wpa_supplicant won't work with full install, only w. frugal

[Marek M.]

wpa_supplicant won't work with a full install of Puppy 5.20, only with frugal or booting into ram from usb, so there's no wlan using the network wizard. Installing Pwireless2 didn't help either for the same reason. My mom's old Thinkpad 770X hasn't that much ram (448MB total) and I'd like to get the maximum from the machine, so frugal isn't ideal.

With a frugal install I tried the "remaster Puppy live-CD" option, afterwards copying the files from CD to an USB-stick (as Puppy 5.2 won't recognize my CD drive, both when running and soon after booting from CD, so I use F3 / puppy pmedia=usbflash). I then booted from USB and did a full install again--that didn't help either.

Any ideas, anyone?

Error msg in log file: Failed to connect to wpa_supplicant - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory

[rjbrewer]

wpa_supplicant won't work with a full install of Puppy 5.20, only with frugal or booting into ram from usb, so there's no wlan using the network wizard. Installing Pwireless2 didn't help either for the same reason. My mom's old Thinkpad 770X hasn't that much ram (448MB total) and I'd like to get the maximum from the machine, so frugal isn't ideal.

With a frugal install I tried the "remaster Puppy live-CD" option, afterwards copying the files from CD to an USB-stick (as Puppy 5.2 won't recognize my CD drive, both when running and soon after booting from CD, so I use F3 / puppy pmedia=usbflash). I then booted from USB and did a full install again--that didn't help either.

Any ideas, anyone?

Error msg in log file: Failed to connect to wpa_supplicant - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory

Instructions for full install:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 782#201565

Use Wary.5 or an earlier 4.xx version on that laptop.

[Marek M.]

> Instructions for full install:
>www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php ... 782#201565

I had no problems doing a full install--however, with a full install the internet connection wizard didn't detect any wlans, as wpa_supplicant wouldn't work. That url doesn't address that problem.

I declare this solved anyway, as doing a frugal install first, saving a lupusave to disc, and doing a full install on top of that did help, though I can't tell why.

[rjbrewer]

I declare this solved anyway, as doing a frugal install first, saving a lupusave to disc, and doing a full install on top of that did help, though I can't tell why.

This doesn't make sense.

You did a frugal install with save file to a drive partition;
then did a full install to the same partition?

[Marek M.]

I declare this solved anyway, as doing a frugal install first, saving a lupusave to disc, and doing a full install on top of that did help, though I can't tell why.

This doesn't make sense.

You did a frugal install with save file to a drive partition;
then did a full install to the same partition?

Yes, a full install to the same partition with the "upgrade", not the "wipe" option. I won't claim that it makes much sense, but wpa_supplicant works now, while it didn't with 2 prior attempts with full install. I forgot to mention one detail, though:

1. I did a frugal install on another notebook with no CD-Drive problems (Vaio Compaq 6715s), as it happens on my mum's Thinkpad 770X

2. saved a lupusave to disc

3. rebooted

3. used the "Remaster Puppy live-CD" option and copied the files from the new CD to an USB flash drive.

4. booted the 770X from CD, switched to USB (as CD support would drop after loading initrd.gz and vmlinuz) and did a full install with "upgrade" option.



I tried other combinations, too, but only this one worked. Possibly one or more of these steps are superfluous, but at least one of them did help.

[rjbrewer]

What was it; Vaio or Compaq?

Make and model of wireless device?

[Marek M.]

> What was it; Vaio or Compaq?
I'm posting too late, it's a Compaq 6715s--the wpa problem is with the Thinkpad 770X anyway, I used the Compaq only for burning the CD, as that Thinkpad won't do it with Puppy 5.2.

> Make and model of wireless device?
WN510G PCMCIA Atheros 54Mbps, it's well suited for Linux, I read.

[rjbrewer]

> What was it; Vaio or Compaq?
I'm posting too late, it's a Compaq 6715s--the wpa problem is with the Thinkpad 770X anyway, I used the Compaq only for burning the CD, as that Thinkpad won't do it with Puppy 5.2.

