[SOLVED] configuring Intel wireless cards

[linux001]

I recently installed squeeze (6.03) on an amd-64 system. In order to enable use of my Intel Corp. Centrino Wireless-N 1000, I first updated my firmware, as follows:

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# apt-get install firmware-iwlwifi wireless-tools


Running a few commands to evaluate the network card gives the following information

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# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any 
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=0 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
         
pan0      no wireless extensions.

# iwlist scan
lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning : Network is down

pan0      Interface doesn't support scanning.


Under "Wireless Networks" in the GNOME Network Manager, I only see the text "wireless disabled."

Any suggestions on how to enable it? Thanks.

[kedaha]

Please see Wired_Networks_are_Unmanaged in the wiki.

[linux001]

Thank you for pointing me to that resource. My network interfaces file does not contain information about the wireless card, only the loopback interface and wired card.

The file contains the following:

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auto lo
iface lo inet loopback
allow-hotplug eth0
#NetworkManager#iface eth0 inet dhcp


I could uncomment the eth0 line, but that would only affect my wired connection. My wireless connection is also absent from ifconfig. Thanks.

[kedaha]

But if you edit /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf to include managed=true so that it looks like this:

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[main]
plugins=ifupdown,keyfile

[ifupdown]
managed=true

Then your wireless connections should show up after a

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# /etc/init.d/network-manager restart

Or reboot
The network manager must show both wired and wireless networks.

[linux001]

I tried those commands per the Network Manager wiki, but there was no effect on the wireless connection. It continues to be listed as "disabled." Any other ideas? Many thanks.

[kedaha]

I tried those commands per the Network Manager wiki, but there was no effect on the wireless connection. It continues to be listed as "disabled." Any other ideas? Many thanks.

Press ALT + F2 keys and enter the following in "Run Application:"
nm-connection-editor
In Networks Connections click on Wireless tab
Select name of wireless network
On right, select Edit tab
(If no wireless network is visible then you might try entering the details of the connection there manually).
You will need to enter root password
In bottom left-hand corner, tick "Available to all users".
Apply, close the app and restart.

[linux001]

Thanks. There was no wireless connection listed. I tried to add manually and found my MAC address by reading the wlan0 line from an ifconfig -a command (it's not listed without the -a option). For the SSID, I entered the name of my WAP. However, I wasn't sure how to find the BSSID. Also, for automatic detection of WAPs, I believe the system should be able to automatically garner this information. After rebooting the network manager, the wireless was still disabled.

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# ifconfig -a
wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr <MAC>
          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)


[kedaha]

I'm surprised it's still resisting solution. I take it that you have used this guide: http://wiki.debian.org/iwlagn#Squeeze?
Yes, it should work without entering any details manually.

[linux001]

Yep, that is the guide that I followed. Nothing happens if I run modprobe iwlagn (not sure if feedback should be elicited). The output of iwconfig command is shown in the initial post. Perhaps I need to use upstream drivers?

[kedaha]

Maybe this "temporary fix" posted here is worth a shot. If it does not work please post output of lsmod

[linux001]

Hello. It turns out I do not have the 1000.5 ucode file, only the 1000-3.ucode one.

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$ ls /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-*
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-1000-3.ucode  /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode   /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode     /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6050-5.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode  /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode   /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6000g2a-5.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode  /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode   /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6000g2b-5.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-4965-1.ucode  /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-5150-2.ucode   /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6050-4.ucode


Also, here is the output of lsmod:

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$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
bridge                 65614  0
stp                    12392  1 bridge
bnep                   17424  2
parport_pc             22191  0
ppdev                  12725  0
lp                     17190  0
parport                31650  3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
rfcomm                 32744  0
bluetooth             107224  10 bnep,rfcomm
acpi_cpufreq           12849  0
mperf                  12411  1 acpi_cpufreq
cpufreq_stats          12762  0
cpufreq_userspace      12576  0
cpufreq_conservative    13147  0
cpufreq_powersave      12454  0
binfmt_misc            12914  1
uinput                 17392  1
fuse                   61554  1
loop                   22479  0
joydev                 17138  0
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     22174  1
snd_hda_codec_conexant    40393  1
i915                  329760  2
drm_kms_helper         26950  1 i915
thinkpad_acpi          60656  0
drm                   166500  3 i915,drm_kms_helper
snd_hda_intel          25946  1
arc4                   12458  2
ecb                    12737  2
i2c_algo_bit           12834  1 i915
snd_hda_codec          67865  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              13148  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                67276  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
snd_seq                44678  0
snd_timer              22658  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device         13155  1 snd_seq
iwlagn                174851  0
snd                    52324  12 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_intel,thinkpad_acpi,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
acer_wmi               21843  0
uvcvideo               57386  0
sparse_keymap          12760  1 acer_wmi
mac80211              181270  1 iwlagn
videodev               66266  1 uvcvideo
tpm_tis                13125  0
media                  18148  1 videodev
psmouse                55199  0
v4l2_compat_ioctl32    16575  1 videodev
cfg80211              126244  2 iwlagn,mac80211
tpm                    17756  1 tpm_tis
i2c_i801               16870  0
tpm_bios               12903  1 tpm
evdev                  17475  15
serio_raw              12878  0
rfkill                 19014  6 bluetooth,thinkpad_acpi,acer_wmi,cfg80211
wmi                    13202  1 acer_wmi
pcspkr                 12579  0
soundcore              13014  1 snd
button                 12895  1 i915
i2c_core               23766  6 i915,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_algo_bit,videodev,i2c_i801
battery                13109  0
snd_page_alloc         12969  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
nvram                  12997  1 thinkpad_acpi
video                  17553  1 i915
ac                     12624  0
power_supply           13475  2 battery,ac
processor              27431  5 acpi_cpufreq
ext4                  313064  1
mbcache                12930  1 ext4
jbd2                   65105  1 ext4
crc16                  12343  2 bluetooth,ext4
sg                     25769  0
sr_mod                 21824  0
sd_mod                 35644  3
cdrom                  35134  1 sr_mod
crc_t10dif             12348  1 sd_mod
ahci                   25089  2
libahci                22616  1 ahci
libata                151572  2 ahci,libahci
sdhci_pci              13184  0
sdhci                  21685  1 sdhci_pci
mmc_core               58824  1 sdhci
scsi_mod              161557  4 sg,sr_mod,sd_mod,libata
ehci_hcd               39487  0
usbcore               127203  3 uvcvideo,ehci_hcd
r8169                  37356  0
mii                    12675  1 r8169
thermal                17330  0
thermal_sys            17939  3 video,processor,thermal


Thanks for your help!

[stevepusser]

Install a newer version of the firmware from here:

http://packages.debian.org/squeeze-back ... re-iwlwifi

[linux001]

Despite not all the files being present in /lib/firmware/, Debian informs me that I already have the latest package:

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# apt-get -t squeeze-backports install firmware-iwlwifi
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
firmware-iwlwifi is already the newest version.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 38 not upgraded.


Interestingly, when I search for the missing ucode files, I see some of them in a strange folder:

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# find / -name "iwlwifi*"
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-5150-2.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6000g2b-5.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-1000-3.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6000g2a-5.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6050-5.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-6050-4.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-4965-1.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode
/lib/modules/2.6.32-5-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi
/lib/modules/2.6.39-bpo.2-amd64/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi
/dev/.udev/firmware-missing/iwlwifi-1000-4.ucode
/dev/.udev/firmware-missing/iwlwifi-1000-5.ucode


Shall I simply mv the 1000-4 and 1000-5 ucode files from firmware-missing to /lib/firmware? Any idea why these files would have meandered to this folder? Thanks.

[kedaha]

Please try this:
Edit: You need to blacklist acer_wmi seen in your lsmod
To prevent it loading do:

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# echo blacklist acer_wmi >> /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist-acer-wmi.conf

Save and restart.

[linux001]

Thanks kedaha for resolving my issue! Please tell me how you knew to do that.