lost wireless connection!!

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7 yr old grandson who must have tripped on some keys or something, that made the wireless set up gone crazy.

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Is this a laptop with wireless hotkeys? Follow Jays instructions also.

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mhismail@netbook:~> sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
root's password:
sudo: ifconfig: command not found
mhismail@netbook:~> sudo iwlist wlan0 scan
sudo: iwlist: command not found

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I don't run Open Suse or any rpm distros but Debian based instead. In Debian

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$ apt-cache policy wireless-tools
wireless-tools:
  Installed: 30~pre9-8
  Candidate: 30~pre9-8
  Version table:
 *** 30~pre9-8 0
        500 http://ftp.us.debian.org/debian/ testing/main i386 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status

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is what is needed for Tbobs commands to work. Which sounds kind of fishy if you had wireless working before a 7 year old got a hold of your gear.

http://www.rpmfind.net/linux/rpm2htm...wireless-tools

I am just posting the link for info. Not for you to use yet because not enough known yet about what happened here. I am not Yast search proficient. Just pointing out some things for Tbob and Jay. Also. We don't know what Desktop is being used. Whether KDE or Gnome.

Exactly what DE are you using? KDE? Gnome? Xfce?
We could just wipe your profile and get you going with default settings... no loss to software or anything.
You will have to setup your icons and wallpaper again, though.

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Originally Posted by jayd512

Did you try to right-click on the taskbar and choose Add to Panel?

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OK, sorry, I forgot about that! I did. When I clicked on the task bar (at the bottom, on my screen), I got 6 options as follows:
Enable Networking,
Enable Wireless,
Enable Notification
Connection Information
Edit Connection and
About.
I did not get "Add to Panel" choice. Did I do something wrong?

Some DEs give different options, so I don't think you did anything wrong.:)
What happens when you select Enable Wireless? Or Connection Information?

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Originally Posted by jayd512

Exactly what DE are you using? KDE? Gnome? Xfce?
We could just wipe your profile and get you going with default settings... no loss to software or anything.
You will have to setup your icons and wallpaper again, though.

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I hv been talking to a few guys about my problem, but it seems they too are at a lost. One UBUNTU guy asked me too, whether my mini notebook is on KDE or Gnome. After what I described he said I am probably on KDE. I dont what that means either!

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Originally Posted by mhismail

I hv been talking to a few guys about my problem, but it seems they too are at a lost. One UBUNTU guy asked me too, whether my mini notebook is on KDE or Gnome. After what I described he said I am probably on KDE. I dont what that means either!

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If running Kde

http://lh5.ggpht.com/antonhermansyah...0Snapshot2.png

Quote from a global moderator of Open Suse

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This depends on whether your system is configured to use "ifup" for networking, or "Networkmanager". A PC would normally use "ifup" to start the network config at boottime, a laptop would use the Networknanager since the user will establish a connection whereever he comes by himself.
You can check the settings in Yast - Network - Networksettings

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With a default KDE install particularly if you're installing on a laptop, Network Manager should be installed by default.

If that is the case but Network Manager isn't running, at least check whether it can be invoked and maybe not configured to startup and display in the tray by doing the following:

1. KDE Application Launcher Button > Run Command... > "knetworkmanager" (without the quotes)

2. If the Network Manager icon then displays in the tray, lft-click "Manage Connections"

3. Click "Other" in the left navigation pane

4. Check "show tray icon" if it's not already checked

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http://forums.opensuse.org/english/g...-tray-kde.html

This only applies if you are running KDE in Open Suse.

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Originally Posted by jayd512

Some DEs give different options, so I don't think you did anything wrong.:)
What happens when you select Enable Wireless? Or Connection Information?

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I hope we are coming closer to the solution now! And its comforting to know I did not do anything wrong as you pointed out.
When I selected "Enable Wireless" I come to a window that says "Wireless Authentication Required" and the window asks for 2 things:
1. Wireless Security, which generated the following:
WEP40/128 - bit key (Hex or ACCII), and three other choices ie WEP128 - bit Passphrase,
or LEAP,
or DYNAMIC WEP (802.1x).
2. It also asked for a key. I presume the key is my wifi password as I dont know of any other key ( whatever the word key is supposed to mean!).

And at the bottom of the window there were 2 choices: "cancel", and the other is "connect". I clicked on "connect" and I got back to the same window again. I tried on all the other 3 choices, however the outcome was still the same ie I got back to that same window again and again.
Hope you guys can make some sense out of what I described above and thanks a lot for sticking with my issue here.

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2. It also asked for a key. I presume the key is my wifi password as I dont know of any other key ( whatever the word key is supposed to mean!).

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You need to fill in your wpa or wep password if you use wpa or wep before you

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I clicked on "connect" and I got back to the same window again

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Originally Posted by mhismail

1. Wireless Security, which generated the following:
WEP40/128 - bit key (Hex or ACCII), and three other choices ie WEP128 - bit Passphrase,
or LEAP,
or DYNAMIC WEP (802.1x).

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Adding to what Roky said, you also need to know what type of encryption that your home network is using, and choose the appropriate option.

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Originally Posted by rokytnji

You need to fill in your wpa or wep password if you use wpa or wep before you

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Hmm...I wonder....I used to see the WPA personal and WPA Enterprise options before this problem came up! These options are now lost, ie the WPA Personal and WPA enterprise! I remember my modem used to be set up (did I use the correct term there?) with WPA & WPA Personal option. May be this is the root cause of my lost wifi connection. How would I get these back then?