[lwlan-user] redhat 9 and netgear MA401

[Ray Olszewski]

I do not use Red Hat 9 here, so I may be wrong in this observation. It 
appears to me that your problem *may* not involve wireless as such but be a 
simple interface-configuration problem.

First, the network settings you provide for the card are inconsistent. You 
report them as:

>IPADDR=192.168.1.2
>GATEWAY=192.168.1.254
>NETMASK=255.255.255.0
>NETWORK=192.168.0.0
>BROADCAST=192.168.0.255

Assuming the netmask is correct, then the IP address and Gateway are on a 
different network (192.168.1.0/24) from the Network and Broadcast addresses 
(192.168.0.0/24). This sort of configuration error leads, in my experience 
with Linux, to unpredictable results, and the interface not being 
configured is one possibility.

Second, if this guess is correct, it explains why the interface does not 
show up in the output of "ifconfig", since invoked that way, it shows only 
configured interfaces (configured = assigned an IP address). See if the 
output of "ifconfig -a" lists the wlan0 interface, only with no IP address 
(the way it shows up in iwconfig).

Third, if this guess is correct, it explains why you get the result

>When I try "ping 192.168.1.2" I receive "Network unreachable"

The mismatch probably means you have no routing table entries at all (what 
does "netstat -nr" report?), or if you do have some, you only have an entry 
for 192.168.0.0/24, with no default gateway.

I emphasize once again that all of this is only a **guess**. The other 
suggestions someone else made could disclose a problem with card setup ... 
but since iwconfig reports the wlan0 interface as existing, I think that 
less likely.

If this is the problem, the solution is to make the settings consistent and 
try again. Which way to do that depends on what values are correct for your 
LAN, something I cannot tell you. Do whichever one of these things is 
appropriate:

         A. Change IP address to 192.168.0.2 and Gateway to 192.168.0.254
         B. Change Network to 192.168.1.0 and Broadcast to 192.168.1.255
         C. Chnge Netmask to 255.255.254.0 and Broadcast to 192.168.1.255

Any of the three will make the settings consistent; only one (I don't know 
which) will also make them correct.

At 04:05 PM 7/2/2003 +0200, Laura77 wrote:
>Thank you very much all !
>I am very sorry to bother you with my problem but I don't want to leave
>Linux.
>Sorry for several same messages but I made errors because of the anger.
>
>I try to summerize my current situation.
>
>1) Red Hat 9 (2.4.20 -8) installed on a Compaq Presario Laptop 2136EA
>(Pentium IV 2,4)
>
>2) Netgear MA 401 PCMCIA Wireless Card (802.11b) installed with Netgear
>ME102 access point.
>
>3) The access point is contected with a Prestige 645R ADSL router (I
>have an ADSL connection with static IP address)
>
>3) Appropriate RMPS packages installed from .
>
>4) /etc/wlan/wlancfg-DEFAULT changed in /etc/wlan/wlancfg-Wireless
>
>5) SSID_wlan0 line in  /etc/wlan/wlan.conf file changed in
>SSID_wlan0="Wireless"
>
>Until here all ok. At this point I encountered some problems:
>
>6) In README file says "Edit /etc/pcmcia/network.opts file to set up
>your IP settings"
>
>.... But I have not this file ! Poor me ! What a schock !
>
>7) Then following your suggestions I made my IP settings in the file
>
>/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcgf-wlan0
>
>This is the current file:
>
>DEVICE=wlan0
>ONBOOT=yes
>NAME=wlan0
>BOOTPROTO=static                # change this to static to specify an IP
>addr
>IPADDR=192.168.1.2
>GATEWAY=192.168.1.254
>NETMASK=255.255.255.0
>NETWORK=192.168.0.0
>BROADCAST=192.168.0.255
>GATEWAYDEV=wlan0              # this is for setting default route
>TYPE=Ethernet
>USERCTL=yes
>PEERDNS=no                  # this lets DHCP define the DNS setup
>
>
>I changed fields ONBOOT (no -> yes), BOOTPROTO (dhcp -> Static),  IPADDR
>(my PCMCIA card IP address), GATEWAY (my router IP address) , PEERDNS
>(yes -> no, but I am not sure about this change) and I added field NAME.
>
>8) Then, for security ;-), I copy this file in /etc/sysconfig/networking
>and /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices
>
>
>SITUATION:
>
>Good:
>
>- Solid green on PCMCIA card
>
>Bad:
>
>- When I try "ping 192.168.1.2" I receive "Network unreachable"
>
>
>I belive it is a problem of network configuaration.
>
>Other information that maybe are usefull for you trying helping me
>(please !)
>
>- result of ifconfig:
>
>[root@laura root]# 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:27615 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
>           TX packets:27615 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
>           collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
>           RX bytes:1885351 (1.7 Mb)  TX bytes:1885351 (1.7 Mb)
>
>- result of iwconfig (what does it mean ?)
>
>[root@laura root]# iwconfig
>lo        no wireless extensions.
>
>eth0      no wireless extensions.
>
>wlan0     IEEE 802.11-b  ESSID:"Wireless"  Nickname:"Wireless"
>           Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437GHz  Access Point:
>00:09:5B:3B:E7:95
>           Bit Rate:2Mb/s   Tx-Power:2346 dBm
>           Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
>           Encryption key:off
>           Link Quality:74/92  Signal level:-55 dBm  Noise level:-100 dBm
>           Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
>           Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
>
>
>-  Running redhat-config-network I see in the "Devices" tab two entries:
>
>(tanslating from italian)
>
>
>PROFILE,      STATUS,       , DEVICE, NICKNAME, TYPE
>
>box checked , don't activate,  eth0,    eth0,     ethernet
>
>box unchecked, don't activate, eth0,    wlan0,    ethernet
>
>
>Editing the second one I see in the "General" Tab the two checked boxes
>
>- Activate on boot
>- Let all the users ...
>
>and the part with the correct IP address.
>
>
>"Route" tab is empty.
>
>"Hardware devices" tab indicate the Fast Ethernet card eth0 ( isn't it
>strange ?)
>
>
>Let me know if you need other information to help me !
>
>I am looking forward for your answers !!!