Wireless hook-up failure

Javelin Dan · posted: 2011-02-04 15:01

I continue to struggle with getting a wireless connection on my old Dell Inspiron 8000 laptop. Yesterday, I received the wireless USB adapter I ordered. When I plug it in the LED lights up, so it's powering up (my old Trendnet never would with any Linux distro). When I open CENI and look under"ethernet" at"wlano" the model # of the device is read and listed. But when I click on"Scan for networks" I get an empty box that just says"no values". My Compaq (also running Antix 8.5 - 32 bit) picks up at least 5 wireless networks including mine. I ordered this unit (from Amazon) specifically because it was advertised to work with both 32 bit and 64 bit Linux, and because there were numerous favorable reviews by people using it with Linux (mostly Ubuntu). However, the specs on the back of the box say..."Supports 64/128 bit WEP, complies with 128 bit WPA standard (TKIP/AES)". It says nothing about 32 bit anything. I think I remember reading somewhere that you can't use a 64 bit adapter with a 32 bit OS. True? Is this what's going on or does anyone have any other suggestions. I should add that the old Trendnet adapter used to work on this computer when it had Windows XP installed on it. I know I'm obcessing about this, but the bull dog in me won't let go - I HAVE to solve this. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

afab4 · posted: 2011-02-04 15:26

Javelin Dan wrote: When I open CENI and look under"ethernet" at"wlano" the model # of the device is read and listed. But when I click on"Scan for networks" I get an empty box that just says"no values".

Ceni will find your adapter OK but if you do not have the correct drivers installed, Ceni will not be able to browse and find your network.

In RoxTerm, enter inxi -F to identify the cards controller and maybe we can figure out which driver is correct, and how to either procure or enable it.

Javelin Dan · posted: 2011-02-04 15:56

afab4 -

I'l have to wait till I get home from work to post that info. Bear with me and I'll let you know what's there. I should mention that a mini driver disk came with the adapter. I inserted it and it didn't automatically start. I tried to get it to boot through M-Player (?) but no luck. I wasn't sure if I understood the (scant) instructions, but I believe this disk may only work with Windows. Thanks for your interest.

Javelin Dan · posted: 2011-02-06 20:00

afab-4,

I don't know how to take a screenshot, so I'll enter the info manually that I pulled up on the" inxi - F" command...

CPU - single core Pentium III (Coppermine)

(UP) - clocked at 698.519

Kernal - 2.6.32-1 mepis i 686

UP - 45 minutes

Mem - 93.3/121.5 mb

HDD - 20.0 GB (8.8% used)

Procs - (-75)

Client - shell

inxi - (-1.4.9-)

There ya' go - I hope it all means something to you. Thanks again.

Javelin Dan · posted: 2011-02-06 22:23

Just a little more info...

The wireless USB adapter is a Ralink 802.11 wlan. The people who sold it to me claim the model # is RT307X. The read-out on CENI identifies it as rt2800usb. Hope this helps.

afab4 · posted: 2011-02-06 22:48

Javelin Dan wrote:
Mem - 93.3/121.5 mb

HDD - 20.0 GB (8.8% used)

If what you posted is the complete output of inxi, then neither your sound card or your network card(s) are being found by antiX. Do you have an internal ethernet (wired) card available in this laptop?
Also, if you really only have 121.5 mb of memory and are using 93.3 mb then this may be an issue.
I do not have much experience with USB cards, mine are either internal wireless or pc card.
Hopefully someone who uses USB can pick up on this and offer some assistance.
it does look like antiX provides the correct driver for your card by default.

Javelin Dan · posted: 2011-02-07 15:36

Couldn't really comment on anything you say except that I DO have sound and my ethernet connection works. I'll go back and review, but I believe I posted everything that was on inxi. If it won't work here, any idea why this computer worked with a USB adapter with the extremely bloated 'XP' OS that used to be on it?

afab4 · posted: 2011-02-07 17:07

Code: Select all

jim@antiX1:~$ inxi -F
System:    Host antiX1 Kernel 2.6.32-1-mepis-smp i686 (32 bit) Distro antiX-M11-686-pt2 30 January 2011
CPU:       Single core Intel Pentium M (-UP-) cache 2048 KB flags (sse sse2) bmips 3997.87 clocked at 2000.00 MHz 
Graphics:  Card nVidia NV34M [GeForce FX Go5200 64M] X.Org 1.7.7 Res: 1680x1050@50.0hz 
           GLX Renderer GeForce FX Go5200/AGP/SSE2 GLX Version 2.1.2 NVIDIA 173.14.28 Direct Rendering Yes
Audio:     Card Intel 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller driver Intel ICH at ports b800 bc40 BusID: 00:1f.5
           Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.21
Network:   Card-1 Broadcom NetXtreme BCM5705M Gigabit Ethernet driver tg3 v: 3.102 BusID: 02:00.0
           Card-2 Broadcom BCM4309 802.11a/b/g driver b43-pci-bridge BusID: 02:03.0
Disks:     HDD Total Size: 60.0GB (12.3% used) 1: /dev/hda HTS726060M9AT00 60.0GB 
Partition: ID:/ size: 27G used: 6.9G (28%) fs: auto ID:swap-1 size: 2.18GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap 
Info:      Processes 92 Uptime 30 min Memory 163.9/1008.9MB Runlevel 5 Client Shell inxi 1.4.23

