# Neither network device likes me.

## Spacefreak

So, I'm almost running with my Gentoo installation. Almost.

At startup I get net.eth0 does not exit and net.wlan0 does not exist. Now, I searched for the solution on my good friend Google. The replies to all posts I saw were the same as the error that follow. No module or built in support in the kernel. So I fired back up the LiveDVD to check my situation.

The LiveDVD is using the modules e1000e for my hard wired, and iwlagn for my wireless as per... that command I can't quite remember right now. lspci -n output was used on Pappy's wonderful site, and I double checked his devices page for e1000e and my wireless iwlagn. Sure enough, I had picked e1000 instead of e1000e. I changed that, and went ahead and lauto oaded modules mac80211 and cfg80211 as well, since the LiveDVD mentioned something about them having a relation to iwlagn and iwlcore. Did a make && make modules_install, rebooted, and got the same thing.

At this point... well... I'm confused.   :Evil or Very Mad:   Definitely could use some outside input.

This is pretty much my last little piece of the puzzle. Then all will be well.   :Twisted Evil: 

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## NeddySeagoon

Spacefreak,

Did you make the new parts of the kernel as modules <M> or as built in <*> ?

What does 

```
modprobe e1000e
```

show?

Nothing is the right answer.

What does

```
 ifconfig -a
```

 shown now?

If you have an ethX interface, feed it to dhcpcd like

```
dhcpcd eth0
```

If you get here with no errors, your wired interface should work.

You said *Spacefreak wrote:*   

>  Did a make && make modules_install, rebooted

  thats file for adding modules configured as <M> to the running kernel. Actually, the rebood is not needed, but its not enough for new built in <*>.  You need to mount /boot and copy the kernel to /boot too, before you reboot, otherwise your new kernel will not be used.

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## Spacefreak

I apologize for the lackluster specifics of the previous post. It was well past when I was hoping to finish with it all and let the head hit the pillow. I did copy the image, the whole time I was writing this I had that nagging feeling about when I remaned my kernel file. Then it clicked.

The e1000e worked like a charm, except that it tried REALLY hard to connect and couldn't since I didn't have it plugged in, after I did that. The wlan0 still came up missing. When I get back I'll post the specifics on which card I have and the other outposts associated with that. The iwlagn, iwlcore, cfg80211 and mac80211 loaded up fine, but my card just wasn't feelin it.

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## Spacefreak

Update:

My card is an Intel wifi 5300 AGN. I emerged the 5000.ucode from portage this morning. Haven't been able to check that out yet as I also had to emerge a browser so I could log into my network. When I get back tonight that will be my first attempt.

Random side note:

I found out that my network settings changed at some point so I had to recopy resolv.conf from the LiveDVD. Once I'm using my system regularly, if they continue to change these settings, will that cause my issues? Is there some program used by the LiveDVD to obtain the settings that I can use on my system so it's not static?

All help is much appreciated.

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## NeddySeagoon

Spacefreak,

You need dhcpcd.

The liveDVD runs that every startup to populate /etc/resolv.conf

Your own install will try to do the same thing by default provided your /etc/,conf.d/net file contains no other information for a particular interface.

You need to 

```
emerge dhcpcd
```

while chrooted into your install.

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## Spacefreak

Very good. I did that already, twice actually. The first time didn't take for some strange reason. Much appreciated!   :Razz: 

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## Spacefreak

This is getting fun! Solve one problem to find another. Wireless starts at boot! It runs through the available networks and can't find the WEP keys, so it doesn't start. I have the WPA gui... I emerged Wicd, but I couldn't tell you what happened to it.

As for the wired connection, it works as long as I have it plugged in when the system starts. If I plug it in after no dice. I figured it would be something simple like re-initializing net.eth0. I looked for the code for that and came up short. I figured the wireless would probably be something similar. Probe it so it starts, then scan through WPA GUI, but alas I'm not sure what's goin on.

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## NeddySeagoon

Spacefreak,

Don't even think about a GUI to manage wireless until you can make it work from the command line.

When you know it works from the command line, it might work with a GUI too.

I have problems with both wicd and NetworkManager but a manual start JustWorks(tm)

The incantation your need to manually start eth0 is 

```
/etc/init.d/eth0.net restart
```

ot you could install plugd, which will start your wired interface when it detects a link.

I use WPA2 as WEP isn't worth having but as you have WEP, you can use iwconfig from wireless-tools to set up the wireless attributes by hand, then use dhcpcd to get an IP address.

WPA_Supplicant can deal with WEP and WPA, so you might want to use that anyway.

If you only want WEP, the WEP commands go in /etc/conf.d/net.  See the .example file in /usr/share/doc/...

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## Spacefreak

Ok, that gets me started! As for the GUI vs terminal. I was wanting to steer toward GUI because I didn't know how to set up the key. I'm using the guy next door's wireless, so WEP is how I have to go.  :Smile: 

I dug through some posts, set wlan0 to connect to the essid, and tried to pass the WEP code.

 *Quote:*   

> ezra@ThinkpadX ~ $ sudo /sbin/iwconfig wlan0 key PASS 
> 
> Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
> 
>     invalid argument "PASS".
> ...

 

I tried it as wlan0 key wep PASS because that was how I had assumed it was supposed to work originally. Both yielded same results. I also tried to set the password via conf.d/net and that pushed back: *Quote:*   

>  *   wlan0 does not support setting keys
> 
>  *   or the parameter "mac_key_POWELL_TWO" or "key_POWELL_TWO" is incorrect
> 
>  *   Failed to configure wireless for wlan0 

 

It feels so close!!

----------

## NeddySeagoon

Spacefreak,

```
iwconfig -h
```

 is your friend or if you want more detail 

```
man iwconfig
```

Oh, you may need to do 

```
ifconfig wlan0 up
```

before wlan0 admits to having any wireless properties.

----------

## Spacefreak

Ok, I toyed around with this for awhile.

I was reading various user problems with similar issues, tried out those commands and none of them did me much good.

Read the MAN page and some of the things I tried didn't work. Just a quick list of those tried.

 *Quote:*   

> sudo /sbin/ifconfig wlan0 up
> 
> SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132

 

 *Quote:*   

>  sudo /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 restart
> 
>  * Starting wlan0
> 
> SIOCSIFFLAGS: Unknown error 132
> ...

 

dmesg is saying that it expected v5 of iwl5000-ucode. So I unmasked v5 in portage and installed that. Still getting unknown error 132. It just now accepted a key on command, but it didn't change the outcome. This has been an entertaining process, lol.

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## Spacefreak

So... when I logged into the wireless network via the LiveDVD it said WEP, I never changed anything, and it connected. So I turn to the guy and say I'm just checking but your network is WEP right? WPA2. sigh Who knew. I'm not sure if this changes my situation much, but I'm about to start reading info on the wpa_supplicant.

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## Spacefreak

wpa_supplicant, worked like a charm. I'm sure I'll be back about using the gui instead of the command line. But at least I'm posting from my comfortable bed instead of holed up by the door! Awesomeness.

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