# Need help with wifi connection [SOLVED]

## rona_dinihari

I have a problem with my campus wifi network. Asking for support from adminstrator is complicated. So I need suggestions of what I can try next time.

I can connect with my nokia n5800 successfully everytime. But not with my gentoo laptop. Other people use windows and they are fine.

When I look at /var/log/messages, it always fails when getting dhcp response. I've lost the log so I'll post it next time.

My guess is it's MTU problem, so I modify /etc/dhcpcd.conf a bit.

/etc/dhcpcd.conf

```

# A sample configuration for dhcpcd.

# See dhcpcd.conf(5) for details.

# dhcpcd-run-hooks uses these options.

option domain_name_servers, domain_name, domain_search, host_name

# Most distros have ntp support.

option ntp_servers

# We should behave nicely on networks and respect their MTU.

# However, a lot of buggy DHCP servers set invalid MTUs so this is not

# enabled by default.

option interface_mtu

```

I used networkmanager last time I tried. I am definitely going to try command line next time. But I need sample command lines. My wifi is on eth1. The campus wifi network is unprotected.

Is there anything else I should look?

Sorry for my english   :Embarassed: 

Thanks in advance.Last edited by rona_dinihari on Tue May 04, 2010 5:28 am; edited 1 time in total

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## g.e.n.t.u.x.

hey rona_dinihari

try wicd and remove al net files exept the net.lo from /etc/init.d. for me its better than networkmanager.

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## rona_dinihari

I've just tried wicd against my office network. It can not connect to my WPA-PSK office network. I'll try it anyway later at campus. But I am definitely not going to use this as a replacement. The GUI also lacks VPN support. Thanks.

I've come up with a little script to try out:

```

#!/bin/bash

iwconfig eth1 essid ftup

iwconfig eth1

dhclient eth1

ifconfig eth1

```

I think that should be enough for CLI method. What do you think?

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## Sven Vermeulen

The moment you're trying to connect to a WPA(2)-protected wireless network, you need to install and configure wpa_supplicant.

You'll find information on this in the Gentoo Handbook or Linux Sea.

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## rona_dinihari

I can connect to my work network with wpa_supplicant now. But I still can't connect to campus network.

I've tried my short script. It doesn't work. I also tried wicd, it's also not working. But I noticed that the campus network is multichannel. There are more then one access point for the same ssid. Then found this bug report - https://bugs.launchpad.net/network-manager/+bug/192830. Could it be the same thing?

 *Quote:*   

> So today I saw an unprotected network come up in the network manager that had only one access point. I tried to connect and it worked without a hitch. So the failure to obtain an ip address only happens on wireless networks with multiple access points, but a network with only one access point works fine. Strange

 

Is there any other suggestion?

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## g.e.n.t.u.x.

u may try it with an static ip? that u dont come into the state to obtain an ip as u wrote. U can config an ipaddress for a specific ssid.

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## Rexilion

Perhaps it's better to connect to the unsecured network through wpa_supplicant? The block needs to contain keymgmt=NONE or something like that for that to work.

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## rona_dinihari

I can connect to campus network now. NetworkManager, wicd, and wpa_supplicant works.

I guess it was just luck. They change configuration everyday. Sometimes they move the AP.

Sorry for the trouble. And thank you for the support.    :Smile: Last edited by rona_dinihari on Tue May 04, 2010 5:27 am; edited 2 times in total

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## g.e.n.t.u.x.

 :Wink: 

try to take a [solved] to the subject of your first posting.

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