DWL-G650 Wireless - No Connection

English Network/Internet
#1

Hi; I am new to linux… but am trying.

I have an Dell Inspiron 8000 with only OpenSuse 11.1. I installed via Live CD without issue. The D-Link AirPlus DWL-G650 PCMCIA card has worked twice. After the initial install I stuck it in the slot and presto… interneto. It later stopped.

I thought at first it was the knetworkmanager. So I used Yast to uninstall and reinstall. This did not seem to help.

So, I followed the following instructions:

Atheros madwifi - openSUSE

The WLAN worked for until I rebooted.

KnetworkManager shows wlan0, but I cannot connect to my own network.

YaST => Hardware => Hardware Information => Wireless LAN reports an entry for "D-link DWL G650 (Rev B3.B5) Wireless cardbus adapter
The Kernal driver entry is: ath5k.

I reviewed: “dmesg | grep firmware”
This returned no messages about the Wireless.

I ran: /usr/sbin/iwconfig wlan0

Results as follows:

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:“dpw”
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

It’s as if the wireless radio isn’t turned on… but the knetworkmanager has my encryption key and network information.

I poked around my bootlog via Yast and found this:

<6>vendor=8086 device=2448
<6>e100 0000:08:04.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNKD] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
<6>e100 0000:08:04.0: PME# disabled
<6>e100: eth0: e100_probe: addr 0xf8fff000, irq 10, MAC addr 00:20:e0:63:7f:30
<6>ath5k_pci 0000:09:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
<6>vendor=8086 device=2448
<6>ath5k_pci 0000:09:00.0: PCI INT A -> Link[LNKD] -> GSI 10 (level, low) -> IRQ 10
<6>ath5k_pci 0000:09:00.0: registered as ‘phy0’
<7>phy0: Selected rate control algorithm ‘pid’
<6>ath5k phy0: Atheros AR5213 chip found (MAC: 0x56, PHY: 0x41)
<4>ath_hal: module license ‘Proprietary’ taints kernel.
<6>ath_hal: 0.9.18.0 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413, RF5413)
<6>wlan: 0.9.4
<6>ath_pci: 0.9.4

Not sure what to make of it - although the part about “taints kernel” doesn’t sound good.

If this is something simple like I’ve seen in the stickies… like turning on my radio, I don’t know the command to do that… so please be explicit.

Thanks so much for the guidance.

#2

nhlordave wrote:
> Hi; I am new to linux… but am trying.
>
> I have an Dell Inspiron 8000 with only OpenSuse 11.1. I installed via
> Live CD without issue. The D-Link AirPlus DWL-G650 PCMCIA card has
> worked twice. After the initial install I stuck it in the slot and
> presto… interneto. It later stopped.
>
> I thought at first it was the knetworkmanager. So I used Yast to
> uninstall and reinstall. This did not seem to help.
>
> So, I followed the following instructions:
>
> ‘Atheros madwifi - openSUSE’ (http://en.opensuse.org/Atheros_madwifi)
>
> The WLAN worked for until I rebooted.
>
> KnetworkManager shows wlan0, but I cannot connect to my own network.
>
> YaST => Hardware => Hardware Information => Wireless LAN reports an
> entry for "D-link DWL G650 (Rev B3.B5) Wireless cardbus adapter
> The Kernal driver entry is: ath5k.
>
> I reviewed: “dmesg | grep firmware”
> This returned no messages about the Wireless.
>
> I ran: /usr/sbin/iwconfig wlan0
>
> Results as follows:
>
> wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:“dpw”
> Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
> Tx-Power=27 dBm
> Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
> Encryption key:off
> Power Management:off
> Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
> Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
> Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0
>
> It’s as if the wireless radio isn’t turned on… but the
> knetworkmanager has my encryption key and network information.
>
> I poked around my bootlog via Yast and found this:
>
> <6>vendor=8086 device=2448
> <6>e100 0000:08:04.0: PCI INT A → Link[LNKD] → GSI 10 (level, low) →
> IRQ 10
> <6>e100 0000:08:04.0: PME# disabled
> <6>e100: eth0: e100_probe: addr 0xf8fff000, irq 10, MAC addr
> 00:20:e0:63:7f:30
> <6>ath5k_pci 0000:09:00.0: enabling device (0000 → 0002)
> <6>vendor=8086 device=2448
> <6>ath5k_pci 0000:09:00.0: PCI INT A → Link[LNKD] → GSI 10 (level,
> low) → IRQ 10
> <6>ath5k_pci 0000:09:00.0: registered as ‘phy0’
> <7>phy0: Selected rate control algorithm ‘pid’
> <6>ath5k phy0: Atheros AR5213 chip found (MAC: 0x56, PHY: 0x41)
> <4>ath_hal: module license ‘Proprietary’ taints kernel.
> <6>ath_hal: 0.9.18.0 (AR5210, AR5211, AR5212, RF5111, RF5112, RF2413,
> RF5413)
> <6>wlan: 0.9.4
> <6>ath_pci: 0.9.4
>
> Not sure what to make of it - although the part about “taints kernel”
> doesn’t sound good.

When you load a driver that is not licensed under GPL, it sets the tainted flag.
This is to alert kernel developers that some loaded code has not been reviewed
by the community. The flag did not exist under 2.4 kernels, and the devs wasted
a lot of time looking for bugs that were the result of foreign drivers. Now,
most will not look at a reported bug until it is duplicated without loading a
module that taints the kernel. Incidentally, Atheros released their HAL into the
public domain, thus the latest versions of the drivers no longer taint the kernel.

What do you see when you run the command ‘sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan’?

#3

Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense.

In response to the command:

“sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan”

I receive:

lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.

wmaster0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.

wlan0 No scan results

Should also mention the eth0 works. That’s how I am posting.

If I go to KDE Network Manager on tool bar and select the wireless… the cog turns, the card flickers, then nothing.

Please advise! Thanks.

#4

nhlordave wrote:
> Thanks for the explanation. Makes sense.
>
> In response to the command:
>
> “sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist scan”
>
> I receive:
>
> lo Interface doesn’t support scanning.
>
> eth0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.
>
> wmaster0 Interface doesn’t support scanning.
>
> wlan0 No scan results

As you are not getting any scan results, you won’t be able to make a connection.

Does your computer have a switch to turn the wireless radio on/off? Your system
is acting as though it is turned off. I’m not sure if this driver would log
anyting in that case.

Larry

#5

Larry,

No. On the computer there are no physical external switched to turn the wireless LAN off or on. This is a pcmcia card that can be taken out of the inspiron 8000 or pushed back in. I believe it is in okay - as a light is turned on.

Don’t know what else to tell you. dpw