Here is what I get when I do a inxi -F
As you can see it gives me a summary of my current system. I was hoping yours would give a similar output.
I had an Inspiron 2000 with 256mb and a Linksys wireless external PCcard. It came with XP Personal and of course had all the drivers on the Dell disk. When I went to Linux (Mepis 8 and antiX-8) I had to do a lot of trial and error to even get it to boot. I had to change some video settings in the bios and disable the internal modem. I also disabled the internal ethernet card as I never used it anyway. If you were using Dell quickset software with XP then it is possible that XP was controlling your bios settings. You may have to go into the bios and change some wireless radio settings to get your USB card to work. I am not sure how the different interfaces (USB vs. PCcard) differ in this way.

Javelin Dan · posted: 2011-02-08 00:12

OK-

I tried it again and got something more like what you're looking for (I think) - it reads...

daniel@antix1:~$ inxi -F
System: Host Antix1 Kernel 2.6.32-1 mepis i686 (32 bit) Distro antix-M8.5-486
Mark Edelman 11 April 2010
CPU: Single core Pentium III (Coppermine) (UP) cache 256 KB flags (sse) bm
ips 1397.21 clocked at 698.502 MHz
Graphics: Card ATI Rage Mobility M4 AGP X.Org 1.6.5 Res: 1400 x 1050@60.0hz
GLX Renderer Software Rasterizer GLX Version 2.1 Mesa 7.7.1-DEVEL
Direct Rendering Yes
Audio: Card ESS ES1983S Maestro-3i PCI Audio Accelerator driver Maestro3 at port
dc00 Bus ID: .02.03.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture Version 1.0.21
Network: Card Intel 82557/8/9/0/1 Ethernet Pro 100 driver e100 v: 3.5.24-k2-NAPI at
port ecc0 BusID: 08:04.0
Disks: HDD Total Size: 20.0 GB (8.7% used) 1: /dev/hda HITACHI_DK23BA-20 20.0 GB
Partition: ID/size: 17G used: 1.7G (11%) fs: ext3 ID:swap-1 size: 2.18GB used:
0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
Info: Processes 76 Uptime 2 min Memory 51.7/121.5MB Runlevel 5 Client Shell
inxi 1.4.9

I hope this is all correct and what you are looking for. Now, let's approach this from a different direction...

My USB adapter came with a mini CD for downloading the driver.I couldn't boot it up on the Dell as the CD/DVD drive is dying. But I was able to open and download the driver on my Mac. I then saved it to a thumb drive, and plugged it into the Dell. It went into the Download Manager as a Tarball. I clicked on"Extract" and it disappeared. Did it go where it needs to go? If not, I have no idea where to find it or what to do with it now. Again, as always, I need help. I still have the file on the thumb drive if needed.

Javelin Dan · posted: 2011-02-08 00:16

One more thing I meant to include in my last post: This is a full install of Antix 8.5 - no other OS on this computer. Thanks.

dolphin_oracle · posted: 2011-02-08 00:51

i feel your pain with the wireless. I haven't tried a usb, but I did have a ralink pc card that I needed to turn off the card's power management to get it to work. You could try that.

As root:

Code: Select all

#iwconfig wlan0 power off

also, is it possible the usb wireless requires usb 2.0. your system almost certainly only supports usb 1.1 unless you've added a new add on card.

just some thoughts.

d.o.

Javelin Dan · posted: 2011-02-08 16:12

Well, for what it's worth, before I bought the adapter I read all the reviews that were available. They were virtually all from Linux users (I think there were 11 overall), and only 2 as I remember had difficulty with configuration. One guy in particular was running Xubuntu on an ancient laptop without upgrades (can't remember the make) and his connected immediately. I contacted the seller and told them the equipment and OS I was using and they thought it SHOULD work with the correct driver. I recall seeing something on the MEPIS wiki about occassionally having problems with competing drivers and having to go in (somewhere) and selectively turn off different drivers on a trial and error basis. Anyone want to weigh in on that with a little more info? Also, anyone want to address downloading the driver from the mini CD that came with the adapter (as stated above)?

afab4 · posted: 2011-02-08 17:55

Just for grins please try this.
In Roxterm, as root type modprobe rt2000usb <enter>
Then try ceni again.

I would think your mini-cd has only Windows drivers on it or maybe Mac.

Anyway, you said your wired connection works so you could always go to the Debian website and find the correct driver in .deb form and then install.

Javelin Dan · posted: 2011-02-08 20:42

afab4 -

EXACTLY how would I download from the Debian site? Part of my problem is that I'm not familiar enough with Linux to know how to handle software downloads when they don't come through synaptic. I can get them into the dowload manager and extract them, then they disappear. Is that all there is to it or should I be doing something else? Please fill me in - there are MANY gaps in my knowledge and abilities. In the mean time, I will try your suggestion in Roxterm. Thanks.

oldhoghead · posted: 2011-02-08 22:03

would you run in terminal as user and post output.

lsusb

cheers