Jon Savage wrote:
On Sun, 17 Oct 2004 15:37:37 -0400, rab <rab@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Is there a way to determine the SSID of a wireless network? I have never
been able to connect to a hotel network or one at my university, even
though it works fine with my home wireless network. I don't understand
why I can't connect. I set up the card to use DHCP. At the unversity, I
even put in the SSID. The card is a D-Link DWL-650 (uses the prism2
chipset). The card works perfectly with my home wireless network under
Linux. I've tried using the card under XP (the laptop dual boots) but
even with the latest windows drivers, XP crashes EVERY time if the card
is plugged in
If you want to determine the essid of a non essid broadcasting WAP
there are a number of tools that can get that information for you-
kismet/gkismet & airsnort come to mind. Since the card is working for
you @ home it is likely that you are somehow misconfiguring the
wireless connection at university. Does the uni use WEP? Is access to
their WLAN restricted by MAC address? Note also that the ESSID is case
sensitive. You may be able to set up different profiles using
system-config-network or you could just edit the wireless config
manually when you change location. This will probably become a little
easier with core 3 /NetworkManager once the bugs get worked out :).
You might also want to have a look at kfifimanager (AFIK shipping w/
core 3) - that might just solve the issue for you assuming everything
is correctly configured for each connection.
I would have thought that at a hotel, they would broadcast the ssid. How
is it that XP users connect automatically? At home, my laptop connects
automatically (of course I have told it the encryption info). How do XP
users connect automatically without telling their computer anything?
It's a mystery to me. In using the network configuration program, it
asks about managed, channel, WEP, ssid, whether to use DHCP etc. I've
tried changing all the parameters at a hotel or at school but the green
light on the card always just blinks. (At home, as soon as the card is
plugged in the green light comes on and does not blink.) I've also tried
disabling the firewall (just temporarily) to see if that were the
problem (the front desk suggested it). At one hotel they told you the
SSID ("LODGE" - all caps). I had to use a wireless bridge plugged into
the built-in ethernet port and this worked perfectly. What would be a
"typical" configuration for a hotel? (The card I'm using is 802.11b.) I
tried following the directions at school for Red Hat but still would
never work.
Rick B.
