# Problem with wireless network

## larry

Hello everyone,

I have a strange problem with my wireless network.  

I recently bought a new laptop on which I installed Gentoo.  Before I had time to buy a wireless card for it, I used the card from my old laptop to connect to my network and to the internet.  The old card is a 3 year old RoamAbout card which is working very nicely.  

Then, I bought a second card, so that I could connect both laptops to the network.  This is where the problem lies.  The new card, Netgear ma401, is recognized and initialized properly but cannot connect to my network.  The same problem is happening with the old laptop; the new card simply does not connect.  By the way, the old laptop is running Windows 98, and the configuration utility says that the connection to the router is excellent but pinging the router returns "destination host unreachable".  The router is an old PC running Slackware 9.1.  

At first I suspected that my Netgear card was at fault, so I borrowed two different working cards from a friend.   Same result with each card.  

So now, I have two laptops which will work with only my old card and no other card.  Please help me with this problem.  Thanks to all in advance.

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## compuboy86

Its a very good possibility (you'll have to check) that the netgear card uses the broadcom chipset which is _NOT_ supported in linux.  I recommend checking out the http://www.linuxant.com/ site which has a driver wrapper (you use the windows drivers in linux)

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## larry

 *compuboy86 wrote:*   

> Its a very good possibility (you'll have to check) that the netgear card uses the broadcom chipset which is _NOT_ supported in linux.  I recommend checking out the http://www.linuxant.com/ site which has a driver wrapper (you use the windows drivers in linux)

 

Thanks for a quick response.  According to several posts in these forums, the card works very well with linux.  But my problem is that no other card, except my old one, can connect to my network both from gentoo and windows 98.

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## compuboy86

hmm, I recommend updating your driver versions (if you haven't already) and then if that doesn't work, upgrade your windows version (if possible) to WinXP.  If the card fails to work in XP, return the card.

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## UberLord

You may need a firmware upgrade.

And are you running WEP? If so, try disabling it and trying again.

WEP often causes problems like this if you get any bit of it wrong.

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## MagicMonkey

I'd agree with UberLord - I think that WEP is your problem.  IIRC, most wireless cards can store WEP keys in one of 4 slots, so you only have to tell it to use key "1" when you initialise the card (as opposed to telling it the entire key each time).

What is your setup wrt WEP?  Try disabling it on both sides (card and access point), or explicitly giving the card your WEP key (if you're using WEP).

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## mrchuckles

I have a number of problems getting WEP to work reliability with the Netgear wireless cards (at least under Windows).  It seems I can get it working after a bit of fiddling, and then a few days later it stops.  Make sure you've specified the right WEP key, the correct slot, and ensure you're using open authentication on both the AP and the card.  That usually solves the problem.

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## larry

 *MagicMonkey wrote:*   

> I'd agree with UberLord - I think that WEP is your problem.  IIRC, most wireless cards can store WEP keys in one of 4 slots, so you only have to tell it to use key "1" when you initialise the card (as opposed to telling it the entire key each time).
> 
> What is your setup wrt WEP?  Try disabling it on both sides (card and access point), or explicitly giving the card your WEP key (if you're using WEP).

 

Hi guys,

I am not using WEP; it is disabled on all cards.  I have tried upgrading to Windows XP but ended up with the same problem.  Again, I don't think that the card is defective because I have tried two other working cards with the same result.  

Is it possible that there is a MAC address problem somewhere?  When I run ifconfig and iwconfig I get two different MAC addresses for the same card.  Maybe an arp table problem on the router machine?  I tried adding the MAC address of the Netgear card manually on the router (both numbers reported from ifconfig and iwconfig) and the result is the same with the Netgear card but also my RoamAbout card stops working.  When I remove the entry, the RoamAbout card works again. 

I tried using tcpdump yesterday.  Running tcpdump on the nonworking card, shows the traffic from the other working machines but nothing seems to get to that machine.  What tests can I run with tcpdump to pinpoint the problem?  As you can see, I am pretty new to this, so all the help is appreciated.  Thanks.

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## UberLord

Are you doing MAC address filtering on the AP?

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## larry

 *UberLord wrote:*   

> Are you doing MAC address filtering on the AP?

 

I don't know.  My AP is a PC running slackwrare linux.  I simply installed and configured my wired and wireless cards and enabled masquerading and such.   Where do I look to see if MAC filtering is on?   I think you're right, MAC filtering would explain my problem.  Thanks much.

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## UberLord

 *larry wrote:*   

>  *UberLord wrote:*   Are you doing MAC address filtering on the AP? 
> 
> I don't know.  My AP is a PC running slackwrare linux.  I simply installed and configured my wired and wireless cards and enabled masquerading and such.   Where do I look to see if MAC filtering is on?   I think you're right, MAC filtering would explain my problem.  Thanks much.

 

I have no experience with either slackware nor a PC as an AP.

Sorry.

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## larry

 *UberLord wrote:*   

>  *larry wrote:*    *UberLord wrote:*   Are you doing MAC address filtering on the AP? 
> 
> I don't know.  My AP is a PC running slackwrare linux.  I simply installed and configured my wired and wireless cards and enabled masquerading and such.   Where do I look to see if MAC filtering is on?   I think you're right, MAC filtering would explain my problem.  Thanks much. 
> 
> I have no experience with either slackware nor a PC as an AP.
> ...

 

I got the terms wrong.  My wireless network is an ad-hoc network.  The slackware PC is connected to a cable modem and is sharing the internet connection with the wireless network.

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## UberLord

Does iwconfig report that the card is running in Ad Hoc mode?

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## MagicMonkey

Hmm, different mac addresses from iwconfig and ifconfig sounds a bit strange, although I'm no expert in the field.

I'll check with my PC when I got home from work and see what it reports - I'm using an atmel-based USB wifi card and a D-Link access point.  For a I was using a Linux PC as an access point, and I don't remember any mac address filtering happening; I think you'd notice if you'd set it up...

The other thing to check is the essid I guess?

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## larry

 *UberLord wrote:*   

> Does iwconfig report that the card is running in Ad Hoc mode?

 

Yes.

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## UberLord

 *MagicMonkey wrote:*   

> Hmm, different mac addresses from iwconfig and ifconfig sounds a bit strange, although I'm no expert in the field.

 

ifconfig reports the local interface MAC

iwconfig reports the Access Points MAC that you're currently associated with

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## MagicMonkey

 *UberLord wrote:*   

> ifconfig reports the local interface MAC
> 
> iwconfig reports the Access Points MAC that you're currently associated with

 

Ah, fair enough - on inspection, my computer reports different mac addresses.  You learn something new every day  :Smile: 

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## al

Here's a thread from a guy who got his Netgear MA401 working.

http://ruslug.rutgers.edu/viewtopic.php?t=360&highlight=ma401

Apparently the drivers have moved here:

http://prism54.org/

I set up my Netgear WG511 card using these drivers months ago and have had no problems since.

I even have WEP enabled!

There is a help thread here: http://ruslug.rutgers.edu/viewforum.php?f=23 if you have any probs.

 :Very Happy: 

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