Trying to connect Ubuntu laptop to wireless at work

[Lex_Luthor]

Anyone know about Linux systems? I got a laptop from a friend, wiped it, and I'm running Ubuntu 10.04. We have a guest wireless access at work, but my machine is not connecting to it. It's got full signal strength, and I've connected to other wireless networks before, just not this one. Can anyone help?

I'm not the most computer savvy person ever, but I've learned a lot, and that's part of the reason why I started running Linux instead of Windows. (Well, that and I F'n hate windows...) Just a minor hiccup, and another step on the learning curve. [Beer]

[Delfuego]

Welcome to Linux~! I have tried the Penguin a few times with very limited success. You are pretty much on your own with Linux, and I hope you like typing!!![ROFL1]

You probably have to re-compile the kernel or some other BS, drivers are for sh*t too.

The only decent distro I ever found was Linux Mint!

If it was Windows I could fix it in 1 minute +/-

[Zundfolge]

The only decent distro I ever found was Linux Mint!
Which is based on Ubuntu (but I agree its more user friendly).

Does it connect to the wireless but internet doesn't work? Or does it just not connect to the wireless network at all?

[nynco]

Do you see the network at all?

Also do you know about the Ubuntu Forums? http://ubuntuforums.org/
The forums are free and its like 24/7 tech support. I have never had a problem they can not fix.

Now, just to let you know, I personally run Ultimate Edition. It is an Ubuntu branch like Linux Mint. I have found this one works the best all the time and it has all the things I desire. It is bloated. But it has tons of software pre installed. http://ultimateedition.info/ Right now they are running behind on getting Ultimate 3.0 out. Hopefully it will drop soon. I am running 2.9 and its works great.

[Zundfolge]

I must admit that my netbook running Mint has never had any issues connecting to wireless networks (except for occasional problems at home, but that's because my router is half busted and sometimes you have to beat on it to get wireless to work right).

[nynco]

Most times, wireless is better on Linux now than on windows.

[Lex_Luthor]

It sees the network, just won't connect. The whole office runs Windows, and it's probably Windows 7 (which, as far as I know has very limited compatibility with other systems?). I'll try the forums too. I was thinking there was maybe a driver or something that I'm missing, that I'll have to manually install.

[nynco]

This is another great site for Ultimate Edition. There is an Ultimate Edition light for systems that are old and not fast enough. I run that one one of the ancient laptops around here.

As an example - It made a system that was too old to even stream Hulu work perfect on Hulu.

http://www.ultimateeditionoz.com/download

[nynco]

Have you rebooted?

Also does your company have a lock on new computers not known to the network?

[Lex_Luthor]

I'll try rebooting. I am pretty sure that there isn't a lock on this one. It's a guest connection.

[Delfuego]

Most times, wireless is better on Linux now than on windows.

Wireless is a protocol not and experience...[Neene1]

Have you rebooted?

Ha! That's Windows talk...[ROFL1]

[Hoosier]

I think my Chromebook is the first lenux box I've had on a wireless network.

From the command line (terminal window) try:

ifconfig -a

this will give you a nice list of gobblygook, a paragraph for each network interface on the computer. The name of the interface will be on the left, and then a large block of information about it. What you're looking for is something like this:

inet addr:10.244.145.100 Bcast:10.244.145.255 Mask:255.255.255.0

the "inet addr" is your IP address, is it set for a device other than "lo0"? If not, then you know the problem is that your machine is failing to establish a 802.11 connection to the router. If there is an IP address there, then the link is up but you just can't talk to the internet. In that case, try "ping 8.8.8.8" and see if it gets back to you -- then you'll know your problem is related to name resolution (turning co-ar15.com into it's ipaddress)

If you ever get any error messages, copy/paste them into Google, almost always gets me an answer. Really half of being skilled with computers anymore is knowing how to search for the answers to all the questions.

This really is a correct synopsis of the steps to solve any computer problem (given enough time, natch)

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tech_support_cheat_sheet.png

H.

[CrufflerSteve]

I have a Ubuntu Dell Mini 9. Does your laptop show a working wifi? Some wifi drivers are proprietary and not part of the Ubuntu distro. This is fun with mine since it has a Broadcom driver. I use a direct ethernet connection for a major upgrade and go to the hardware driver section to download & activate the Broadxcom driver and then wifi works. PITA.

There was a bug in some Ubuntu drivers awhile ago where it couldn't handle the basic WEP but did most everything else. I don't know if that still active.

