# Madwifi, WEP, and Nintendo DS - won't connect - SOLVED

## Akaihiryuu

I'm running a Madwifi-based Gentoo access point/router.  I don't (yet) have hostapd running...since I'm just using WEP and not doing anything fancy like MAC filtering yet, I haven't needed it...my laptop is able to connect (from both Gentoo and Windows), and my Wii is able to connect, with the current WEP settings.  The DS is not...it can see the access point but won't connect, the error it gets is indicated to be WEP related.  If I turn WEP off, the DS is able to connect.  I've doublechecked the key and reentered it 3 times just to be sure, and once again no other equipment is having trouble connecting.  Nintendo's troubleshooting guide states that the WEP key should be in the router's "first slot" or it won't work...well, Madwifi doesn't have an option for this as far as I know...you set WEP on the interface and whatever the key is there becomes the key.  It may be possible to do more fancy stuff with hostapd, but I only need one key, besides hostapd is giving me an error that states it is unable to locate the necessary resources in the kernel (that's another problem that I have yet to resolve).  Has anyone else has this problem, and does anyone know of any settings I might be able to tinker with that might help?Last edited by Akaihiryuu on Sat Feb 23, 2008 12:17 am; edited 2 times in total

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## phanboy_iv

I don't know if you've already seen it, but there's a FAQ on gamefaqs'

with a pretty in-depth and extensive Linux/DS wireless config guide.

Link:http://www.gamefaqs.com/portable/ds/file/925329/40161

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## Akaihiryuu

I read through all that, but it looks like it's all basic stuff that I know already.  The DS WILL connect if I disable WEP (no other changes).  The only other thing I can think of to try is hostapd, but it's giving me this error after I configured it:

triforce akai # /etc/init.d/hostapd start

 * Starting hostapd ...

Configuration file: /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

Using interface ath0 with hwaddr 00:14:6c:c4:99:23 and ssid 'triforce'

Flushing old station entries

ioctl[unknown???]: Invalid argument

Could not connect to kernel driver.

Deauthenticate all stations

rmdir[ctrl_interface]: No such file or directory                          [ !! ]

Any idea what that means?

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## Akaihiryuu

Still nothing...works fine if I turn WEP off, but I don't want to open my connection completely up just to use my DS.  It just refuses to connect to the AP with ANY WEP turned on at all, whether it's 64 or 128-bit.  All other devices (laptop, Wii, etc) can connect without a problem.  Anyone ever run into this or have any ideas?  Since it worked with the old D-link access point I had before I set up the software AP, it must be either something weird about the DS or something that Madwifi is not doing that it needs to do.

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## dah

I've seen my DS work with some brand's wireless equipment and completely refuse to connect to other brands (with security the same). 

There was a similar looking problem with Intel wireless chipsets and Netgear APs with certain types of "empty" frames. I'll check in on it and post something soon.

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## Akaihiryuu

Ok thanks, I just hope that there's a way to make it work, even if it does involve doing something funky with madwifi.

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## Akaihiryuu

Solved.  Just had to issue the following command:

iwpriv ath0 authmode 2

Apparently this changes the WEP authentication type.  Oddly enough, my laptop now sees the key as "restricted" instead of "open" as it did previously, even though on my server the key type is listed as "open".  Ah well, whatever works.

If anyone knowledgeable understands exactly what this changes, I would appreciate an explanation, along with why standalone hardware access points don't need any configuration changes.  So far all I know is that the DS only works with certain authentication types.  Are the madwifi drivers only able to use one at a time, while others might support multiple types?

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