wlan0 up, can see neighbors ssid, cannot see mine

English Network/Internet
#1

I’m a newbie in Linux-land, so please be kind…

Thanks to help from a good Samaritan in another thread (Penguin Parent Larry), I uninstalled MadWifi and installed linux drivers from wireless.kernel.org, which are working. But strangely, I can see my neighbor’s SSID, but I cannot see my own, and my wireless router (Linksys WRT100) is literally 3 feet from the laptop! I know the network is up, because my wife’s XP laptop is communicating fine. I’ve tried reconfiguring my router security from WPA2-Personal to WPA-Personal to WEP, but I can’t seem to do anything to get my OpenSUSE. 11 laptop to see the SSID.

Another curious question before I move on with some stats - the install output of the wireless driver said to set CONFIG_NETDEVICES_MULTIQUEUE. Any idea where I set this?

Anyway, on to the tech info…

At least the NIC appears to be working:

/sbin/ifconfig

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1E:EC:AF:DA:AB
inet addr:192.168.1.102 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::21e:ecff:feaf:daab/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:3114 errors:0 dropped:21345374500 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1553 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1604981 (1.5 Mb) TX bytes:264257 (258.0 Kb)
Interrupt:251 Base address:0x4000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:112 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:112 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:8592 (8.3 Kb) TX bytes:8592 (8.3 Kb)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:23:4D:2A:88:F1
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

wmaster0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-23-4D-2A-88-F1-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

iwconfig

lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.412 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Tx-Power=23 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

> Hardware make/model is Atheros:
> # lspci-nn | egrep ‘Ethernet|Atheros’
> 09:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Atheros Communications Inc. Device
> [168c:002a] (rev 01)

dmesg | egrep ‘ath|wifi|hal’

ath9k: 0.1
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm ‘ath9k_rate_control’
Registered led device: ath9k-phy0:radio
Registered led device: ath9k-phy0:assoc
Registered led device: ath9k-phy0:tx
Registered led device: ath9k-phy0:rx

uname -r

2.6.25.18-0.2-default

So, any idea what I’ve done wrong/haven’t done? I vaguely remember seeing something in the posts saying not to use the ath9k driver on any version < 2.6.27 - does that ring a bell? If so, how would I “force” a different driver?

#2
  • wade-cole,

and the SSID is set to be visible on your router?

Uwe

#3

Uwe Buckesfeld wrote:
> * wade-cole,
>
> and the SSID is set to be visible on your router?

What happens with the command ‘sudo /usr/sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan’?

#4

Hi, yes, my SSID is set to visible - I can scan it on any other (Windows) machine. However, as you will see below, my openSUSE laptop cannot see my SSID (my SSID is EnterpriseG). The only SSID it sees is some neighbor’s named ENZO. Last night it was also picking up a couple of other neighbors.

/usr/sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:11:50:D1:2B:E7
ESSID:“ENZO”
Mode:Master
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=20/100 Signal level:-82 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=00000426f0aa3181
Extra: Last beacon: 1516ms ago

#5

wade-cole wrote:
> Hi, yes, my SSID is set to visible - I can scan it on any other
> (Windows) machine. However, as you will see below, my openSUSE laptop
> cannot see my SSID (my SSID is EnterpriseG). The only SSID it sees is
> some neighbor’s named ENZO. Last night it was also picking up a couple
> of other neighbors.
>
> # /usr/sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan
> wlan0 Scan completed :
> Cell 01 - Address: 00:11:50:D1:2B:E7
> ESSID:“ENZO”
> Mode:Master
> Channel:1
> Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
> Quality=20/100 Signal level:-82 dBm Noise
> level=-95 dBm
> Encryption key:on
> Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6
> Mb/s
> 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36
> Mb/s
> 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
> Extra:tsf=00000426f0aa3181
> Extra: Last beacon: 1516ms ago

What is the beacon interval of your AP? What channel is it on?

Does the iwlist output change if you run it several times? From the “#” prompt,
I think you are running it as root. Is that correct?

Larry

#6

Hi Larry! Grateful to see you again.
Beacon interval: 100MS
Network Mode: Mixed
Radio Band: Auto-20/40 MHz Channel
Standard Channel: Auto

To get the option of hard-coding a channel in the router, I would have to set the Radio Band to “Standard-20 MHz”.

