Cannot connect to my AP correctly

English Network/Internet
#1

I’ve read dozens of articles and help tutorials on how to get my USB dongle (EDIMAX EW-7811Un) working on openSUSE. Before I used to have Ethernet, but now I must use a wifi dongle to connect to my AP.

After reading help articles, I realized that my chipset in that dongle is 8192CU. I found out that in the HCL network section on the wiki, opensuse should support it right out of the box. The problem is in the applet Network Management, I could not click any other tabs other than VPN and wired. Therefore, I read the sticky in this subforum to get my network working.

I know for certain I do not need external firmware since I did not see any errors in dmesg, so I continued to do: sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan which gave me results of my AP. My AP is encrypted with WPA2, so in YaST> network settings I selected DHCP to be automatic and my network managed with a passphrase of my WPA2 code. After hitting OK, an installer for iwp(sp? I forgot what it was) comes up as a mandatory install. I cannot install it since I cannot connect to opensuse servers. I’ve tried every combination, I know I have WPA2 and I use that specific passphrase for it.

In the guide, it says something like: “NetworkManager will use an external program called wpa_supplicant whenever your network is encrypted. Make sure that its package has been installed.” How do I check if I have wpa_supplicant installed already? It came with the driver for my USB dongle.

This is where I’m stuck: http://susepaste.org/images/a5ea58a6.png

Do I need to install the driver for my USB dongle? It says the chipset will work, but if so, I don’t know how to install (it uses the “make” command which is not a command in the terminal). Thanks if you can help me out!

#2

Hello and welcome here.

Did you read the stickies at the top if this Wirell Forusm? Particularly this one:
https://forums.opensuse.org/english/get-technical-help-here/wireless/391535-my-wireless-doesnt-work-primer-what-i-should-do-next.html

As it is now, we do not even know which version of openSUSE you use.

#3

On 06/28/2013 02:36 AM, jimmyrussells wrote:
>
> I’ve read dozens of articles and help tutorials on how to get my USB
> dongle (EDIMAX EW-7811Un) working on openSUSE. Before I used to have
> Ethernet, but now I must use a wifi dongle to connect to my AP.
>
> After reading help articles, I realized that my chipset in that dongle
> is 8192CU. I found out that in the HCL network section on the wiki,
> opensuse should support it right out of the box. The problem is in the
> applet Network Management, I could not click any other tabs other than
> VPN and wired. Therefore, I read the sticky in this subforum to get my
> network working.
>
> I know for certain I do not need external firmware since I did not see
> any errors in dmesg, so I continued to do: sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan
> which gave me results of my AP. My AP is encrypted with WPA2, so in
> YaST> network settings I selected DHCP to be automatic and my network
> managed with a passphrase of my WPA2 code. After hitting OK, an
> installer for iwp(sp? I forgot what it was) comes up as a mandatory
> install. I cannot install it since I cannot connect to opensuse servers.
> I’ve tried every combination, I know I have WPA2 and I use that specific
> passphrase for it.
>
> In the guide, it says something like: “NetworkManager will use an
> external program called wpa_supplicant whenever your network is
> encrypted. Make sure that its package has been installed.” How do I
> check if I have wpa_supplicant installed already? It came with the
> driver for my USB dongle.
>
> This is where I’m stuck: http://susepaste.org/images/a5ea58a6.png
>
> Do I need to install the driver for my USB dongle? It says the chipset
> will work, but if so, I don’t know how to install (it uses the “make”
> command which is not a command in the terminal). Thanks if you can help
> me out!

Let me correct some misconceptions and request more info:

(1) Your device most certainly needs external firmware. The output from dmesg
will indicate either (a) the name of the file that was loaded, or that the
loading of the firmware file failed. The fact that you are able to scan for APs
is proof that the firmware is present on your system.

(2) The package containing wpa_supplicant is installed on your system. To verify
that, run the command ‘ps ax | grep wpa’ and you will see that it is not only
installed, but running.

(3) The image that you posted shows that a wireless device was created. To get
to that point, you need both a driver and the firmware. It says nothing about
the correctness of your wifi secret or anything else.

(4) If a given chipset works in Linux, there is a driver for it! Incidentally,
“make” requires the installation of a separate package that is not installed on
every system. Most people do not need it.

(5) Without knowing what version of openSUSE you are running, I cannot go any
further!!!

#4

Sorry I should of included my openSUSE version. I currently have 12.3 (x86_64).

There is a driver on EDIMAX’s website that includes the same driver from Realtek. I uncompressed the tar.gz, and there are some files inside. Here is the read me from it

==================================================================================================================
        User Guide(1) - connecting wireless networking using "Network Manager" GUI utility (For PC Linux)
==================================================================================================================
            (1) Network Manager is a utility attempts to make use of wireless networking easy.

            (2) Notes: if you want to use the following command-line method to connect wireless networking,
                        please disable the "Network Manager", because "Network Manager" will conflict with method of command line .

