Linux Wireless Card Issues

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thegamefreak0134
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Linux Wireless Card Issues

Post by thegamefreak0134 »

I am having issues with a certain wireless card in linux. It's a USB wireless card, but I can't seem to get linux to recognize that it's there. It's a Berkin (I think?) USB wireless card, to be exact. Remembering that I am a novice linux user and am familier with only the windows command line, could someoue explain the basics of installing such a device in linux from the command line? (This particular version doesn't have a lot in the way of automaticness...) Thanks!

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Post by benryves »

Providing us with the VID (vendor ID) and PID (product ID) of the device would be useful. "Berkin USB wireless card" is not exact. ;) (I assume that's Belkin?) You can extract this information from Device Manager under Windows (the Device Instance Id is a long string with VEN and PROD in it).

A large number of USB devices share common chipsets, and I've found more drivers for Linux than I have for Windows by looking up the VID/PID.

This site can provide you with VID/PID if you know the manufacturer and product name. Belkin's VID is 050d, for example.
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Arcane WIzard
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Post by Arcane WIzard »

We need:

1) Your linux distro + version.

2) Your hardware info. (more exact than the brand name and that it's USB) Model and version number.

As the minimum, more info preferred. (WIFI router settings for example. WEP? SSID hidden? static or dynamic DHCP? etc.
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Post by Timendus »

Basically it goes like this:

Plugin device, enter "dmesg" on your console to see if the driver loads properly (usually not) and, since it's a belkin USB device, probably if your firmware gets loaded into the device (which it usually can't find). Figure out which driver you need, install it if neccessary, and load it with "modprobe <drivername>". Figure out which firmware should come with the driver, put it in the right place so your system can find it, and unplug/replug the device. Does it register properly? If so; the hardest part is over now. If you can't find a native Linux driver; try ndiswrapper to load the Windows driver.

Next, to connect to a normal open or WEP network, find some random Wifi tool, run it, configure and connect. C'est tout. If your network uses WPA, you can probably forget about it.
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Post by thegamefreak0134 »

For the record, my version of linux is a modified version known as "Auditor Security Collection". Basically, I want to use its tools to run a diagnostic on my other cards and networks and such to try to pinpoint more specific information as to what's really going on under the surface. It's a learning thing, you know.

So I have to find the linux drivers for the device, (and possibly the firmware, but an official download should have both right?) and put them where so they can be found? Or does linux care where it is?

Thing is, when I plug the device in, nothing seems to happen at all. Is this normal behavior for linux? Maybe I'm just too used to windows screaming at me to open the folder for my pen drive that I have open already before the window pops up...

-gamefreak

*EDIT* I also noticed that I was using an older version of this collection, in correspondance with a tutorial I was following. Do you think the newer version might have better support for all cards?
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Post by benryves »

thegamefreak0134 wrote:Maybe I'm just too used to windows screaming at me to open the folder for my pen drive that I have open already before the window pops up...
Select "Take no action". Tick "Always do the selected action". Press OK. Alternatively, right-click on the drive, go into Properties and change settings on the AutoPlay tab.
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Post by Timendus »

thegamefreak0134 wrote:an official download should have both right?
There's not much official about a most Linux drivers, but yes.
and put them where so they can be found? Or does linux care where it is?
If does care, but I don't know where they should go. Depends on your distro really, so FAQs and fora are your friends.
when I plug the device in, nothing seems to happen at all. Is this normal behavior for linux?
Yup. Enter dmesg in a console to see what happened. Usually it either registered your hardware (as device wlan0) or complained about the driver or firmware.
Do you think the newer version might have better support for all cards?
Could well be.

I found the driver I used with my Belkin F5D6051 WLAN 11b USB Adapter, maybe you have the same device?
http://linux-lc100020.sourceforge.net/
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Post by thegamefreak0134 »

Wow. I think that is indeed the adapter that I have. Did you get it from Wal-Mart too?

The driver page you pointed to also has my wireless card, as well as a picture confirming that it's the right one. (BTW, Yes, it's Belkin.) Cool. Now to figure out how to work on a lower-level operating system again. Wheeeee fun.

Oh, and for the windows pendrive thing, I can't select the "Do Always" option, or similar, because microsoft decided that you couldn't do that for mixed content. There is a nice backdoor however, you just set it manually in the secret thingy and it sort of goes away for that device. Of course, it would be really nice if it was never there in the first place, but that's a discussion for another day.

I'll go try this now, and if I can't figure out how to get it to work (remembering my novice linux status at this point) I'll come back and complain some more. Thanks though, it's been nice to see some valid data on this.

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Post by Arcane WIzard »

My advice would suit your apparent need for figuring it out on your own shown in your OS choise. ta
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Post by Timendus »

thegamefreak0134 wrote:Did you get it from Wal-Mart too?
We don't have Wal-Mart here in the Netherlands ;) I bought it about three years ago, but I recently bought a new one that supports 54Mbit and that gets auto-detected by (K)Ubuntu. Still no WPA though. I have a few more ideas on how to get that fixed, but I kinda got bored of it.
Thanks though, it's been nice to see some valid data on this.
You're welcome. It can be hell if you've never done it before, I experienced that first hand.
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Post by blueskies »

I've found it's a much easier fix to switch from WPA to WEP rather than try to get wpa_supplicant working. I've had luck with it, but it's a pain in the ass to get it up. Besides, who out here in suburbia is going to try and hack our wireless?
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Post by thegamefreak0134 »

Well, I think I pinpointed a much more serious issue preventing me from getting anything done. Apparently, this version of linux (which is designed for wireless analyzation, a security package designed to help you pinpoint flaws in your network from what I can tell) only has the PC card enabled by default. When I plug in my USB wireless card, absolutely nothing happens (not even in dmesg) because the USB hub drivers are not loaded. No telling how I'm going to get it to figure that out. I have to load it in failsafe mode because when I try to load it normally I get a very lovely green screen and nothing else. (Video card issues.) I'm seriously considering trying the newer version, but a 600+ MB download is another lot to have to sit through...

If there is a way to load in failsafe mode from the command line (which it lets me do) but still have the USB recognition and installation enabled, would someone let me know? Cause it's really just the video that causes the failsafe to be needed at all. Thanks!

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Post by Timendus »

"modprobe usbcore" I think it was...
*checks*
Yup. Well, at least my laptop has that module running, not sure if that's the only thing you need, but it's certainly one of them.
blueskies wrote:who out here in suburbia is going to try and hack our wireless?
Anyone with a linux laptop, a brain and too much spare time :)
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Post by thegamefreak0134 »

OK, I'm trying the new version of the software out now, let me try that modprobe thing...

OK, modprobe caused the usb drivers for the hub to appear in dmesg, that's a good thing. The card plugged into the hub is apparently still doing nothing though. Wierd... How do I force it to scan for devices? I checked and the other usb devices I have appear to have no noticeable affect when inserted.

It says it registered "usbfs" and "hub" as drivers, whatever that means. I can only assume this means that it registered the USB ports on the back of the computer, but it's apparently either unable to access them, or unable to access anything plugged into them.

-Grr...

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Post by Timendus »

"hub" is probably the hub in your PC that devides the USB line into several ports. "usbfs" is the "normal" USB file system that USB storage devices use.

It should give a message when you plug something in, otherwise there's still something elementary missing. Try Googling on Gentoo USB code install or something, that should give you a howto.
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