# [SOLVED] kismet and wireshark stopped working for me

## queen

I am trying to monitor the network around. I am connected right now to the modem directly. I didn't connect the router but turned the wifi card on together with the wired card. The wifi card works to some extent. I can turn it on, scan, but if I try to set it in monitor mode it fails. 

Here are the errors I get: 

```
iwconfig eth2 mode Monitor

Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :

    SET failed on device eth2 ; Invalid argument.
```

```
 # kismet

Launching kismet_server: /usr/bin/kismet_server

Will drop privs to carin (1001) gid 1001

No specific sources given to be enabled, all will be enabled.

Enabling channel hopping.

Enabling channel splitting.

Source 0 (addme): Enabling monitor mode for ipw2200 source interface eth2 channel 6...

FATAL: Failed to set monitor mode: Invalid argument.  This usually means your drivers either do not support monitor mode, or use a different mechanism for getting to it.  Make sure you have a version of your drivers that support monitor mode, and consult the troubleshooting section of the README.

Done.

```

I have promiscous mode enabled in the kernel. 

```
iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

dummy0    no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

sit0      no wireless extensions.

ip6tnl0   no wireless extensions.

eth2      unassociated  ESSID:"default"

          Mode:Managed  Channel=0  Access Point: Not-Associated

          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power=20 dBm   Sensitivity=8/0

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

          Encryption key:off

          Power Management:off

          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0

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

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

```

I should be able to monitor the net around without using my router. I tried to use essid any as well. I get the same error when I try to arrange mode monitor. Moreover, these programs are supposed to put automatically into monitor mode without specifying. Can someone help me understand what's going on?Last edited by queen on Tue May 06, 2008 10:23 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## deathcon1

Judging from your post count, you're not a noob (like me,) so please excuse my ignorance if I suggest something stupid.

My first thought is that your drivers don't support monitor mode, or you don't have a setting somewhere to give them monitor mode.

Second is that perhaps Kismet/iwconfig/both don't support putting your card into monitor mode.

Third, because I'm a fanboy of them, have you tried the Aircrack-ng suite?

```

echo "net-wireless/aircrack-ng" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords

emerge aircrack-ng

airmon-ng eth2 start

airodump-ng eth2

```

P.S. Any particular reason your wireless card is named after a wired port?  I did a double take to make sure I was writing the right iface.

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## queen

 *deathcon1 wrote:*   

> Judging from your post count, you're not a noob (like me,) so please excuse my ignorance if I suggest something stupid.
> 
> My first thought is that your drivers don't support monitor mode, or you don't have a setting somewhere to give them monitor mode.
> 
> Second is that perhaps Kismet/iwconfig/both don't support putting your card into monitor mode.
> ...

 

I excuse you. I was also once a noob. We always learn. I have aircrack, airodump, aireplay, and whatever I want. I haven't used airmon. Kismet is very good and I want to use it. wireshark I want to use as well. And the weird part, it worked perfectly yesterday. Today not. ;-(

But I will try them again to check what they do. I suspect the problem is with wireless-tools. For instance, if I did a change in the router settings (tkip+aes), reset the router to default definitions and then iwlist eth2 scan gave me the old settings of tkip+aes, which isn't supposed to happen.

About eth2 as wifi, i have no idea why it's like this. It was always like this AND as long as the wifi card is detected I am happy.  :Wink: 

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## queen

The problem was solved suddenly. The only thing I did was an accidental reboot. If someone has an idea why reboot solved it, I will be very happy.

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