WEP key format? [SOLVED]

[faceoftheearth]

I just installed Ubuntu on my Dell Inspiron 9300. The install worked flawlessly. When it came to configuring my network, I decided not to do it because I couldn't remember my wireless SSID off the top of my head. After installing Ubuntu, I started 'er up and configured my wireless card. It's an Intel Pro Wireless 2915. I hear this is compatible due to the 2200 drivers. The card acts like it's sending and recieving and of course it is because I was able to go into the configure box and select my access point's SSID. I selected the DHCP option because I seem to remember good ol' XP used the DHCP option. I entered my wep key and then went to network tools to try a ping to test the connection. The ping didn't work, nor did accessing a site in Firefox. My assumption, then, is that my wep key is not being sent right. In addition, the network monitor says my wireless card (eth1) has sent something like 6577 packets (0.0kb) and recieved 775 packets (0.0kb.) So now you know everything I can tell you about my problem. I know nothing of handy dandy command line tools, if you know of one that might give me more info to give to you, I'd like to know it. If you know what my problem is, please help out, I'd really like to get Ubuntu off the ground. I suspect my problem lies in the fact that my wep key is a 5 digit number. It's not a 9 digit number thus I assume it should be seen as a pass phrase and not a number. Again, any help would be much appreciated.

[AlexK]

can you post the output of this command:

iwconfig

This command need be run as root, so in ubuntu, try a sudo iwconfig

[dylunio]

can you post the output of this command:

iwconfig

This command need be run as root, so in ubuntu, try a sudo iwconfig

Does it need to be run as root? Since I know a user can run ifconfig with

/sbin/ifconfig

the reason

ifconfig

doesn't work as user it because /sbin is not in a user's $PATH usually.

So I'm just asking if you can run

/sbin]iwconfig

as a user (i can't check myself since i don't have it installed.

[AlexK]

Strange, /sbin/iwconfig dosen't work for me as a normal user in SuSE, however /sbin/ifconfig does work. A quick search of the sbin directory reveals that the iwconfig command is not there, however as root, I can run that command.

So, in conclusion, I guess you do need to be root to run iwconfig.

[faceoftheearth]

Alrighty, ran iwconfig, got the following.

unassociated ESSID:"2WIRE118"
Mode:Managed Channel=0 Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
Bit Rate=0 kb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

Hope it helps. sudo iwconfig was the ticket btw

[AlexK]

Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00

This shows your card is not associating with the AP.

Encryption key:off

This shows your encryption is currently turned off.

Try this in the terminal:

sudo iwconfig wlan0 key xxxxxxxxxxx

replace xxxxxxxx with the hexadecimal wep key, or if you use a string i.e. english password, then try this:

sudo iwconfig wlan0 key s:my_secret_password

also, if your system says it can't find wlan0, try eth1 or eth0. My guess is that it would be eth1 as eth0 is usually taken up by thewired card.

[faceoftheearth]

I found the following to work. Is there any way I can automate it so I don't have to do it every time?

Step 1
# iwconfig
-- u should see that u have IEEE802.11(B/G) under eth1 (or some other)

Step 2
# iwlist eth1 scan
-- this will scan for all available networks.
-- if there is something picked up, it means ubuntu is able to detect a network.
-- if nothing is detected, pls check your router.

Step 2a: if your wlan network is protected
# iwconfig eth1 essid YOURSSID
-- to define your SSID (access point name)
# iwconfig eth1 key xxxxxxxxxx
-- to define your WEP key, if any.

Step 3
# dhclient eth1
-- this will request a IP from your router, if successfull u will see some messages ending with " bound to 192.168.x.x..."
-- u are connected to the internet !

[Giro]

add this to /etc/network/interfaces replacing your SSID and wep key

iface eth1 inet dhcp
wireless-essid MYSSID
wireless-key 00000000000000000000000000

this will bring the interface up at boot.

[faceoftheearth]

What format should I put in my key as? The key is just a 5 digit number, but to get it so work I have to type s:##### instead of just the number.

[loft306]

What format should I put in my key as? The key is just a 5 digit number, but to get it so work I have to type s:##### instead of just the number.

5 digit number? are you shure? or is that a passphrase? that the key is generated from?