Steve

[Lex_Luthor]

Ok I did ifconfig -a and here's what I got.


eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:a9:48:c3:00
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)

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:20 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:20 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:1272 (1.2 KB) TX bytes:1272 (1.2 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:18:de:62:86:9d
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)

I tried ping 8.8.8.8 and it said "network is unreachable"

The wifi works. I've connected to other wifi networks before. My fiance and I usually piggy back off the school across the street.

[Byte Stryke]

not connected for whatever reason:

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:18:de:62:86:9d
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)


have you tried to "Connect to wireless network"?
no ip... no packets TX/RX... even an attempted connection would generate some traffic

[Zundfolge]

Are you letting it automatically detect the network and connect or are you going down to the little tray icon and manually selecting the network?

Is the network hidden? There's an option to "connect to hidden network" where you'll have to manually type the name of the hidden network.

Is anyone else in the office connected to the network with their laptop (win or mac)? If so what network do their computers say they're connected to.

Chances are there are several wireless networks within range unless you're way out in the country. Maybe its picking the wrong one.

[nynco]

Wireless is a protocol not and experience...[Neene1]


Ha! That's Windows talk...[ROFL1]


when I said that wireless was now better on linux, that is because the newest generation of Kernals has almost all the correct drivers for all the different wifi cards out there. Windows 7 is doing better at that now. But still not as good. Heck I can packet inject with the stock Kernals of Linux now.

[nynco]

Are you letting it automatically detect the network and connect or are you going down to the little tray icon and manually selecting the network?

Is the network hidden? There's an option to "connect to hidden network" where you'll have to manually type the name of the hidden network.

Is anyone else in the office connected to the network with their laptop (win or mac)? If so what network do their computers say they're connected to.

Chances are there are several wireless networks within range unless you're way out in the country. Maybe its picking the wrong one.


What he said. Also, linux has a way of picking up all types of networks. Even ones that are not for wifi. Like a printer network. Do you know if this network is WEP, WPA, WPA2 or open?

[nynco]

On your network that says guest does it connect at all? Do you see the bars on the top Left that says it is connected? Or does it not get a lock at all? Sometimes some networks have a "Guest" protocol but those are still not connected to the net itself.

[Delfuego]

Packet Injection? See, I knew you all was faggots! Ain't nobody gonna Packet Injection me!

[nynco]

Packet Injection? See, I knew you all was faggots! Ain't nobody gonna Packet Injection me!

LOL

[Lex_Luthor]

I was manually selecting the network from the tray. It's not hidden. Robb (user here as well) just connected a laptop to the same network, running windows 7, and it connected with no problems. I've never had a problem connecting to a network before. This one is a wlan_guest network. Under Preferences > Network Connections, I selected this network from the list and clicked Edit. I selected to connect automatically. Mode: Infrastructure (the other option available is Ad-hoc). I just deselected "connect automatically" and hit apply.

[nynco]

Do you have confirmation that someone else can access the net on the "guest" network?

[nynco]

Redundant, I need to read others posts better.

[Lex_Luthor]

;)

[nynco]

Still same question, can others access the net through the "guest" network?

[Lex_Luthor]

Yes. I did it from another brand spankin new Windows 7 machine, sitting not 2 feet from where I am. Is there such thing as a windows only network? I wonder if that's how this one is set up here at work?

[Monky]

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/tech_support_cheat_sheet.png

H.

Yeah I just emailed that around the office.. Perhaps now a secretary won't expect me to know every aspect of 'word' just cause I know some computer stuff.. [Bang]

[nynco]

To my knowledge there is not such a thing. There are networks that do filter based on MAC id. That would requiring adding your systems MAC to the allowed list. That way of securing networks is older. Still done but rare.

[Zundfolge]

Yes. I did it from another brand spankin new Windows 7 machine, sitting not 2 feet from where I am. Is there such thing as a windows only network? I wonder if that's how this one is set up here at work?
Is there a limit to the number of guest logins allowed at any given time?

Also what kind of wireless card is in the Linux machine? Is it possible that the network is a newer 802.11n and you don't have an "n" capable wireless card on the laptop?

[Lex_Luthor]

Maybe it's encrypted and I don't have the right certificate?

[Lex_Luthor]

Is there a limit to the number of guest logins allowed at any given time?

I doubt it. There's over 400 employees in the building.

