# Wireless not working (Atheros ATH5K) [Solved]

## Fitzcarraldo

I would be grateful for advice on how to get wireless networking working (WEP encryption) in a fresh installation of Gentoo Stable x86 on an old Gateway Solo 9300 laptop with Pentium III (Coppermine) 800 MHz CPU (i686) and 288 MB RAM, dating from 2000. Previously I had Tiny Core Linux 4.4 installed, and wireless networking worked fine with WEP. Before that I had Sabayon Linux 5.4 E17 and wireless networking worked fine too with NetworkManager and nm-applet, but not with Wicd. I installed Gentoo on this machine by chrooting from the SystemRescueCd LiveCD, and the LiveCD loaded the ath5k module and connected without problem via WEP to the same router to which I'm now having trouble connecting after installation.

I installed Gentoo in accordance with the following Gentoo documentation: Gentoo Linux x86 Quick Install Guide; The X Server Configuration HOWTO; The Xfce Configuration Guide; Gentoo Linux Localization Guide. For the Atheros wireless controller (168c:001a) I followed the Kernel Options (All installs) instructions on the unofficial Gentoo Wiki page http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/Atheros_5xxx

The hardware is as follows (both the wired and wireless controllers are CardBus cards):

```
# lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX Host bridge (rev 03)

00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440BX/ZX/DX - 82443BX/ZX/DX AGP bridge (rev 03)

00:07.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)

00:07.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)

00:07.2 USB controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)

00:07.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB/EB/MB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 03)

00:08.0 Multimedia audio controller: ESS Technology ES1978 Maestro 2E (rev 10)

00:0b.0 Communication controller: Agere Systems WinModem 56k (rev 01)

00:0c.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4450 PC card Cardbus Controller

00:0c.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI4450 PC card Cardbus Controller

00:0c.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments Device 8011

01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc Rage Mobility P/M AGP 2x (rev 64)

02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR2413/AR2414 Wireless Network Adapter [AR5002G(S) 802.11bg] (rev 01)

06:00.0 Ethernet controller: Accton Technology Corporation SMC2-1211TX (rev 10)
```

```
# lspci -n

00:00.0 0600: 8086:7190 (rev 03)

00:01.0 0604: 8086:7191 (rev 03)

00:07.0 0601: 8086:7110 (rev 02)

00:07.1 0101: 8086:7111 (rev 01)

00:07.2 0c03: 8086:7112 (rev 01)

00:07.3 0680: 8086:7113 (rev 03)

00:08.0 0401: 125d:1978 (rev 10)

00:0b.0 0780: 11c1:0448 (rev 01)

00:0c.0 0607: 104c:ac40

00:0c.1 0607: 104c:ac40

00:0c.2 0c00: 104c:8011

01:00.0 0300: 1002:4c4d (rev 64)

02:00.0 0200: 168c:001a (rev 01)

06:00.0 0200: 1113:1211 (rev 10)
```

