# New to all of this, and having problems with wireless [Solve

## John_D

Hi all,

This is my first time posting here, so I hope you'll take it easy on me.

This is my first time installing gentoo on a laptop (and only second time really installing gentoo at all), and so far it has been progressing.

I'm trying now to get my wireless card to work, but my system doesn't see it using ifconfig or iwconfig.

I've searched through this site and the net, and the only thing that I can find is that I need to emerge ipw2100, but that doesn't work either... I get some odd message:

* Determining the location of the kernel source code

 * Found kernel source directory:

 *     /usr/src/linux

 * Found sources for kernel version:

 *     2.6.14-gentoo-r2

 * Checking for suitable kernel configuration options:

 *   CONFIG_IEEE80211:   should not be set. But it is.

 * Please check to make sure these options are set correctly.

 * Failure to do so may cause unexpected problems.

 * Once you have satisfied these options, please try merging

 * this package again.

So, I've tried to recompile my kernel (I originally used the genkernel to make it), and I took out all the wireless stuff that was in there, which didn't work, so I tried just having my card loaded as a module... which also didn't work, and now I have everything loaded as a module... and still not working.  I also get the same message when I emerge ipw2200 ...

I have a Dell Inspiron 600m laptop, and according to my bill, I have an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200 (802.11b/g) Internal Wireless card.

I'm very much a newbie at this, so please bear with me.

Thanks in advance for any help!Last edited by John_D on Sat Nov 26, 2005 8:34 pm; edited 1 time in total

----------

## hielvc

Its telling you to recompile your kernel with  CONFIG_IEEE80211 tured off

----------

## John_D

I'm not too sure what that means though.

When I use make menuconfig, I don't see where/how I can turn that CONFIG_IEEE80211 off.

I've manually edited the .config file in /usr/src/linux and tried to "make" again... but that failed horribly.  

Any advice on how to turn that off?

Thanks again!

----------

## hielvc

Its under   Networking options >> < > 802.1d Ethernet Bridging  AND <>802.1Q VLAN Support

----------

## John_D

So after a while, I finally got the CONFIG_IEEE80211 turned off.  Now though, when I emerge ipw2200, I get the following error message:

Old ieee80211 references found. In order to build the ieee80211 subsystem, prior versions must first be removed.  You can perform this task by running this makefile as root via:

% sudo make check_old

and answerying Y to remove the file references.

So, I try to type that command in and I receive:  bash: sudo: command not found

 :Sad: 

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## hielvc

Open a terminal login as root and run " make check_old " . sudo is method of running a command  as root without haveing to login. Because of security concerns nobody tells you to actually do anything as root wich if your on a desktop linux/unix box is not near as critical as in a corprate enviroment  Hell I usually end up with 2 to 3 root consules going.

----------

## kasperhans

ok if you are new better first compile your kernel via genkernel then just emerge the following tools:

```
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" emerge -v wireless-tools ieee80211 your_driver
```

and reboot should work,

or disable over menuconfig the ieee80211 built in support under wlan good luck

----------

## John_D

Thanks for all the help guys!

Ok, logged in as root, when I run make check_old, I receive the folllowing:

make: *** No rule to make target 'check_old'. Stop.

I tried that in my root folder, my /usr/src/linux folder, and my home folder, all receiving the same message.

Also, originally I did use genkernel to compile my kernel, but not with all those parameters that you are suggesting.  I have quite a number of other applicaitons now on this laptop, do you think it might be wise to try to run genkernel again?

Honestly though, I would rather fight my way through this from where I am now other than just starting over.  I'm learning quite a lot from this!

Thanks again, and hopefully we can get this thing working soon!

----------

## hielvc

Ok try this 

```
cd /usr/src/linux && cp .config ../config && make mrproper && cp ../config .config
```

 Also for more info read the README in /usr/src/linux.OOPS you then need to run 

```
make oldconfig OR 

make menucofig
```

----------

## John_D

This is what I got:

cd /usr/src/linux && cp .config ../config && make mrproper && cp ../config .config

  CLEAN   arch/i386/boot/compressed

  CLEAN   arch/i386/boot

  CLEAN   /usr/src/linux-2.6.14-gentoo-r2

  CLEAN   arch/i386/kernel

  CLEAN   drivers/char/speakup

  CLEAN   drivers/char

  CLEAN   drivers/eisa

  CLEAN   drivers/ieee1394

  CLEAN   drivers/md

  CLEAN   drivers/net/wan

  CLEAN   drivers/scsi/aic7xxx

  CLEAN   drivers/scsi

  CLEAN   init

  CLEAN   kernel

  CLEAN   lib

scripts/Makefile.clean:17: /usr/src/linux-2.6.14-gentoo-r2/net/ieee80211/Makefile: No such file or directory

make[2]: *** No rule to make target `/usr/src/linux-2.6.14-gentoo-r2/net/ieee80211/Makefile'.  Stop.

make[1]: *** [net/ieee80211] Error 2

make: *** [_clean_net] Error 2

uh oh...

