Wifi config not retained

[pbrouwer]

brand new to puppy -- and to linux -- I was able to get wifi with my netgear USB dongle working okay, problem is, I have to use the wizard to set it up each time I reboot. Is there a way to make my setup stick, so it just comes on when I reboot?

Also -- is there a way to have my laptop boot puppy automatically -- right now it waits for me to press return after I power on (There is no other OS on this laptop).

any advice much appreciated./p

[trio]

brand new to puppy -- and to linux -- I was able to get wifi with my netgear USB dongle working okay, problem is, I have to use the wizard to set it up each time I reboot. Is there a way to make my setup stick, so it just comes on when I reboot?

Also -- is there a way to have my laptop boot puppy automatically -- right now it waits for me to press return after I power on (There is no other OS on this laptop).

any advice much appreciated./p

What puppy do you use? 4.2 final? how do you install? hdd full or frugal? livecd? usb frugal?

[pbrouwer]

puppy-4.2retro-k2.6.21.7-seamonkey.iso
hdd full install

I figured I should use retro because it's a circa 2001, DELL Inspiron 7500 with three partitions, 7GB (ext3/puppy)+ 1GB-swap + 4GB fat32 (no OS here, just personal files). A mouse and a netgear dongle are connected to a USB hub.

Ubuntu 8.10 (latest) was running on it before I installed puppy.

Other notes about this install: first time I installed full hdd over the ubuntu installation, then puppy would not finish booting. I formatted the first partition, and reinstalled full hdd, now puppy boots okay.

Another glitch -- all the device icons on the lower left corner of the screen are not lined up nicely like in the screen shot -- the icons are stacked on top of each other.

Should say -- I am amazed how responsive this old dog is with puppy on it -- especially compared to Ubuntu and other distro's I've tried. Also impressed that the various system tools and wizards are very easy to use... I spent hours trying to get the dongle to work with openSUSE... no luck... So I hope I can crack these glitches.

tx/p

[Libretto100ct]

Also -- is there a way to have my laptop boot puppy automatically -- right now it waits for me to press return after I power on (There is no other OS on this laptop).

Goto :

boot/grub/menu.lst

Uncomment (remove the #) in front of timeout. Replace whatever value it has with 1 if you want it to boot straight up.

It should read something like this:



# Start GRUB global section
timeout 1
color light-gray/blue black/light-gray
# End GRUB global section


Click the Save icon and reboot.

[Dougal]

problem is, I have to use the wizard to set it up each time I reboot. Is there a way to make my setup stick, so it just comes on when I reboot?

Do you mean you need to completely reconfigure it every boot (i.e. the profile isn't saved), or just that it's not connected when you boot?
If the latter, you can always right-click the "connect" icon and select "autoconnect" rather than running the wizard, but it would be better to try and figure out why it doesn't work (there may be some hint in /tmp/bootsysinit.log).

[pbrouwer]

Do you mean you need to completely reconfigure it every boot (i.e. the profile isn't saved), or just that it's not connected when you boot?
If the latter, you can always right-click the "connect" icon and select "autoconnect" rather than running the wizard, but it would be better to try and figure out why it doesn't work (there may be some hint in /tmp/bootsysinit.log).

Hi there -- no I don't need to completely reconfigure, I am able to reuse the saved profile for my home network, but I have to click on the connect icon -- then click through 5 or 6 more dialog's, before the process is finished.

after reboot, if I right click on connect, and choose Autoconnect, it won't connect, I don't recall the exact error message, but something about the network not being configured.

There is a hint in bootsysinit.log... it says: failed to configure wireless interface wlan0... skipping

could this have something to do with the wifi dongle, connected to a USB hub???

[trio]

You could try the bcm43xx patch from here:

http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewtopic.php?t=40537

maybe it could work for you...the patch itself not spesifically altering bcm43xx module, but rather to remove ssb:wl preference..just try and report

thanks

[raffy]

Just for added info, this happened to me too, using 4.2retro and USB dongle, an RT73. (Will be watching what happens here - it will be another 4 days before I can use the same machine again.)

[pupshock]

puppy 4.2 retro requires re-connection for built-in ipw3945 as well.
(it's not connected at boot)

No such problem with puppy 3.01.
Puppy 4.12, 4.2 standard kernel with iwl3945 does not connect at all.

[Dougal]

after reboot, if I right click on connect, and choose Autoconnect, it won't connect, I don't recall the exact error message, but something about the network not being configured.

There is a hint in bootsysinit.log... it says: failed to configure wireless interface wlan0... skipping

Well, the message saying the network couldn't be configured is what comes after the interesting part...
Try using the "autoconnect" option from the "connect" icon, then post here the contents of /tmp/network-connect.log.

[pbrouwer]

Trio: I applied the bcm43xx patch -- and rebooted -- this had no affect on my problem.

Dougal... When I select autoconnect from the "connect" icon, this is the error dialog:

Failed to connect to any networks.
If you have not yet configured any network interfaces,
you should do so with the Network Wizard.
(debug messages can be found in /tmp/network-connect.log)

and this is the network-connect.log:

configuring network interface wlan0
X
X
failed to configure wireless interface wlan0... skipping

/p

[pbrouwer]

Dougal... I've been snooping where my nose probably doesn't belong:

/etc/rc.d/rc.network

I admit, I was a shell programmer in the '80s, so I can read code.