The OS installation is as follows:

```
# emerge --info

Portage 2.1.10.49 (default/linux/x86/10.0, gcc-4.5.3, glibc-2.13-r4, 3.2.1-gentoo-r2 i686)

=================================================================

System uname: Linux-3.2.1-gentoo-r2-i686-Pentium_III_-Coppermine-with-gentoo-2.0.3

Timestamp of tree: Mon, 09 Apr 2012 08:15:01 +0000

app-shells/bash:          4.2_p20

dev-lang/python:          2.7.2-r3, 3.2.2

dev-util/cmake:           2.8.6-r4

dev-util/pkgconfig:       0.26

sys-apps/baselayout:      2.0.3

sys-apps/openrc:          0.9.8.4

sys-apps/sandbox:         2.5

sys-devel/autoconf:       2.13, 2.68

sys-devel/automake:       1.11.1

sys-devel/binutils:       2.21.1-r1

sys-devel/gcc:            4.5.3-r2

sys-devel/gcc-config:     1.5-r2

sys-devel/libtool:        2.4-r1

sys-devel/make:           3.82-r1

sys-kernel/linux-headers: 3.1 (virtual/os-headers)

sys-libs/glibc:           2.13-r4

Repositories: gentoo

ACCEPT_KEYWORDS="x86"

ACCEPT_LICENSE="* -@EULA"

CBUILD="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

CFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe"

CHOST="i686-pc-linux-gnu"

CONFIG_PROTECT="/etc"

CONFIG_PROTECT_MASK="/etc/ca-certificates.conf /etc/env.d /etc/fonts/fonts.conf /etc/gconf /etc/gentoo-release /etc/revdep-rebuild /etc/sandbox.d /etc/terminfo"

CXXFLAGS="-O2 -march=i686 -pipe"

DISTDIR="/usr/portage/distfiles"

FEATURES="assume-digests binpkg-logs distlocks ebuild-locks fixlafiles news parallel-fetch protect-owned sandbox sfperms strict unknown-features-warn unmerge-logs unmerge-orphans userfetch"

FFLAGS=""

GENTOO_MIRRORS="http://gentoo.inode.at/ http://ftp.fi.muni.cz/pub/linux/gentoo/ rsync://trumpetti.atm.tut.fi/gentoo/ http://mirrors.linuxant.fr/distfiles.gentoo.org/ ftp://de-mirror.org/gentoo/ ftp://ftp.wh2.tu-dresden.de/pub/mirrors/gentoo http://gentoo.mneisen.org/ http://mirror.netcologne.de/gentoo/ rsync://mirror.opteamax.de/gentoo/ http://linux.rz.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/download/gentoo-mirror/ http://ftp.halifax.rwth-aachen.de/gentoo/ http://ftp.spline.inf.fu-berlin.de/mirrors/gentoo/ http://ftp.uni-erlangen.de/pub/mirrors/gentoo http://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/gentoo/ http://files.gentoo.gr http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/gentoo/ http://mirror.leaseweb.com/gentoo/ rsync://gentoo.tiscali.nl/gentoo/ ftp://ftp.snt.utwente.nl/pub/os/linux/gentoo http://gentoo.mirror.pw.edu.pl/ http://ftp.df.lth.se/pub/gentoo/ http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/mirror/gentoo/ http://mirror.bytemark.co.uk/gentoo/ ftp://mirror.qubenet.net/mirror/gentoo/ rsync://rsync.mirrorservice.org/www.ibiblio.org/gentoo/"

LANG="en_GB.UTF-8"

LDFLAGS="-Wl,-O1 -Wl,--as-needed"

LINGUAS="en_GB pt_BR es_ES"

MAKEOPTS="-j2"

PKGDIR="/usr/portage/packages"

PORTAGE_CONFIGROOT="/"

PORTAGE_RSYNC_OPTS="--recursive --links --safe-links --perms --times --compress --force --whole-file --delete --stats --human-readable --timeout=180 --exclude=/distfiles --exclude=/local --exclude=/packages"

PORTAGE_TMPDIR="/var/tmp"

PORTDIR="/usr/portage"

PORTDIR_OVERLAY=""

SYNC="rsync://rsync.uk.gentoo.org/gentoo-portage"

USE="X acl alsa berkdb bzip2 cli consolekit cracklib crypt cups cxx dbus dri gdbm gpm iconv ipv6 jpeg lock modules mudflap ncurses nls nptl nptlonly openmp pam pcre policykit pppd readline session ssl startup-notification svg sysfs tcpd thunar udev unicode x86 xorg zlib" ALSA_CARDS="es1968" ALSA_PCM_PLUGINS="adpcm alaw asym copy dmix dshare dsnoop empty extplug file hooks iec958 ioplug ladspa lfloat linear meter mmap_emul mulaw multi null plug rate route share shm softvol" APACHE2_MODULES="actions alias auth_basic authn_alias authn_anon authn_dbm authn_default authn_file authz_dbm authz_default authz_groupfile authz_host authz_owner authz_user autoindex cache cgi cgid dav dav_fs dav_lock deflate dir disk_cache env expires ext_filter file_cache filter headers include info log_config logio mem_cache mime mime_magic negotiation rewrite setenvif speling status unique_id userdir usertrack vhost_alias" CALLIGRA_FEATURES="kexi words flow plan sheets stage tables krita karbon braindump" CAMERAS="ptp2" COLLECTD_

PLUGINS="df interface irq load memory rrdtool swap syslog" ELIBC="glibc" GPSD_PROTOCOLS="ashtech aivdm earthmate evermore fv18 garmin garmintxt gpsclock itrax mtk3301 nmea ntrip navcom oceanserver oldstyle oncore rtcm104v2 rtcm104v3 sirf superstar2 timing tsip tripmate tnt ubx" INPUT_DEVICES="evdev synaptics" KERNEL="linux" LCD_DEVICES="bayrad cfontz cfontz633 glk hd44780 lb216 lcdm001 mtxorb ncurses text" LINGUAS="en_GB pt_BR es_ES" PHP_TARGETS="php5-3" RUBY_TARGETS="ruby18" USERLAND="GNU" VIDEO_CARDS="radeon vesa" XTABLES_ADDONS="quota2 psd pknock lscan length2 ipv4options ipset ipp2p iface geoip fuzzy condition tee tarpit sysrq steal rawnat logmark ipmark dhcpmac delude chaos account"

Unset:  CPPFLAGS, CTARGET, EMERGE_DEFAULT_OPTS, INSTALL_MASK, LC_ALL, PORTAGE_BUNZIP2_COMMAND, PORTAGE_COMPRESS, PORTAGE_COMPRESS_FLAGS, PORTAGE_RSYNC_EXTRA_OPTS, USE_PYTHON
```

