Monday, December 15, 2008

PCI Wireless card with Ubuntu 8.10

So... new adventure: getting Airlink 101 Wireless PCI Adapter AWLH3028 to work with fresh install of Ubuntu 8.10. Host system: P4 3.2GHz, 4 GB Ram (Dell Optiplex Gx280), 120gb/80gb dual boot xp/ linux

Ubuntu install was a breeze, though the time setting window acted a little funky with the zoom feature. After install, network manager showed all available networks just fine. However, connecting to any available network (protected or not) simply failed. Couldn't figure out what was going on:

dmesg | tail -50 gave something like below:
wirless wlan0 (ethernet addr) time-out

Google gave up following link which indicated my card (RealTek based) is supported (good news!):
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardwareSupportComponentsWirelessNetworkCardsAirlink101#PCI

However, still no luck.

finally came across this page http://ubuntu-virginia.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=574501&page=28

Solution was as simple as tearing down wlan0 and setting mode to Managed. This has worked with WPA2 Personal after that. Survives even restarts. Don't know why I had to do it, but it works!

sudo ifconfig eth0 down
sudo ifconfig wlan0 down
sudo ifconfig wlan0 up
sudo iwconfig essid
sudo iwconfig wlan0 mode Managed
sudo dhclient wlan0

dhclient above was timing out. Killed it and selected network in Network Manager applet. worked!

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