Wireless laptop configuration problem

[MrKnisely]

William Chapman wrote:

>Hello!
>
>I have an old, Gateway Solo 9300 notebook (450 MHz Pentium 3) with a
>fresh (today!) Hoary installation.  Ubuntu is doing great except for
>the wireless internet connection.  Here is the setup:
>
>(1)  There is a NAT broadband, wireless router in the picture;
>
>(2)  There is a built-in 10/100 Ethernet port which apparently works
>fine (eth0) (connected to wired port in NAT router);
>
>(3)  There is a PCMCIA Netgear wireless card in the laptop which
>appears to be configured correctly (ath0), but cannot be made to talk
>on the LAN (more info below);
>
>(4)  With both interfaces (eth0 & ath0) configured and activated, the
>System->Administration->Networking control panel wants to select eth0
>as the "Default Gateway;" if I change this to ath0, it does not
>complain, but the change is apparently not made (see (5) below);  I
>think this is an important clue;
>
>(5) Anytime eth0 is configured and active (as indicated in control
>panel), "route -n" shows the following:
>
>Kernel IP routing table
>Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
>192.168.0.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U        0        0   
>    0    eth0
>0.0.0.0             192.168.0.1 0.0.0.0               UG     0       
>0        0     eth0
>
>This is true regardless of the state of ath0.
>
>(5)  If eth0 is deactivated (button push in panel) or the "is
>configured" check box is cleared (on panel), and then ath0 is set to
>the default gateway (via the selection button), "route -n" reveals a
>blank table, despite that fact that ath0 was set to the default
>gateway in the control panel.
>
>(6)  During the entire investigation, the Network Monitor tool (small
>Gnome tool for panel - looks like the similar Windows tool - two
>overlapping displays that light up) for ath0 shows that the card is
>connected, that the signal strength is good (>85%), and that the WEP
>and MAC address limitations set in the router are being satisfied. 
>because the card shows the correct flashing green leds (steady, in
>unison) indicating a good connection with the access point.  The ssid
>and wep numbers are entered correctly.
>
>(BTW, to enter the WEP key as an ascii string (which is ten hex
>characters), I had to do "s:xxxxxxxxxx" where the x's are ten hex
>characters.  The need to enter "s:" as a header is not obvious!!)
>
>(5)  The Applications->System Tools->Network Tools GUI reveals that it
>knows nothing about ath0's MAC address, even though this is shown
>correctly on the Network Monitor tool.
>
>(6)  With eth0 (wired) deactivated, attempting to ping with Network
>Tools shows that nothing is even being sent.  The system is totally
>ignoring the command.  If eth0 is active, pings go out his port; I
>can't get pings to go out ath0 (wireless) even though the
>configuration and connections seem ok.
>
>(7)  The correct wireless ID and WEP key are entered; DHCP is
>selected, and the gateway address is 192.168.0.1 (the NAT router). 
>This approach has has always worked flawlessly with my setup,
>including wireless under WinXP.
>
>What's going on?  It seems like Linux doesn't really want to, or
>can't, consider the wireless card as a means to get to the internet.
>
>Any help will be appreciated!!
>
>Bill Chapman
>
>  
>
Having two network cards on the same network is always confusing for a 
routing table.  I would try unactivating your ethernet connection and 
rebooting without the cable plugged in.  See if your wireless card comes 
up on boot.

Mike K.