Yes, I am running as root (su - root)
And yes, the scanned SSID’s seem to vary sometimes. ENZO seems to be a constant but I also see SSIDs for Liana and WLAN:

/usr/sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:11:50:D1:2B:E7
ESSID:“ENZO”
Mode:Master
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=12/100 Signal level:-87 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=000004304b594181
Extra: Last beacon: 1436ms ago
Cell 02 - Address: 00:18:4D:9B:EA:46
ESSID:“Liana”
Mode:Master
Channel:11
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=9/100 Signal level:-89 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=000000008a5ac181
Extra: Last beacon: 924ms ago

/usr/sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan

wlan0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:11:50:D1:2B:E7
ESSID:“ENZO”
Mode:Master
Channel:1
Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
Quality=18/100 Signal level:-83 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Encryption key:on
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=000004305071f181
Extra: Last beacon: 1552ms ago
Cell 02 - Address: 00:30:BD:C4:4C:9E
ESSID:“WLAN”
Mode:Master
Channel:11
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=9/100 Signal level:-89 dBm Noise level=-95 dBm
Encryption key:off
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
Extra:tsf=00000041b79ee123
Extra: Last beacon: 952ms ago

#7

wade-cole wrote:
> Hi Larry! Grateful to see you again.
> Beacon interval: 100MS
> Network Mode: Mixed
> Radio Band: Auto-20/40 MHz Channel
> Standard Channel: Auto
>
> To get the option of hard-coding a channel in the router, I would have
> to set the Radio Band to “Standard-20 MHz”.
>
> Yes, I am running as root (su - root)
> And yes, the scanned SSID’s seem to vary sometimes. ENZO seems to be a
> constant but I also see SSIDs for Liana and WLAN:

I’m not sure if mac80211/b43 can handle an “Auto” channel. Is it possible for
you to set the standard 20 MHz radio band? If ENZO is not your AP, then you
should set channel 6 as 1 and 11 have interference.

Larry

#8

Thanks for the tip Larry, I will give that a try and I will report back with the results. I also am considering installing openSUSE 11.1 RC, because the drivers that I downloaded and installed from wireless.kernel.org are the drivers tagged as OLD. The website specifically said to use the old drivers for any kernel < 2.6.26, and I am currently up-to-date with the released version at 2.6.25.18-0.2-default. By the way, this issue wouldn’t have anything to do with the fact that I am running a 64-bit platform would it?

#9

wade-cole wrote:
> Thanks for the tip Larry, I will give that a try and I will report back
> with the results. I also am considering installing openSUSE 11.1 RC,
> because the drivers that I downloaded and installed from
> wireless.kernel.org are the drivers tagged as OLD. The website
> specifically said to use the old drivers for any kernel < 2.6.26, and I
> am currently up-to-date with the released version at
> 2.6.25.18-0.2-default. By the way, this issue wouldn’t have anything to
> do with the fact that I am running a 64-bit platform would it?

No. I use x86_64 all the time.

Larry

#10

Hi Larry,

It’s working! Thought I’d give you an update/feedback for academic purposes or for the benefit of anyone else who reads this thread. Essentially I don’t know the technical root cause of the earlier failure, and setting the wireless router to a specific channel did not help. But I updated my system to the openSUSE 11.1 RC1, and magically it started working! The router appeared. I could connect to the router, but couldn’t get DNS resolution. So I downloaded the linux wireless drivers for the newer kernels, and that resolved the DNS issue. I have a couple of remaining minor annoyances, but I can live with those. The annoyances are:

  1. I can’t communicate with the router when I connect with WPA security. Can’t even ping the router, I get something like “Host is not reachable”. Connections work just fine with either NO security, or WEP shared key security.
  2. Switching back and forth between NetworkManager and ifup-controlled connectivity in Yast seems to have corrupted something for NetworkManager. After I switched to ifup-controlled connectivity so I could try some stuff in Yast, and then switched back to NetworkManager control and rebooted, NetworkManager no longer showed connectivity, and when I pinged my router I got “network no longer available”, even though ifconfig and iwconfig showed the devices and they appeared to be up. At any rate, if I control my network with Yast and allow ifup to control the network, everything works fine - I just don’t get the pretty little signal bars in the system tray :slight_smile: