has ANYONE got WIFI to work in Puppy?

Message

groovybloke · #1 Post by **groovybloke** » Tue 07 Jul 2009, 20:38

Hi all

I have been using Ubuntu and Kubuntu for a couple of years and wanted to try something different on an older machine. I love the speed and look of puppy 4.2 but cannot get the WIFI to work. Tried on a HP laptop with Intel wifi. my home system with Belkin USB and on an old HP D310 desktop with a Belkin PCI Wfi card - NEVER GOT IT TO WORK !!!! I am seeing posts with lots of people having the same issue - any suggestions ????[/b]

frefel · #2 Post by **frefel** » Tue 07 Jul 2009, 22:23

What steps are you taking and what results are you seeing? I have had practically no problems with it, even using a wireless card in an old Thinkpad T22 - Puppy recognized the card without a hitch.

pooklaroux · #3 Post by **pooklaroux** » Tue 07 Jul 2009, 22:28

groovybloke wrote:Hi all...Tried on a HP laptop with Intel wifi. my home system with Belkin USB and on an old HP D310 desktop with a Belkin PCI Wfi card - NEVER GOT IT TO WORK !!!! [/b]

I feel your pain! I've got my system working now, but at some points it was tricky. There are actually a lot of tools in puppy for wireless networking. I have a Thinkpad 600 that uses a pcmcia wireles card, originally I tried a D-Link card in there, never got it to go, but I had this old Orinoco gold card in an old powerbook, and that did the trick. The orinoco-cs driver worked like a charm. Don't give up! Search the forum, use all the search terms you can find. There's a lot of good solutions in here. It's part of the charm of Puppy.

rcrsn51 · #4 Post by **rcrsn51** » Tue 07 Jul 2009, 23:56

Have you worked through this thread?

groovybloke · #5 Post by **groovybloke** » Thu 09 Jul 2009, 12:42

Hi all thanks for your input. I tried the standard method for setting up wireless it found the networks and let me put in my code but still came up with the error message that it was 'unable to connect' . I tried setting up the DHCP before and after too and that always reported success. Will try the cl as per rcrsn51's suggestions. Thanks again all I will report back !!!

groovybloke · #6 Post by **groovybloke** » Sun 12 Jul 2009, 11:53

Still no joy !!!

raffy · #7 Post by **raffy** » Sun 12 Jul 2009, 13:22

Is your problem a broadcomm wifi?

If you have WinXP, you can get ndiswrapper in the network wizard to use XP's driver.

Mercedes350se · #8 Post by **Mercedes350se** » Mon 13 Jul 2009, 08:09

The following is paraphrase from Silicon Chip (an Australian magazine) April 2009 issue.

The trick is to use the Ndiswrapper utility plus the relevant Windows driver.

Step 1. Obtain the Windows .inf and .sys driver files. See later note!

Step 2. Run the Internet Connection Wizard.

Step 3. Click the "Internet by Network or Wireless LAN" button, click "Load Module" and choose the "Ndiswrapper" buton at the next dialog. Be sure to unload and blacklist any existing native WLAN0 driver when prompted during this procedure (if one has been loaded). If no native driver has been loaded just click on the "None" button.

Step 4. Follow the prompts to install the Windows driver. Note you must select the .inf file to install.

Step 5. The wizard will bring up a dialog box saying that it is trying to associate with an interface. If the driver finds the interface and loads correctly, then so far so good.

Step 6. If it does not find the adapter, unload the driver at the next prompt. Reload Ndiswrapper and the Windows driver and try again. Judging by the comment you will most likely need to do this!

Step 7. Once the driver has associated with the adaptor correctly wlan0 should appear in a dialog box. Click the "wlan0" button and then the "Wireless" button in the next dialog box.

Step 8. Click the "Scan" button. If it finds one or more networks then select your network and click the "New Profile" button.

Step 9. Once the profile is completed click "Save" followed by "Use This Profile". If Puppy reports that it was able to find a live network click the "Auto DHCP" button.

Note (a) this is the bare bones - there is more if the above does not work.
(b) I have not used this method - I am cable connected!
(c) Windows Vista drivers cannot be used - it is limited to XP and 2000 drivers.

If you try the above and it does not work then I will post some more details - I think this post is long enough!

profolio · #9 Post by **profolio** » Mon 13 Jul 2009, 12:01

This might help. I've been running wifi on Puppy for a year on an old IBM NetVista with a very cheap (25$) TP-Link wifi usb adapter that uses the common rt73 driver.It works great even though the router is on the second floor.If you find the signal is too weak,you can make a parabolic dish for it. Any metallic vegetable strainer will do.Attach it to a long usb cable and point the dish while monitoring the signal.

groovybloke · #10 Post by **groovybloke** » Mon 13 Jul 2009, 21:07

Thanks for the suggestions. Have tried NDIS Wrapper and that does not work either.

With NDIS and with the drivers already in Puppy I had no problem with the system finding my Belkin USB Wifi adapter. It even picked up a signal from my router in both cases. DHCP appeared to work - I put in my WEP key and Puppy went through the process of trying to connect but failed on every occasion.

