# Wireless LAN card not visible

## fusion1275

Hi all,

Can someone help me with this one please....

I have just bought a wireless LAN card (http://www.qtds.com/products.asp?recnumber=798) and then booted up the server but it cannot recognise the device. I have tried the usual "iwlist", "iwconfig" & "ifconfig" but it cant see either eth0 or wlan0.

I looked in the logs and it doesnt mention anything to do with the LAN card. "lspci" states:

0000:00:0f.0 Ethernet Controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.: Unknown Device 8185 (rev 20)

I've gone into the kernel configs and switched on ALL modules for wireless lan as I didnt know what drivers are needed for this type of card. But still nothing.

What can I do??

Thanks in advance

----------

## My_World

Do the following:

```

emerge -uD ndiswrapper wireless-tools

```

Get the driver CD you got with the card and copy the Windows XP driver somewhere.

Now as root again:

```

ndiswrapper -i /path/to/driver/file.INF

modprobe ndiswrapper

iwconfig

```

1) Installs the driver.

2) Loads the driver.

3) Verify the device is running.

Now all that is left is to configure it.

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## FantomKnight

I don't know why people keep using ndiswrapper.  The manufacturer has written linux drivers for this card.  I'm using a wireless card based on it right now.  When I get a chance I'm going to write a HOWTO on it WITHOUT ndiswrapper.  What you need to do is to emerge rtl8180.  Then, make sure that you modprobe r8180.  If you need to use WEP, then also modprobe ieee80211_crypt_wep-r8180.  In your /etc/init.d, link net.wlan0 to net.lo by using ln -s net.lo net.wlan0.  Then, do an ifconfig wlan0 up and /etc/init.d/net.wlan0 start.  You may have to fiddle with your /etc/conf.d/wireless file quite a bit.  Start off by explicitly specifying your ESSID and your WEP key.  Two other key settings that I found that I must set on mine are as follows:

```
sleep_scan_wlan0="10"

sleep_associate_wlan0="30"
```

If I didn't set those parameters, I would not get connected to my AP.  That should get you started.  It is possible to have it scan and find APs.  I was finally able to do it, but other parameters need to be set correctly in order for it to happen.  Get it working by explicitly specifying your ESSID first and then I can help you with the rest.

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## My_World

I knew there was something I forgot about this card, I now remeber the drivers in portage.

Aditionally the drivers in portage will let you use the card as an access point as well, the reason I got it a year ago for my server (which I no longer use).

Sorry, my bad!

 :Smile: 

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## fusion1275

cheers guys for all your help.

Now I have the card up as wlan0... BUT for some reason the lights on the back of the card fail to come on and I cannot ping anything on the network.

I have added all the relevant info in /etc/conf.d/net & wireless files but still nothing. When I try to route add my gateway it says that the file exists (which is correct).

The startup states that the card is up and doing its job but when I ping it says "network is unreachable". I have dropped the WEP so its just a basic connection I am trying to find for the time being but still the same error.

Just wondering if anyone has any ideas on this?

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## FantomKnight

Is your card getting an IP via DHCP?  What does an ifconfig wlan0 tell you?

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## skippern

 *FantomKnight wrote:*   

> Is your card getting an IP via DHCP?  What does an ifconfig wlan0 tell you?

 

Either

```

wlan0        Link encap:ethernet    HWaddr 00:0F:1F:1D:11:25

```

and some other stuff about you network settings, or

```

wlan0: error fetching interface information. Device not found.

```

if your device doesn't exist

----------

## FantomKnight

Actually, we're specifically looking for a line that reads something like the following:

```
inet addr:192.168.0.8  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
```

If the card is getting its IP via DHCP, then this will tell us if it actually got a valid IP.

----------

## fusion1275

yep its all doing what it should do and its all within the IP range set via the DHCP settings on the router.

 *Quote:*   

> ifconfig wlan0

 

 *Quote:*   

> inet addr:192.168.0.4  Bcast:192.168.0.255  Mask:255.255.255.0

 

Just still no lights on the back of the card and no reception to any AP around here. The router is working fine as I have my xbox 360 & 2 laptops running off it via wireless.

Its sooo weird, never had this amount of trouble with any wireless card.

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## FantomKnight

OK, now post the output of route and cat /etc/hosts and cat /etc/resolv.conf

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## fusion1275

ok still no joy with this damn thing... here is the info requested:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> /etc/hosts
> 
> 127.0.0.1 localhost
> ...

