Madwifi in Fedora 7

[MikeTbob]

I'm sorry that was the wrong command. It should be
ls /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/
You should see a config file named something like ifcfg-ath0, if not, create it yourself.
nano /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-ath0
This is what mine looks like, but you'll have to set your own variables.

# Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
# for the documentation of these parameters.
TYPE=Wireless
DEVICE=ath0
HWADDR=00:00:00:00:00:00
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
NETMASK=
DHCP_HOSTNAME=yourhostname
IPADDR=
DOMAIN=
ONBOOT=yes
USERCTL=no
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=yes
ESSID=your-SSID
CHANNEL=your-channel
MODE=Managed
RATE=54M

You also need to create ifcfg-wifi, the same way.
nano /etc/sysconfig/networking/devices/ifcfg-wifi0
this is what mine looks like.

# Atheros Communications, Inc. 802.11abg NIC
DEVICE=wifi0
ONBOOT=no
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
HWADDR=00:00:00:00:00:00
TYPE=Ethernet
USERCTL=no
IPV6INIT=no
PEERDNS=yes

Now you should see your card listed when you start the network tool.

[marbobj]

I saw the output of the command didn't tell you anything, so I went to the folder and copied its contents. All of this has to do with my dialup modem and service provider for dialup.

# Please read /usr/share/doc/initscripts-*/sysconfig.txt
# for the documentation of these parameters.
TYPE=Modem
DEVICE=ppp0
BOOTPROTO=dialup
ONBOOT=no
USERCTL=yes
PEERDNS=yes
AC=off
BSDCOMP=off
VJCCOMP=off
CCP=off
PC=off
VJ=off
LINESPEED=115200
MODEMPORT=/dev/ttyS1
PROVIDER=ispcom
DEFROUTE=yes
PERSIST=no
PAPNAME='marbobj@isp.com'
WVDIALSECT=ispcom
MODEMNAME=Modem0
DEMAND=no


Thanks a lot

[marbobj]

Mike:

I can't thank you enough if I can get this thing working. I've fought it for some time. Your help is much appreciated.

I have to be gone for a couple days, then I'll post back with the results. Hopefully I'll be hooked up to wireless.

Thanks again,

Bob

[marbobj]

Still working to get the connection. I added the two files to the device folder and that gave me two entries in the networking config GUI screen. But that's as far as I can get.

The entries are for the ath0 and wifi0, but neither can be edited for the addtional information as both are showing an unknown device. A screen comes up to that effect and stops me.

When I go back to the modprobe madwifi command, I get "module not found".

So I tried to install ndiswrapper, which gets just about to the same point. Everything seems in place, but the modprobe command shows no module present. When I jump to the set to boot (-m) it shows writing the ndiswrapper alias to file.

I have installed and reinstalled everything a number of times, F7 with the gnome desktop and now the F7 with the KDE desktop, but I still have no wireless working.

Any help appreciated.

[MikeTbob]

You can't create a new connection from within the network tool(system-config-network)?
Once you click on create a new connection, that's where you enter your settings.
EDIT: you shouldn't need to modprobe everytime, use lsmod command to list all modules loaded.

[marbobj]

Thanks for the response.

The intial screen is where I have the two listings created by adding the files. If I can't edit those, and I'm creating a new connection, the tool goes past the screen with the ath0 and wifi0 entries to the menu of supported cards. That menu does have anything on it that I can use.

That's where I'm stuck right now.

Thanks again

[MikeTbob]

Lets try this a different way. Type these commands as root, and when you login as root, be sure to include the hyphen - like this:

su -

After login as root, type this

wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta

Now, if you type iwconfig, you should see a list like the following:

eth0 no wireless extensions.

lo no wireless extensions.

wifi0 no wireless extensions.

ath0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457 GHz Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power:20 dBm Sensitivity=0/3
Retry:off RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=0/94 Signal level=-95 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

Then we need to bring up the wireless interface. This is done by typing:

ifconfig ath0 up

Then scan for an access point

iwlist ath0 scan

Let me know if you have any luck and please post any errors exactly as they appear.
Sorry it's taking so long to reply, but I have several threads with this same problem, and It's maddening that it isn't working. I think Fedora is the worse with wireless cards in relation to other Distros.

[marbobj]

Mike:

Thanks for your time and patience on this thing. Here is the output from the commands. I see there are a lot of pieces missing.


[bob@localhost ~]$ su -
Password:
[root@localhost ~]# wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta
wlanconfig: ioctl: No such device
[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

ppp0 no wireless extensions.

[root@localhost ~]# ifconfig ath0 up
ath0: unknown interface: No such device
[root@localhost ~]# iwlist ath0 scan
ath0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

When I do lspci the Atheros device is there. When I lsmod, I'm not finding anything that I would associate with madwifi or ndiswrapper (I installed it as well).

I'm beginning to think some of this has to do with the updates associated with Fedora 7. The updates available for this distro are older than the Fedora 7 version. The total update immediately after installation was over 384 meg.

I have to wonder if the updating isn't actually part of the total installation which was shortened to accommodate a 700 meg live cd version. I've had to do the updating in bits and pieces through a dialup connection.

I could be easily be wrong, but the madwifi and ndiswrapper just doesn't work as well it's described by those apparently able to update more easily.

Thanks for all your help.

[

[MikeTbob]

Ok, if you aren't seeing the modules (ath_pci & ath_hal) then something didn't install correctly.
Try installing it again using yum.
yum -y install madwifi
After that, insert the module with:
modprobe ath_pci
If you get no errors then you should be able to reboot and launch system-config-network to create a new wireless connection.

[phingers]

I've been following the thread, I'm having the same issues.

I think it comes down to the fact that madwifi needs to be part of the kernel of some sort.

When I first startup fc7 it says kernel source not found for 2.6.21-1.3194. madwifi was not installed.

So I've been trying to get the source compiled and ready to go for a reboot, with no luck.

Any help, thoughts or ideas for us?

Ubuntu worked great with the same wifi card, so I can't believe I need to go to this much trouble in fc7, although overall I like fc7 better so far.

Thanks!