[nynco]

Run these command in a terminal


sudo lshw -C network


lspci -nn


lsmod


and post the outcome

[Lex_Luthor]

sudo lshw -C network

*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 02
serial: 00:18:de:62:86:9d
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwl3945 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abg
resources: irq:28 memory:cc000000-cc000fff
*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: PRO/100 VE Network Connection
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 8
bus info: pci@0000:0a:08.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:13:a9:48:c3:00
size: 10MB/s
capacity: 100MB/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e100 driverversion=3.5.24-k2-NAPI duplex=half firmware=N/A latency=64 link=no maxlatency=56 mingnt=8 multicast=yes port=MII speed=10MB/s
resources: irq:20 memory:d0005000-d0005fff ioport:6000(size=64)


lspci -nn

00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/PM/GMS, 943/940GML and 945GT Express Memory Controller Hub [8086:27a0] (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a2] (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller [0380]: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:27a6] (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller [8086:27d8] (rev 02)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 [8086:27d0] (rev 02)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 [8086:27d2] (rev 02)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 3 [8086:27d4] (rev 02)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 4 [8086:27d6] (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 [8086:27c8] (rev 02)
00:1d.1 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 [8086:27c9] (rev 02)
00:1d.2 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 [8086:27ca] (rev 02)
00:1d.3 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 [8086:27cb] (rev 02)
00:1d.7 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller [8086:27cc] (rev 02)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev e2)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge [8086:27b9] (rev 02)
00:1f.1 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller [8086:27df] (rev 02)
00:1f.2 IDE interface [0101]: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA IDE Controller [8086:27c4] (rev 02)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family SMBus Controller [8086:27da] (rev 02)
06:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection [8086:4222] (rev 02)
0a:03.0 CardBus bridge [0607]: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 Cardbus Controller [104c:8039]
0a:03.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394) [0c00]: Texas Instruments PCIxx12 OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller [104c:803a]
0a:03.2 Mass storage controller [0180]: Texas Instruments 5-in-1 Multimedia Card Reader (SD/MMC/MS/MS PRO/xD) [104c:803b]
0a:08.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Intel Corporation PRO/100 VE Network Connection [8086:1092] (rev 02)


lsmod

Module Size Used by
nls_iso8859_1 3249 1
nls_cp437 4919 1
vfat 8933 1
fat 47767 1 vfat
usb_storage 39841 1
binfmt_misc 6587 1
ppdev 5259 0
sonypi 14701 0
snd_hda_codec_idt 52042 1
fbcon 35102 71
tileblit 1999 1 fbcon
font 7557 1 fbcon
bitblit 4707 1 fbcon
softcursor 1189 1 bitblit
vga16fb 11385 0
vgastate 8961 1 vga16fb
joydev 8740 0
pcmcia 30784 0
snd_hda_intel 22069 2
snd_hda_codec 74201 2 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep 5412 1 snd_hda_codec
arc4 1153 2
snd_pcm_oss 35308 0
snd_mixer_oss 13746 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm 70694 3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy 1338 0
snd_seq_oss 26722 0
snd_seq_midi 4557 0
snd_rawmidi 19056 1 snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 6003 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq 47263 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_mid i_event
iwl3945 68727 0
snd_timer 19098 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device 5700 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi ,snd_seq
iwlcore 106050 1 iwl3945
i915 287810 3
drm_kms_helper 29329 1 i915
gspca_vc032x 21551 0
gspca_main 21199 1 gspca_vc032x
mac80211 205402 2 iwl3945,iwlcore
tifm_7xx1 3690 0
drm 162377 4 i915,drm_kms_helper
snd 54244 16 snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_ hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_os s,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
videodev 34361 1 gspca_main
led_class 2864 2 iwl3945,iwlcore
v4l1_compat 13251 1 videodev
yenta_socket 20408 1
rsrc_nonstatic 10015 1 yenta_socket
tifm_core 6045 1 tifm_7xx1
psmouse 63245 0
serio_raw 3978 0
cfg80211 126144 3 iwl3945,iwlcore,mac80211
pcmcia_core 32964 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
sony_laptop 28248 0
soundcore 6620 1 snd
snd_page_alloc 7076 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
intel_agp 24375 2 i915
sbp2 19448 0
agpgart 31724 2 drm,intel_agp
i2c_algo_bit 5028 1 i915
video 17375 1 i915
output 1871 1 video
lp 7028 0
parport 32635 2 ppdev,lp
e100 28211 0
mii 4381 1 e100
ohci1394 26950 0
ieee1394 81181 2 sbp2,ohci1394

[nynco]

Sorry got caught up helping the neighbor move. Here is where I am posting the question too. My suggestion is to register and jump in and say you are the guy I was helping. Sorry, I have to run.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1804368

[Lex_Luthor]

Funny. Here's my thread at Ubuntu forums.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1804289