Enabling wireless on Dell laptop

[Dotan Cohen]

On 22/01/07, Dave Mitchell <davem at iabyn.com> wrote:
> Personally I set 'enabled=0' in /etc/yum.repos.d/freshrpms.repo so that it
> doesn't clash with other repos when I update. (I guess this means I don't
> automatically get updates for the wireless driver).

Noted. I'll do that.

> > KWifiManager for some reason is NOT findng the signal. But that's a
> > different problam and a different thread I suppose. The WiFi LED is
> > also not lit.
>
> If you haven't rebooted, then you'll need to start it by hand the first
> time. Try:
>
>     # modprobe ipw3945
>     # ipw3945d
>
> then
>
>     # iwconfig
>
> should show a device, and
>
>     # iwlist scan
>
> should show your access point(s).
>
> I use Network Manager, so I can't comment on KWifiManager setup.
>

I rebooted the machine, and this is what I got.

[root at localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      unassociated  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed  Frequency=nan kHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power:16 dBm
          Retry limit:15   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          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:47   Missed beacon:0

[root at localhost ~]# modprobe ipw3945
[root at localhost ~]# ipw3945d
ipw3945d - regulatory daemon
Copyright (C) 2005-2006 Intel Corporation. All rights reserved.
version: 1.7.22
2007-01-22 15:25:32: ERROR: ipw3945d already running.  If ipw3945d is
not running then you
need to remove '/var/run/ipw3945d.pid' and try again.
[root at localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

eth1      unassociated  ESSID:off/any
          Mode:Managed  Frequency=nan kHz  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power:16 dBm
          Retry limit:15   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          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:47   Missed beacon:0

[root at localhost ~]# iwlist scan
lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth1      Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:0E:2E:A0:86:DF
                    ESSID:"tester"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Quality=45/100  Signal level=-82 dBm  Noise level=-82 dBm
                    Extra: Last beacon: 178ms ago

[root at localhost ~]#


So it's seeing the router, that's good. I can't connect to it, but
that's probably because I don't know how.

More Details: The router is on the other side of my living room wall.
It's the neighbors. He doesn't care if I test my wifi on it, but he
doesn't want me surfing on it (I have my own wired net access for
that). The condition of my testing on his router is that I must help
him secure it when I'm done. Good deal! My Dell Axim x50v surfs fine
on the same router, so I know that it is unsecured and that it can be
connected to. And, it was in interesting way to knock on somebody's
door and say "Hey, your router's wide open!".

Dotan Cohen

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