Can not get wireless card to even show up

[pytheas22]

anilj: your wireless interface is detected but is listed as "DISABLED". Usually this happens because the wireless card is turned off. On most computers there's either a physical switch or a hotkey (like Fn+F2) that you can use for toggling the wireless on and off. There may also be an option in BIOS. Please make sure the wireless is turned on, then try scanning again.

If this doesn't solve the problem, you may also need to open up the Preferences window in wicd and make sure your wireless interface is set to "ra0". Then try scanning again.

If this still fails, please make sure the wireless radio is on, then please run these commands and let me know the output:

dmesg | grep -e rt28 -e ra -ie radio
sudo ifconfig ra0 up
sudo iwlist scan

H3LlIoN: chances are that those commands are not going to help you anyway. That was an old post and unless you're using Ubuntu 8.04 or earlier, the issue that those commands solved is no longer relevant in more more modern versions of Ubuntu. But if you post the output of these commands, I'll try to help you:

dmesg | grep wlan
lspci -nn
lsusb
lshw -C Network
sudo iwlist scan
uname -rm
cat /etc/issue

[anilj]

i set the wireless interface to ra0 and can now find wireless network. but wen i try to connect to mine it does not connect even though i hav entered the correct wep key, IP, netmask and gateway. it keeps saying: connection failed, could not contact wireless access point.

[pytheas22]

anilj: please post the output of these commands (the first command may have no output), and let me know the name of the network you're trying to connect to:

sudo ifconfig ra0 up
sudo iwlist scan

[anilj]

from sudo ifconfig ra0 up there was no output

sudo iwlist scan:
anil@anil-laptop:~$ sudo iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

ra0 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:18:4D:0B:C1:FA
ESSID:"SKY92581"
Mode:Managed
Channel:1
Quality:34/100 Signal level:-76 dBm Noise level:-97 dBm
Encryption keyn
Bit Rates:18 Mb/s
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Cell 02 - Address: 00:17:3F:E0:62:01
ESSID:"Jassi's"
Mode:Managed
Channel:11
Quality:100/100 Signal level:-31 dBm Noise level:-97 dBm
Encryption keyn
Bit Rates:36 Mb/s
Cell 03 - Address: 00:B0:0C:00:36:B0
ESSID:"TENDA"
Mode:Managed
Channel:6
Quality:81/100 Signal level:-58 dBm Noise level:-97 dBm
Encryption keyff
Bit Rates:11 Mb/s
Cell 04 - Address: 00:1F:33:B6:31:10
ESSID:"Suntino"
Mode:Managed
Channel:7
Quality:15/100 Signal level:-84 dBm Noise level:-97 dBm
Encryption keyn
Bit Rates:54 Mb/s
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Cell 05 - Address: 00:24:01:A7:3D:EA
ESSID:"abui and fety"
Mode:Managed
Channel:11
Quality:20/100 Signal level:-82 dBm Noise level:-97 dBm
Encryption keyn
Bit Rates:54 Mb/s
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK



i am trying to connect to Jassi's

[pytheas22]

Thanks for the output and sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Please try running these commands and see if they get you connected. These should get you connected manually; if they work, then we will at least know that your wireless driver is not the problem here. Please have wicd and any other connection managers closed before you run these:

sudo ifconfig ra0 down
sudo iwconfig ra0 mode managed channel 11 essid "Jassi's" key '''your-wep-key'''
sudo ifconfig ra0 up
sudo dhclient ra0

(Enter your WEP key where indicated, without any spaces or colons between the characters, and without quotes surrounding the key.)

If this works, the final command should give output telling you you've been assigned an IP address, and you should then be able to browse web pages, etc. If it fails, the last command will say something like "No persistent leases in database--sleeping" and drop back to the command line.

This assumes that you use dynamic IP addresses assigned via dhcp. If that's not the case, let me know (I know you mentioned earlier trying to set a static IP address in wicd, but I assume you don't need to do that normally).

If this fails as well, we may need to look into using ndiswrapper to get you connected instead of the native Linux driver.

Also, one thing that could possibly be causing issues here is that your network has an apostrophe in its name. That shouldn't matter, but it might be confusing some piece of software. If possible, you might want to try changing the network name to something simpler just to see if that allows you to connect (either using wicd or the command line).

[anilj]

from the 2nd command with the essid etc came:

Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
SET failed on device ra0 ; Network is down.

