=6
cancelling scan request

********************************
end copy/paste

I must point out that, in any case, the conditions for the support of
wpa encryption were not met : it is being said that you need, on top of
the hostap_cs driver, a running daemon 'hostapd'. Even though I have
installed and configured that daemon using debian packages, I can't
launch it, even though I have done many trials fiddling with the daemon
config file

#'/usr/sbin/hostapd /etc/hostapd.conf' tells me the following :

ioctl(SIOCGIFINDEX): No such device
hostap driver initialisation failed
rmdir[ctrl_interface]: no such file or directory

My hostapd.conf does not contain much, I left the minimum in it for a start:

interface=wlan0
debug=3
dump file=/tmp/hostapd.dump (nothing in it)
ctrl_interface=/var/run/hostapd
ssid=Livebox46db
......

if, in the config file, I don't disable 'passive scanning', I get this
reply: "Could not set passive scanning. Unknown error 4294967295"

So, 'hostapd' is not running, which could be a good reason why I can't
connect to my network (DSL box/router). There may also be another reason
: in the doc written by the author of hostap, I have picked this :

"Station firmware version needs to be 1.7.0 or newer to work in WPA mode"

I suppose that the so called 'station firmware', or 'STA firmware', is
the peace of software that is inside the pcmcia card... ? How am I to
know which version it is ? There is nothing written on it for that matter.

Thanks in advance for some more help

Bernard


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On Fri, Nov 07, 2008 at 07:15:11PM +0100, Bernard wrote:

> According to what I have read, the 'orinoco' driver that is supposed to
> also work for my 'intersil prism2' pcmcia card, does not support WPA.

indeed

> Before I learnt that, I did try to remove 'hostap'. I tried several
....
> hostap_cs.conf, so as to bind my intersil card to orinoco, but, by then,
> I had realized that in any case this was not wpa compatible, so I didn't
> bother.

note that hostap* pkgs and hostap driver are different matter: the 1st are
the pkgs while the latter is the kernel driver.

For AP station you need hostapd, for client station wpa_supplicant.

But you also need to check that your card can actually support WPA:

> "Station firmware version needs to be 1.7.0 or newer to work in WPA mode"

that's the culprint now.

> I suppose that the so called 'station firmware', or 'STA firmware', is
> the peace of software that is inside the pcmcia card... ? How am I to
> know which version it is ? There is nothing written on it for that matter.

- check card docs
- check card with card's own utils (if any)
- check dmesg output on driver load

eg I've got an old Avaya orinoco_cs card:

eth1: Hardware identity 0001:0001:0004:0002
eth1: Station identity 001f:0001:0007:001c
eth1: Firmware determined as Lucent/Agere 7.28
eth1: Ad-hoc demo mode supported
eth1: IEEE standard IBSS ad-hoc mode supported
eth1: WEP supported, 104-bit key
eth1: MAC address 00:02:2d:xx:xx:xx
eth1: Station name "HERMES I"
eth1: ready
eth1: orinoco_cs at 0.0, irq 3, io 0x3100-0x313f

and got latest fw from vendors's site. This card isn't supported by
hostap_cs, nor it would support WPA at all. 802.1x could be a better option
then plain WEP anyway, but for my needs WEP104 is/was fine.

- check prism2 sites, suitable fw may be avail there - beware though that
a wrong fw may turn your card into a brick.
- if you can't use WEP, and your card can't do WAP, and you can't setup a
VPN (like your case, for a simple DSL modem on the other end), well, you
have no choice but buy another card/USB-wlan.


HTH
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paolo


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On Sat, Nov 08, 2008 at 12:58:31PM +0100, Paolo wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 07, 2008 at 07:15:11PM +0100, Bernard wrote:
>
> > According to what I have read, the 'orinoco' driver that is supposed to
> > also work for my 'intersil prism2' pcmcia card, does not support WPA.

hm, but checking your wpa_supp logs I notice:

....
Scan results: 2
Selecting BSS from priority group 0
0: 00:90:4b:c3:7d:42 ssid='Livebox-46db' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
1: 00:16:41:65:93:51 ssid='Alice-c685' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
skip - no WPA/RSN IE
No suitable AP found.
....

are you sure your AP is set to WPA?

