Can't activate wireless in Fedora

Hi. I recently installed Fedora 9 on my HP dv9700t and was surprised to see that it detects and recognizes my Intel PRO/Wireless 4965 AGN wireless card. Unfortunately, I cannot get it to activate the connection. I have placed the mode in "managed" and specified the SSID of my network and given the proper passkey. I'm stumped.

Also, I set my router to broadcast the SSID and even though my wlan shows up as "inactive" in the network configuration, I can still see my network by clicking on the network icon in the "system tray" (I don't know if that's what it's called in linux). However, when I try to connect and I enter my passkey, it just keeps popping back up saying that it needs "network secrets". I even tried disabling security on my router and it still didn't work, it just goes for a bit and then says "Disconnected".

Please Please Help. Thanks.

 

Are you sure you did not somehow confuse your network encryption key and your keyring key? Right now that's what it sounds like to me.

Here's the deal, if you set up a wireless network connection in Linux and that connection requires an encryption key you need to enter that key in the network configuration. Now, to protect you from people trying to grab your key from your HD, etc, Gnome uses the gnome-keyring-manager (and KDE uses kwallet) to store that encryption key into an encrypted keyring. So when everything is said and done, you have two keys:

1. The encryption key which is stored in gnome-keyring-manager. You enter this encryption key only once and you enter it into the same dialog where you set your network SSID, type of encryption, etc.

2. The password you use to open your keyring when your network manager asks gnome-keyring-manager for the network encryption key. This password is required every time you connect for the first time after a fresh boot. If you have never set a password on your keyring, then you can just cancel that password prompt.

BTW, it is quite possible that you have already set a password on your default keyring without realizing it. I found in the past that the dialog windows that come up are very badly labeled.

 

Hmmm, i see.
Would you mind giving the error log?

 

I have the same problem on my dv9700T with the intel PRO/Wireless 4965 AGN wireless card under linux. It won't connect to any security enabled router and will sometimes connect to a router without security enabled but thats not too often (I think only a couple times and not always to the same router). I've been meaning to look into it but haven't had much time.

btw I'm running fedora 9 as well. Also with the exception of fedora 5 my intel PRO/Wireless 3945 ABG wireless card in my old laptop always worked right after a fresh install.

 

Where do I find the error log? Also, I'm using WPA and not WEP, so I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it. Somebody told me to update to the latest kernel so I'm currently running updates (through a network cable). We'll see how it goes.

 

OK...I ran all the updates (took forever) but it worked. Unfortunately, it only works when I am broadcasting my SSID. I REALLY don't like doing this. I do have MAC filter and WPA enabled, but still. I don't like other ppl seeing my network.

If I disable broadcasting, then I can still connect after a fresh boot by using the "connect to another network" option and typing in the info, but as soon as I try to use the internet, it kicks me off. And if I try to connect again, I run into the same problems. Plus, it seems that the keyring thing seems to be interfering. Is there a way to get into the manager and get rid of the keys in the keyring so I can essentially start over? Might that work?

 

I'm sure there's a way to do it but I'm running KDE right now as my desktop environment. Are you running KDE or gnome? If KDE I can help otherwise, someone else will have to do it.

 

Sorry that I don't have anything to add to this thread regarding solving your configuration problems. I have the same WiFi hardware, but I don't try to connect to hidden WLANs. However, when I recently helped a friend secure their WLAN WAP, I also used both hiding the SSID, and MAC filtering.

Unfortunately I wasn't aware that both things are considered part of " The six dumbest ways to secure a Wireless LAN", by George Ou. In supporting the notion that hiding the SSID isn't really a security benefit, and can also cause problems, George's blog points to a white paper entitled “ Debunking the Myth of SSID Hiding” by Robert Moskowitz, whose summary is as follows;

George Ou, in another blog post, suggests some " Simple advice for securing your home wireless LAN", and has also written a longer piece, " Wireless LAN security guide, Security for any organization large or small", which is a good read as well. I should point out that most of the Googled pages on this subject seem to agree that hiding the SSID doesn't help, and can sometimes hurt, the operation of your WLAN. Perhaps it's best to reconsider your security setup, especially if it might help with your laptop/WiFi configuration. I guess I will need to visit my friend again soon, to reconfigure the security of his WLAN based on some of these ideas too..

Good Luck..

 

Thanks, I'll be sure to read up on those. I have an old router so, from what I can tell, the MAC filtering and WPA are the only ways of securing it. But I may find from those articles that I'm incorrect. As far as the SSID thing...I've decided to broadcast it. The consensus in the FedoraForums is that NetworkManager can not yet handle connecting to hidden networks. Before I read this, I figured "not a BIG deal as I'm still protected through MAC filtering and WPA". Although I may have to reconsider that now, but thanks for pointing out the flaw of hiding the SSID.