After the final command came "No persistent leases in database--sleeping"

[pytheas22]

anilj: that's a strange error. I'm thinking the version of the driver that you currently have installed is just not going to work, and that you should upgrade to a more recent version. You can do that by first going to http://linuxwireless.org/download/compat-wireless-2.6 and downloading the file named "compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2." Then run these commands, which will compile and install the latest Linux wireless code for you:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential
cd ~/Desktop
tar -xjvf compat-wireless-2.6.tar.bz2
cd compat-wireless*
make
sudo make install

Then reboot and hopefully the wireless will work. If it still doesn't, please let me know the output of:

dmesg | grep -e rt -e wlan -e ra
lshw -C Network
modinfo rt2860sta

I'm sorry this process is turning out to be more difficult than you probably hoped, but thanks for your patience.

[anilj]

it did not work with the first set of commands after the reboot.
so i entered the 2nd set of commands, here is what they gave:

dmesg | grep -e rt -e wlan -e ra:
anil@anil-laptop:~$ dmesg | grep -e rt -e wlan -e ra
[ 0.000000] KERNEL supported cpus:
[ 0.000000] Transmeta GenuineTMx86
[ 0.000000] Transmeta TransmetaCPU
[ 0.000000] e820 update range: 0000000000000000 - 0000000000010000 (usable) ==> (reserved)
[ 0.000000] MTRR fixed ranges enabled:
[ 0.000000] MTRR variable ranges enabled:
[ 0.000000] mapped low ram: 0 - 377fe000
[ 0.000000] low ram: 0 - 377fe000
[ 0.000000] node 0 low ram: 00000000 - 377fe000
[ 0.000000] Zone PFN ranges:
[ 0.000000] Movable zone start PFN for each node
[ 0.000000] early_node_map[2] active PFN ranges
[ 0.000000] ACPI: PM-Timer IO Port: 0x808
[ 0.000000] Using ACPI (MADT) for SMP configuration information
[ 0.000000] Allocating PCI resources starting at 3f800000 (gap: 3f800000:bf600000)
[ 0.000000] Enabling unmasked SIMD FPU exception support... done.
[ 0.000000] virtual kernel memory layout:
[ 0.000000] Fast TSC calibration using PIT
[ 0.002375] Calibrating delay loop (skipped), value calculated using timer frequency.. 3200.43 BogoMIPS (lpj=6400872)
[ 0.002413] Security Framework initialized
[ 0.002795] mce: CPU supports 5 MCE banks
[ 0.004000] Calibrating delay using timer specific routine.. 3199.91 BogoMIPS (lpj=6399820)
[ 0.004000] mce: CPU supports 5 MCE banks
[ 0.172332] Booting paravirtualized kernel on bare hardware
[ 0.172604] PCI: MCFG configuration 0: base e0000000 segment 0 buses 0 - 255
[ 0.172945] PCI: Using configuration type 1 for base access
[ 0.190393] ACPI: (supports S0 S1 S3 S4 S5)
[ 0.190549] PCI: MCFG configuration 0: base e0000000 segment 0 buses 0 - 255
[ 0.201951] PCI: updated MCFG configuration 0: base e0000000 segment 0 buses 0 - 63
[ 0.211845] ACPI: EC: driver started in poll mode
[ 0.212660] pci 0000:00:02.0: reg 14 io port: [0xdc80-0xdc87]
[ 0.212946] pci 0000:00:1b.0: PME# supported from D0 D3hot D3cold
[ 0.213058] pci 0000:00:1c.0: PME# supported from D0 D3hot D3cold
[ 0.213172] pci 0000:00:1c.1: PME# supported from D0 D3hot D3cold
[ 0.213286] pci 0000:00:1c.2: PME# supported from D0 D3hot D3cold
[ 0.213399] pci 0000:00:1c.3: PME# supported from D0 D3hot D3cold
[ 0.213488] pci 0000:00:1d.0: reg 20 io port: [0xd480-0xd49f]
[ 0.213568] pci 0000:00:1d.1: reg 20 io port: [0xd800-0xd81f]
[ 0.213647] pci 0000:00:1d.2: reg 20 io port: [0xd880-0xd89f]
[ 0.213726] pci 0000:00:1d.3: reg 20 io port: [0xdc00-0xdc1f]
[ 0.213884] pci 0000:00:1d.7: PME# supported from D0 D3hot D3cold
[ 0.214207] pci 0000:00:1f.2: reg 10 io port: [0x00-0x07]
[ 0.214220] pci 0000:00:1f.2: reg 14 io port: [0x00-0x03]
[ 0.214232] pci 0000:00:1f.2: reg 18 io port: [0x00-0x07]
[ 0.214244] pci 0000:00:1f.2: reg 1c io port: [0x00-0x03]
[ 0.214256] pci 0000:00:1f.2: reg 20 io port: [0xffa0-0xffaf]
[ 0.214300] pci 0000:00:1f.2: PME# supported from D3hot
[ 0.214386] pci 0000:00:1f.3: reg 20 io port: [0x400-0x41f]
[ 0.214604] pci 0000:03:00.0: reg 18 io port: [0xec80-0xecff]
[ 0.214699] pci 0000:03:00.0: PME# supported from D3hot D3cold
[ 0.214802] pci 0000:00:1c.1: bridge io port: [0xe000-0xefff]
[ 0.215084] pci 0000:01:00.0: PME# supported from D0 D3hot
[ 0.215262] pci 0000:00:1e.0: transparent bridge
[ 0.252084] NetLabel: unlabeled traffic allowed by default
[ 0.252176] hpet0: 3 comparators, 64-bit 14.318180 MHz counter
[ 0.273154] system 00:01: iomem range 0xfed13000-0xfed19fff has been reserved
[ 0.273176] system 00:08: ioport range 0x25c-0x25f has been reserved
[ 0.273184] system 00:08: ioport range 0x380-0x383 has been reserved
