Help with wireless on Ubuntu 6.10

I need some help. I just setup 6.10 ubuntu on my Toshiba M70. This is the second time. The first time worked and I could use my wireless connection at home. It showed under networking as "eth1" which is strange but it worked. However, as soon as I activated the wireless adapter in the settings, everything stopped. I could no longer access my wireless network at home. What I did was, reinstalled 6.10 and everything was ok. Now it stopped working again. It seems as though it thinks the Intel Pro Wireless adapter is "eth1". I just can't understand why it won't see any of the available wireless networks when I turn on the wireless adapter in the networking tab. Please help.

 

Ubuntu 6.10 is not friendly with wireless for some reason. You should install network manager.

Go into a terminal and type

Code:

sudo apt-get install network-manager-gnome

This will also allow you to connect to WPA encrypted networks.

 

Are you using the Gnome network-manager module? If so, it controls your wired and wireless internet access.

eth1 is standard for your IPW card.

go to the console and

Code:

 $ ifconfig 

to see if everything is a-OK.

then

Code:

 
$ ifdown eth1
$ ifup eth1

To restart eth1. Hope that helps!

 

Thank, I will try that.

 

I am still in the office so I can't try it but, if i activate it through the terminal will "eth1" be able to see all the available wireless networks? I live in a townhouse complex and there are 6 nets around me. I am just wondering if I will be able to see them like with windows. Haha, as of last week they are all secured now....=(

 

if you install the network manager, it will give you a nice list of what networks it picks up, as well as relative signal strengths.

Doesn't you notebook have a WiFi switch/key combo? I dont bother turning the adapter off/on through Ubuntu, I just press Fn + F2.

 

My toshiba has a switch, however, I don't turn it on or off as this computer never leaves home. I can't wait to get home and try what you guys have showed me.

 

It's a weird problem... I installed the network manager but it doesn't seem to be able to detect my wireless card at all. It just sits in the panel and doesn't do anything and I can't even configure it. I'm still connecting to wireless using the default eth1...

Any suggestions how I can get network manager to work properly?

 

yeah... you probably need to "de-configure" your network interfaces. if you try to configure your wireless card with the system control panels, and then install network manager, the two conflict.

What I would do is open up a terminal (Applications>Accessories>Terminal) then type "sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces" (without quotes, of course). Then you want to comment out everything but the loopback entry by putting a hash at the beginning of every line. It should look something like this when you're done:

Code:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

#auto eth0
#iface eth0 inet dhcp

#auto eth1
#iface eth1 inet dhcp

#auto eth2
#iface eth2 inet dhcp

#auto ath0
#iface ath0 inet dhcp

#auto wlan0
#iface wlan0 inet dhcp

Then in the terminal, enter "sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart".

I guess you could do this through the networking dialog, but I find this much faster.

AuroraS, did you install 915resolution yet? If you have the terminal open, you can enter "sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install 915resolution", or else do a search for 915resolution in the package manager, and that will give you the correct 1280x768 resolution.

 

I still can't get it to work. I can't even install network manager. It must be because I can't download it as I don't have an internet connection. I am too lazy to unlug my network cable from my router.

 

$%#%#!!! I am gonna reinstall 6.10 again and install network manager right away.

 

hey BigV

thanks for the help... I haven't tried it yet, but I'll give it a shot later. I'm pretty satisfied with my wireless now... I mean I have no complaints with it since I'm only using wireless at home and at school (and I know the SSIDs)... I just wanted to be able to detect other wireless connections as well. I'll give it a shot later.

As for 915resolution... yes I installed it the same day I installed Ubuntu; without it, everything seems kind of blurry and it hurts my eyes.

 

This is really getting frustrating. I can't get my wireless card to work. Is there any sure fire way to get it working? I am about to throw my Toshiba out the window!!! No matter what I do now....eth1 doesn't show up. "lo" is the only thing I can get to show. When I try to install network manager form the add/remove menu it says I can't install because my computer doesn't support i386. If I try to install from terminal it says e: not accessible.

 

Hey, you from Vancouver? I live in Richmond. You a linux guru? Maybe we can meet up and you can help me out with this. =)

 

Your computer doesn't support i386? Your computer IS i386. The only other options are x64 (64-bit), i686 (Dual Core/HT Intel processors), and PPC (PowerPC Macs), plus a few other SPARC variations. This definitely doesn't sound right. Go to the terminal and type

Code:

sudo uname -a

and tell us what it says.

As for getting wireless working, network manager should do it. I suggest to just plug your computer in and install network manager. The only way this wouldn't work is if your wireless card isn't supported, but Intel cards should be supported pretty well.

 

Ok, finally got it working. I plugged my Toshiba directly into the router and downloaded "network manager" after that is was pretty easy. I just had to manually add the SSID. After that smooth sailing.

 

Congratulations, if you have any other issues, or just want help with Ubuntu, there are a number of us here who are only happy to help you out. Could even share some tips on tweaking, and whatnot.

 

I really appreciate it. This section of the forums has a lot of nice people who are willing to help. Thanks!!!

 

BigV - thanks again for your code/help. I tried installing network-manager again today and I faced the same problem. This time I did as you said and disabled the other devices via editing the network interfaces file and then I restarted my computer and low and behold... network-manager was no longer sitting in the tray doing nothing; it was detecting SSIDs!