----------

## hielvc

I would 

```
rm -r /usr/src/linux-2.6.14-gentoo-r2
```

 and then emerge gentoo-sources again. That should get ride of this sillness.

----------

## John_D

that scares me.  Anything else that I can do?   :Very Happy: 

----------

## hielvc

Somethings fouled up. Best thing would be just to remove dir safter would be to cd /usr/src/ and then rm -r linux-2.6.14-gentoo-r2. If that errors cant stat or remove that 802 stuff then you will need to reboot with a live cd and run " fsck /dev/hd? ". Of course you could do that first and then re-run make mrproper"

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## John_D

Ok, so to get a new kernel, all I need to do is delete that file, then emerge gentoo-sources again and go from there?

----------

## hielvc

Yes and hopefully you saved .config to /usr/src/. If so then emerge sources and " cp config<whatever you called it> back in.

----------

## kasperhans

hmm

no i meant if you used genkernel you dont have to recompile just try the following because it seems your ieee80211 is outdated or not avaible, please try following:

```
cd /usr/src/linux

su

make menuconfig 
```

oh also check if ieee80211 module is running by

```
lsmod
```

if so stop it by

```
modprobe -r ipw2200
```

this should stop your ieee80211 by itself if not do

```
modprobe -r ieee80211xxx
```

then check if under net options ieee80211 support is enabled if not fine if yes disable and you have to recompile kernel if not do the following as root user:

```
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" emerge -Cv wireless-tools ieee80211 ipw2200
```

ok all files for wireless lan should be removed now, lets move on

```
reboot
```

```
ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="~x86" emerge -v wireless-tools ieee80211 ipw2200
```

then 

```
ifconfig wlan0 up
```

 (or what dmesg shows for your device id could be also sit0 or ath0 or some like this

afterwards check dmesg if everything is loading if so config your w-lan

```
iwconfig --help
```

because it seems your ieee80211 is messed up

please tell me if it helped to prevent you from a whole recompile

----------

## John_D

Thanks for the reply!

Well, here's what I've done so far.  I've re-emerged gentoo-sources, and have recompiled my kernel quite a number of times.  All mention of the ieee80211 is not being loaded, also, using lsmod, there is no mention of that anywhere in there.  The only network thing that is loaded under network options is the ipv6 (I'm not sure why, that's just how it was defaulted).

When I try to emerge ipw2200, the following error is shown:

 * Determining the location of the kernel source code

 * Found kernel source directory:

 *     /usr/src/linux

 * Found sources for kernel version:

 *     2.6.14-gentoo-r2

 * Checking for suitable kernel configuration options:

 *   CONFIG_NET_RADIO:   is not set when it should be. 

 *

 * Your kernel source contains an incompatible version of the

 * ieee80211 subsystem, which needs to be removed before

 * ieee80211-1.1.6 can be installed. This can be accomplished by running:

 *

 *   # /bin/sh /usr/portage/net-wireless/ieee80211/files/remove-old /usr/src/linux

 *

 * Please note that this will make it impossible to use some of the

 * in-kernel IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN drivers (eg. orinoco).

 *

So, I did what it said, specifically I type in 

```
 /bin/sh /usr/portage/net-wireless/ieee80211/files/remove-old /usr/src/linux 
```

and it seems to have worked! YAY  :Smile: 

Now, the only problem is that it doesn't recognize my wireless card.  When I installed another version of linux, my wireless card came in as eth1, but now it doesn't see it.

When I run iwconfig, this is what is displayed:

# iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

sit0      no wireless extensions.

ifconfig also does not show anything other than eth0 and lo.

I think we're almost there!  Any ideas where to go from here?

Thanks again!

----------

## kasperhans

you have to bring up your wireless card first 

```
ifconfig wlan0 up

ifconfig ath0 up

ifconfig sith0 up
```

name depends on your adapter check dmesg

please just read my above post you have just to follow and it will work ...

----------

## John_D

Ok, I followed your post step by step, and this is where I am now.

sit0 is the only one of the list (I included eth1 as well) for the devices that did not give me an error about not being found.

When I do iwconfig, this is what I get:

iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

sit0      no wireless extensions.