[ 0.273191] system 00:08: ioport range 0x400-0x41f has been reserved
[ 0.273198] system 00:08: ioport range 0x4d0-0x4d1 has been reserved
[ 0.273205] system 00:08: ioport range 0x800-0x87f has been reserved
[ 0.273212] system 00:08: ioport range 0x480-0x4bf has been reserved
[ 0.273220] system 00:08: iomem range 0x8c000000-0x8c01ffff has been reserved
[ 0.273247] system 00:08: iomem range 0xfed1c000-0xfed1ffff has been reserved
[ 0.273255] system 00:08: iomem range 0xfed20000-0xfed3ffff has been reserved
[ 0.273262] system 00:08: iomem range 0xfed50000-0xfed8ffff has been reserved
[ 0.273270] system 00:08: iomem range 0xffb00000-0xffbfffff has been reserved
[ 0.273278] system 00:08: iomem range 0xfff00000-0xffffffff could not be reserved
[ 0.273293] system 00:0a: iomem range 0xfec00000-0xfec00fff could not be reserved
[ 0.273301] system 00:0a: iomem range 0xfee00000-0xfee00fff has been reserved
[ 0.273313] system 00:0b: iomem range 0xe0000000-0xe3ffffff has been reserved
[ 0.273326] system 00:0c: iomem range 0x0-0x9ffff could not be reserved
[ 0.273333] system 00:0c: iomem range 0xc0000-0xcffff could not be reserved
[ 0.273341] system 00:0c: iomem range 0xe0000-0xfffff could not be reserved
[ 0.273348] system 00:0c: iomem range 0x100000-0x3f7fffff could not be reserved
[ 0.311705] Trying to unpack rootfs image as initramfs...
[ 0.706292] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.0: irq 24 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 0.706309] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 0.706549] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.1: irq 25 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 0.706565] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.1: setting latency timer to 64
[ 0.706793] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.2: irq 26 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 0.706808] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.2: setting latency timer to 64
[ 0.707047] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.3: irq 27 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 0.707062] pcieport-driver 0000:00:1c.3: setting latency timer to 64
[ 0.724294] ACPI: Processor [CPU0] (supports 8 throttling states)
[ 0.726724] ACPI: Processor [CPU1] (supports 8 throttling states)
[ 1.106803] Serial: 8250/16550 driver, 4 ports, IRQ sharing enabled
[ 1.110738] input: Macintosh mouse button emulation as /devices/virtual/input/input4
[ 1.121074] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: debug port 1
[ 1.121088] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: cache line size of 32 is not supported
[ 1.136030] ehci_hcd 0000:00:1d.7: USB 2.0 started, EHCI 1.00
[ 1.136221] usb usb1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1.136312] hub 1-0:1.0: 8 ports detected
[ 1.136909] usb usb2: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1.136988] hub 2-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
[ 1.137393] usb usb3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1.137468] hub 3-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
[ 1.137860] usb usb4: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1.137936] hub 4-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
[ 1.138345] usb usb5: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 1.138422] hub 5-0:1.0: 2 ports detected
[ 1.173900] serio: i8042 KBD port at 0x60,0x64 irq 1
[ 1.173915] serio: i8042 AUX port at 0x60,0x64 irq 12
[ 1.174339] rtc_cmos 00:03: RTC can wake from S4
[ 1.174411] rtc_cmos 00:03: rtc core: registered rtc_cmos as rtc0
[ 1.174457] rtc0: alarms up to one month, 114 bytes nvram, hpet irqs
[ 1.181450] Using IPI No-Shortcut mode
[ 1.181994] rtc_cmos 00:03: setting system clock to 2010-01-10 14:48:19 UTC (1263134899)
[ 1.204076] input: AT Translated Set 2 keyboard as /devices/platform/i8042/serio0/input/input5
[ 1.313359] sd 1:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 1.315868] sd 1:0:1:0: [sdb] Write cache: disabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA
[ 1.609412] Linux agpgart interface v0.103
[ 1.621072] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: Intel 945GME Chipset
[ 1.621408] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: detected 7932K stolen memory
[ 1.624590] agpgart-intel 0000:00:00.0: AGP aperture is 256M @ 0xd0000000
[ 1.670138] usb 1-8: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
[ 2.167541] [drm] fb0: inteldrmfb frame buffer device
[ 2.963023] Console: switching to colour frame buffer device 128x37
[ 3.497709] PM: Starting manual resume from disk