Also, if it's a cardbus pccard (32bit, not a 16bit pcmcia), vendor likely
provides NDIS driver for MS-W*, which you can try to use instead of hostap*
with ndiswrapper (if such ndis driver supports WPA, that is).


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Paolo wrote:

>On Sat, Nov 08, 2008 at 12:58:31PM +0100, Paolo wrote:
>
>
>>On Fri, Nov 07, 2008 at 07:15:11PM +0100, Bernard wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>>>According to what I have read, the 'orinoco' driver that is supposed to
>>>also work for my 'intersil prism2' pcmcia card, does not support WPA.
>>>
>>>
>
>hm, but checking your wpa_supp logs I notice:
>
>...
>Scan results: 2
>Selecting BSS from priority group 0
>0: 00:90:4b:c3:7d:42 ssid='Livebox-46db' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
> skip - no WPA/RSN IE
>1: 00:16:41:65:93:51 ssid='Alice-c685' wpa_ie_len=0 rsn_ie_len=0 caps=0x11
> skip - no WPA/RSN IE
>No suitable AP found.
>...
>
>are you sure your AP is set to WPA?
>
>

Sure it is. At this very moment, I am wirelessly connected with this
desktop (using a ralink card under Debian Sarge), and my config file
(/etc/network/interfaces) is as follows :

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto ra0
iface ra0 inet dhcp
pre-up iwconfig ra0 essid Livebox-46db
pre-up iwpriv ra0 set AuthMode=WPAPSK
pre-up iwpriv ra0 set EncrypType=TKIP
pre-up iwpriv ra0 set WPAPSK="779xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAD"

the pasword (or passphrase, don't exactly know how it is called: 26
char) is the same that I use with my laptop and pcmcia card ; it
connects all right on this desktop, not with the laptop.

Oh, by the way, I am going to ask a stupid question: on the desktop, I
have both an Ethernet card and a Wireless card (Wifi card) inside...
while on the laptop I have never more than one pcmcia card at a time,
either the Ethernet card (that one - D-Link 660 - works all right and
provide good cable connexions to my DSL box and to the Internet), or the
WiFi card. Indeed, at one time I got the idea to carry a test with the
Ethernet card in slot 1 and the WiFi card in slot 2... but nothing
worked, I couldn't even reboot with both cards in: the boot process got
stuck in the middle.

So, I hope that wifi connexions on laptops are supposed to work with
just a wifi card, and not an Ethernet card on top...

I went inside my DSL box, using Firefox in root mode, with
http://192.168.1.1, that allowed me to check once more the parameters:

Amongst other informations, this :

wireless network service : 802.11g
easy pairing : ON
Mode 802.11 802.11b+g
Channel: 10 - 2.457GHz
Security : WPA
etc...


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On Sat, Nov 08, 2008 at 06:28:18PM +0100, Bernard wrote:
> >are you sure your AP is set to WPA?
....
> Sure it is. At this very moment, I am wirelessly connected with this
....
> pre-up iwconfig ra0 essid Livebox-46db
> pre-up iwpriv ra0 set AuthMode=WPAPSK
> pre-up iwpriv ra0 set EncrypType=TKIP
> pre-up iwpriv ra0 set WPAPSK="779xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxAD"

hm, pls post output from 'iwconfig ra0' and 'iwlist ra0 scan' on that
desktop - obfuscate sensitive data of course.

> the pasword (or passphrase, don't exactly know how it is called: 26

key ?

> Ethernet card in slot 1 and the WiFi card in slot 2... but nothing
> worked, I couldn't even reboot with both cards in: the boot process got
> stuck in the middle.

resources conflict, likely - check pccard config and dmesg/boot msg; try
to insert/remove both cards when it's up and running normally, check if
it hangs/freezes, check dmesg/ifconfig/iwconfig/pccardctl if the modules
get loaded, resources are allocated, interfaces appears etc.