The dmesg results shows this, which I think looks wierd:

ieee80211_crypt: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module

ieee80211: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module

ipw2200: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module

ieee80211_crypt: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module

ieee80211: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module

ipw2200: disagrees about version of symbol struct_module

On a side note, I installed ubuntu linux (which I really didn't like), but it found my wireless card as eht1, but that doesn't seem to work either.

----------

## kasperhans

have you read the manual at all? i mean the gentoo installation handbook?

why are you always looking at iwconfig you first have to use ifconfig to start the interface 

did you?

----------

## John_D

Yes, I've read through the manual a few times.  I did everything step by step the way you laid it out as well.

Using ifconfig, it only found sit0, so I entered:

```
 ifconfig sit0 up
```

I received no error message as I did when I tried to bring up the other devices so I assumed that it worked, but it doesn't seem to be working.  In the manual it said that you can use iwconfig without any parameters to see which device that's loaded is your wireless card.  That's why I'm using that as a reference after issuing the commands to bring it up.

 :Sad: 

----------

## kasperhans

ok 

first you look which devices ar at all avaible on your pc for use with ifconfig and later iwconfig:

```
ifconfig -a
```

for example at my system it shows up those: 

eth0

lo

sit0

wlan0

--------------------------------------------

ok now you bring up first if avaible wlan0 if not, ath0 or the avaible would be usefull if you could post your -a output, btw if you only have a wireless card and no other network adapter your wireless card will most likely be 

eth0 so try this as well if needed... next start your wireless-network device e.g. wlan0

```
ifconfig wlan0 up

ifconfig wlan0 192.168.0.24 broadcast 192.168.0.255 netmask 255.255.255.0

route add default gw 192.168.178.1
```

the ip line as well as the route line may not be needed if you wish to use dhcp so just leave dem but or if you have to change the ips as they are just standart ones

now you have to check if brought up by

```
ifconfig
```

tell me the output there has to be at least a lo device but as well , now the wlan0 or else named

ok if this worked

```
dmesg
```

and then post again or, at least add some more informations like error message posts and so on ....

because you CANT USE IWCONFIG WITHOUT IFCONFIG this just wont work so do what i say *G* and afterwards if worked post worked an we go further or if not post the error messages ... without this discussion is senseless and a waste of time because i start to think about you really have read the documentations on gentoo.org not meant worse but ah its like it is and first snow this year just came today----

----------

## John_D

Here we go...

```
ifconfig -a
```

Reports:

ifconfig -a

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:11:43:4B:F4:D4

          inet addr:192.168.0.100  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

          inet6 addr: fe80::211:43ff:fe4b:f4d4/64 Scope:Link

          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:2794 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:882 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

          RX bytes:1696310 (1.6 Mb)  TX bytes:162640 (158.8 Kb)

          Interrupt:11

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:84 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:84 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

          RX bytes:5296 (5.1 Kb)  TX bytes:5296 (5.1 Kb)

sit0      Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4

          NOARP  MTU:1480  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:0

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

eth0 is my wired network card (that one works just fine, as I'm typing this on the laptop that I'm having issues with).

```
ifconfig sit0 up
```

returns no error, this is what happens:

ifconfig sit0 up

bob ~ #

Now, 

```
ifconfig -a
```

shows

bob ~ # ifconfig -a

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:11:43:4B:F4:D4

          inet addr:192.168.0.100  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

          inet6 addr: fe80::211:43ff:fe4b:f4d4/64 Scope:Link

          UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:3028 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:935 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000

          RX bytes:1854197 (1.7 Mb)  TX bytes:167942 (164.0 Kb)

          Interrupt:11

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:84 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:84 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0

          RX bytes:5296 (5.1 Kb)  TX bytes:5296 (5.1 Kb)

sit0      Link encap:IPv6-in-IPv4

          inet6 addr: ::127.0.0.1/96 Scope:Unknown

          inet6 addr: ::192.168.0.100/96 Scope:Compat

          UP RUNNING NOARP  MTU:1480  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:0

          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

bob ~ #

I think we're getting somewhere, I hope it's going to be something as silly as me forgetting something.

----------

## kasperhans

ok do you have icq or something? 

can you perform dmesg and see there your wirless card, and btw what type you had again? 

i think it was a iwp2200 eh? please perform a lsmod to see if your wireless card driver is loaded and the whole ieee80211 stuff

btw just for question did you ever 

```
ifconfig wlan0 up
```

????????????

----------

## John_D

no icq, but I'm have yahoo.... that works on my windows machine...

name's moonuhk

----------

## kasperhans

ok wait im gonna compile a yahoo client and register myself gonna take some minutes youre gonna stay online for a bit?