[ 3.497719] PM: Resume from partition 8:5
[ 3.511215] kjournald2 starting: pid 385, dev sda1:8, commit interval 5 seconds
[ 3.790363] type=1505 audit(1263134902.106:2): operation="profile_load" pid=408 name=/sbin/dhclient3
[ 3.790943] type=1505 audit(1263134902.106:3): operation="profile_load" pid=408 name=/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action
[ 3.791270] type=1505 audit(1263134902.106:4): operation="profile_load" pid=408 name=/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script
[ 3.837880] type=1505 audit(1263134902.154:5): operation="profile_load" pid=409 name=/usr/bin/evince
[ 3.847303] type=1505 audit(1263134902.162:6): operation="profile_load" pid=409 name=/usr/bin/evince-previewer
[ 3.853088] type=1505 audit(1263134902.170:7): operation="profile_load" pid=409 name=/usr/bin/evince-thumbnailer
[ 3.866947] type=1505 audit(1263134902.182:8): operation="profile_load" pid=411 name=/usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
[ 3.867676] type=1505 audit(1263134902.182:9): operation="profile_load" pid=411 name=/usr/sbin/cupsd
[ 9.260438] udev: starting version 147
[ 9.379566] eeepc_laptop: TYPE (2000000) not reported by BIOS, enabling anyway
[ 9.399239] eeepc_laptop: PANELPOWER (4000000) not reported by BIOS, enabling anyway
[ 9.399255] eeepc_laptop: Get control methods supported: 0x6101713
[ 9.399391] input: Asus EeePC extra buttons as /devices/virtual/input/input7
[ 9.654179] rt2860sta: module is from the staging directory, the quality is unknown, you have been warned.
[ 9.751224] rt2860 0000:01:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
[ 9.751908] rt2860 0000:01:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 10.636094] __ratelimit: 3 callbacks suppressed
[ 10.636104] type=1505 audit(1263134908.950:11): operation="profile_replace" pid=860 name=/sbin/dhclient3
[ 10.636938] type=1505 audit(1263134908.954:12): operation="profile_replace" pid=860 name=/usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action
[ 10.637562] type=1505 audit(1263134908.954:13): operation="profile_replace" pid=860 name=/usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script
[ 10.653057] type=1505 audit(1263134908.970:14): operation="profile_replace" pid=861 name=/usr/bin/evince
[ 10.695299] type=1505 audit(1263134909.010:15): operation="profile_replace" pid=861 name=/usr/bin/evince-previewer
[ 10.703730] type=1505 audit(1263134909.018:16): operation="profile_replace" pid=861 name=/usr/bin/evince-thumbnailer
[ 10.722898] type=1505 audit(1263134909.038:17): operation="profile_replace" pid=879 name=/usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
[ 10.723969] type=1505 audit(1263134909.038:18): operation="profile_replace" pid=879 name=/usr/sbin/cupsd
[ 10.730638] type=1505 audit(1263134909.046:19): operation="profile_replace" pid=880 name=/usr/sbin/tcpdump
[ 13.072856] ppdev: user-space parallel port driver
[ 14.226431] RTMPSetPhyMode: channel is out of range, use first channel=1
[ 16.384553] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 5(5) BSS returned, data->length = 630
[ 23.041527] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 5(5) BSS returned, data->length = 630
[ 24.957041] ra0: no IPv6 routers present
[ 25.121237] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 5(5) BSS returned, data->length = 630
[ 29.040156] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 6(6) BSS returned, data->length = 713
[ 30.376220] ==>rt_ioctl_siwfreq::SIOCSIWFREQ[cmd=0x8b04] (Channel=11)
[ 40.196129] ra0: no IPv6 routers present
[ 45.368465] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 5(5) BSS returned, data->length = 594
[ 45.368853] ==>rt_ioctl_siwfreq::SIOCSIWFREQ[cmd=0x8b04] (Channel=11)
[ 53.637860] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 6(6) BSS returned, data->length = 673
[ 54.437776] ==>rt_ioctl_siwfreq::SIOCSIWFREQ[cmd=0x8b04] (Channel=11)
[ 59.521901] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 5(5) BSS returned, data->length = 554
[ 59.522368] ==>rt_ioctl_siwfreq::SIOCSIWFREQ[cmd=0x8b04] (Channel=11)
[ 67.681985] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 7(7) BSS returned, data->length = 828
[ 68.036156] ==>rt_ioctl_siwfreq::SIOCSIWFREQ[cmd=0x8b04] (Channel=11)
[ 73.120887] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 7(7) BSS returned, data->length = 828
[ 73.121440] ==>rt_ioctl_siwfreq::SIOCSIWFREQ[cmd=0x8b04] (Channel=11)
[ 85.056547] ===>rt_ioctl_giwscan. 6(6) BSS returned, data->length = 673
[ 89.726707] ==>rt_ioctl_siwfreq::SIOCSIWFREQ[cmd=0x8b04] (Channel=6)
[ 99.749178] ra0: no IPv6 routers present


