# Help getting wireless working

## Tzuriel

I have a Dell E5550 Latitude and I'm trying to get wifi working.

```

$ lspci

...

02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 7265 (rev 59)

...

```

In the kernel I have selected the following (as well as other opotions on this page, https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Wifi).

```

[M] Intel Wireless Wifi Next Gen AGN - Wireless-N/Advanced-N/Ultimate-N (iwlwifi)

[M] Intel Wireless Wifi DVM Firmware support

[M] Intel Wireless Wifi MVM Firmware support

```

lsmod shows the  following. 

```

Module      Size    Used by

iwlmvm      170440   0

iwlwifi      98092   1 iwlmvm

```

I think this is the wifi interface.

```

$ ifconfig -a

wlp2s0: flags=4098<BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

    ether a2:09:cf:11:83:01 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)

    RX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0B)

    RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0

    TX packets 0 bytes 0 (0.0B)

    TX errors 0 droped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

```

Here's my /etc/conf.d/net.

```
modules="wpa_supplicant"

config_eno1="192.168.5.100/24"

routes_eno1="default gw 192.168.5.1"

dns_search_eno1="dld1.myprovider.net"

dns_servers_eno1="aa.bb.cc.dd ee.ff.gg.hh"
```

And I created this file in /etc/wpa_supplicant.

```

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

 

ctrl_interface_group=0

 

ap_scan=1

 

network={

  ssid="myssid"

  psk="my secret"

  scan_ssid=1

  priority=5

}

```

I then start /etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant.

```

$ sudo /etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant start

Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant

```

And ping shows:

```

connect: Network is unreachable

```

And ifconfig now shows:

```

$ ifconfig -a

wlp2s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500

    inet6 fd10:8fdc:7aca:0:ba08:cfff:fe12:83ba prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x20<link>

    inet6 fe80:ba08:cfff:fe12:83ba

    ether a2:09:cf:11:83:01 txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)

    RX packets 0 bytes 730 (730.0B)

    RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0

    TX packets 11 bytes 1214 (1.1B)

    TX errors 0 droped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0

```

Any help, thanks.

----------

## eccerr0r

Running this manually like the way you are (instead of letting OpenRC set it up) may omit steps...  The one I'm wondering is if dhcpcd (or other dhcp client) is running?

----------

## Roman_Gruber

```
lspci -kk 
```

is more useful

usually

a) generate wpa_supplicant.conf

b) user root => wpa_supplicant ... many options => than it should work. cons: user root needs to type wpa_supplicant line on every usage

some claims to use networkmanager or other fancy overblown gui for that.

thats mine for example, of course i removed the real data with some explanation for jooooo.

```
cat /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf 

ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant

ctrl_interface_group=wheel

network={

       ssid="Name of the accesspoint"

       psk="fancy garbage password printed below the accesspoitn from your dsl provider"

}

```

Just in case pay attention to the quick start of one of those two commands

 *Quote:*   

> ASUS-G75VW roman # man wpa_supplicant.conf
> 
> ASUS-G75VW roman # man wpa_supplicant
> 
> 

 

That quickstart line looks similar to the thing i type and it works.

and you should try first as user root, so you see any error messages and why it does not work.

and i am not sure if you need dhcpcd wlan0 on every usage after wpa_supplicant was run ... (i use that thing only a few times a year)

 *Quote:*   

> Here's my /etc/conf.d/net.
> 
> Code:	
> 
> modules="wpa_supplicant"
> ...

 

dhcpcd should handle that stuff. setting means you really know what you are doing.

----------

## charles17

 *Tzuriel wrote:*   

> I have a Dell E5550 Latitude and I'm trying to get wifi working.
> 
> ```
> 
> $ lspci
> ...

 How about firmware? See https://wireless.wiki.kernel.org/en/users/drivers/iwlwifi#firmware

Please reboot and post your output from doing dmesg | grep -i '02:00.0\|iwlwifi'.

