[SOLVED] No Wifi on Dell Inspiron 6000

[Dennola4]

Salix 13.1.2 / Xfce / WICD/ Dell Inspiron 6000 / Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)

Hey guys,

I've been using Salix and Slackware before that, and for years I have not bothered trying to get wifi to work since I have a PCMCIA card and an external usb modem. Now I'm somewhere that gets crappy dial-up connection, I forgot my usb modem, and I need the wifi. Problem is the card isn't being recognized. Googling led to a [SOLVED] forum post where the user installed b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installer and it worked. So I installed it from our repo, rebooted, aaaaaaand...... no wifi.

I'm reduced to begging here. Please help. Currently on an annoyingly slow connection.

Thanks.

[knome]

Please su to root and post output of lspci

Also, please clarify where the signal is coming from for the wireless card... Router, 3G, etc.?

[Dennola4]

The output of lspci:

Code: Select all

root[dennis]# lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
03:01.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b3)
03:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 08)
03:01.2 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 17)
03:03.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)
04:00.0 USB Controller: Agere Systems USS-312 USB Controller (rev 10)

....and the signal is coming from a router or any other available networks. The problem is that WICD scans and doesn't find available networks using the laptops existing hardware, though if I connect a usb modem WICD then does scan and find available networks.

[knome]

OK, your card is Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2915ABG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05) so the b43 stuff is not relevant. I think the driver for this card is Intel® PRO/Wireless 2200BG and it should already be in the kernel as module ipw2200 or ipw2915. Post the result of lsmod.

[Dennola4]

Code: Select all

Module                  Size  Used by
b43                   162121  0 
mac80211              153050  1 b43
ppp_deflate             3590  0 
bsd_comp                4716  0 
ppp_async               6325  1 
crc_ccitt               1075  1 ppp_async
i8k                     3929  0 
ppp_generic            19787  7 ppp_deflate,bsd_comp,ppp_async
slhc                    4705  1 ppp_generic
ipt_REJECT              1873  1 
ipt_LOG                 4266  5 
xt_multiport            2315  2 
xt_limit                1296  7 
xt_tcpudp               1951  29 
ipt_addrtype            1569  4 
xt_state                1039  7 
ip6table_filter         2096  1 
ip6_tables              9852  1 ip6table_filter
nf_nat_irc               998  0 
nf_conntrack_irc        2583  1 nf_nat_irc
nf_nat_ftp              1687  0 
nf_nat                 12555  2 nf_nat_irc,nf_nat_ftp
nf_conntrack_ipv4       9349  9 nf_nat
nf_defrag_ipv4           867  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
nf_conntrack_ftp        4744  1 nf_nat_ftp
nf_conntrack           42669  7 xt_state,nf_nat_irc,nf_conntrack_irc,nf_nat_ftp,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4,nf_conntrack_ftp
iptable_filter          2026  1 
ip_tables               8674  1 iptable_filter
x_tables               10626  9 ipt_REJECT,ipt_LOG,xt_multiport,xt_limit,xt_tcpudp,ipt_addrtype,xt_state,ip6_tables,ip_tables
snd_seq_dummy           1107  0 
snd_seq_oss            25580  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      4620  1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq                42857  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device          4543  3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss            33917  0 
snd_mixer_oss          13399  3 snd_pcm_oss
ipv6                  229909  20 
cpufreq_ondemand        6917  0 
speedstep_lib           2683  0 
freq_table              2027  1 cpufreq_ondemand
lp                      7161  0 
ppdev                   5103  0 
parport_pc             18027  0 
sierra                  8309  1 
parport                25487  3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
usbserial              27618  3 sierra
fuse                   52401  3 
i915                  263263  2 
snd_intel8x0           22387  5 
ipw2200               128623  0 
snd_ac97_codec         89467  1 snd_intel8x0
drm_kms_helper         23751  1 i915
b44                    24085  0 
libipw                 22459  1 ipw2200
rtc_cmos                7838  0 
ac97_bus                 822  1 snd_ac97_codec
sdhci_pci               5651  0 
usbhid                 33016  0 
drm                   133002  3 i915,drm_kms_helper
ssb                    40527  2 b43,b44
yenta_socket           19335  2 
snd_pcm                57736  3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
cfg80211              109656  4 b43,mac80211,ipw2200,libipw
ohci1394               25433  0 
dell_laptop             1797  0 
sdhci                  13770  1 sdhci_pci
rsrc_nonstatic          8933  1 yenta_socket
processor              26515  1 
snd_timer              15699  2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
i2c_algo_bit            4355  1 i915
rtc_core               12050  1 rtc_cmos
mmc_core               46926  3 b43,ssb,sdhci
pcmcia                 27872  2 b43,ssb
snd                    43107  15 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd_timer
rfkill                 12812  2 cfg80211,dell_laptop
joydev                  7989  0 
video                  15937  1 i915
intel_agp              22699  1 
thermal                10194  0 
hid                    61027  1 usbhid
rtc_lib                 1522  1 rtc_core
i2c_i801                7194  0 
thermal_sys            12086  3 processor,video,thermal
ac                      2423  0 
button                  3934  1 i915
battery                 7944  0 
pcmcia_core            25659  3 yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic,pcmcia
ieee1394               63728  1 ohci1394
mii                     3322  1 b44
led_class               2037  2 b43,sdhci
lib80211                3282  2 ipw2200,libipw
hwmon                   1085  1 thermal_sys
psmouse                40750  0 
dcdbas                  4480  1 dell_laptop
soundcore               4815  3 snd
output                  1444  1 video
agpgart                23773  2 drm,intel_agp
i2c_core               15279  5 i915,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_algo_bit,i2c_i801
snd_page_alloc          5849  2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
serio_raw               3754  0 
sg                     21214  0 
evdev                   6939  14 