^^ The network manager won’t work out of the box, so we have to do user guide #2.


=================================================================================================================
        User Guide(2) - Using the wpa_cli & wpa_supplicant tools (For embedded Linux)
==================================================================================================================

    Please refer to the document/wpa_cli_with_wpa_supplicant_20091227.doc

This is what the document ^ says: SUSE Paste

I followed the commands but none of them would work properly. Thanks if you can help!

#5

On 06/28/2013 01:56 PM, jimmyrussells wrote:
>

> Sorry I should of included my openSUSE version. I currently have 12.3
> (x86_64).
>
> There is a driver on EDIMAX’s website that includes the same driver
> from Realtek. I uncompressed the tar.gz, and there are some files
> inside. Here is the read me from it
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
> ==================================================================================================================
> User Guide(1) - connecting wireless networking using “Network Manager” GUI utility (For PC Linux)
> ==================================================================================================================
> (1) Network Manager is a utility attempts to make use of wireless networking easy.
>
> (2) Notes: if you want to use the following command-line method to connect wireless networking,
> please disable the “Network Manager”, because “Network Manager” will conflict with method of command line .
> --------------------
>
>
> ^^ The network manager won’t work out of the box, so we have to do user
> guide #2.
>
>
> Code:
> --------------------
>
> =================================================================================================================
> User Guide(2) - Using the wpa_cli & wpa_supplicant tools (For embedded Linux)
> ==================================================================================================================
>
> Please refer to the document/wpa_cli_with_wpa_supplicant_20091227.doc
> --------------------
>
>
> This is what the document ^ says: ‘SUSE Paste’
> (http://susepaste.org/80973038)
>
> I followed the commands but none of them would work properly. Thanks if
> you can help!

That document describes how to connect to an AP using the command line.
NetworkManager obsoletes all that.

That download contains the driver source. It needs to be built for your system.
As you did not have make installed earlier, I doubt that gcc is available
either. As a result, building your own driver from Realtek source is unlikely to
work.

Driver rtl8192cu has changed a lot in the past few days. You might use the
3.10-rc6 kernel in the Kernel of the Day repo, but I am going to suggest an
alternative. I have places a new kernel RPM at


http://www.lwfinger.com/download/

There are two files in that directory. Download both on any system that has
Internet access and transport them to the openSUSE system and put them in a new
directory. Then run the following command:


md5sum -c md5sum.txt

The output should be as follows:


finger@larrylap:~> md5sum -c md5sum.txt
kernel-3.10.0_rc7_wl_2.g20cc894_desktop+-44.x86_64.rpm: OK
finger@larrylap:~>

If you do not get the OK, something has gone wrong in the download and it needs
to be repeated.

Once the md5sum is OK, then run the commands


sudo rpm -i kernel-3.10.0_rc7_wl_2.g20cc894_desktop+-44.x86_64.rpm
sudo /sbin/mkinitrd

After that finishes, reboot and select the new kernel. Your wireless should now
work.

#6

Thank you for providing a kernel, though may I ask where did you get the kernel from? I’m going to boot it onto my system right now I’ll reply if it works or not

#7

On 06/28/2013 07:56 PM, jimmyrussells wrote:
>
> lwfinger;2568172 Wrote:
>> That document describes how to connect to an AP using the command line.
>> NetworkManager obsoletes all that.
>>
>> That download contains the driver source. It needs to be built for your
>> system.
>> As you did not have make installed earlier, I doubt that gcc is
>> available
>> either. As a result, building your own driver from Realtek source is
>> unlikely to
>> work.
>>
>> Driver rtl8192cu has changed a lot in the past few days. You might use
>> the
>> 3.10-rc6 kernel in the Kernel of the Day repo, but I am going to
>> suggest an
>> alternative. I have places a new kernel RPM at
>>
>>>
> Code:
> --------------------
> > >
> > http://www.lwfinger.com/download/
> >
> --------------------
>>>
>>
>> There are two files in that directory. Download both on any system
>> that has
>> Internet access and transport them to the openSUSE system and put
>> them in a new
>> directory. Then run the following command:
>>
>>>
> Code:
> --------------------
> > >
> > md5sum -c md5sum.txt
> >
> --------------------
>>>
>>
>> The output should be as follows:
>>
>>>
> Code:
> --------------------
> > >
> > finger@larrylap:~> md5sum -c md5sum.txt
> > kernel-3.10.0_rc7_wl_2.g20cc894_desktop±44.x86_64.rpm: OK
> > finger@larrylap:~>
> >
> --------------------
>>>
>>
>> If you do not get the OK, something has gone wrong in the download
>> and it needs
>> to be repeated.
>>
>> Once the md5sum is OK, then run the commands
>>
>>>
> Code:
> --------------------
> > >
> > sudo rpm -i kernel-3.10.0_rc7_wl_2.g20cc894_desktop±44.x86_64.rpm
> > sudo /sbin/mkinitrd
> >
> --------------------
>>>
>>
>> After that finishes, reboot and select the new kernel. Your wireless
>> should now
>> work.
>
> Thank you for providing a kernel, though may I ask where did you get
> the kernel from? I’m going to boot it onto my system right now I’ll
> reply if it works or not

I built the kernel on my laptop. That is something I do nearly every day. The
only difference is that I usually build kernels that are tailored for my
hardware, whereas that one has the much broader configuration of the openSUSE
kernels. In addition, I install them immediately, and do not normally build the rpm.

