wireless migranes with wpa and wep...help?

[jpalfree]

Hi,

I'm trying to get my D-Link DWL-520 (pci with atheros chipset) wireless card to work. I am using madwifi and i got that working after some minor headachs (but i don't know exactly how).

My problem is that i want some kind of encryption on my router. WPA would be best, but i'd settle with WEP. I tried both, and neither work. I think it's something really really simple that I am missing.

i've tried using both wpa_supplicant and iwconfig, neither are being nice to me.

One MAJOR inconsistancy is while using wpa_supplicant, all of the "how to"s i've read have said put:

wpa_supplicant_ath0="-Dmadwifi"

.
but this is the output i get from gentoo when i try that:

# /etc/init.d/net.ath0 start
 * Caching service dependencies ...                                       [ ok ]
 * Starting ath0
 *   Starting wpa_supplicant on ath0 ...
Unsupported driver 'madwifi'.		     				  [ !! ]

seems to me like that is a major clue as to what my problem is..but i don't know the solution!

I tried to use WEP with iwconfig but i got this output:

# /etc/init.d/net.ath0 start
 * Caching service dependencies ...                                       [ ok ]
 * Starting ath0
 *   Configuring wireless network for ath0
 *   Trying to force preferred in case they are hidden
 *   Failed to associate with any preferred access points on ath0
 *   Failed to configure wireless for ath0                                [ !! ]

here is my /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf:

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
# Ensure that only root can read the WPA configuration
ctrl_interface_group=0
# Let wpa_supplicant take care of scanning and AP selection ap_scan=1

# Simple case: WPA-PSK, PSK as an ASCII passphrase, allow all valid ciphers
network={
ssid="simple"
psk="MYHEXCODE"
priority=5
}
# Same as previous, but request SSID-specific scanning (for APs that reject # broadcast SSID)
network={
ssid="MYSSID"
scan_ssid=1
psk="MYHEXCODE"
priority=5
}
# Only WPA-PSK is used. Any valid cipher combination is accepted network={
ssid="MYSSID"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=CCMP TKIP
group=CCMP TKIP WEP104 WEP40
psk=06b4be19da289f475aa46a33cb793029d4ab3db7a23ee9 2382eb0106c72ac7bb
priority=2
}

here is my /etc/conf.d/net:

#when using wpa_supplicant...
modules=( "wpa_supplicant" )
wpa_supplicant_ath0="-Dmadwifi"
#...
#when using iwconfig
modules=( "iwconfig" )
essid_ath0="any"
key_MYSSID="[1] MYHEXCODE key [1] enc open"
preferred_aps=( "MYSSID" )

Any ideas no matter how vague would be really appreciated. Maybe someone could post one of their wpa_supplicant.conf or /etc/conf.d/net files to help me learn by example?
Thanks

[AlexK]

Ok here goes, my wpa_supplicant and conf.d/net:

modules=( "wpa_supplicant" )
wpa_supplicant_wlan0="-Dndiswrapper"
config_wlan0=( "192.168.0.5" )
routes_wlan0=( "default gw 192.168.0.1" )
channel_wlan0="9"
mode_wlan0="manged"

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
ctrl_interface_group=0
network={
ssid="my_ssid"
mode=0
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk="my_wpa_passphrase"
priority=5
}

I saw on gentoo forums, that some people have problems trying to run madwifi + wpa on the 2.6.15 kernels, I don't know if that issue has been fixed or anything. Also, I find that working with hidden ssid's and linux can be a pain in the ass, so for testing, just enable ssid broadcast.

The above files work perfectly for me, have no problems with them.

Hope the above help somewhat.

[jpalfree]

thanks for the quick reply, AlexK.

I hope it's not the kernel... I am, in fact, using the 2.6.15-gentoo-r7 kernel.

One question though. In your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf, the line:
psk="my_wpa_passphrase"
is that actually psk="s:your_passphrase"?
and what would i do if i had spaces in my passphrase? is it ok to put something like psk="s:'this is my passphrase'"?

[AlexK]

yes, the wpa key is in string format, just no s: infront of it. I think if there are spaces inside your key, then having it like so psk="xxxx xxxx yyyy" should be fine. Note, I haven't tried this though as my keys don't use spaces in them.

[jpalfree]

SUCCESS!

thanks for the help AlexK! It ended up being something really simple. I forgot to add the "madwifi" use flag to /etc/make.conf so wpa_supplicant compiled without madwifi support... ooy. I checked the file: /usr/portage/profiles/use.desc and it didn't have madwifi listed there... so i thought it was ok.

Is there a more extensive list of use flags?

Anyways. For anyone else who had this problem:
this is a good resource: Gentoo wiki: HOWTO Wireless Configuration and Startup

this is my /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf:

# The below line not be changed otherwise we refuse to work
ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

# Ensure that only root can read the WPA configuration
ctrl_interface_group=0

# Let wpa_supplicant take care of scanning and AP selection
ap_scan=1

# Simple case: WPA-PSK, PSK as an ASCII passphrase, allow all valid ciphers
network={
ssid="MYSSID"
mode=0
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
psk="MYPASSPHRASE_NO_SPACES"
# The higher the priority the sooner we are matched
priority=5
}

# For WPA-PSK with TKIP
network={
ssid="MYSSID"
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
proto=WPA
pairwise=TKIP
group=TKIP
psk="MYPASSPHRASE_NO_SPACES"
}

I think the two settings are synonymous but it works and i'm not going to change it to find out.

here is my /etc/conf.d/net:

config_ath0=( "dhcp" )

# Prefer wpa_supplicant over wireless-tools
modules=( "wpa_supplicant" )

# It's important that we tell wpa_supplicant which driver we should
# be using as it's not very good at guessing yet
wpa_supplicant_ath0="-Dmadwifi"

and remember to add "madwifi" to your useflags in /etc/make.conf

[AlexK]

Is there a more extensive list of use flags?

Is this list good enough? or what about this one

Glad to hear you got everything working now. Congragulations.

[jpalfree]

they are good lists. It's nice to have little explinations but, neither has madwifi as one of the use flags. Odd. Oh well, that's what the forums are for