> Make and model of wireless device?
WN510G PCMCIA Atheros 54Mbps, it's well suited for Linux, I read.

Tp-link cardbus.

Uses same chip as my Belkin cardbus. (ar5005g).
Use network wizard.

Pre 4.31 uses ath-pci module.
Post 4.31 uses ath5k module.

No problem with wpa encryption.

[Marek M.]

> Use network wizard
I did, to no avail. Anyway, I helped myself with my Rube Goldberg scheme. It just keeps me puzzled why it happens only with a full install, while wpa runs fine out of the box with a frugal one or when booting into ram from CD.

[stiginge]

Getting the same error message now and don't really have many clues either

Using the bcm4312 interface and 1GB RAm, full install

Runs fine with livecd, but not with fullhd install. It had been working on fullhd install for a long while until yesterday, had a connection yesterday right up until shutdown.

Code: Select all

ifup wlan0

returns:

Code: Select all

ifup: can't open '/etc/network/interfaces': No such file or directory

I've tried editing the wpasupplicant file in /etc to include the ssid and password (rather than default, to no avail.

Also installed pwireless and ran, saying that no wireless interface found.

ifconfig wlan0 up doesn't do anything either, except misleadingly turn the connection trayicon on, when in fact no connection has been made.

[rjbrewer]

Getting the same error message now and don't really have many clues either

Using the bcm4312 interface and 1GB RAm, full install

Runs fine with livecd, but not with fullhd install. It had been working on fullhd install for a long while until yesterday, had a connection yesterday right up until shutdown.

Code: Select all

ifup wlan0

returns:

Code: Select all

ifup: can't open '/etc/network/interfaces': No such file or directory

I've tried editing the wpasupplicant file in /etc to include the ssid and password (rather than default, to no avail.

Also installed pwireless and ran, saying that no wireless interface found.

ifconfig wlan0 up doesn't do anything either, except misleadingly turn the connection trayicon on, when in fact no connection has been made.

It's iwconfig to check status.

When connection breaks, right click connect icon, left
click autoconnect......

[stiginge]

Code: Select all

sh-4.1# iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=20 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          
sh-4.1# 

There is no autoconnect option on right-click

[Aitch]

UPDATE:
I see quite a few reports of unsuccessful wifi connections reported on the forum, and it turns out that (new) users are typically not following good setup and diagnostic practice.
Important tips -
i) temporarily disable all encryption at your wifi router, and see if your wifi device will connect in this unencrypted state. If successful, it means that the driver is basically working, and your problem is encryption-related.
Come on guys, this is standard practice; with all operating systems, not just Linux. I still have the instruction book for my first wifi adapter purchased 7 years ago, and I see that the process of testing with NO encryption is right there in black and white.
ii) if using WEP encryption, the Network Wizard is more reliable if you enter the password in its true hex value, not the alphanumeric password.
iii) if using WPA/WPA2 encryption, Linux wifi drivers will sometimes work with WPA but fail with WPA2, or vice-versa. Try setting your wifi router with both types of encryption.

tempestuous is the network driver specialist.
He would probably tell you to use the right driver instead of supplicant, maybe a broadcom b4, or wl for that card...
confirm, please

http://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-TL-WN51 ... B000FO6QXQ

tempestuous provided a dotpet for the 4.3 series puppy which MAY work, try it, ....
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... h&id=22193
....then use the network wizard to set up networking as previously recommended, thanks

Aitch

[stiginge]

hi Aitch, I had a look at the amazon link and the wireless device is inbuilt to the laptop, not the same as the one in the link.

I tried the broadcom link and that didn't seem to do anything either, after restarting x.

[Aitch]

stiginge

It would probably best to start a fresh thread, and state exactly what OS and hardware make and model you have, as the answers were for a different problem, I think, as this was reported as a bug in puppy 5.2 using a Thinkpad 770 [different hardware, I believe?]

Aitch

[stiginge]

New thread here http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 605#578605