lshw -C Network:
anil@anil-laptop:~$ lshw -C Network
WARNING: you should run this program as super-user.
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCI-E Ethernet Controller
vendor: Attansic Technology Corp.
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
logical name: eth0
version: b0
serial: 00:22:15:55:f6:00
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ATL1E driverversion=1.0.0.7-NAPI firmware=L1e latency=0 multicast=yes
resources: irq:28 memory:fbfc0000-fbffffff ioport:ec80(size=128)
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: RT2860
vendor: RaLink
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
logical name: ra0
version: 00
serial: 00:15:af:e5:44:98
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt2860 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=RT2860 Wireless
resources: irq:19 memory:f7ff0000-f7ffffff


modinfo rt2860sta:
anil@anil-laptop:~$ modinfo rt2860sta
filename: /lib/modules/2.6.31-17-generic/kernel/drivers/staging/rt2860/rt2860sta.ko
version: 1.8.1.1
license: GPL
srcversion: 2DB10B2D13BA8040F82A25A
alias: pci:v00001A3Bd00001059sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000781sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000701sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000681sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias: pci:v00001814d00000601sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:
staging: Y
vermagic: 2.6.31-17-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 586
parm: mac:rt28xx: wireless mac addr (charp)

[pytheas22]

It looks like the new driver was built and installed successfully, so that's at least good news. I'm wondering if NetworkManager may work better for you at this point than wicd--I read a thread yesterday while researching your issue that said that NM works with the updated driver. To reinstall NM, type:

sudo apt-get install network-manager-gnome

Then left-click on the NetworkManager applet and you should see a list of networks. Does this connect you?

If NM still fails, I'd be interested in seeing the output of these commands after you attempt to connect:

ifconfig
sudo iwlist scan
dmesg | grep -e ra0 -e rt28

[anilj]

Network Manager worked like a charm, i'd like to thank you for being patient with me and my problem and finally helping me solve the issue. This forum is much better than the linuxquestions because it has people like yourself who actually help people. thank you once again.