[Preston] Network Newbie need help with WiFi

Ken Wolstencroft preston at mailman.lug.org.uk
Wed Nov 20 22:04:00 2002


Your signal level is a little low (-68dBM), usually -72ish is the limit at
11Mbits/s.
Try moving your antenna (unless its fixed), or boosting the tx power on the
windows card (if pos).

Ken
WNAP (Wireless Network Access Project)

----- Original Message -----
From: "entwisi" <entwisi@dsl.pipex.com>
To: <preston@mailman.lug.org.uk>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 9:57 PM
Subject: Re: [Preston] Network Newbie need help with WiFi


> Doh!   Copied all the contents of the modules folder and it doesn't
> throw the error. So now i've done that iwconfig shows
>
> eth0      IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:""  Nickname:"Prism  I"
>           Mode:Managed  Frequency:42.9497GHz  Access Point:
> 44:44:44:44:44:44
>           Bit Rate:2Mb/s   Tx-Power=15 dBm   Sensitivity:1/3
>           Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
>           Encryption key:off
>           Power Management:off
>           Link Quality:0/92  Signal level:-68 dBm  Noise level:-122 dBm
>           Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>           Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
>
> [root@localhost net]# ifconfig
> eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:20:E0:91:06:97
>           inet addr:192.168.1.0  Bcast:127.255.255.255
> Mask:255.255.255.0
>           UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
>           RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
>           TX packets:0 errors:10 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
>           collisions:0 txqueuelen:100
>           RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:950 (950.0 b)
>           Interrupt:11 Base address:0x4000 Memory:cddff000-cddfffff
>
> lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
>           inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
>           UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
>           RX packets:460 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
>           TX packets:460 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
>           collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
>           RX bytes:29226 (28.5 Kb)  TX bytes:29226 (28.5 Kb)
>
> ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
>           inet addr:*.*.*.*  P-t-P:81.86.144.1  Mask:255.255.255.255
>           UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
>           RX packets:23662 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
>           TX packets:24761 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
>           collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
>           RX bytes:21661744 (20.6 Mb)  TX bytes:2643150 (2.5 Mb)
>
> Am I right in guessing that the link quality 0/92 is not good at this
> point.
>
>
> Cheers
>
> Ian
>
>
>
>
> On Wed, 2002-11-20 at 21:23, entwisi wrote:
> > Ken
> >
> >  Thanks for the response, I have just downloaded the hostap stuff , It
> > compiles OK it fell over on the make install_pci bit due to a dodgy path
> > error, I have put it in /lib/modules/2.4.19-16mdk/kernel/drivers/net
> >  but on running /sbin/depmod -a I get unresolved symbols in
> > hostapp_pci.o
> >
> > Any Ideas?
> >
> >
> > Ian
> >
> > PS Yes I would be happy to participate in your scheme as long as it
> > isn't hogging my system too much and I have no security concerns
> >
> >
> > On Wed, 2002-11-20 at 20:23, Ken Wolstencroft wrote:
> > > It looks like you haven't assigned an ip address for your wireless
card. You
> > > should be able to do this by creating an ifcfg-eth0 in
> > > /etc/syconfig/network-scripts/
> > >
> > > You also need to set an IP address on your XP machine in the same
range as
> > > your Linux box. Either set this manually or set up a dhcp server
operating
> > > in the same subnet as your linux box.
> > >
> > > The orinoco driver is ok, but I suggest compiling the hostap driver
> > > http://hostap.epitest.fi/
> > >
> > > If you get this working, would you be willing to join our community
wireless
> > > LAN project. This is a completely voluntary project, trying to create
a
> > > coherent wireless network accross the region.
> > >
> > > All the best,
> > > Ken
> > > WNAP (Wireless Network Access Project)
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "entwisi" <entwisi@dsl.pipex.com>
> > > To: <preston@mailman.lug.org.uk>
> > > Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 8:06 PM