 

I have assigned an IP to the card. Assigned a gateway route (route add default gw 192.168.0.1) and when I do an net.wlan0 start it works. But still cant reach any Ip's on the network and still cant ping the gateway.

HEEEEEELP!!

----------

## fusion1275

ok an update...

I followed link https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-489280-highlight-realtek.html and the chap here got a result. I managed to get all lights on the card now but 1 is flashing. I cannot link to my access point. All the info is in and I can even do a scan now and it finds my AP but just wont connect to it.

Any ideas???

----------

## James Wells

Greetings,

 *fusion1275 wrote:*   

> I have assigned an IP to the card. Assigned a gateway route (route add default gw 192.168.0.1) and when I do an net.wlan0 start it works. But still cant reach any Ip's on the network and still cant ping the gateway.

 

   Let's go back to the basics, I suspect the problem is much more simple.  First, stop the wireless device '/etc/init.d/net.wlan stop'.   Once it is stopped, go to /var/lib/dhcp and move the dhcp-leases to /tmp or /root.  Now, power off your access point. Now we are going to restart the wireless device with '/etc/init.d/net.wlan0 start'.

   Once the wireless device is up, run 'iwconfig wlan0'.  You should get something like;

```

dragonfly ~ # iwconfig wlan0

wlan0     IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:"Arvada"  Nickname:"Colorado"

          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz  Access Point: 00:16:B6:AF:FA:A0

          Bit Rate=11 Mb/s   Tx-Power:16 dBm

          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off

          Encryption key:none  Security mode:open

          Power Management:off

          Link Quality=100/100  Signal level=-50 dBm

          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0

          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

```

   The first thing to look at is the ESSID.  If the ESSID is not one you want to connect to, then blacklist it with;

```
blacklist_aps=("Arvada")
```

   Restart your access device and repeat the above steps for each of the access points that you get until you get an indication that there are no configured access points.   For example, my blacklist_aps line looks like the following;

```
blacklist_aps=("conf" "Denver" "hb" "linksys" "Linksys01" "default")
```

   At this point, you want to add your preferred access point to an entry like;

```
preferred_aps_wlan0=("Arvada")
```

   Now power on your access point and restart your wireless device.   If you are still unable to get an access point, then you need to check your configuration on the access point.  Also, if your access point has logging, check the logs to see if it even sees your wireless device.

   If you connect to your access point, then, you want to check your DHCP configuration.

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## fusion1275

Thanks James but it seems to be a config problem. I can see the AP if I do a scan but not when I try to connect or even ping the router. I have followed your instructions but using a static IP instead of DHCP.

All files are set as they should I think but I will copy what I have so you can go through them:

/etc/conf.d/net:-

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> ##############################################################################
> 
> # QUICK-START
> ...

 

/etc/conf.d/wireless:-

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> # /etc/conf.d/wireless:
> 
> # Global wireless config file for net.* rc-scripts
> ...

 

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> ping 192.168.0.1
> 
> PING 192.168.0.1 (192.168.0.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
> ...

 

I hope you can come up with something from this?

Thanks in advance

----------

## fusion1275

YIPPPEE got the damn card working at last!!! It was the drivers. I went to the Realtek website and found the drivers that actually relate to the chipset as opposed to earlier drivers that I got "emerge".

Try to configure wpa_supplicant now and followed the manual+wiki to the letter but I get pages upon pages of one line errors in /var/log/messages everytime I try to fire up the NIC:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> unknown crypto alg 'TKIP'
> 
> 

 

What is gods name does that mean????

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## fusion1275

trying to use "PSK" as my encryption method and everytime I start the card it states the following:

 *Quote:*   

> 
> 
> * Caching service dependencies ...                                                                                  [ ok ]
> 
>  * Starting wlan0
> ...

 

Any ideas as to what I am doing wrong because the length of the key works fine with the wifes laptop just not on here. I can get the card to work like a treat without any encryption but as soon as I start activating the lines in the "net" file, "wireless" file & "wpa_supplicant.conf" file it dies on me.

Can someone please give me a cut and paste of their files so I can see what it should look like and what I need to amend. I am using a static IP for the card and not DHCP.

Thanks for your help.

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## fusion1275

Any ideas anyone? This is really doing my head in and I obviously dont want to work without any encryption running from the router.

Cheers

----------

## fusion1275

Ok I have been trying all sorts of things to get this to work now but still no joy. Does anyone have any ideas what I am doing wrong here?????

----------