----------

## John_D

yep, wife's at work, and the kids are heading to bed now, so I have quite a few more hours to get this thing going.

----------

## kasperhans

hmm ok im already pretty tired man its 3 am over here :O, cant you install icq? or just use webicq would be more easy for me www.icq.com theres a web version avaible???

----------

## John_D

downloading now

----------

## kasperhans

im online again under my here shown number, just currently compiling gaim 

because i lagged a client but a least i have an account for this  :Smile: 

----------

## hielvc

On mine I have to bring eth0 down , then bring up wireless since Im useing dhcpc.

----------

## kasperhans

 *Quote:*   

> hielvc
> 
> On mine I have to bring eth0 down , then bring up wireless since Im useing dhcpc
> 
> ```
> ...

 

also had this problem but got around bis disabling eth0 in rc-update and adding a net.wlan0 script to default runlevel

----------

## John_D

>>> /usr/share/doc/ieee80211-1.1.6/CHANGES.gz

 * Updating module dependencies for 2.6.14-gentoo-r2 ...

WARNING: //lib/modules/2.6.14-gentoo-r2/net/wireless/ipw2100.ko needs unknown symbol release_firmware

WARNING: //lib/modules/2.6.14-gentoo-r2/net/wireless/ipw2100.ko needs unknown symbol request_firmware

WARNING: //lib/modules/2.6.14-gentoo-r2/net/wireless/ipw2200.ko needs unknown symbol release_firmware

WARNING: //lib/modules/2.6.14-gentoo-r2/net/wireless/ipw2200.ko needs unknown symbol request_firmware                   [ ok ] * Adding module to moduledb.

>>> Regenerating /etc/ld.so.cache...

>>> net-wireless/ieee80211-1.1.6 merged.

>>> Recording net-wireless/ieee80211 in "world" favorites file...

>>> clean: No packages selected for removal.

then down a ways

make -C /usr/src/linux M=/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8 MODVERDIR=/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/tmp/.tmp_versions modules

make[1]: Entering directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.14-gentoo-r2'

  WARNING: Symbol version dump /usr/src/linux-2.6.14-gentoo-r2/Module.symvers

           is missing; modules will have no dependencies and modversions.

  CC [M]  /var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.o

  Building modules, stage 2.

  MODPOST

*** Warning: "free_ieee80211" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "alloc_ieee80211" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "ieee80211_wx_get_encode" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "ieee80211_wx_set_encode" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "ieee80211_wx_get_scan" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "ieee80211_rx_mgt" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "ieee80211_rx" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "ieee80211_wx_get_encodeext" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "ieee80211_wx_set_encodeext" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "escape_essid" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "ieee80211_txb_free" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "release_firmware" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

*** Warning: "request_firmware" [/var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko] undefined!

  CC      /var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.mod.o

  LD [M]  /var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/work/ipw2200-1.0.8/ipw2200.ko

make[1]: Leaving directory `/usr/src/linux-2.6.14-gentoo-r2'

 *

 * You may safely ignore any warnings from above compilation about

 * undefined references to the ieee80211 subsystem.

 *

>>> Test phase [not enabled]: net-wireless/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1

>>> Install ipw2200-1.0.8-r1 into /var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/image/ category net-wireless

 * Installing ipw2200 module

 * Preparing file for modules.d ...                                                                                     [ ok ]man:

prepallstrip:

strip: i686-pc-linux-gnu-strip --strip-unneeded

>>> Completed installing ipw2200-1.0.8-r1 into /var/tmp/portage/ipw2200-1.0.8-r1/image/

----------

## John_D

Oh wow, after quite a number of hours, and some exceptional help from kasperhans (THANK YOU!!!) it finally works.

We needed to recompile my kernel, emerge ipw2200, wireless-tools, ipw2200-firmware, and ieee80211, we finally have it working.  

That though does not give justice to what had to be done.  It took well over 12 hours though chatting wtih kasperhans to get it running, but it's working now.  

Thanks again!!!

----------

## John_D

Oh wow, after quite a number of hours, and some exceptional help from kasperhans (THANK YOU!!!) it finally works.

We needed to recompile my kernel, emerge ipw2200, wireless-tools, ipw2200-firmware, and ieee80211, we finally have it working.  

That though does not give justice to what had to be done.  It took well over 12 hours though chatting wtih kasperhans to get it running, but it's working now.  

Thanks again!!!

----------

## arcanus

Just out of curiosity, did you ever do a

```
modprobe ipw2200
```

----------

## kasperhans

... we are not stupid ...

it was a deeper problem ya know so modprobe your intelligence  :Wink: 

----------