> So, I hope that wifi connexions on laptops are supposed to work with
> just a wifi card, and not an Ethernet card on top...

of course, they're the same thing, only the medium is different.

>
> I went inside my DSL box, using Firefox in root mode, with
....
> Security : WPA

ok, but output from above commands would be of interest anyway.

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At last, I know why WPA connexion trials never succeeded on my laptop.
Indeed, I have been able to figure what was the firmware STA version of
my prism2 card, it shows with 'dmesg':

wifi0 STA id 0x1f v1.4.9

while the author of the Hostap software says that STA firmware version
needs to be 1.7.0 or newer to work in WPA mode.

So, that's it ! Right after that, I have changed the settings in my DSL
box so as to have WEP encryption mode, I removed WPA supplicant from my
system, and then my pcmcia wireless card started to behave. With only 7
lines in /etc/network/interfaces :

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-mode Managed
wireless-essid Livebox-46db
wireless-key 77......

and this is it !

Connexion to the Internet is almost instant, speed is the same as with a
wire connexion to the DSL box. Having that box set to wep encryption
mode does not please me that much, but I think that I will keep it that
way for awhile. I am not prepared to spend any more time searching for
another suitable wifi pcmcia card and fiddling around for hours and
days, especially since I have some more questions concerning my Thinkpad
600.

I will start another thread with this, but in a few words :

the laptops interrupts (is this the right word ?), which used to work
perfectly well under RedHat 7.2 (which I have had for about 6 years on
that laptop) do not operate under Debian Etch. Nothing shuts down or
goes to sleep when I close the lid, neither the video nor the hard disk
(I can hear its noise) ; I am not sure whether the fan works or not ;
nothing goes to sleep after a while even when the system is powered on
battery... if I press Fn+F4 on the keyboard (sleep icon), the system
indeed goes to sleep, but then there is no way to awaken it
afterwards... and a CTRL-ALT-DEL does nothing, same if pressing the off
switch... the only way to get out of this is to unplug AC power AND
remove battery for a few seconds, then put it back and start again. I
now have to shutdown this laptop everyday, even several times a day,
while, when it ran under RedHat 7.2, I practically never shut it down,
just closed the lid.

Do you think that I could post here a copy of my last /var/log/messages
(about 300 lines), or maybe I should give an url where to find it...
well, this is it, here is the link :

http://www.teaser.fr/~bdebreil/log_messages

A few things bother me in this file. Fans and sleep modes as just
mentioned, and this too:

localhost kernel pcmcia: detected deprecated PCMCIA ioctl usage for
process: discover
localhost kernel pcmcia : this interface will soon be removed from the
kernel. Please expect breakage unless you upgrade to new tools

Oh, by the way, I just remembered something. By the time when I tried to
install Debian Sarge on that laptop (I now have Etch), there was
something in the logfile about fans and sleep modes, I can barely
remember what it exactly was... something like this : "XXX (sleep fans
etc) enabled, XXX (sleep fans etc) disabled : BIOS too old"... but I see
no such messages with Etch, it simply does not work, same as with Sarge.


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On Sun, Nov 09, 2008 at 05:46:09PM +0100, Bernard wrote:

> my prism2 card, it shows with 'dmesg':
>
> wifi0 STA id 0x1f v1.4.9

maybe check vendor's site for upgrades

> So, that's it ! Right after that, I have changed the settings in my DSL
> box so as to have WEP encryption mode, I removed WPA supplicant from my

not needed at all - instead, better keep it installed; wpa_supplicant
can be used to manage all kind of modes (except AP), from no enc at all to
EAP/WPAx.

> Connexion to the Internet is almost instant, speed is the same as with a

glad you succeeded eventually

> I will start another thread with this, but in a few words :

yep, pls start new thread, likely other TP user will be of help.

> Do you think that I could post here a copy of my last /var/log/messages
> (about 300 lines), or maybe I should give an url where to find it...

