&(#%$!@} wireless

[Robert Holtzman]

Tried posting this on the local LUG list with spotty results so I'll
try here.

Sorry for the length of this.

After a looooong losing fight trying to get wireless working on my Dell
Latitude laptop running Debian Lenny I gave up and hard wired the laptop
and the desktop to the Linksys WRT54GL router. Recently I replaced Lenny
with Ubuntu Hardy. When I fired it up the first thing I saw was that
Network Manager detected the wireless network, which was something Lenny
running Network Manager or wicd didn't. I could connect and access the
internet with no trouble. This bliss ensued for a few weeks. Tonight, NM
stopped detecting the network, iwconfig showed no eth1. Out of curiosity
I installed wicd. It detected the network and when I tried to connect
the authentication was validated but the IP wasn't obtained.

[holtzm at localhost]~$ ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0f:1f:be:3a:14
            UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
            RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
            TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
            collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
            RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
            Interrupt:11

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:15:00:4a:a3:4c
            inet6 addr: fe80::215:ff:fe4a:a34c/64 Scope:Link
            UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
            RX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:33 overruns:0 frame:0
            TX packets:2 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
            collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
            RX bytes:604260 (590.0 KB)  TX bytes:617738 (603.2 KB)
            Interrupt:5 Base address:0x4000 Memory:fafef000-fafeffff

eth1:avahi Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:15:00:4a:a3:4c
            inet addr:169.254.4.252  Bcast:169.254.255.255
Mask:255.255.0.0
            UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
            Interrupt:5 Base address:0x4000 Memory:fafef000-fafeffff

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
            inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
            inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
            UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
            RX packets:2678 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
            TX packets:2678 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
            collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
            RX bytes:141874 (138.5 KB)  TX bytes:141874 (138.5 KB)

[holtzm at localhost]~$ iwlist scanning
eth1      Scan completed :
            Cell 01 - Address: 00:23:69:56:30:F9
                      ESSID:"linksys"
                      Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
                      Mode:Master
                      Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                      Encryption key:on
                      Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                                11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36
Mb/s
                                48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                      Quality=92/100  Signal level=-37 dBm
                      IE: WPA Version 1
                          Group Cipher : TKIP
                          Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                          Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                      IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                          Group Cipher : TKIP
                          Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                          Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                      Extra: Last beacon: 1092ms ago

I omitted the references to lo, eth0, and the other cells.

The first time around I ran searches and read docs until I was
cross-eyed.

The behavior I described also occurred the first time around.

Here we go again. As always, any pointers etc would be
appreciated.

-- 
Bob Holtzman
Key ID: 8D549279
"If you think you're getting free lunch,
  check the price of the beer"