The selections pertinent to wireless in the kernel are:

```
$ cat /usr/src/linux/.config | grep 80211

CONFIG_CFG80211=y

# CONFIG_NL80211_TESTMODE is not set

# CONFIG_CFG80211_DEVELOPER_WARNINGS is not set

# CONFIG_CFG80211_REG_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_CFG80211_DEFAULT_PS=y

# CONFIG_CFG80211_DEBUGFS is not set

# CONFIG_CFG80211_INTERNAL_REGDB is not set

CONFIG_CFG80211_WEXT=y

# CONFIG_LIB80211 is not set

CONFIG_MAC80211=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_HAS_RC=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_MINSTREL=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_MINSTREL_HT=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT_MINSTREL=y

CONFIG_MAC80211_RC_DEFAULT="minstrel_ht"

# CONFIG_MAC80211_MESH is not set

CONFIG_MAC80211_LEDS=y

# CONFIG_MAC80211_DEBUGFS is not set

# CONFIG_MAC80211_DEBUG_MENU is not set

# CONFIG_MAC80211_HWSIM is not set

----------

$ cat /usr/src/linux/.config | grep ATH

# CONFIG_MATH_EMULATION is not set

CONFIG_IP_ROUTE_MULTIPATH=y

CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH="/sbin/hotplug"

# CONFIG_MD_MULTIPATH is not set

# CONFIG_DM_MULTIPATH is not set

# CONFIG_NET_VENDOR_ATHEROS is not set

CONFIG_ATH_COMMON=m

# CONFIG_ATH_DEBUG is not set

CONFIG_ATH5K=m

# CONFIG_ATH5K_DEBUG is not set

# CONFIG_ATH5K_TRACER is not set

CONFIG_ATH5K_PCI=y

# CONFIG_ATH9K is not set

# CONFIG_ATH9K_HTC is not set

# CONFIG_SECURITY_PATH is not set
```

