Thinking of trying Ubuntu again...

manic111 · 9 Mar 2008 at 19:55

I tried Ubuntu a couple of months ago (7.10), but couldnt get my wireless network to work. It would recognize my drivers, and even pick up the network, but I just couldnt connect-the little "connecting" icon just kept spinning round in the taskbar, and I kept getting asked for the WEP key. I had the same problem with Mint.

I have neither installed at the moment, but has anyone got any ideas for fixing this? It is all that is keeping me from using Linux, as I cant be bothered to switch to Windows every time I want to look something up online! I have no network problems at all in Windows, and therefore assume (but cant be sure) that it isnt the network.

Also, is there anything which can connect to Itunes to share music across the network? I assume you cant download Itunes for Linux...

Ross1234 · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:05

sorry for asking this but are you sure the network key was correct?

Meridian · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:20

Are you using WPA encryption? I'm trying Kubuntu rather than Ubuntu, but I found Wicd fixed everything pretty easily.

M

manic111 · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:22

Ross1234 said:
sorry for asking this but are you sure the network key was correct?

Haha yea it was

Are you using WPA encryption? I'm trying Kubuntu rather than Ubuntu, but I found Wicd fixed everything pretty easily.

Er...what's wicd?

Rich43 · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:42

Im a linux wireless expert.. I need to know the output of:
lshw -C network

from a terminal.. you could backup the results somewhere.

I cant fix your wireless until I know what kind of wireless hardware you have, and that command tells me...

Ross1234 · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:43

did you try the windows driver ndiswrapper thingy

craptakular · 9 Mar 2008 at 20:55

might as well wait a month for ubuntu hardy 8.04 official release to arrive.

manic111 · 9 Mar 2008 at 21:13

Rich43 said:
Im a linux wireless expert.. I need to know the output of:
lshw -C network

from a terminal.. you could backup the results somewhere.

I cant fix your wireless until I know what kind of wireless hardware you have, and that command tells me...

Im just off to the gym-will reinstall later and get back to you.

I dont need ndiswrapper as far as I know, as the driver works and it picks up the network fine-just doesnt connect to it.

Meridian · 9 Mar 2008 at 22:29

manic111 said:
Er...what's wicd?

This is.

or in Ubuntu (AFAIK):

sudo apt-get install wicd

but obviously only if you have a wired connection. But this sounds like either an encryption or firewall issue.

M

PhilGQ · 10 Mar 2008 at 19:06

I have had similar problem but not with 7.10 i had it with 6.10 and 7.4

I fixed it by switching to manual. Mode it's a strange process, But if you are using WEP, go into manual mode and select WPA (yes WPA) then apply It will do a configuration thingy on screen. After that select WEP add your key and stuff then apply again. It will do the configuration thingy again but should now connect.

Its almost as if its wrongly configured for WEP so you have to switch it to WPA so when you go back to WEP it configures it properly. It sounds stupid but it has worked for me on a couple of machines.

Just be careful you have the right settings in manual, Ubuntu gives them stupid names instead of Infrastructure and AD-HOC it calls it something stupid one of them is Open I think. I am not sure I remember rightly but I think you shoudn't use Open because it won't work.

I wish you luck.

manic111 · 11 Mar 2008 at 14:52

Right, after having a fiddle around with some of the settings that Phil mentioned above I have managed to connect to the network (or at least the bar at the top says that it is connected). However, I cannot get internet. Any ideas? Thanks for the help!

russ0r · 11 Mar 2008 at 18:03

Open up a console, do the following:

Code:

ifconfig

and post the output.

Code:

cat /etc/network/interfaces

and post the output.

EDIT: Lol just noticed you're in York

Small world

PhilGQ · 11 Mar 2008 at 19:07

Have you tried logging into your router by typing its IP address into Firefox.

If you can then you know you are at least connected to network and the internet is a setting thing rather than major problem. If not then it likely you are not connected.

If you can get to your router and you are using a static IP address on you pc then switch it to Dynamic (auto). I have a world of problems using static IP addresses on my router (linksys) just won't connect to the internet.

manic111 · 12 Mar 2008 at 01:25

russ0r said:
Open up a console, do the following:

Code:

ifconfig

and post the output.

Code:

cat /etc/network/interfaces

and post the output.

EDIT: Lol just noticed you're in York Small world

Will try it tomorrow, off to bed now-yep, in York!!

Have you tried logging into your router by typing its IP address into Firefox.

If you can then you know you are at least connected to network and the internet is a setting thing rather than major problem. If not then it likely you are not connected.

If you can get to your router and you are using a static IP address on you pc then switch it to Dynamic (auto). I have a world of problems using static IP addresses on my router (linksys) just won't connect to the internet.

I tried that earlier and couldnt get into my router.

