Unable to obtain IP address using ndiswrapper

chicheong.ho_at_gmail.com
Date: 05/20/05 

Date: 20 May 2005 09:20:18 -0700

Hello,

   I'm trying to connect my Dell laptop to my access point (Linksys
WRT54G) using ndiswrapper. However, after I install and configure
ndiswrapper, I'm unable to obtain an IP address from the Access Point.

Background
Dell 1150 Inspiron
Wireless network Adapter: Dell wireless 1350 mini-PCI (this is a
broadcom chip, the driver I downloaded off of
ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net list).
OS: Fedora Core 3
network devices on machine: wlan0 (the device I'm trying to connect
with), eth0 (this is a built in ethernet controller, lo, sit0 (I'm not
sure what this is)

Access Point - Linksys Wrt54g
essid = star
channel = 11 - 2.462 GHz
mode = managed
wep = enabled
key = '555555555'

Output from uname -r
2.6.11-1.14_FC3.stk16 (this is the fedora core 3 build from
www.linuxant.com that increases the stack size )

Output from /sbin/iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"star" Nickname:"localhost.localdomain"
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point:
00:12:17:AD:2D:34
          Bit Rate=48 Mb/s Tx-Power:14 dBm
          RTS thr=2347 B Fragment thr=2346 B
          Encryption key:5555-5555-55 Security mode:restricted
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:100/100 Signal level:-28 dBm Noise level:-256
dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:47 Invalid misc:68543 Missed beacon:0

Output from /sbin/iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0 Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:12:17:AD:2D:34
                    ESSID:"star"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11b
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality:0/100 Signal level:-29 dBm Noise
level:-256 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:18 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:24 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:36 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:54 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:6 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:9 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:12 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:48 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0

Contents of ifcfg-wlan0
DEVICE=wlan0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes
TYPE=Ethernet
RATE=AUTO
ESSID="star"
KEY="5555555555"
MODE="Managed"
CHANNEL="11"
USERCTL=no
PEERDNS=yes
IPV6INIT=no

When I issue the command /sbin/ifup wlan0 the message I receive:
Determining the IP information ... failed

Question:
1) I am able to set my ESSID to "star" on wlan0 (from the output I did
associate with the access point correctly). However, I suspect it's
the ifcfg-wlan0 file that is missing/incorrect settings. Does anyone
have a ifcfg-wlan0 sample file or know where to get more information
about the settings in this file?

2) Once the ifcfg-wlan0 file has been corrected, how do I bring this
network device online? /sbin/ifup wlan0? How do I automatically
bring it online everything the laptop boots up?

3) This is a little off topic, but once I configure the laptop
connectivity with the AP, does the AP always need to have its ESSID in
broadcast mode in order to connect using ndiswrapper? Previously, the
laptop was running XP, and I was able to connect without using
broadcast mode.

Thanks in advance.

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