The loaded modules are:

```
$ lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

ath5k                 125451  0 

snd_es1968             17451  0 

snd_ac97_codec         86806  1 snd_es1968

ath                    11729  1 ath5k

ac97_bus                 738  1 snd_ac97_codec

snd_mpu401_uart         4775  1 snd_es1968

snd_rawmidi            13986  1 snd_mpu401_uart

firewire_ohci          27020  0 

firewire_core          41675  1 firewire_ohci

8139too                16889  0 

mii                     3239  1 8139too

crc_itu_t               1029  1 firewire_core
```

Whatever the Linux distribution, I have to set the MTU to 1464 with this particular Linksys CardBus wireless network adapter (see http://fitzcarraldoblog.wordpress.com/2010/11/30/why-cant-i-access-a-specific-web-site/), which I've done, as you can see in the output from the ifconfig command, shown below:

```
# ifconfig

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:30:bd:12:73:f6  

          inet addr:192.168.1.64  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

          inet6 addr: fe80::230:bdff:fe12:73f6/64 Scope:Link

          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1

          RX packets:15470 errors:0 dropped:7 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:8268 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:260 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:19173127 (18.2 MiB)  TX bytes:961480 (938.9 KiB)

          Interrupt:9 Base address:0x6000 

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:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 

          RX bytes:828 (828.0 B)  TX bytes:828 (828.0 B)

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:18:39:6a:4c:05  

          inet6 addr: fe80::218:39ff:fe6a:4c05/64 Scope:Link

          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1464  Metric:1

          RX packets:149 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0

          TX packets:40 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0

          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 

          RX bytes:7015 (6.8 KiB)  TX bytes:12284 (11.9 KiB)
```

I'm using NetworkManager and nm-applet (which, unlike Wicd, have worked in other distributions on this machine):

```
$ eix -I networkmanager

[I] net-misc/networkmanager

     Available versions:  0.8-r1 0.8.4.0-r2 ~0.9.0 ~0.9.2.0 ~0.9.2.0-r2 ~0.9.2.0-r3 ~0.9.2.0-r5 ~0.9.4.0-r1 {avahi bluetooth connection-sharing dhclient (+)dhcpcd doc gnutls +introspection kernel_linux (+)nss +ppp resolvconf systemd wimax}

     Installed versions:  0.8.4.0-r2(09:08:09 09/04/12)(avahi dhcpcd kernel_linux nss ppp -bluetooth -connection-sharing -dhclient -doc -gnutls -resolvconf)

     Homepage:            http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/

     Description:         Network configuration and management in an easy way. Desktop environment independent.
```

```
# eix nm-applet

[I] gnome-extra/nm-applet

     Available versions:  0.8 0.8.4 ~0.9.0 ~0.9.2.0 ~0.9.2.0-r1 ~0.9.4.1 {bluetooth debug}

     Installed versions:  0.8.4(10:11:39 08/04/12)(-bluetooth)

     Homepage:            http://projects.gnome.org/NetworkManager/

     Description:         GNOME applet for NetworkManager
```

```
$ eix -I dhcpcd

[I] net-misc/dhcpcd

     Available versions:  5.2.12 ~5.5.3 ~5.5.4 ~5.5.5 ~5.5.6 {elibc_glibc +zeroconf}

     Installed versions:  5.2.12(23:01:35 05/04/12)(elibc_glibc zeroconf)

     Homepage:            http://roy.marples.name/projects/dhcpcd/

     Description:         A fully featured, yet light weight RFC2131 compliant DHCP client