I'm pretty sure my problem begins where CELL_ENCRYPTION is set in a loop that reads output from the ifconfig. The script sets this parameter to TRUE, and then uses it for a file test on <MACaddr>.TRUE.conf... however, my profile file is named <MACaddr>.WEP.conf, so the script doesn't see my profile.

As a test, I inserted the line CELL_ENCRYPTION=WEP just before that file test is made, and this *seems* to have solved the problem, as the network starts on reboot and /tmp/bootsysinit.log says "cheching if interface wlan0 is alive...yes"

However, the network is useless, it cannot find anything I ask for, and I still have to use the connection wizard before I can use the internet.

how do I attach the bootsysinit.log -- it's chock full of errors... starting with...

Success!
prism2dl: warning: Failed to find PDR for plugrec 0x0406.
prism2dl: warning: Failed to find PDR for plugrec 0x0302.
prism2dl: warning: Failed to find PDR for plugrec 0x0414.
Reading S-record file /etc/wlan//prism2_ru.hex...

and ending with a counter that counts by 3 to 90.

any clues about what's going on???

[Dougal]

Dougal... I've been snooping where my nose probably doesn't belong:

Believe me, I'd be glad if more people did so... I've got a long TODO list which I'm not getting along with, since I keep trying to solve people problems.

I'm pretty sure my problem begins where CELL_ENCRYPTION is set in a loop that reads output from the ifconfig. The script sets this parameter to TRUE, and then uses it for a file test on <MACaddr>.TRUE.conf... however, my profile file is named <MACaddr>.WEP.conf, so the script doesn't see my profile.

It's actually set from the output of scanning with wlanctl-ng, but, yes, you are right, there was a problem there.
The code for the "normal" drivers checks for profiles matching WEP/WPA/WPA2, but with the prism devices, only WEP is supported... so I must have missed it.
I ended up using a simple fix: before checking for the profile, set CELL_ENCRYPTION to WEP or Open, depending on its value. (see network wizard thread)

However, I'm not sure if this will cover all cases: with "normal" modules the scan returns "on" and "off" for encryption, whereas with prism it returns "true" or "no_value"... which doesn't seem as conclusive as "off", so I don't know if there can't be cases where it says "no_value" and encryptions is on. I am assuming it means "open".

Regarding the errors you get, tempestuous is the person to contact, as he knows these prism devices and they seem to be related to the prism firmware... (is it a pcmcia card?)

If you gzip the log you can then attach it.

The count you see is from the function that starts dhcpcd, it's what increments the progressbar. With newer versions of the wizard it should stop when dhcpcd is backgrounded.

[pcampbell87]

I have to use the wizard to set it up each time I reboot.

Are you using the Network Wizard (found in the setup menu) or Pwireless (found in the network menu or the top bar in 4.2) to connect to your network?

I am also new to Puppy and originally used Pwireless which would not remember my settings, after using Network Wizard to connect to my wireless I am now connected on startup.

[pbrouwer]

tx Dougal.

FYI -- it's USB wifi attached to a USB hub

Also -- should have mentioned -- "Autoconnect" from the network wizard works since I added that line about WEP.

I'm going to snoop around a little more to see why I get those prism errors on boot up. Seems fishy -- if autoconnect works -- why not during boot?

pcampbell -- I've been using the network wizard all along.

[straypup]

Don't know if it will make a difference, but some times connecting directly rather than through a hub can solve this problem
Good luck stray

[ZooT_aLLures]

Geez...............just write up a hardcoded connect script and save it, and then call up the script after booting.............or have it run from rc.local........

That's what I did using barelyup 2_13 with the prism2_usb module

===============script below=============================
!#/bin/sh

modprobe prism2_usb prism2_doreset=1

wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=disable
wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_ifstate ifstate=enable
wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_wlansniff enable=false channel=1
wlanctl-ng wlan0 p2req_channel_info_results channel=1
wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_hostwep decrypt=true encrypt=true
wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=dot11WEPDefaultKeyID=0
wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=dot11ExcludeUnencrypted=true
wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=dot11PrivacyInvoked=true
wlanctl-ng wlan0 dot11req_mibset mibattribute=dot11WEPDefaultKey0=e5:24:d3:f3:b7
wlanctl-ng wlan0 lnxreq_autojoin ssid=gulch authtype=opensystem

ifconfig wlan0 192.168.0.88 netmask 255.255.255.0
route add default gw 192.168.0.1
echo "nameserver 192.168.0.1" >> /etc/resolv.conf

===============end script======================

[Dougal]

Geez...............just write up a hardcoded connect script and save it, and then call up the script after booting.............or have it run from rc.local........

That's what you might do if you're trying to grow a chin, but we're trying to get the wizard to work well, so that even non-technical users can get on the internet and waste their time reading things.

[ZooT_aLLures]

Geez guy..............I'm sorry.............I thought he just wanted to get a persistant autoconnection going...........

[pbrouwer]

ZooT -- tx for the script -- but I'm not confident enough to add new code to my system -- even the patch somebody mentioned earlier seemed a little adventurous to me.

Dougal -- tx for the link about Frank -- Long Live Frank! you guessed right -- I'd rather be reading that.

Anyway -- I've cracked the problem for me, and this is my solution:

I put "sleep 30" in a line by itself after the first line of /etc/rc.d/rc.network

This makes the rc.network script wait half a minute before it starts. I think the problem has been that this rc.network script started before /etc/init.d/wlan finished ... is that possible?

That 30 second wait was just my first guess... if this is the bug -- then it should be pretty easy to syncrhonize these scripts and eliminate unnecessary delay.