I'm not a Linux newbie, I promise. Even though my wireless failure makes me look like one. I'm using a Dell Latitude D820 that has the Intel ipw3945 wireless device. I've been using the ipw3945 driver (http://ipw3945.sf.net) and it has always worked great. iwl3945 didn't work for me when it was first introduced in Fedora and I've ignored it since then. With the Fedora kernel upgrade to 2.6.24, I am unable to compile the ipw3945 module. The end of the build is below (*). Now, I see an official statement on http://ipw3945.sf.net that the ipw3945 driver is depracated and they prefer we use iwl3945. It is really a shame, the iwl3945 does not light up the wireless LED. A big disadvantage. So I have to change with the times. I need to clean out everything that is ipw3945 related and set up for iwl3945. How to configure a device with iwl3945? I have the feeling that some configuration I've been using is still around and making iwl3945 fail. Should I have something in /etc/modprobe.conf? I never have... system-config-network runs and finds the device using iwl3945, but it is never able to get an IP number. I deleted all of the old devices, and created new- wireless device. One of the peculiarities is that it still uses eth1 for the device nickname. That's interesting because I get the idea that wlan0 would be the preferred name in iwl3945. What this "wrmaster0" device is--it shows in /etc/ifconfig output? I have not been able to get NetworkManager & nm-applet to work dependably. Some networks make it downright impossible! If a wireless router has a WEP key that is 64 bit (10 characters), Network Manager just won't work because the 64 bit option has been removed from the GUI (why?). On networks that have 128 bit keys, nm-applet fails to find an IP number and the dmesg output Mar 8 10:27:21 pols126 ntpd[1798]: Listening on interface #1 lo, 127.0.0.1#123 Enabled Mar 8 10:27:23 pols126 dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 21 Mar 8 10:27:43 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Device 'eth1' DHCP transaction took too long (>45s), stopping it. Mar 8 10:27:43 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> eth1: canceled DHCP transaction, dhclient pid 3636 Mar 8 10:27:43 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) scheduled... Mar 8 10:27:43 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) started... Mar 8 10:27:43 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) complete. Mar 8 10:27:49 pols126 kernel: printk: 10 messages suppressed. Mar 8 10:27:56 pols126 NetworkManager: <WARN> get_secrets_cb(): Couldn't get connection secrets: applet.c.3300 (get_secrets_dialog_response_cb): canceled. Mar 8 10:27:56 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) failed for access point (caliope) Mar 8 10:27:56 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Marking connection 'Auto caliope' invalid. Mar 8 10:27:56 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) failed. Mar 8 10:27:56 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Deactivating device eth1. Mar 8 10:28:14 pols126 kernel: printk: 11 messages suppressed. Mar 8 10:28:14 pols126 dhclient: wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801 Mar 8 10:28:14 pols126 dhclient: wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801 here's another try Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 dhclient: For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/ Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 dhclient: Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> dhclient started with pid 3636 Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 dhclient: wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801 Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) complete. Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 dhclient: wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801 Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> DHCP: device eth1 state changed (null) -> preinit Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 dhclient: Listening on LPF/eth1/00:18:de:9b:6b:66 Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 dhclient: Sending on LPF/eth1/00:18:de:9b:6b:66 Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 dhclient: Sending on Socket/fallback Mar 8 10:26:58 pols126 dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 5 Mar 8 10:27:03 pols126 dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7 Mar 8 10:27:10 pols126 dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13 This is neat too. Mar 8 11:29:26 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Device 'eth1' DHCP transaction took too long (>45s), stopping it. Mar 8 11:29:26 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> eth1: canceled DHCP transaction, dhclient pid 4843 Mar 8 11:29:26 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) scheduled... Mar 8 11:29:26 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) started... Mar 8 11:29:26 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) Stage 4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) complete. Mar 8 11:29:29 pols126 NetworkManager: <WARN> get_secrets_cb(): Couldn't get connection secrets: applet.c.3300 (get_secrets_dialog_response_cb): canceled. Mar 8 11:29:29 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) failed for access point (caliope) Mar 8 11:29:29 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Marking connection 'Auto caliope' invalid. Mar 8 11:29:29 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Activation (eth1) failed. Mar 8 11:29:29 pols126 NetworkManager: <info> Deactivating device eth1. I'm having trouble figuring out where everything goes wrong. It appears to me the error is never the same twice. I go to some places that have no security at all and SOMETIMES the nm-applet can see them and join, but SOMETIMES the nm-applet shows no wireless networks at all. If I turn off NetworkManager, SOMETIMES I can run wifi-radar and see routers. But it is about 25% success to join. Please don't post one of those messages like "I just turned it on, worked for me." That just proves you are lucky. -- Paul E. Johnson Professor, Political Science 1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504 University of Kansas ** make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/kernels/2.6.24.3-12.fc8-i686' CC [M] /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.o /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c: In function 'ipw_print_rx_config_cmd': /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:2729: error: implicit declaration of function 'MAC_ARG' /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:2729: warning: too few arguments for format /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:2731: warning: too few arguments for format /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c: In function 'ipw_start_association': /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:4449: warning: too few arguments for format /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c: In function 'ipw_add_station': /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:6690: warning: too few arguments for format /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c: In function 'ipw_find_station': /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:6732: warning: too few arguments for format /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c: In function 'ipw_send_disassociate': /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:6774: warning: too few arguments for format /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c: In function 'ipw_find_adhoc_network': /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:7526: warning: too few arguments for format /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:7538: warning: too few arguments for format /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:7552: warning: too few arguments for format /home/pauljohn/LinuxDownloads/src/ipw3945-1.2.1/ipw3945.c:7573: warning: format '%02x' expects type 'unsigned int', but argument 6 has type 'const char *'
