Here’s a mystery - a wireless card works with 11.0; with 11.2, it no longer works. Reverting to 11.0, and it works again. I don’t know enough about the details of wireless to know how to fix the problem,
assuming it can be fixed.
The hardware:
Router:
Linksys WRT54G, firmware v8.00.2
Wireless card:
Linksys WUSB11 V2.6 802.11b
The WORKING setup:
OpenSUSE 11.0
driver software:
at76_usb
(identifed in log messages as ‘Atmel at76x USB Wireless LAN Driver 0.17’)
interfaces managed by NetworkManager and wpa_supplicant
At boot, interface comes up and works:
Feb 2 14:44:57 boxn ifup-wireless: wlan0 warning: using NO encryption
Feb 2 14:44:57 boxn ifup-wireless: command ‘iwconfig wlan0 nick boxn’ returned
Feb 2 14:44:57 boxn ifup-wireless: Error for wireless request “Set Nickname” (8B1C) :
Feb 2 14:44:57 boxn ifup-wireless: SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.
Feb 2 14:44:57 boxn ifup: wlan0
Feb 2 14:44:57 boxn ifup: IP address: 192.168.1.6/24
Feb 2 14:44:57 boxn ifup:
I get the warning about not being able to set the card nickname via iwconfig, but the connection is fine.
The BROKEN setup:
OS:
SuSE 11.2 release
driver software:
at76c50x-usb
(identifed in log messages as ‘Atmel at76x USB Wireless LAN Driver 0.17’)
(yes, the same as before)
interfaces managed by NetworkManager and wpa_supplicant
At boot, the wireless card ‘sees’ the access point, but is never able to connect to it (MAC addresses anonymized):
Mar 6 15:07:22 boxn ifup: wlan0 name: WUSB11 V2.6 802.11b Adapter
Mar 6 15:07:22 boxn ifup-wireless: wlan0 warning: using NO encryption
Mar 6 15:07:23 boxn kernel: 2821.100811] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
Mar 6 15:07:23 boxn kernel: 2821.108859] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:00:00:00:00:00 try 1
Mar 6 15:07:23 boxn kernel: 2821.108924] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:01:02:03:04:05 try 1
Mar 6 15:07:23 boxn ifup: wlan0
Mar 6 15:07:23 boxn ifup: IP address: 192.168.1.3/24
Mar 6 15:07:23 boxn ifup:
Mar 6 15:07:23 boxn kernel: 2821.308123] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:01:02:03:04:05 try 2
Mar 6 15:07:23 boxn kernel: 2821.508091] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:01:02:03:04:05 try 3
Mar 6 15:07:23 boxn kernel: 2821.708032] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:01:02:03:04:05 timed out
at this point, if I run iwconfig, the ‘Access Point:’ comes back as ‘Not Associated’.
If I tried to manually run ‘iwconfig wlan0 ap 00:01:02:03:04:05’,
/var/log/messages showed:
Mar 6 15:20:25 boxn ifup: wlan0 name: WUSB11 V2.6 802.11b Adapter
Mar 6 15:20:25 boxn ifup-wireless: wlan0 warning: using NO encryption
Mar 6 15:20:25 boxn ifup: wlan0
Mar 6 15:20:25 boxn ifup: IP address: 192.168.1.3/24
Mar 6 15:20:25 boxn ifup:
Mar 6 15:20:25 boxn kernel: 3603.741386] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:01:02:03:04:05
Mar 6 15:20:26 boxn kernel: 3603.940027] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:01:02:03:04:05
Mar 6 15:20:26 boxn kernel: 3604.140066] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:01:02:03:04:05
Mar 6 15:20:26 boxn kernel: 3604.340076] wlan0: authentication with AP 00:01:02:03:04:05 timed out
…and running ‘iwconfig’ still shows the access point as ‘Not Associated’.
In both cases, encryption is turned off just to take that complication out of the picture.
‘iwlist wlan0 scanning’ finds the access point, no problem, and none of the other machines in the house have any trouble connecting. It’s just this machine, when 11.2 is installed.