```

The launching of NetworkManager has been added to the default runlevel:

```
# rc-update show -v

       NetworkManager |      default                 

            alsasound | boot                         

         avahi-daemon |                              

       avahi-dnsconfd |                              

             bootmisc | boot                         

          consolefont |                              

           consolekit |      default                 

          crypto-loop |                              

                cupsd |                              

                 dbus | boot                         

                devfs |                       sysinit

        device-mapper |                              

               dhcpcd |                              

                dmesg |                       sysinit

             dmeventd |                              

                 fsck | boot                         

           git-daemon |                              

             hostname | boot                         

              hwclock | boot                         

              keymaps | boot                         

            killprocs |              shutdown        

                local |      default                 

           localmount | boot                         

                  lvm |                              

       lvm-monitoring |                              

              modules | boot                         

             mount-ro |              shutdown        

                 mtab | boot                         

             net.eth0 |                              

               net.lo | boot                         

             netmount |      default                 

              network |                              

                 nscd |                              

              numlock |                              

              pciparm |                              

               procfs | boot                         

            pydoc-2.7 |                              

            pydoc-3.2 |                              

                 root | boot                         

               rsyncd |                              

            savecache |              shutdown        

                 sshd |                              

          staticroute |                              

                 swap | boot                         

              swclock |                              

               sysctl | boot                         

                sysfs |                              

            syslog-ng |      default                 

         termencoding | boot                         

                 udev |                       sysinit

           udev-mount |                              

       udev-postmount |      default                 

              urandom | boot                         

           vixie-cron |      default                 

       wpa_supplicant |                              

                  xdm |      default                 

            xdm-setup |
```

I'm trying to connect to an old router that uses WEP as the default encryption method (I'm well aware of the pitfalls of using WEP rather than WPA).

tail -f /var/log/messages give the following output when I select the wireless network on the nm-applet pop-up menu in the Notification Area on the Xfce Panel:

```
Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) starting connection 'Auto FitzRouter'

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 3 -> 4 (reason 0)

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 4 -> 5 (reason 0)

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0/wireless): access point 'Auto FitzRouter' has security, but secrets are required.

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 5 -> 6 (reason 0)

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 6 -> 4 (reason 0)

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 4 -> 5 (reason 0)

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0/wireless): connection 'Auto FitzRouter' has security, and secrets exist.  No new secrets needed.

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Config: added 'ssid' value 'FitzRouter'

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Config: added 'scan_ssid' value '1'

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Config: added 'key_mgmt' value 'NONE'

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Config: added 'auth_alg' value 'OPEN'

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Config: added 'wep_key0' value '<omitted>'

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Config: added 'wep_tx_keyidx' value '0'

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Config: set interface ap_scan to 1

Apr  9 11:30:04 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state:  disconnected -> scanning

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state:  scanning -> associating

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 kernel: [ 5967.410917] wlan0: authenticate with 00:14:7f:9b:09:1c (try 1)

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 kernel: [ 5967.412542] wlan0: authenticated

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 kernel: [ 5967.412693] wlan0: associate with 00:14:7f:9b:09:1c (try 1)

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 kernel: [ 5967.415010] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:14:7f:9b:09:1c (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=2)

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 kernel: [ 5967.415083] wlan0: associated

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state:  associating -> associated

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state:  associated -> completed

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0/wireless) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) successful.  Connected to wireless network 'FitzRouter'.

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) scheduled.

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) started...

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 5 -> 7 (reason 0)

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Beginning DHCPv4 transaction (timeout in 45 seconds)

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> dhcpcd started with pid 20620

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) complete.

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 dhcpcd[20620]: version 5.2.12 starting

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 dhcpcd[20620]: wlan0: broadcasting for a lease

Apr  9 11:30:05 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): DHCPv4 state changed nbi -> preinit

Apr  9 11:30:35 gateway9300 dhcpcd[20620]: timed out

Apr  9 11:30:35 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): DHCPv4 client pid 20620 exited with status 1

Apr  9 11:30:35 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP4 Configure Timeout) scheduled...

Apr  9 11:30:35 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP4 Configure Timeout) started...

Apr  9 11:30:35 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <warn> Activation (wlan0/wireless): could not get IP configuration for connection 'Auto FitzRouter'.

Apr  9 11:30:35 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 7 -> 6 (reason 0)

Apr  9 11:30:35 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0/wireless): asking for new secrets

Apr  9 11:30:35 gateway9300 NetworkManager[20446]: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 4 of 5 (IP4 Configure Timeout) complete.
```

at which point an nm-applet window pops up to prompt me to re-enter the WEP key (which is already shown in the Key field, and is correct). If I click on Connect in the pop-up window, after a while the pop-up window again prompts me to enter the key. And so it goes on.

