This is a long message, attempting to document the steps I took to get my Orinoco wireless cards to work in my laptop and in my LEAF/Bering box.
I wrote: > I've been having a devil of a time configuring wireless networking. I > have a Compaq Aramada 7370DMT laptop with an Orinoco Gold card, and a > no-name Pentium 120 desktop running Bering 1.0 stable with 2 SMC Ultra > ISA network cards and an Orinoco ISA-PCMCIA adapter with an Orinoco Gold > card. Matt Schalit responded: > Hi Scott, sorry to hear about the wireless problems. > I have the same network hardware as you. Tell us if > you diverged at all from the Bering User's Guide Orinoco > section? > > Also, you haven't pasted in the wireless config > files nor the output of iwconfig. > > But if we trust you have those right, then the > flakey response sounds like hardware at first > glance. Have you 100% proven to yourself that > each piece of hardware works? > > What link speeds do you get when the two systems > are next to each other? I took my laptop and both Orinoco cards to the local Cup O' Joe coffee shop, which offers free wireless access (http://www.internet-oasis.com/). In turn, I inserted each card and it was immediately recognized by the system (running Debian sarge, but using woody's pcmcia-cs and wireless-tools packages). 'sudo /sbin/dhclient eth1' immediately gave each card an IP address. I used a generic /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts file for this (ie: unmodified from the pcmcia-cs package). Here are the snippets I collected: ** CARD #1 - IMMEDIATELY AFTER INSERTION [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more iwconfig.1 eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"" Nickname:"HERMES I" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457GHz Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00 Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3 Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:off [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more ifconfig.1 eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2D:61:81:5B 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:100 RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b) Interrupt:3 Base address:0x140 [smerrill@smerrill main]$ tail kern.log Jan 14 17:40:03 exodus kernel: orinoco_cs.c 0.09b (David Gibson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and others) Jan 14 17:40:04 exodus kernel: eth1: Station identity 001f:0001:0008:0048 Jan 14 17:40:04 exodus kernel: eth1: Looks like a Lucent/Agere firmware version 8.72 Jan 14 17:40:04 exodus kernel: eth1: Ad-hoc demo mode supported Jan 14 17:40:04 exodus kernel: eth1: IEEE standard IBSS ad-hoc mode supported Jan 14 17:40:04 exodus kernel: eth1: WEP supported, 104-bit key Jan 14 17:40:04 exodus kernel: eth1: MAC address 00:02:2D:61:81:5B Jan 14 17:40:04 exodus kernel: eth1: Station name "HERMES I" Jan 14 17:40:04 exodus kernel: eth1: ready Jan 14 17:40:04 exodus kernel: eth1: index 0x01: Vcc 5.0, irq 3, io 0x0140-0x017f [smerrill@smerrill main]$ head lsmod Module Size Used by Not tainted orinoco_cs 4712 0 (unused) orinoco 29568 0 [orinoco_cs] hermes 3296 0 [orinoco_cs orinoco] 3c575_cb 19876 2 cb_enabler 2528 2 [3c575_cb] ds 6624 2 [orinoco_cs cb_enabler] i82365 22416 2 pcmcia_core 41408 0 [orinoco_cs cb_enabler ds i82365] ** CARD #1 -- AFTER RUNNING dhclient [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more iwconfig.dhclient eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"Internet Oasis (FREE)" Nickname:"HERMES I" Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:2.437GHz Cell: 00:02:2D:3F:FF:4E Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3 Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr: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 [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more ifconfig.dhclient eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2D:61:81:5B inet addr:10.0.1.7 Bcast:10.0.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:3 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 RX bytes:1806 (1.7 KiB) TX bytes:1188 (1.1 KiB) Interrupt:3 Base address:0x140 [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more proc_net_wireless Inter-| sta-| Quality | Discarded packets | Missed face | tus | link level noise | nwid crypt frag retry misc | beacon eth1: 0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 At this point, I did a few pings, browsed a few websites via lynx (yahoo, cnn, LEAF). Here's the status after a bit of use. [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more iwconfig.in_use eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"Internet Oasis (FREE)" Nickname:"HERMES I" Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:2.437GHz Cell: 00:02:2D:3F:FF:4E Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3 Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr: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 [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more ifconfig.in_use eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2D:61:81:5B inet addr:10.0.1.7 Bcast:10.0.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:108 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:97 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 RX bytes:115957 (113.2 KiB) TX bytes:13944 (13.6 KiB) Interrupt:3 Base address:0x140 [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more proc_net_wireless.in_use Inter-| sta-| Quality | Discarded packets | Missed face | tus | link level noise | nwid crypt frag retry misc | beacon eth1: 0000 29. 191. 162. 