I am not using a static IP, I am using DHCP-Im not sure that I can set static IP addresses up on my router (its a crappy one supplied by Virgin and therefore has all of the useful settings locked!)

manic111 · 12 Mar 2008 at 12:41

Right, Ive typed in what you have all suggested (both Russ0r and Rich43), so here are the results!

manic111@manic111-desktop:~$ lshw -cnetwork
Hardware Lister (lshw) - B.02.10
usage: lshw [-format] [-options ...]
lshw -version

-version print program version (B.02.10)

format can be
-html output hardware tree as HTML
-xml output hardware tree as XML
-short output hardware paths
-businfo output bus information

options can be
-class CLASS only show a certain class of hardware
-C CLASS same as '-class CLASS'
-disable TEST disable a test (like pci, isapnp, cpuid, etc. )
-enable TEST enable a test (like pci, isapnp, cpuid, etc. )
-quiet don't display status

manic111@manic111-desktop:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1A:4D:47:8C:57
UP 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:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
Interrupt:16 Base address:0xc000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 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:0
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:17:31:F5:55:FB
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:22 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1260 (1.2 KB) TX bytes:4268 (4.1 KB)

wmaster0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-17-31-F5-55-FB-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
UP BROADCAST RUNNING 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:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 b) TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

manic111@manic111-desktop:~$ cat /etc/network/interfaces
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

Cheers for the help on this!

russ0r · 12 Mar 2008 at 17:56

Your wireless network isn't configured correctly for some reason.
Open up a console and type:

Code:

sudo ifdown wlan0

This will temporarily disable your wireless interface.

Code:

sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces

This should allow you to edit your network config.

Clear out the file, and type in the following:

Code:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
wireless-key WIRELESS_NETWORK_KEY
wireless-channel auto
wireless-essid NAME_OF_YOUR_NETWORK

Typing in your network key and network SSID respectively.
Save the file and close gedit.

Then type:

Code:

sudo ifup wlan0

This will re-enable your wireless network interface.

Let us know if it works.

manic111 · 16 Mar 2008 at 18:48

Sorry it's been a few days, been really busy! I did this this evening, and it went really slowly. So I tried the same thing again, and it's still really slow-unusably so! Unfortunately I forgot to save the readout from the 1st time that I tried it, but here is what it said on the second time:

manic111@manic111-desktop:~$ sudo ifup wlan0
There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.wlan0.pid with pid 13890
killed old client process, removed PID file
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.5
Copyright 2004-2006 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:17:31:f5:55:fb
Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:17:31:f5:55:fb
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 4
DHCPOFFER from 192.168.1.254
DHCPREQUEST on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPREQUEST on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPREQUEST on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
DHCPACK from 192.168.1.254
bound to 192.168.1.66 -- renewal in 35454 seconds.

manic111 · 16 Mar 2008 at 19:31

I rebooted Ubuntu and the internet was not working again, so I tried rewriting the "interfaces" file, and this is what I got.

manic111@manic111-desktop:~$ sudo ifup wlan0
There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.wlan0.pid with pid 134519120
Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.5
Copyright 2004-2006 Internet Systems Consortium.
All rights reserved.
For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/

wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:17:31:f5:55:fb
Sending on LPF/wlan0/00:17:31:f5:55:fb
Sending on Socket/fallback
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 3
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 7
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13
DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.
manic111@manic111-desktop:~$

I assume that this means that the DHCP isnt offering my PC a space on the network? How can I change this?

Secondly, I found this fix online for fixing my internet speed problem-apparently it is quite a common issue to do with IPV6.

1. sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/aliases (or your preferred text editor)
2. Find the line: alias net-pf-10 ipv6
3. Edit this to: alias net-pf-10 off
4. Save the file and reboot

Does this look like it should work? I havent been able to test it out as my internet went down again after rebooting.

Finally, what is the equivalent of ctrl+c and ctrl+v in Ubuntu? Getting fed up of having to right click!!!

Thanks for all the help!

russ0r · 16 Mar 2008 at 20:46

manic111 said:
I assume that this means that the DHCP isnt offering my PC a space on the network? How can I change this?

Not sure really. It's a bit strange that it was giving your PC an IP before, but not now.
Check in the router settings what the settings regarding the DHCP pool are, if there are any. Make sure that there are enough free addresses to go round on your network. (ie. 5 PCs means you'll need 5 IP addresses in the pool)
Make sure your wireless key is set correctly also, as if it's wrong then it could cause this sort of problem.

Finally, what is the equivalent of ctrl+c and ctrl+v in Ubuntu? Getting fed up of having to right click!!!

Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V should work in Ubuntu, in most apps anyway. If you're pasting into a terminal try Shift+Insert instead of Ctrl+V.

manic111 · 16 Mar 2008 at 21:12

Checked all the DHCP settings and they all look fine. Is there any way of setting a static IP address in Ubuntu?