Madwifi help needed

[Anne Wilson]

On Tuesday 29 May 2007 18:29:50 Wolfgang S. Rupprecht wrote:
> Anne Wilson <cannewilson at googlemail.com> writes:
> > ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
> > ctrl_interface_group=wheel
> >
> > network={
> >         ssid="Lydgate2"
> >         #psk="xxxxx"
> >         psk=abcd23bcfetc
> >         key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
> >         # proto=WPA
> >         proto=RSN
> > }
>
> That looks good.
>
> I don't know if it matters, RSN is WPA2.  It is a bit different from
> WPA.  If your AP is truly only WPA then they shouldn't be able to
> associate
>
To be safe I've changed it to WPA.  I can always try RSN once I've got it 
working.

> Below is mine.  The password was changed to a different but similar
> one.  (BTW. A hex character string of exactly 64 characters
> ]0-9a-f] is special and if chosen by a random number generator will
> give you the strongest protection.)
>
>     ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
>     ctrl_interface_group=10
>     update_config=1
>
>     network={
>             ssid="wsrcc"
>            
> psk=2ba0a33734fec8ac701517cc5945702947e9706f3a076121b1ae271c186228d6
> proto=RSN
>             priority=10
>     }
>
> Second question: what is your
> /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ath0 ?  Maybe there is a badly
> quoted ssid line in there?

It doesn't exist.  I do have a ifcfg-wifi0, which looks sketchy in the 
extreme.  It just says

# Atheros Communications Inc.  AR5212 802.11abg NIC
DEVICE=wifi0
ONBOOT=yes
BOOTPROTO=dhcp  # Later I'll want to change that to static IP
HWADDR=.....mac address

>
> FYI For reference here is what I have:
>
>     # Atheros Communications, Inc. AR5212 802.11abg NIC
>     DEVICE=ath0
>     ONBOOT=yes
>     BOOTPROTO=dhcp
>     HWADDR=00:15:6d:10:00:00
>     NETMASK=
>     DHCP_HOSTNAME=ancho-wifi
>     IPADDR=
>     DOMAIN=
>     TYPE=Wireless
>     USERCTL=yes
>     IPV6INIT=yes
>     PEERDNS=yes
>     ESSID=
>     CHANNEL=1
>     MODE=Managed
>     RATE=Auto
>
Maybe I should manually edit the file and see if that helps.

> > Using chkconfig I've set NetworkManager and NetworkManagerDispatches on. 
> > I've set nm-applet to load at kde start.  It tells me that there is no
> > network connection.
>
> To get wpa_supplicant to start before the network interfaces are
> brought up you want to edit /etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant and change the
> ckconfig line to start wpa_supplicant on slot 9 instead of 12.  The
> network interfaces are brought up at 10.  After editing the file you
> have to run chkconfig again to get it to set the startup symlinks in
> /etc/rc.d/rc*.d/ to the new values.
>
> - chkconfig:   - 12 88
> + chkconfig:   - 9 88
>
OK - I'll do that.

> > I think that the card-attached antenna may be a problem, as it barely
> > clears the edge of the case.  Tomorrow I'll get an extender antenna and
> > see if that helps.
>
> I agree.  Card antennas are always a problem.  Nothing beats an
> antenna that sticks up from the top of the display.  I think the
> one-laptop-per-child program with its superior wifi connection (all
> due to better antenna positioning) will popularize rabbit-ears for
> laptops.
>
By this time tomorrow I should have the antenna extended - but I don't know 
whether there is a choice of lengths.  I want it well clear of the box, 
screen, etc.

> > On that box it wouldn't matter, but I'm curious as to how that works on a
> > laptop where you may be accessing different networks.  Do you have to
> > scan then change your conf to the one to match what's found?  I presume
> > that open networks are no problem.
>
> To be honest, it booting out of range of the one SSID it knows how to
> connect to is a real pain.  One has to wait for it to time out and
> boot slowly due to all the network things that fail.  The only choice
> one has is to add all the other networks and then one suffers hourly
> freezes as wpa_supplicant goes off on a one or two minute vacation
> trying to talk to every open wifi within reach.  Your mileage may vary
> and there may well be something unique going on here that causes that
> problem.  For all I know someone may be trying to break a neighbor's
> WEP by spraying disassociate packets and my wifi connection is
> suffering for it.
>
Fortunately it shouldn't be a problem on this box.  It isn't going anywhere.  
I've seen a neighbour's connection pop up on my Mandriva laptop, 
occasionally, but it doesn't cause me any problem.  The laptop merely 
acknowledges its existence, and I carry on working on my own.

It's a real pain, troubleshooting on a box that doesn't have a network 
connection.  I'm so used to being able to access the box from where I work 
and copy/paste.  Still, if I've introduced any typos, I'm sure you'll 
recognise them as such.

Anne