0 0 0 0 0 0 So now I ejected the card and inserted the second card. ** CARD #2 -- IMMEDIATELY AFTER INSERTION [smerrill@smerrill secondary]$ more iwconfig.1 eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"" Nickname:"HERMES I" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457GHz Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00 Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3 Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:off [smerrill@smerrill secondary]$ more ifconfig.1 eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2D:61:80:DB 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 RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b) [smerrill@smerrill secondary]$ tail kern.log Jan 14 17:50:04 exodus kernel: orinoco_cs.c 0.09b (David Gibson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and others) Jan 14 17:50:04 exodus kernel: eth1: Station identity 001f:0001:0008:0048 Jan 14 17:50:04 exodus kernel: eth1: Looks like a Lucent/Agere firmware version 8.72 Jan 14 17:50:04 exodus kernel: eth1: Ad-hoc demo mode supported Jan 14 17:50:04 exodus kernel: eth1: IEEE standard IBSS ad-hoc mode supported Jan 14 17:50:04 exodus kernel: eth1: WEP supported, 104-bit key Jan 14 17:50:04 exodus kernel: eth1: MAC address 00:02:2D:61:80:DB Jan 14 17:50:04 exodus kernel: eth1: Station name "HERMES I" Jan 14 17:50:04 exodus kernel: eth1: ready Jan 14 17:50:04 exodus kernel: eth1: index 0x01: Vcc 5.0, irq 3, io 0x0140-0x017f [smerrill@smerrill secondary]$ head lsmod Module Size Used by Not tainted orinoco_cs 4712 0 (unused) orinoco 29568 0 [orinoco_cs] hermes 3296 0 [orinoco_cs orinoco] appletalk 18988 0 (autoclean) ipx 15636 0 (autoclean) 3c575_cb 19876 2 cb_enabler 2528 2 [3c575_cb] ds 6624 2 [orinoco_cs cb_enabler] i82365 22416 2 ** CARD #2 -- AFTER RUNNING dhclient [smerrill@smerrill secondary]$ more iwconfig.dhclient eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"Internet Oasis (FREE)" Nickname:"HERMES I" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437GHz Access Point: 00:02:2D:3F:FF:4E Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3 Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:off Link Quality:29/92 Signal level:-65 dBm Noise level:-94 dBm Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0 [smerrill@smerrill secondary]$ more ifconfig.dhclient eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2D:61:80:DB inet addr:10.0.1.8 Bcast:10.0.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:4 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:3 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 RX bytes:1806 (1.7 KiB) TX bytes:1188 (1.1 KiB) [smerrill@smerrill secondary]$ more proc_net_wireless Inter-| sta-| Quality | Discarded packets | Missed face | tus | link level noise | nwid crypt frag retry misc | beacon eth1: 0000 30. 192. 162. 0 0 0 0 0 0 Again, I pinged and browsed to the same set of sites (yahoo, cnn, LEAF). [smerrill@smerrill secondary]$ more iwconfig.in_use eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"Internet Oasis (FREE)" Nickname:"HERMES I" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437GHz Access Point: 00:02:2D:3F:FF:4E Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3 Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:off Link Quality:29/92 Signal level:-65 dBm Noise level:-94 dBm Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0 [smerrill@smerrill secondary]$ more ifconfig.in_use eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2D:61:80:DB inet addr:10.0.1.8 Bcast:10.0.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:97 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:89 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 RX bytes:114679 (111.9 KiB) TX bytes:12822 (12.5 KiB) So I went home. I put Card #2 from the output above into my LEAF/Bering box, and kept Card #1 in my laptop (ultimately I want to do MAC-based filtering in Shorewall, so I want to make sure I know which card is supposed to go with which machine). On my LEAF machine, I had originally had the following bit in my /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts file: # NOTE : Remove the following four lines to activate the samples below ... # --------- START SECTION TO REMOVE ----------- *,*,*,*) ESSID="test" RATE="auto" ;; # ---------- END SECTION TO REMOVE ------------ I removed the ESSID and RATE lines, then commented out the rest. I next modified the file to look like this: # Lucent Wavelan IEEE (+ Orinoco, RoamAbout and ELSA) # Note : wvlan_cs driver only, and version 1.0.4+ for encryption support *,*,*,00:60:1D:*|*,*,*,00:02:2D:*) INFO="Wavelan IEEE example (Lucent default settings)" ESSID="test" MODE="Ad-Hoc" # RATE="auto" # KEY="s:secu1" # To set all four keys, use : I restarted pcmcia (/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart), and the module was loaded, and the card activated. I made the same changes to /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts on my laptop, and inserted the card. [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more iwconfig.1 eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"" Nickname:"HERMES I" Mode:Managed Frequency:2.457GHz Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00 Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3 Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Power Management:off [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more ifconfig.1 eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2D:61:81:5B 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:100 RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b) Interrupt:3 Base address:0x140 [smerrill@smerrill main]$ tail kern.log Jan 14 18:18:40 exodus kernel: orinoco_cs.c 0.09b (David Gibson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> and others) Jan 14 18:18:40 exodus kernel: eth1: Station identity 001f:0001:0008:0048 Jan 14 18:18:40 exodus kernel: eth1: Looks like a Lucent/Agere firmware version 8.72 Jan 14 18:18:40 exodus kernel: eth1: Ad-hoc demo mode supported Jan 14 18:18:40 exodus kernel: eth1: IEEE standard IBSS ad-hoc mode supported Jan 14 18:18:40 exodus kernel: eth1: WEP supported, 104-bit key Jan 14 18:18:40 exodus kernel: eth1: MAC address 00:02:2D:61:81:5B Jan 14 18:18:40 exodus kernel: eth1: Station name "HERMES I" Jan 14 18:18:40 exodus kernel: eth1: ready Jan 14 18:18:40 exodus kernel: eth1: index 0x01: Vcc 5.0, irq 3, io 0x0140-0x017f I _thought_ I had configured LEAF to assign DHCP addresses to both eth1 (internal wired network) and eth2 (internal wireless network), but 'dhclient eth1' on the laptop never got an address; so I specified one by hand, and manually added a default route. [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more ifconfig.manual_ip eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2D:61:81:5B inet addr:192.168.1.2 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:96 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:98 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 RX bytes:113279 (110.6 KiB) TX bytes:14070 (13.7 KiB) Interrupt:3 Base address:0x140 [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more iwconfig.manual_ip eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"test" Nickname:"exodus" Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:2.457GHz Cell: 02:00:D7:BC:7A:06 Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3 Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr: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 [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more proc_net_wireless Inter-| sta-| Quality | Discarded packets | Missed face | tus | link level noise | nwid crypt frag retry misc | beacon eth1: 0000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lo and behold, everything worked fine! Pings and ssh worked just fine. I rebooted my laptop into Windows 98 so that I could use the Orinoco Client Manager's nifty "Link Test" feature. After Win98 came up, I configured a peer-to-peer wireless profile using the same ESSID as I had specified in /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts on the LEAF/Bering box ("test"), but it never found a partner. I executed 'iwconfig' on the LEAF/Bering box, and received the following output: hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. eth2 IEEE 802.11-DS Nickname:"firewall" Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:42.9497GHz Tx-Power=15 dBm RTS thr:off Encryption key:off I restarted pcmcia (/etc/init.d/pcmcia restart), and iwconfig immediately reported correct information for eth2. I rebooted my laptop back to Debian, and took it downstairs, to ensure that the signal was strong enough (again, I manually assigned an IP and default route). [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more iwconfig.2 eth1 IEEE 802.11-DS ESSID:"test" Nickname:"exodus" Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:2.457GHz Cell: 02:00:95:39:38:83 Bit Rate:11Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm Sensitivity:1/3 Retry limit:4 RTS thr:off Fragment thr: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 [smerrill@smerrill main]$ more ifconfig.manual_ip2 eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:02:2D:61:81:5B inet addr:192.168.1.2 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0 UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1 RX packets:63 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0 TX packets:101 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0 collisions:0 txqueuelen:100 RX bytes:8075 (7.8 KiB) TX bytes:17403 (16.9 KiB) Interrupt:3 Base address:0x140 I was able to ping and browse and ssh just fine. I downloaded Phoenix 0.5 (an 8 meg download), and received the following error several times: eth1: Tx error, statius 4 (FID=XXXX) where XXXX is some number. The connection resumed, though, and the download completed. I extracted Phoenix and subsequently _used_ it, so the errors don't appear to have corrupted the file. Everything went fine for the next 30 to 45 minutes (I did a few "apt-get install"s to add some stuff to my laptop), until I shut down and called it a night. This morning I checked the LEAF/Bering box, running 'iwconfig' again (after a night of zero traffic (at least from me!) on the wireless segment): hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting for command completion. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting issuing command. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting issuing command. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting issuing command. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting issuing command. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting issuing command. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting issuing command. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting issuing command. hermes @ IO 0x100: Card removed while waiting issuing command. eth2 IEEE 802.11-DS Nickname:"firewall" Mode:Ad-Hoc Frequency:42.9497GHz Tx-Power=15 dBm RTS thr:off Encryption key:off Note the Frequency -- it's wrong both times this problem arises. A quick google turned up this link: http://www.uwsg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0211.2/0821.html It would appear that this is a pretty common problem, and that a script to reset the card (or pcmcia, for LEAF) solves it. That's fairly inelegant, and I'm wondering if others are experiencing the same thing? How do you deal with it? The list of things that changed from when I sent my first message, to now: * I used both cards with a free wireless connection at a coffee shop * I commented out the default "*,*,*,*)" section in /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts and used the block associated with Wavelan / Orinoco MAC addresses. For all I know, waving a dead chicken over both cards would've had the same effect as taking them to the coffee shop, so I tend to think that the changes to /etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts was the kicker. Things yet to figure out: * why does LEAF/Bering think that I ejected the card if it hasn't been used for a while? * why doesn't LEAF/Bering hand out DHCP addresses on the wireless segment? (I have a subnet declaration for 192.168.1.0/24 in /etc/dhcpd.conf, and I modified /etc/init.d/dhcpd to include both eth1 and eth2) * why does my wireless card fail to initialize unless my 3Com 3c575 card is inserted first? Is this something to do with /etc/network/interfaces? Thanks for the help, so far. If anyone has any pointers or tips -- especially regarding the first two of my "yet to figure out" list -- I'd love to hear about them! Cheers, Scott ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.NET email is sponsored by: Take your first step towards giving your online business a competitive advantage. Test-drive a Thawte SSL certificate - our easy online guide will show you how. 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