[knome]

The module ipw2200 is loaded. Apparently this module requires extra firmware so check with (as root ) slapt-get --installed | grep ipw2200-fw.

If you have the module and you have the firmware then it could be a faulty card or some conflict or misconfiguration with network/wicd.

[knome]

This may help...

http://wiki.debian.org/ipw2200

[Akuna]

Sometimes you also have to check in Wicd preferences if the selected wireless interface is correct and jives with the wireless interface found by iwconfig.

As root, issue iwconfig in a terminal and verify that the wireless interface it shows is the one that Wicd uses.

[Dennola4]

If you have the module and you have the firmware then it could be a faulty card or some conflict or misconfiguration with network/wicd.

I have the module and the firmware loaded. The card isn't faulty because I ran legacy OS on here to test and it works. If there is a misconfiguration in WICD I'm not seeing it, and I would definitely take suggestions on how to know for certain that this option can be ruled out. As for the link you posted, I read it thoroughly. It says to verify that your device has an available interface with iwconfig. Results:

Code: Select all

root[dennis]# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth1      no wireless extensions.

ppp0      no wireless extensions.

eth0      IEEE 802.11abg  ESSID:off/any  Nickname:"darkstar"
          Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power=off   Sensitivity=8/0  
          Retry limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key: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

When I use a usb modem the device lists as wlan0, but since that's not there I try to raise eth1 with ifconfig, also per instructions. Result:

Code: Select all

root[dennis]# ifconfig eth1 up
root[dennis]# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth1      no wireless extensions.

ppp0      no wireless extensions.

eth0      IEEE 802.11abg  ESSID:off/any  Nickname:"darkstar"
          Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power=off   Sensitivity=8/0  
          Retry limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key: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

So per Akuna's suggestion:

Sometimes you also have to check in Wicd preferences if the selected wireless interface is correct and jives with the wireless interface found by iwconfig.As root, issue iwconfig in a terminal and verify that the wireless interface it shows is the one that Wicd uses.

I check WICD configurations it shows wlan0 as wireless and eth1 as wired. I tried changing the wlan0 to eth1 in configuratrions, close and reopen WICD, but nothing. So I'm stuck. Need a fresh or more knowledgeable mind than my own here.

Thanks again.

[Akuna]

Code: Select all

root[dennis]# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth1      no wireless extensions.

ppp0      no wireless extensions.

eth0      IEEE 802.11abg  ESSID:off/any  Nickname:"darkstar"
          Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Bit Rate:0 kb/s   Tx-Power=off   Sensitivity=8/0  
          Retry limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key: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

Sometimes you also have to check in Wicd preferences if the selected wireless interface is correct and jives with the wireless interface found by iwconfig.As root, issue iwconfig in a terminal and verify that the wireless interface it shows is the one that Wicd uses.

I check WICD configurations it shows wlan0 as wireless and eth1 as wired. I tried changing the wlan0 to eth1 in configuratrions, close and reopen WICD, but nothing.

In Wicd's preferences, you should actually change the wireless connection from wlan0 to eth0 (like it shows in iwconfig) and leave eth1 (the wired connection) unchanged.