#8

It did work flawlessly, though the Internet was pretty slow for my session for some reason. I would like to say thank you so much for helping me and building that kernel + uploading!

I do have a concern though, if you don’t mind… I got openSUSE as an OS because it’s FOSS. How can I verify the integrity of the kernel? I’m not saying you put anything malicious in it, but it would make me feel a bit more comfortable. Again, thanks again for your help mate

#9

On 06/29/2013 04:26 PM, jimmyrussells wrote:
>
> lwfinger;2568237 Wrote:
>> I built the kernel on my laptop. That is something I do nearly every
>> day. The
>> only difference is that I usually build kernels that are tailored for
>> my
>> hardware, whereas that one has the much broader configuration of the
>> openSUSE
>> kernels. In addition, I install them immediately, and do not normally
>> build the rpm.
>
> It did work flawlessly, though the Internet was pretty slow for my
> session for some reason. I would like to say thank you so much for
> helping me and building that kernel + uploading!
>
> I do have a concern though, if you don’t mind… I got openSUSE as an
> OS because it’s FOSS. How can I verify the integrity of the kernel? I’m
> not saying you put anything malicious in it, but it would make me feel a
> bit more comfortable. Again, thanks again for your help mate

You can download the git repo from wireless-testing and generate your own
kernel. That is what I did.

#10

I downloaded and installed the kernel you gave me a few days ago. I am so confused though… I was able to connect one time to my AP but now I cannot connect at all. I looked through your sticky on wireless connection help and went through all the steps. I had no problem up until this part here:

If you get something likeFrom 192.168.1.106: icmp_seq=2 Destination Host Unreachablethen your AP’s address is not what you thought, or your network connection is bad.

When I pinged my AP or any server, it said something like “connection: Unreachable” which is what you said here. What do you mean by a connection being “bad”? When I did a command to find some info about my wireless adapter, it said I had 62/70 for signal strength. I know I put in all the correct information to my knowledge, but I am not too sure.

Thanks if you can help!

#11

On 07/05/2013 06:46 PM, jimmyrussells wrote:
>
> I downloaded and installed the kernel you gave me a few days ago. I am
> so confused though… I was able to connect one time to my AP but now I
> cannot connect at all. I looked through your sticky on wireless
> connection help and went through all the steps. I had no problem up
> until this part here:
>
>> If you get something likeFrom 192.168.1.106: icmp_seq=2 Destination Host
>> Unreachablethen your AP’s address is not what you thought, or your
>> network connection is bad.
>
> When I pinged my AP or any server, it said something like “connection:
> Unreachable” which is what you said here. What do you mean by a
> connection being “bad”? When I did a command to find some info about my
> wireless adapter, it said I had 62/70 for signal strength. I know I put
> in all the correct information to my knowledge, but I am not too sure.

Bad == no connection. From what you posted so far, it is impossible to tell what
is wrong other than you have not made a connection.

#12

This is what I got when going through your sticky:

http://susepaste.org/view/simple/76959703

#13

On 07/06/2013 11:06 PM, jimmyrussells wrote:
>
> This is what I got when going through your sticky:
>
> http://susepaste.org/view/simple/76959703

The iwconfig output shows that your interface authenticated and associated. What
else did dmesg have to show? It will be much later than 9.8 seconds into the boot.

#14

SUSE Paste

It’s saying my SSID is not valid, but I scanned to get that SSID…

#15

On 07/07/2013 03:56 PM, jimmyrussells wrote:
>
> ‘SUSE Paste’ (http://susepaste.org/view/simple/0bb3e3fc)

When you have only a small number of lines to post, post them in-line inside
code tags.

> It’s saying my SSID is not valid, but I scanned to get that SSID…

If you look at the path associated with those messages, they come from the sound
systems, and have nothing to do with wireless. Please post everything in the
dmesg output after that message about the wireless switch being on. In addition,
after the system is rebooted, issue the 2 following commands:


sudo /sbin/modprobe -rv rtl8192cu
sudo /sbin/modprobe -v rtl8192cu debug=3

After you do the above, attempt the connection before taking the dmesg dump. Are
you using NetworkManager to connect? If not, why?

#16

SUSE Paste

I found a lot of stuff with wlan0 on the last page of dmesg, this thing keeps repeating for a while.

I’m not using NetworkManager to connect because I cannot select the “Wireless” tab from it nor the Wired tab, only the VPN tab. Everything else is blank/unable to click on it.