I've been battling with this since yesterday without success and probably can't see the wood for the trees, so would be grateful for any advice on how to get wireless networking working. Kindly note that I do not wish to use Wicd instead of NetworkManager (I've tried Wicd without success several times in the past in other installations on this and my other machines, and, in any case, it fails to merge in the current installation). I want to get NetworkManager and nm-applet working in Gentoo on this machine, as I'm used to using them and normally have no trouble with them on this and other machines.

Thanks in advance for any help.

----------

## Gusar

Sounds like a typical consolekit/polkit issue. Good luck trying to get that sorted out. I'm not touching that stuff, this way lies madness. And I really mean that.

----------

## Fitzcarraldo

I found a solution. Well, strictly speaking it's a work-around. I suddenly remembered that my main laptop uses dhclient, rather than dhcpcd, as the DHCP client, so I thought I'd try dhclient instead. Bingo!

You can see from the output of eix I posted earlier that I was using dhcpcd as the DHCP client (+dhcpcd -dhclient USE flags in the installed networkmanager package).

All I did just now was re-merge NetworkManager to use dhclient as the DHCP client instead:

```
# emerge dhcp

# USE=-dhcpcd dhclient" emerge networkmanager
```

So the current situation with installed packages dhcp, dhcpcd (no longer used) and networkmanager is as follows: 

```
$ eix -I dhcp

[I] net-misc/dhcp

     Available versions:  3.1.2_p1 3.1.3_p1 ~4.2.1_p1 4.2.2 ~4.2.2-r1 4.2.2-r2 ~4.2.2-r3 4.2.3_p1 {+client doc ipv6 kernel_linux ldap minimal selinux +server ssl static vim-syntax}

     Installed versions:  4.2.3_p1(15:04:47 09/04/12)(client ipv6 kernel_linux server ssl -ldap -selinux -vim-syntax)

     Homepage:            http://www.isc.org/products/DHCP

     Description:         ISC Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) client/server

[I] net-misc/dhcpcd

     Available versions:  5.2.12 ~5.5.3 ~5.5.4 ~5.5.5 ~5.5.6 {elibc_glibc +zeroconf}

     Installed versions:  5.2.12(23:01:35 05/04/12)(elibc_glibc zeroconf)

     Homepage:            http://roy.marples.name/projects/dhcpcd/

     Description:         A fully featured, yet light weight RFC2131 compliant DHCP client

Found 2 matches.
```

```
$ eix -I networkmanager

[I] net-misc/networkmanager

     Available versions:  0.8-r1 0.8.4.0-r2 ~0.9.0 ~0.9.2.0 ~0.9.2.0-r2 ~0.9.2.0-r3 ~0.9.2.0-r5 ~0.9.4.0-r1 {avahi bluetooth connection-sharing dhclient (+)dhcpcd doc gnutls +introspection kernel_linux (+)nss +ppp resolvconf systemd wimax}

     Installed versions:  0.8.4.0-r2(15:19:36 09/04/12)(avahi dhclient kernel_linux nss ppp -bluetooth -connection-sharing -dhcpcd -doc -gnutls -resolvconf)

     Homepage:            http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/

     Description:         Network configuration and management in an easy way. Desktop environment independent.
```

Now the wireless connection is working fine in the new Gentoo installation.   :Smile: 

But I'd still like to know why dhcpcd does not work with networkmanager.   :Confused: 

----------

## joseph_t_adams

I had trouble with not one but two ath5k cards in a  new Intel i5 system I built from parts, and solved it by using a different (ath9k) card instead.  Your post gave me some insight into why I was having these problems and how I might be able to address them should they recur.  Thanks!

----------

