The Linux Help and Tutorial Thread

[PoppaGeek]

Gonna need some info.

USB? Built in on a laptop? PCI on a desktop? Does not work how? Linux not seeing it? Sees it but won't work on network? Can ping router but no internet? DHCP?

Since you say it is supposed to be plug and play I assume a common chipset. type in a console dmesg and see what chipset. DO NOT care what manufacture is. Linksys, Netgear mean nothing. Common are Realtek and Broadcom

Here is a Realtek chipset on USB using the rtl8192cu driver for interface wlan1

[39606.846026] usb 2-2: new high-speed USB device number 28 using ehci-pci
[39606.984072] usb 2-2: New USB device found, idVendor=7392, idProduct=7811
[39606.984088] usb 2-2: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
[39606.984097] usb 2-2: Product: 802.11n WLAN Adapter
[39606.984105] usb 2-2: Manufacturer: Realtek
[39606.984113] usb 2-2: SerialNumber: 00e04c000001
[39607.565628] rtl8192cu: Chip version 0x10
[39607.655727] rtl8192cu: MAC address: 80:1f:02:70:89:45
[39607.655745] rtl8192cu: Board Type 0
[39607.655961] rtlwifi: rx_max_size 15360, rx_urb_num 8, in_ep 1
[39607.656066] rtl8192cu: Loading firmware rtlwifi/rtl8192cufw.bin
[39607.657490] usbcore: registered new interface driver rtl8192cu
[39607.678128] ieee80211 phy1: Selected rate control algorithm 'rtl_rc'
[39607.679169] rtlwifi: wireless switch is on
[39607.747007] rtl8192cu: MAC auto ON okay!
[39607.785634] rtl8192cu: Tx queue select: 0x05
[39608.152993] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan2: link is not ready
[39608.154083] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan2: link is not ready
[39609.762677] wlan2: authenticate with 6c:fd:b9:5e:46:56
[39609.788795] wlan2: send auth to 6c:fd:b9:5e:46:56 (try 1/3)
[39609.798259] wlan2: authenticated
[39609.801417] wlan2: associate with 6c:fd:b9:5e:46:56 (try 1/3)
[39609.807622] wlan2: RX AssocResp from 6c:fd:b9:5e:46:56 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=10)
[39609.807745] wlan2: associated
[39609.807868] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan2: link becomes ready

Also type ifconfig in a terminal and see how many interfaces show up. Wireless will be wlan0 or wlan1 etc.

eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 24:b6:fd:16:fb:f9
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:5638 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:5638 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:580381 (580.3 KB) TX bytes:580381 (580.3 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr e4:d5:3d:73:e8:85
inet addr:192.168.1.127 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::e6d5:3dff:fe73:e885/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:194821 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:106118 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:183283553 (183.2 MB) TX bytes:18333944 (18.3 MB)

wlan2 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 80:1f:02:70:89:45
inet addr:192.168.1.147 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::821f:2ff:fe70:8945/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:11 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:38 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1760 (1.7 KB) TX bytes:7682 (7.6 KB)

lsmod shows driver loaded

poppageek@dell-M5040 ~ $ lsmod
Module Size Used by
rtl8192cu.................67699 0
rtlwifi...............................79673 1 rtl8192cu
rtl8192c_common...........48779 1 rtl8192cu
ums_realtek....................17949 0
nls_iso8859_1.................12713 1

You will not see the periods between driver name and numbers, i added them for readability.

All else fails do this. It shows all drivers loaded for wireless 802.11

poppageek@ghostN ~ $ lsmod | grep mac80211
mac80211............606457.....3.....rtlwifi,rtl81 92c_common,rtl8192cu
cfg80211..............510937.....2.....mac80211,rt lwifi

Again I added periods.