Wireless problems Intel 4965agn

[Paul Rumelhart]

Paul Lemmons wrote:
> -------- Original Message  --------
> Subject: Re:Wireless problems Intel 4965agn
> From: Paul Rumelhart <godshatter at yahoo.com>
> To: Kubuntu Help and User Discussions <kubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com>
> Date: 07/17/2008 07:16 PM
>> Bruce Marshall wrote:
>>   
>>> On Thursday 17 July 2008, Bruce Marshall wrote:
>>>   
>>>     
>>>> On Thursday 17 July 2008, Paul Lemmons wrote:
>>>>     
>>>>       
>>>>> I just got a new laptop : Lenovo T61 completely tricked out including an
>>>>> Intel 4965agn wireless card. I am having a devil of a time getting it to
>>>>> work. It fails to connect to anything and once it does that it no longer
>>>>> scans for networks, leaving network-manager very empty looking.
>>>>>       
>>>>>         
>>>> I assume this isn't really a 'card' but is built-in?
>>>>
>>>> I think I have a 4965xxx in my Toshiba that is working ok.
>>>>
>>>> How about doing a    hwinfo  --wlan  and posting the result.
>>>>
>>>> I'll do the same and check what I have.
>>>>     
>>>>       
>>> Below is the hwinfo for my wlan.   Note that the module being used is:
>>>
>>> iwl4965
>>>
>>> You should have a similar module in use.
>>>
>>>
>>> 04: PCI 800.0: 0282 WLAN controller
>>>   [Created at pci.296]
>>>   UDI: /org/freedesktop/Hal/devices/pci_8086_4229
>>>   Unique ID: y9sn.dFdMEvTRjP5
>>>   Parent ID: HnsE.6tejkoUeUmF
>>>   SysFS ID: /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.5/0000:08:00.0
>>>   SysFS BusID: 0000:08:00.0
>>>   Hardware Class: network
>>>   Model: "Intel WLAN controller"
>>>   Vendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
>>>   Device: pci 0x4229 
>>>   SubVendor: pci 0x8086 "Intel Corporation"
>>>   SubDevice: pci 0x1100 
>>>   Revision: 0x61
>>>   Driver: "iwl4965"
>>>   Driver Modules: "iwl4965"
>>>   Device File: wlan0
>>>   Device Files: wlan0, wmaster0
>>>   Features: WLAN
>>>   Memory Range: 0xc2100000-0xc2101fff (rw,non-prefetchable)
>>>   IRQ: 219 (no events)
>>>   HW Address: 00:1d:e0:b4:c0:29
>>>   Link detected: yes
>>>   WLAN channels: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 149 153 157 
>>> 161 165
>>>   WLAN frequencies: 2.412 2.417 2.422 2.427 2.432 2.437 2.442 2.447 2.452 
>>> 2.457 2.462 5.18 5.2 5.22 5.24 5.26 5.28 5.3 5.32 5.745 5.765 5.785 5.805 
>>> 5.825
>>>   WLAN encryption modes: WEP40 WEP104 TKIP CCMP
>>>   WLAN authentication modes: open sharedkey wpa-psk wpa-eap
>>>   Module Alias: "pci:v00008086d00004229sv00008086sd00001100bc02sc80i00"
>>>   Driver Info #0:
>>>     Driver Status: iwl4965 is active
>>>     Driver Activation Cmd: "modprobe iwl4965"
>>>   Config Status: cfg=new, avail=yes, need=no, active=unknown
>>>   Attached to: #15 (PCI bridge)
>>>
>>>
>>>   
>>>     
>> I have a T61 at work, with the same card, and also had trouble with the 
>> wireless.  None of the gui configuration tools would work for me.  I 
>> ended up writing a script that I would run after logging in.  I don't 
>> have access to the laptop at the moment, but to the best of my 
>> recollection this is what I did:
>>
>> I would run "iwlist wlan0 -scan" to get a list of access points.  I 
>> would choose the one with the highest power setting and note it's frequency.
>>
>> I'd run "ifconfig wlan0 -up", if I remember correctly.  This enables the 
>> network, from what I understand.  It's possible this wasn't needed.
>>
>> I would then run iwconfig wlan0 with parameters to give the essid, 
>> frequency, and WEP key.  I may have had mode in there, too, but I can't 
>> remember.  I think the key to getting it working command-line for me was 
>> to specify the frequency.  For example:
>>
>> iwconfig wlan0 -essid whatever -WEP blah -freq 2.322G (or whatever it was)
>>
>> I would finally run "dhclient wlan0" to get my IP address.  After that, 
>> I was golden.
>>
>> It sounds worse than it is.  I was connecting to static access points, 
>> so I only had to run iwlist once and note the frequency.  Then I just 
>> put the other commands in a script, hard-coded the frequency on the 
>> iwconfig command-line,  and would run it via sudo.
>>
>> Unfortunately, I've been told by my boss to have customer support 
>> install Vista on it, so I probably won't be much help after that.
>>
>> If needed, I can get to the script on Monday and send it to the list.
>>
>> Paul
> If you could share your scripts before your laptop gets lobotomized I 
> would reallt appreciate it. I would like to do some experimentation to 
> see if I can isolate where the problem is.
>
> -- 
> Sometimes I wonder.  Were our faith able to stand upright and look around, would it be looking down at the mustard seed or standing in awe of the height and breadth of it.
>   
Here it is (essid and WEP key removed):

ifconfig wlan0 up
iwconfig essid <removed> mode Managed freq 2.462G key <removed>
dhclient wlan0

The frequency (2.452G) corresponds to one of the access points in our 
building.  I tried different settings combinations, but nothing worked 
before I specified frequency.  I removed most of the other settings, 
trying to pair down the script.

I just run this script as sudo when I want to connect.  After that, 
everything seems fine.

Paul