IMHO if possible it's better to _attach_ the _relevant_ excerpt - not
inlined since mail formatting breaks lines and thus readability, so that
all infos is archived in the ML, whereas URLs tend to disappear over time.
But for big stuff URL is better, if not the only option.
300 lines by ~100 char means ~30kB, which should be fair with most MLs - ie
sf.net's limit is 40kB.

> localhost kernel pcmcia: detected deprecated PCMCIA ioctl usage for
> process: discover
> localhost kernel pcmcia : this interface will soon be removed from the
> kernel. Please expect breakage unless you upgrade to new tools

likely old stuff from previous installation - you'd better check and clean
up, ie remove all 'sarge' pkgs.

> remember what it exactly was... something like this : "XXX (sleep fans
> etc) enabled, XXX (sleep fans etc) disabled : BIOS too old"... but I see
> no such messages with Etch, it simply does not work, same as with Sarge.

that's from the kernel, there was a limit release date for ACPI to be
deemed reliable, iirc that option has been removed - you need to play with
kernel boot params acpi*, apm* and find what works - hopely some other TP
user has infos for you.

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On Sun, 9 Nov 2008, Bernard wrote:

> At last, I know why WPA connexion trials never succeeded on my laptop.
> Indeed, I have been able to figure what was the firmware STA version of
> my prism2 card, it shows with 'dmesg':
>
> wifi0 STA id 0x1f v1.4.9
>
> while the author of the Hostap software says that STA firmware version
> needs to be 1.7.0 or newer to work in WPA mode.

Indeed. You might find these pages useful:

http://w1.fi/
http://linux.junsun.net/intersil-prism/


Cheers,

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Cristian Ionescu-Idbohrn wrote:

>On Sun, 9 Nov 2008, Bernard wrote:
>
>
>
>>At last, I know why WPA connexion trials never succeeded on my laptop.
>>Indeed, I have been able to figure what was the firmware STA version of
>>my prism2 card, it shows with 'dmesg':
>>
>>wifi0 STA id 0x1f v1.4.9
>>
>>while the author of the Hostap software says that STA firmware version
>>needs to be 1.7.0 or newer to work in WPA mode.
>>
>>
>
>Indeed. You might find these pages useful:
>
> http://w1.fi/
> http://linux.junsun.net/intersil-prism/
>
>
>Cheers,
>
>
>
Thanks a lot for these two links. I have learnt why I couldn't get rid
of the hostap driver, no matter if I removed the debian package I had
installed earlier : hostap is built in kernels 2.6. The mere fact of
installing an older version of hostap might even have been a source of
conflicts. The second thing I learnt is that there are possibliities to
flash the internal firmware software and replace it by a newer
version... I kind of supposed that this could be done, but I suspected
this to be a hazardous choice... I now know that such process is well
documented and explained


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Hi to Everyone,

The laptops interrupts (is this the right word ?) - which had worked
perfectly well for many years on my ThinkPad 600 under RedHat 7.2 - do
not operate under Debian Etch. Nothing shuts down or goes to sleep when
I close the lid, neither the video nor the hard disk (I can hear its
noise) ; I am not sure whether the fan works or not ; nothing goes to
sleep after a while even when the system is powered on battery... if I
press Fn+F4 on the keyboard (sleep icon), the system indeed goes to
sleep, but then there is no way I can awaken it ... and a CTRL-ALT-DEL
does nothing, same if pressing the OFF switch... the only way to get out
of this is to unplug AC power AND remove battery for a few seconds, then
put it back and start again. I now have to shutdown this laptop
everyday, even several times a day, while, when it ran under RedHat 7.2,
I practically never shut it down, just closed the lid.

If someone wishes to see the /var/log/messages generated by my laptop
system during last boot, this is being displayed at the following address.

http://www.teaser.fr/~bdebreil/log_messages

Thanks in advance for any shared experience or advice so as to get that
old laptop operate as it should.

Bernard


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On Mon, Nov 10, 2008 at 06:26:25PM +0100, Bernard wrote:
> Hi to Everyone,
>
> The laptops interrupts (is this the right word ?) - which had worked
> perfectly well for many years on my ThinkPad 600 under RedHat 7.2 - do

did you already check/search here?

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/

HTH
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