[lwlan-user] Newbie questions

Mon Nov 7 10:46:36 EST 2005

Hi David

 The HW address loads up properly. Here are the ident outputs

ident: nic h/w: id=0x801b 1.0.0
ident: pri f/w: id=0x15   1.1.0
ident: sta f/w: id=0x1f   1.4.2

 Maybe that is the problem ? Should it be a higher version ?

 If you look at 

 http://linux.junsun.net/intersil-prism/stories/20031105_HenrikBrixAndersen-success.txt

 the poster there uses a similar card (WPC11) vs mine WCF12. He had the 
same versions 1.1.0/1.4.2 before. He later updated to 1.1.1/1.7.4 using 
WinUpdate to update the firmware. He states that the upgraded card works 
well with linux-wlan-ng

 I figure I will have to use 
pk0101010.hex (1.1.1 pri) and 
sf0107040.hex (1.7.4 sec) 
for this upgrade. Any comments ?

 junsun.net also refers to upgrading firmware at 
http://linux.junsun.net/intersil-prism/

  It does not cover prism2dl, which would have been helpful. 

regards..
Vikram

+------------------------------------------------------+
+ Vikram KAUL  vkaul_AT_research_DOT_telcordia_DOT_com +
+ Wireless Systems and Networks Research               +
+------------------------------------------------------+

On Sun, 6 Nov 2005, Gee, David wrote:

david>Date: Sun, 06 Nov 2005 17:53:52 -0600
david>From: "Gee, David" <david at allpowerfuldave.com>
david>To: Vikram KAUL <vkaul at research.telcordia.com>
david>Cc: linux-wlan-user at lists.linux-wlan.com
david>Subject: Re: [lwlan-user] Newbie questions
david>
david>Vikram,
david>
david>Two possibilities I can think of:
david>
david>1. The firmware for your card isn't getting downloaded to the card
david>properly. I had this problem with my USB-based card. You can tell whether
david>this is the problem by running ifconfig: if the firmware has been
david>downloaded correctly, the MAC address for the card will be correctly
david>displayed:
david>
david>wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:09:5B:B2:2A:77
david>
david>If not, it will be displayed as
david>
david>wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:00:00:00:00:00
david>
david>2. The other possibility is that the card can't find any wireless networks
david>in range. To test whether this is the problem, create a new wireless
david>config file in /etc/wlan (/etc/wlan/wlancfg-ESSIDNAME), and update the
david>following line:
david>
david>IS_ADHOC=y # y|n, y - adhoc, n - infrastructure
david>
david>This will setup and ad-hoc (peer-to-peer) wireless network instead of an
david>access-point based network. This will allow the wireless card to activate
david>even if there isn't a network for it to find.
david>
david>Regards
david>David
david>
david>Vikram KAUL wrote:
david>
david>> David, others
david>> 
david>> Thanks for the response.
david>> I do have ifcfg-wlan0. But that is only for setting up the IP
david>> configurations once the wlan setup works fine. I have a problem with the
david>> setup itself. Notice what I get
david>> 
david>> #iwconfig wlan0
david>> 
david>>  wlan0 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:""
david>>  Mode:Auto Channel:0 Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
david>>  Bit Rate:2 Mb/s Tx-Power:2346 dBm
david>>  Retry min limit:8 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
david>>  Encryption key:off
david>>  Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
david>>  Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
david>>  Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
david>> 
david>> See the values for Channel, AP, Tx-Power. What does a channel of ZERO
david>> mean. What is a Tx-Power of 2346 dBm ?
david>> 
david>> But given this configuration, scanning works fine.
david>> 
david>> Also, if I were to use the same card (linksys WCF12 Compact Flash with
david>> PCMCIA adapter), but use the orinoco_cs driver instead (which will be
david>> used if the prims2_cs is not loaded), then the card works well. It maps
david>> to the nearest AP, and if I config it in the ad-hoc mode, it does it and
david>> communicates with peer nodes over ad-hoc
david>> 
david>> The question is why the card does not even get initialized properly. 
david>> Has anyone successfully made a linksys WCF12 card work with the driver.
david>> 
david>> Are there some prism2_cs cards that work without absolutely any problem
david>> with the linux-wlan driver ? I don't have to stick with the linksys. It
david>> was the only one I could get my hands on, but I can switch if I have to. 
david>> Any help would be welcome. I can send in more details if desired.
david>> 
david>> regards..
david>> Vikram
david>> 
david>> On Sat, 5 Nov 2005, Gee, David wrote:
david>> 
david>> david>Date: Sat, 05 Nov 2005 00:10:11 -0600
david>> david>From: "Gee, David" <david at allpowerfuldave.com>
david>> david>To: Vikram KAUL <vkaul at research.telcordia.com>
david>> david>Cc: linux-wlan-user at lists.linux-wlan.com
david>> david>Subject: Re: [lwlan-user] Newbie questions
david>> david>
david>> david>Vikram,
david>> david>
david>> david>Is your wlan0 interface configured to come up at boot? Check
david>> david>/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0 ...you may find that
david>> this file
david>> david>doesn't exist - when I installed my prism2_usb card I had to
david>> create this
david>> david>file for my card. You can either use your ethernet connection's
david>> file as a
david>> david>template (ifcfg-eth0) or use mine below - you'll have to tweak it
david>> with
david>> david>your MAC address, preferred IP settings etc. Pay particular
david>> attention to
david>> david>the ONBOOT line - that controls the state of the interface at boot
david>> time.
david>> david>
david>> david>DEVICE=wlan0
david>> david>BOOTPROTO=static
david>> david>BROADCAST=10.255.255.255
david>> david>IPADDR=10.255.255.1
david>> david>NETMASK=255.255.255.0
david>> david>NETWORK=10.255.255.0
david>> david>ONBOOT=yes
david>> david>TYPE=Ethernet
david>> david>USERCTL=yes
david>> david>PEERDNS=yes
david>> david>IPV6INIT=no
david>> david>DHCP_HOSTNAME=malvern.allpowerfuldave.com
david>> david>
david>> david>Regards
david>> david>David Gee
david>> david>
david>> david>
david>> david>Vikram KAUL wrote:
david>> david>
david>> david>> david>> Hi Folks,
david>> david>> david>> New here. Downloaded 0.2.2 version of the driver for a
david>> Fedora Core 4
david>> david>> (2.6.11.1_1369) kernel. Compiled and installed well. I am
david>> currently
david>> david>> using a linksys Compact Flash card (Model WCF12) with a Compact
david>> Flash
david>> david>> adapter on the PCMCIA slot in the IBM T-41
david>> david>> david>> When I insert the card the "prism2_cs" module loads up.
david>> But even if I
david>> david>> have used the SSID_wlan0="" (so that it could associate with any
david>> AP), it
david>> david>> doesn't do that. In fact, the card shows a solid green light,
david>> but
david>> david>> iwconfig shows wlan0 has no wireless extensions (not up). Why is
david>> that ?
david>> david>> Is there something I am not doing right ?
david>> david>> david>> Additionally, I then execute the following command
david>> (although, it was
david>> david>> noted in the README that this was only for pci usage)
david>> david>> david>> wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable
david>> david>> david>> This brings up wlan0 with wireless extensions, and the
david>> green light now
david>> david>> blinks, but iwconfig reports the following:
david>> david>> david>> #iwconfig wlan0
david>> david>
david>> david>> wlan0 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:""
david>> david>> Mode:Auto Channel:0 Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
david>> david>> Bit Rate:2 Mb/s Tx-Power:2346 dBm
david>> david>> Retry min limit:8 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
david>> david>> Encryption key:off
david>> david>> Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
david>> david>> Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
david>> david>> Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
david>> david>> david>> The strange thing is that scanning works. I have changed
david>> the ESSID and
david>> david>> Address in the following cut-n-paste
david>> david>> david>> # iwlist wlan0 scan
david>> david>> david>> wlan0 Scan completed :
david>> david>> Cell 01 - Address: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
david>> david>> ESSID:"A name LAN3"
david>> david>> Mode:Master
david>> david>> Encryption key:on
david>> david>> Channel:1
david>> david>> Quality:13/92 Signal level:-75 dBm Noise level:-88 dBm
david>> david>> Cell 02 - Address: yy:yy:yy:yy:yy:yy
david>> david>> ESSID:"A name LAN2"
david>> david>> Mode:Master
david>> david>> Encryption key:on
david>> david>> Channel:2
david>> david>> Quality:17/92 Signal level:-73 dBm Noise level:-90 dBm
david>> david>> david>> david>> My question is why is the interface (wlan0) not
david>> coming up right away ?
david>> david>> Why do I have to run the wlanctl-ng command ? It was recommended
david>> for
david>> david>> PCI, but without that, I can't get the card working.
david>> david>> david>> I have numerous other questions about not being able to
david>> get into ad-hoc
david>> david>> mode, but I will reserve those for later.
david>> david>> david>> Thanks in anticipation for any help/pointers that anyone
david>> can provide
david>> david>> david>> regards...
david>> david>> Vikram
david>> david>> _______________________________________________
david>> david>> Linux-wlan-user mailing list
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david>> david>> http://lists.linux-wlan.com/mailman/listinfo/linux-wlan-user
david>> david>
david>> david>
david>>  
david>