I am running 4.2.1 from a CD at the moment don't know if that would make any difference.

It's strange that I am having similar issues on three different computers - too. Perhaps I am doing something fundamentally wrong but I cannot for the life of me think what it is. Oh well back to Buntu for now anyway !

Laie · #11 Post by **Laie** » Tue 14 Jul 2009, 07:24

Have you considered using an other Puppy version?
I didn't manage to get Wifi running in any 4.2-Puppy too.
Using 4.1 everything runs smoothly.

Mercedes350se · #12 Post by **Mercedes350se** » Wed 15 Jul 2009, 08:14

Further to my post above I quote from the same reference.

"Getting the wireless networking going with Puppy also required some coaxing. With each of the three USB wireless adaptors, Puppy correctly loaded a native driver but things went pear-shaped from there. Although each USB adaptor could "see" the wireless network, it stubbornly refused to connect even though the correct wireless profile had been created and loaded in Puppy's networking set-up wizard.

Similarly, Puppy identified and loaded a driver for the WG511 PC card. But that was as far as it got. In that case the adaptor couldn't even see the wireless network."

The article continued as stated above.

The article is a follow on from the March issue in which "they" installed Ubuntu and Puppy Linux on an old laptop. I do not have that issue so do not know which version of Puppy "they" installed.

battleshooter · #13 Post by **battleshooter** » Wed 15 Jul 2009, 08:21

I'll stick up for Pups here. The 2x series didn't support my Belkin notebook wireless card but anything later than 3x was fine. So that's one WIFI situation that worked.

For my other laptop's wireless, I had to find a pet for the drivers, but found it and since I've had no problems with that either. So that's two WIFI situations that worked...

I know what you must feel like though. No internet in an OS is a serious cut in productivity/enjoyment. Hope you get it going.

JoeP · #14 Post by **JoeP** » Wed 15 Jul 2009, 12:32

groovybloke wrote:I am seeing posts with lots of people having the same issue - any suggestions ????[/b]

Unfortunately, I do not have any suggestions for you but I would like to join the chorus of those who cannot get Wi-Fi to work. In my situation the Adapter is correctly detected, the Network is found, an IP is assigned, there is a connection icon in the tray, I can ping the Router and the loopback but not Google via URL or IP. When I open a browser I do not get a specific error only, "Connecting..."

Needless to say, I would appreicate any suggestions here or here:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=44507

Thanks

Joe P

ricc · #15 Post by **ricc** » Wed 15 Jul 2009, 12:54

hi, i ve been running puppy from cd on an advent 700 mhz laptop for a couple of evenings, i couldnt get the newlink wireless card to work , but the bt one from my other laptop was found and set up easily and is working fine . the only real problem i had was the windows xp machine creating a cd from the download that didnt boot..

Aitch · #16 Post by **Aitch** » Wed 15 Jul 2009, 14:52

groovybloke

Try here, see tempestuous post exchanges with Jeffreytooker

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 520#208520

be aware that Belkin devices often use several different chipsets for the same model....

tempestuous is your best bet to help with this

Aitch

groovybloke · #17 Post by **groovybloke** » Wed 15 Jul 2009, 20:36

Puppy pros:

Fast

Good Looking

Superb Forum

Puppy cons:

Wireless support seems to be hit and miss.

Tried everyone's suggestions to no avail.

Hopefully things will improve with 4.3 and I'll try again - thanks again to everyone who offered advice and support. Commiserations to all those in the same boat as me !!!

JoeP · #18 Post by **JoeP** » Wed 15 Jul 2009, 22:09

groovybloke wrote:Puppy pros:

Fast

Good Looking

Superb Forum

Puppy cons:

Wireless support seems to be hit and miss.

Tried everyone's suggestions to no avail.

Hopefully things will improve with 4.3 and I'll try again - thanks again to everyone who offered advice and support. Commiserations to all those in the same boat as me !!!

I can certainly relate to your position. I've been banging at the same issue for a couple of days to no avail. I have a little more fight in me before I throw in the towel.

I've come to the conclusion that trying to get Wireless working requires a helmet so you don't hurt yourself!!!

Joe P

PaulBx1 · #19 Post by **PaulBx1** » Thu 16 Jul 2009, 03:56

Puppy has used the "wizard" approach for setting up networking. Like any such thing, when it works (and it does, most of the time) it is easy. But the wizard is not bug-free, and it can get in a state (with its setup files it has created) where it digs itself into a hole and can't get out.

There is a how-to about setting up networks manually. I'd certainly take a look at that. Sometimes life with wizards is more difficult than working at the command line!

sky king · #20 Post by **sky king** » Thu 16 Jul 2009, 05:39

How about trying an older version of Puppy? One post mentioned 4.1 working fine. Still a nice version.

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

has ANYONE got WIFI to work in Puppy?

has ANYONE got WIFI to work in Puppy?

Re: Puppy WIFI has ANYONE got it to work???????

broadcomm

Wifi

Re: has ANYONE got WIFI to work in Puppy?

WIFI