Problem with wireless networking

[rodnower]

Hello, I have atheros wifi hardware, intell chipset, gigabyte laptop and CentOS 5 installed.
Now I try to use wireless network and get problems.
First of all I want to say that I have 2 OS on my laptop, and when I load Windows XP I still may to access to the wireless network.

First I try to get it on Linux was to make active wlan0 interface in:
system -> administration -> network
but I get:
Determining IP information for wlan0... failed.

Second I try also was unsuccessfully:
[root 1 network-scripts]# ifup-wireless
Error : unrecognised wireless request "off"

This relevant output of iwconfig is:
--------------------
Warning: Driver for device wlan0 recommend version 21 of Wireless Extension, but has been compiled with version 20, therefore some driver features may not be available...

wlan0 IEEE 802.11 ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7
RTS thr:off
Fragment thr=2352 B
Encryption key: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
{output not in the original format}
--------------------

The same things are happen even if I do:
modprobe wlan0 (this not get error)
Important to say that modprobe not succeed to find ath_pci, tharefor I decide to download latest version of the madwifi driver from http : // madwifi-project.org
I extracted this, but when I make this, this is what I get:
--------------------
[root 1 madwifi-0.9.4]# make
/bin/sh: line 0: cd: /lib/modules/2.6.18-164.el5/build: No such file or directory
Makefile.inc:66: *** /lib/modules/2.6.18-164.el5/build is missing, please set KERNELPATH. Stop.
--------------------

I tried to set KERNELPATH, but I think that it was incorrect:
--------------------
[root 1 madwifi-0.9.4]# make KERNELPATH=/lib/modules/2.6.18-164.el5/kernel/
/bin/sh: cc: command not found
Makefile.inc:81: *** Cannot detect kernel version - please check compiler and KERNELPATH. Stop.
--------------------

Some one have any ideas?
Thank you very much for ahead.

[Dapper Dan]

rodnoewr congratulations on thinking things through and making logical steps to get yourself going. I haven't used CentOS or any RH based distro in a long while so I hope my advice is still accurate. You'll need the System Tools packages. Can you get connected with regular nic and a ethernet cable? If you can, do:

yum update

When it finishes, do:

yum groupinstall 'Development Tools'

Then try compiling madwifi driver. Once built you might need to do:

depmod -a

To insert module:

/sbin/modprobe ath_pci

Then, try and use the network connection tools to get wlan0 up. Hope this helps.

[MikeTbob]

I'm pretty sure you need either the ath5k or ath9k driver for this card. Madwifi is no longer used unless you can't get the others to work. You need at least kernel 2.6.25 and up for this to work.
Is there any chance you could use a different distro, other than CentOS. Your card might work right out of the box.

[Dapper Dan]

Hi Mike! Madwifi was merged with "trunk" and is still going on here. I had problems with ath*k which is why I went with the new Madwifi. I grabbed their latest build very recently and used it in my EEE 701 which uses Atheros and it is working great. It may be that rodnower's device needs ath*k rather than Madwifi but that's something I don't yet know.

[waterhead]

A while back I stumbled upon a repository that has driver rpms for RHEL/CentOS. Although it doesn't have a Madwifi rpm, it has some other wired/wireless drivers. You may want to bookmark it some where, for future reference.

ELRepo : HomePage

[Dapper Dan]

Then, try and use the network connection tools to get wlan0 up. Hope this helps.

oops... that probably should be ath0 instead of wlan0.

[rodnower]

Thank you Dan, I will try to compile madwifi driver and after this try to up ath0 interface (now I have not such interface), but what the KERNELPATH should be? I'm not sure that I wrote right path.

And to the question of Mike, I'm still need CentOS...

[rodnower]

Here I found nice explanation about how to configure wifi: http : // soad1982.blogspot.com/2009/05/wireless-card-configuration-wep.html

I follow the instruction, but I get:
I tried to config wireless with if config how it was described, but I get error:
[root 1 ~]# iwconfig wlan0 key open
[root 1 ~]# iwconfig wlan0 key s: password
Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.

Between s and : there is no space, I put it because without it I get

This error occures also when I set key to restricted.
What is wrong?
If this is important, so AP uses WAP.

If this will help here is output of CentOS "getinfo.sh driver" command:

== BEGIN uname -rmi ==
2.6.18-164.el5 x86_64 x86_64
== END uname -rmi ==

== BEGIN rpm -q centos-release ==
centos-release-5-4.el5.centos.1
== END rpm -q centos-release ==

== BEGIN getenforce ==
Enforcing
== END getenforce ==

== BEGIN rpm -qa kernel\* | sort ==
kernel-2.6.18-164.el5
kernel-headers-2.6.18-164.el5
kernel-xen-2.6.18-164.el5
== END rpm -qa kernel\* | sort ==

== BEGIN lspci ==
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HEM (ICH8M) LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) SATA IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
04:00.0 Ethernet controller: Marvell Technology Group Ltd. 88E8055 PCI-E Gigabit Ethernet Controller (rev 13)
0b:09.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller
0b:09.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
0b:09.2 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD)
0b:09.3 SD Host controller: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 SDA Standard Compliant SD Host Controller
== END lspci ==

== BEGIN lspci -n ==
00:00.0 0600: 8086:2a00 (rev 03)
00:02.0 0300: 8086:2a02 (rev 03)
00:02.1 0380: 8086:2a03 (rev 03)
00:1a.0 0c03: 8086:2834 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 0c03: 8086:2835 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 0c03: 8086:283a (rev 03)
00:1b.0 0403: 8086:284b (rev 03)
00:1c.0 0604: 8086:283f (rev 03)
00:1c.1 0604: 8086:2841 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 0604: 8086:2843 (rev 03)
00:1c.5 0604: 8086:2849 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 0c03: 8086:2830 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 0c03: 8086:2831 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 0c03: 8086:2832 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 0c03: 8086:2836 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 0604: 8086:2448 (rev f3)
00:1f.0 0601: 8086:2815 (rev 03)
00:1f.2 0101: 8086:2828 (rev 03)
00:1f.3 0c05: 8086:283e (rev 03)
02:00.0 0200: 168c:001c (rev 01)
04:00.0 0200: 11ab:4363 (rev 13)
0b:09.0 0607: 104c:8039
0b:09.1 0c00: 104c:803a
0b:09.2 0180: 104c:803b
0b:09.3 0805: 104c:803c
== END lspci -n ==

[Dapper Dan]

Hi again... A couple of things... Do you have access and control over the wireless router? If so, ( and there aren't any huge security issues you have to consider at the moment) disable wep because you don't need to be worried with it right now. Once you get up and going you can change it back.

Were you able to get a wired connection and install those packages? If so, were you able to get the madwifi driver compiled? were you able to get in "modprobed" correctly? Did you also try /sbin/ifconfig ath0 up instead of wlan0?

Also, be aware that if you get the madwifi driver inserted correctly, you should then be able to configure your device using the Red Hat network configuration utility that is in your menu. Or from the command line as "su"...

system-config-network

The device should show up there as ath0. (Again... long time since I used a RH based distro but I think I'm somewhere near the tracks... )

[rodnower]

Thank you for replay.
Yes, I'm actually have control over router and found where I can disable WAP security but this is not my own AP, I only have passwords for this... I will try to find compiled drivers like you said, and install it.
And I still do not have ath0 interface only wlan0. May ath0 will appear after I will install the madwifi driver.