> > > Subject: [Preston] Network Newbie need help with WiFi
> > >
> > >
> > > > Hi guys(and gals)
> > > >
> > > >  I am a relative newbie to linux and networking in general and was
> > > > wondering if anyone could help. I have a wireless LAN running in XP
Pro
> > > > but I am trying to convert to Mandrake. I have sorted all my other
> > > > issues(NVidia drivers, ADSL connection etc) but  this has me
stumped.
> > > >
> > > > IN XP my setup sort of defies convention but works OK. Basically I
have
> > > > an Actiontec PCI wifi card(DABs value range) in my box and a
Actiontec
> > > > USB WiFi adaptor in SWMBOs set to Ad-hoc. Under XP I had a little
fun
> > > > getting everything working. In the end the setup is as follows. My
PC
> > > > has a fixed IP (192.168.1.0 subnet 255.255.255.0) with a workgroup
> > > > called "Workgroup". SWMBOs has a dynamic assigned IP(which is always
> > > > 169.254.171.47 subnet 255.255.0.0) with workgroup "MSHOME". This
allows
> > > > File sharing and Internet connection through my box with no major
> > > > problems. I don't really know why it works cause I was told both
> > > > workgroup names should be the same as should the IPs be in the same
> > > > range.
> > > >
> > > > So... I need to get ICS and file sharing working under MDK9.0. I
> > > > understand that for the file sharing I need to configure Samba but
at
> > > > the moment I can't even ping the boxes so I am not playing around in
> > > > that just yet. Through searching Google I found that my card needs
the
> > > > orinoco_pci module (it has a Prism 2.5 chipset which is recognised
in
> > > > Harddrake) rather than the orinoco_cs or wavelan drivers. I
eventually
> > > > found this module. On issuing modprobe orinoco_pci when I start MDK
> > > > Control centre an eth0 appears. In the /var/log/messages file I see
> > > >
> > > >  Nov 20 19:31:20 localhost kernel: eth0: Channel out of range (0)!
> > > > Nov 20 19:31:21 localhost /etc/hotplug/net.agent: invoke ifup eth0
> > > > Nov 20 19:31:24 localhost kernel: eth0: Channel out of range (0)!
> > > > Nov 20 19:37:49 localhost last message repeated 2 times
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >  I have the wireless tools installed, the output of ifconfig and
> > > > iwconfig are as follows, I had set essid before doing this(my ppp IP
> > > > munged for security)
> > > >
> > > > [root@localhost log]# ifconfig
> > > > lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
> > > >           inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
> > > >           UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
> > > >           RX packets:454 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
> > > >           TX packets:454 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
> > > >           collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
> > > >           RX bytes:28898 (28.2 Kb)  TX bytes:28898 (28.2 Kb)
> > > >
> > > > ppp0      Link encap:Point-to-Point Protocol
> > > >           inet addr:*.*.*.*  P-t-P:81.86.144.1  Mask:255.255.255.255
> > > >           UP POINTOPOINT RUNNING NOARP MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
> > > >           RX packets:10534 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
> > > >           TX packets:9982 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
> > > >           collisions:0 txqueuelen:3
> > > >           RX bytes:10065226 (9.5 Mb)  TX bytes:908863 (887.5 Kb)
> > > >
> > > > [root@localhost log]# iwconfig
> > > > eth0      IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:"Workgroup"  Nickname:"Prism  I"
> > > >           Mode:Managed  Frequency:42.9497GHz  Access Point:
> > > > 00:00:00:00:00:00
> > > >           Bit Rate:11Mb/s   Tx-Power=15 dBm   Sensitivity:1/3
> > > >           Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
> > > >           Encryption key:off
> > > >           Power Management:off
> > > >           Link Quality:0/92  Signal level:-68 dBm  Noise level:-122
dBm
> > > >           Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
> > > >           Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Any help would be greatly appreciated as this is teh last hurdle to
a
> > > > M$free world.<fx: cheers abound as another one leaves the nest>
> > > >
> > > > Cheers
> > > >
> > > > Ian
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > _______________________________________________
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> > >
> > >
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> >
> >
> >
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