----------

## Tzuriel

 *tw04l124 wrote:*   

> 
> 
> ```
> lspci -kk 
> ```
> ...

 

That shows the following:

```

$ sudo lspci -kk

02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 7265 (rev 59)

        Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265

        Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi

        Kernel modules: iwlwifi

```

----------

## Tzuriel

 *charles17 wrote:*   

>  *Tzuriel wrote:*   I have a Dell E5550 Latitude and I'm trying to get wifi working.
> 
> ```
> 
> $ lspci
> ...

 

That didn't return anything so I did the following:

```

 $ dmesg | grep -i iwlwifi          

[   14.471404] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)

[   14.471597] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Unsupported splx structure

[   14.478007] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: loaded firmware version 25.15.12.0 op_mode iwlmvm

[   14.480756] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless AC 7265, REV=0x210

[   14.480806] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: L1 Disabled - LTR Enabled

[   14.480962] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: L1 Disabled - LTR Enabled

[   14.545315] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0 wlp2s0: renamed from wlan0

[   64.445326] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: L1 Disabled - LTR Enabled

[   64.445486] iwlwifi 0000:02:00.0: L1 Disabled - LTR Enabled

```

Also, I did see that page and configured the kernel according to the wifi (added MVM to kernel).

----------

## The Doctor

 *Tzuriel wrote:*   

> I have a Dell E5550 Latitude and I'm trying to get wifi working.

 So why are you mucking about with command line wireless?

Sounds like you got the driver and firmware, so just install wicd or network manager and use the GUI. There is an old saying, use the right tool for the right job. The command line isn't the best tool for this if you are planning to have a normal GUI laptop.

----------

## Tzuriel

I don't use KDE or Gnome,  it's either fluxbox or awesome. So I guess I don't run a normal GUI lapto.I tried to get wicd running, but it came up with python errors. I'll try a bit harder this time w/ wicd if thats a good way to go.

----------

## charles17

 *Tzuriel wrote:*   

> I don't use KDE or Gnome, it's either fluxbox or awesome. So I guess I don't run a normal GUI lapto. 

 See https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Wpa_supplicant#Usage

----------

## khayyam

Tzuriel ... the presence of /etc/init.d/wpa_supplicant confuses a lot of people ... the service you should be starting is /etc/conf.d/net.wlp2s0 ... that is 'netifrc', the wpa_supplicant service doesn't query /etc/conf.d/net (in fact it does nothing but start wpa_supplicant).

```
# ln -s /etc/init.d/net.lo /etc/conf.d/net.wlp2s0

# /etc/init.d/net.wlp2s0 start
```

So, revise your conf to reflect whatever method you want for aquiring an IP (here dhcpcd).

```
modules_wlp2s0="wpa_supplicant dhcpcd"

wpa_supplicant_wlp2s0="-Dnl80211 -qq"

wpa_timeout_wlp2s0="15"

config_wlp2s0="dhcp"

# or static addressing:

#config_wlp2s0="192.168.5.101/24"

#routes_wlp2s0="default gw 192.168.5.1"

dns_search_wlp2s0="dld1.myprovider.net"

dns_servers_wlp2s0="aa.bb.cc.dd ee.ff.gg.hh"
```

Note that left empty it defaults to dhcp so the above is mostly unnecessary ... consider it simply for explanatory purposes.

As someone mentioned setting 'ctrl_interface_group=wheel' is probably a good idea ... you (assuming your user is in wheel) would then be able to do the following:

```
# wpa_cli status
```

best ... khay

----------

## The Doctor

 *Tzuriel wrote:*   

> I don't use KDE or Gnome,  it's either fluxbox or awesome. So I guess I don't run a normal GUI lapto.I tried to get wicd running, but it came up with python errors. I'll try a bit harder this time w/ wicd if thats a good way to go.

 

Close enough. Actually, you could use the wpa_gui. You get it from building wpa_supplicant with either the qt4 or qt5 use flag.

I only offer this because in my experience many people (myself included) have asked the wrong question just because we didn't know what the right question was.

----------

