But connecting the same laptop to other wireless networks has never worked. No matter how I try to configue using the gui interface, I never get a connection, regardless of whether the network has an essid and wep or not. The green led on the wireless card (D-Link 650 - prism 2 chipset) always flashes (it is solid when it connects). (I have no trouble connecting the laptop to wired networks in hotels.)
So I have recently tried using iwconfig. I open a shell as root and enter commands like:
/sbin/iwconfig eth1 key off /sbin/iwconfig eth1 mode Managed /sbin/iwconfig eth1 essid any /sbin/ifconfig eth1 up /sbin/dhclient eth1
if I the network doesn't use wep. If the network requires an essid and/or wep, I include the information and modify the above commands apropriately.
When I use these commands, the card connects to the network (the green light stays on without blinking) and the icon on the panel shows a connection. If I do a "netstat -r" I can see the gateway's IP address. I can ping this IP address and my computer at home. But I can't do much else. DNS doesn't work and I can't find any web pages. The web browser is supposed to go to a login web page but I can never get to it. My understanding was all I needed was an empty "dhclient.conf" file and I would get a lease and the domain name server address. I do get a lease but I don't think DNS is working. I can't ssh or telnet anywhere. (Yet I can ping as described above.)
I have tried this on two different wireless networks (Barnes & Noble and a university library). I connect but can't do anything other than ping some IP addresses. I cannot get to the login web pages or any other web pages. What else do I need to do? Something else must need to be configured. Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
Rick B.
