Wireless laptop configuration problem

[William Chapman]

On 8/2/05, Christoph Georgi <christoph.georgi at web.de> wrote:
> hi,
> 
> you're using WEP?! well, try to establish the wlan first without wep
> encryption, as this might cause the whole thing to not work; but don't
> ask me why.. this way you'd rule out dirver or h/w problems (and as far
> as i can see your problem isn't h/w or driver related...):
> 
//snipped
> 
> suggest that something is "wrong" with the packages you receive.. but it
> seems to be a network id problem: 'Rx invalid nwid:51578' (not a
> encryption problem, but nevertheless, first run the thing plain, then
> add all the fancy stuff ;) )
> 
> have you checked whether you're wireless card is recognised by your
> wireless access point?? (check the logs on the access point; somewhere
> it should say that the MAC - of your wlan card - accessed the ap)
> 
> hth,
> christoph
> 
//snipped
> 
> --
> 
> 
> Christoph Georgi
> -----------------------------
> email.  christoph.georgi at web.de
> fon.    +49 (0)160 9790 3488
> 
> registered linux user #380268
> ubuntu 5.04 (ubuntu.com)
> 
Christoph,

I finally figured out how to disable WEP (entered "off") in control
panel, and after the card activated, the symptoms were the same.

Observing the router admin http page reveals that he is seeing the
wireless card, and records the MAC address correctly, but shows
neither a name, nor an IP address (which he should assign, as he is
the DHCP and DNS provider).

Another observation:  when the command dhclient is executed on ath0,
the DHCPDISCOVER can be seen going out on the Gnome Network Connection
tool, but the responses (receiving), DHCPOFFERS, are never see on the
same tool.

Because this notebook had such a fresh installation, I have decided to
re-install Ubuntu.  It turns out that the original install had some
"minor problems" that might have impacted the original network
configuration.  Viz., originally, the wireless card was plugged in
during the installation, but the wired Ethernet, although available to
the  system - it being integrated into the laptop, was not, as the
Ethernet cable was unplugged!  I'm thinking this to be somewhat
unorthodox, hence my decision to try a fresh install.

Thanks for your input!  I will continue to post the results.

Kindly,

Bill Chapman