Help with wireless networking

[Matthew Kuiken]

Daniel Carrera wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I've put in a new wireless card on my laptop (PCMCIA). Ubuntu detects it
> correctly, but I can't seem to connect to the local wireless network.
> And I feel like I don't have many tools to diagnose the problem.
>
> I'm using the GUI network manager, and I see the wireless card, so I go
> to properties. There I see that Ubuntu has located the network because
> it has the right entry in the network name (ESSID). I enter the WEP key
> (yes, this is a secured network, Ubuntu is supposed to support this).
> Then I set the card to use DHCP. Click OK.
>
> Then the card takes forever to activate and in the end it still has no
> IP address. That is, if I run ifconfig I see the card there (wlan0) but
> it has no IP.
>
> I don't really know what to try. Any ideas?
>   

Daniel,

You don't mention which type of wireless card you bought.  This can make 
a difference in this situation, but I have a suggestion that may help no 
matter which wireless card you have.

I assume that this machine is running 6.06?  Did you install 
network-manager (nm) and network-manager-gnome, or are you using the 
network admin applet that comes installed by default?  I ask because nm 
has proven itself much more reliable and better suited for establishing 
and maintaining connections on my laptop.  I have an Intel IPW2200 based 
wireless capability.

If network-manager is not installed, I would recommend installing it, 
and its control applet network-manager-gnome, or knetwork-manager for 
KDE.  Then comment out all lines in /etc/network/interfaces, as they 
will conflict with nm.

I should mention, if you are not using DHCP on this network, nm will not 
work properly.  It does not currently support static IP addresses.

HTH,
-Matt