Linux Format forums

Re: Debian 6 wireless connection

SiriusHardware — Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:41 am

Author: SiriusHardware

Posted: Tue Apr 23, 2013 12:41 am

Just a thought: (A few actually)

-Did you set up a MAC restricted access list on your router at some point in the past? If so, obviously you'll need to add the Debian PC's wireless MAC address to the 'allowed' list.

-Is your router on channel 12 or 13 by any chance? Historically, the official wi-fi Spectrum in the USA only seems to have included channels 01-11, whereas we here have the additional 12 and 13.

Since the USA is the largest technology market in the world a significant amount of wi-fi enabled stuff is configured by default for that market, not ours, and may not work on wifi channels 12 and 13. When you install a wi-fi card under Windows the manufacturer supplied installer usually asks you for the region the card is being used in and resets the channel range accordingly. Unfortunately, they don't tend to supply such friendly installers for Linux.

I have personally encountered a good example of this syndrome: The original grey single-antenna wireless 'g' adaptor for my Xbox 360 can not see any network on channels 12 or 13 - it is an American designed product designed originally for the USA market, and the version sold to the wider world appears to be exactly the same 11-channel unit. It, or my example at least, can not see any network on channel 12 or 13.

Finally, a re-iteration of some useful advice I originally received in this forum - if the router at the heart of this problem is set to mixed WPA / WPA2 encryption mode, go into the router's settings and try setting it to WPA2 only - that solved a WPA2 connection problem for me on at least one subsequent occasion.

Re: Debian 6 wireless connection

nelz — Sun Feb 03, 2013 2:41 pm

Author: nelz

Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2013 2:41 pm

t does dmesg say? Maybe you just need to install the correct firmware.

It won't do any hard to try the firmware files from the working box on the non-working one.

Re: Debian 6 wireless connection

scooter — Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:18 pm

Author: scooter

Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2013 10:18 pm

Yes, using NetworkManager and have tried connection to no avail..

The difference I see between the two drivers ( 12.04 and Debian 6 ) is the firmware :
( b43/ucode9.fw + 5.fw + 16_mino.fw + 15.fw + 14.fw + 13.fw + 11.fw for 12.04 and FW13 for Debian 6 ).

So......... I guess I'll need to do without my WiFi connection, at least for the moment with Debian 6

Cheers..

Re: Debian 6 wireless connection

ferrari — Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:11 pm

Author: ferrari

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2013 11:11 pm

Quote:

shows up with ifconfig -a , hears my other wireless hub and also the neighbours so my guess is the " problem " is in the version of the driver.

You're getting ahead of yourself. If the wireless interface is present, and you mention that you can detect nearby wireless networks (one of which is yours), then you should proceed with trying to connect.

Are you using a network manager?

http://wiki.debian.org/NetworkManager

Re: Debian 6 wireless connection

scooter — Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:04 pm

Author: scooter

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:04 pm

Could it be the 64bit version of Debian that perhaps doesn't like the driver ??

My 12.04 is 32 bit..

Re: Debian 6 wireless connection

scooter — Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:53 pm

Author: scooter

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:53 pm

OH yes !! ( as Churchill would say ! )

shows up with ifconfig -a , hears my other wireless hub and also the neighbours so my guess is the " problem " is in the version of the driver.

Would adding the Ubuntu repository to the Debian version allow me to download the Ubuntu driver and install it in Debian ??

Probably not a good idea, different kernel and all that.

Just thinking out loud

Re: Debian 6 wireless connection

nelz — Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:13 am

Author: nelz

Posted: Sun Jan 20, 2013 11:13 am

Does your wireless adaptor show up in the output of

Code:

ifconfig -a

Debian 6 wireless connection

scooter — Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:42 pm

Author: scooter

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2013 10:42 pm

Hello,

I have Debian 6 and Ubuntu12.04 on one of my machines with the recommended drivers loaded for my wireless card.

Ubuntu12.04 hears my upstairs wireless router but Debian 6 doesn't

Would the version of the driver cause the Debian 6 to be "deaf" ?

I should say this is an old b43 card.

Any thoughts ???

Cheers..