Wpa Help Needed Options

[walts]

I rather desperately need help with getting WPA working on pdaxii13.

I have spent a frustrating 2 weeks with Angstom, and I was able to get WPA to work just fine, but could get virtually nothing else to run reliably. So now I'm here, with all the desktop and utility software I need, but no WPA :-(

Here's what I've done so far, palallelling what worked on Angstrom:
- Edit /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf to describe my WPA setup
- Added my Ambicom WL1100C card to /etc/pcmcia/hostap_cs.conf
- Tried uploading the RAM image to the card with

CODE

prism2_srec -r wlan0 /etc/pcmcia/firmware/rf010804.hex

. This worked on Angstrom, but here it gives:

CODE

ioctl[PRISM2_IOCTL_HOSTAPD]: Operation nnot supported.  
Missing wlan component info
Could not read wlan RIDs

- Thinking that the errors might be caused by the card being powered off I tried each of the following:

CODE

cardctl eject 0

followed by

CODE

cardctl insert 0

nd when that didn't work, I tried

CODE

ifconfig wlan0 up

In both cases the card LED began flashing but nothing else changed. prism2_srec gave eh same error message.

Finally I looked at lsmod and seeing that hostap was not loaded, i did

CODE

insmod hostap
insmod hostap_cs

None of the above changed the prism2_srec error in any way.

I also tried installing Capn fish's new wlanconfig2 utilities, but it has many unresolved dependencies and without a network connection, it would be very tedious to manually fulfil them.

Please, I am out of ideas and need help!

Walt

[Capn_Fish]

Wlanconfig should only need FLTK 1.1.7. I'm not sure if it's been compiled for for pdaXii13. If you used the precompiled package, that most likely didn't work because it was built on r198, which uses newer versions of libs, and hence makes it not work.

The other unfortunate fact about Wlanconfig is that, seeing as how I have never tried WPA, it doesn't support it, so it won't do you any good in that area.

For firmware, am I right in thinking you are uploading firmware to the card's RAM? Why do you need to do that (this may be an obvious WPA thing)? PdaXrom's kernel doesn't support uploading of firmware, at least NAND firmware, so I assume that RAM firmware would be no different.

Also, for loading modules, don't you use modprobe?

Hope this helps.

[walts]

[SNIP]
For firmware, am I right in thinking you are uploading firmware to the card's RAM? Why do you need to do that (this may be an obvious WPA thing)? PdaXrom's kernel doesn't support uploading of firmware, at least NAND firmware, so I assume that RAM firmware would be no different.

That clarifies things. I think I have seen the term NAND firmware in the related documentation for flahing Prism2 cards, but I don't know what the term means (other than as a logical operator). The whole story is that there is software to permanently update the frmware (Primary and Secondary) as wellas a temporary download to RAM on the card. I don't have the necessarey hardware to do the former, so I was using prism2_srec -r during my temporary frustration with Angstrom. In another thread, "How to Compile Modules?" you talk about replacing /lib/modules/2.6.16 with a file you provided, and then

You should have working packet injection as well as support for flashing cards' firmware

I started to do that, but found I have /lib/modules/2.4.20 so I stopped. Am I correct in assuming that the 2.4 part of the file name refers to the kernel?

I really like the UI on pdaXii13 but the version I have (From Tyranozaurus) has the 2.4 kernel. I tried installing 1.1.0beta4 from what I think is the "Official" pdaXrom site, but U-BOOT would not work at all in 2 tries to install. I had to do a NAND restore to the Trisoft (Sharp) ROM each time to get un-bricked.

Also, for loading modules, don't you use modprobe?

I didn't know that command existed. (I'm somewhat of a Linux N00B, but very experienced in Windows.)

Walt

[T3_slider]

I think pdaXii13 includes wifi-radar which should (theoretically) get WPA working. Many people have had great difficulty getting WPA working, so it'll be a task. I've never tried WPA, so I can't really help with the specifics.

For some possible help see here (and search a little about WPA and wifi-radar):
http://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showt...=24271&hl=radar
http://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showt...=23991&hl=radar
http://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=24021&hl=

You may also need to flash the WiFi card, and for that I am even less help.

Good luck (and it would be nice if you could outline what you did to get it working if you do, in fact, get it working -- I know I and others would benefit).

[alijames]

Good luck (and it would be nice if you could outline what you did to get it working if you do, in fact, get it working -- I know I and others would benefit).

Hi All,

FInally after a few weeks of p**sing around, I've finally got WPA working on my C3100 +Ambicom WL1100C-CF setup running pdaXii13.

Steps finally sorted to get it running :

1. Install hostap_diag (0.4.7) (useful for checking firmware rev on card)

2. Ambicom card upgraded to 1.8.0 secondary firmware. Primary was already 1.1.1)

3. Install wpa_supplicant (0.4.7)

4. Install hostap_driver (0.4.7)

5. Edit your /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf file as required

Taken from a previous post :

CODE

cp /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf.bak
# just to backup your old file.
sudo wpa_passphrase your_ssid your_password > /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
# this generates a new file with the minimum-settings. In addtion your password is not written in clear-text which increases security.
more /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
# should result in
network={
             ssid="your_ssid"
             psk="your decrypted password in hex-code"
}

This worked for me, and also I added details for our 'eduroam' service which uses radius authentication, so is a little more complex, but still works fine.

6. Start up the Lan and Wifi config and create a new profile for your SSID

7. Edit /etc/pcmcia/network.opts and add

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WPA="y"

into the relevant section for your ssid.

8. Test it with following commands :

CODE

cardctl scheme "your_ssid"
cardctl eject
cardctl insert
ifconfig wlan0 up
wpa_supplicant -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -D hostap -i wlan0 -B
dhcpcd wlan0

If all is OK, you should connect and now have an IP address and access over the WPA wireless link.

Then you just need to write a script to connect automatically, see JohnX script at

http://www.oesf.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=22285

for a starting point, although he uses udhcpd instead.

Don't think I've missed anything out, but hope this helps,

Cheers,

Alistair

[walts]

2. Ambicom card upgraded to 1.8.0 secondary firmware. Primary was already 1.1.1)

How?

I have the same card, and when I give the command (Which worked in Angstrom):

prism2_srec -r wlan0 /etc/pcmcia/firmware/rf010804.hex

I get the message:
ioctl[PRISM2_IOCTL_HOSTAPD] operation not supported
Missing wlan component info
Could not read wlan RIDs


(This has been my primary stumbling block in getting this ROM working.)

Walt

[alijames]

2. Ambicom card upgraded to 1.8.0 secondary firmware. Primary was already 1.1.1)

How?

I have the same card, and when I give the command (Which worked in Angstrom):

prism2_srec -r wlan0 /etc/pcmcia/firmware/rf010804.hex

I get the message:
ioctl[PRISM2_IOCTL_HOSTAPD] operation not supported
Missing wlan component info
Could not read wlan RIDs


(This has been my primary stumbling block in getting this ROM working.)

Walt

What firmware rev does your card have on it?

install hostap_diag on your Z, insert the card and run

CODE

hostap_diag wlan0

I get

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NICID: id=0x801b v1.0.0 (PRISM III PCMCIA (SST parallel flash))
PRIID: id=0x0015 v1.1.1
STAID: id=0x001f v1.8.0 (station firmware)

Allegedly station f/w >=1.74 will work, but googling suggests going with 1.8.0, which it what my card came with, as >1.8.0 apparently have a few issues too.

If you do need to reflash the f/w, then you will either need to need to compile hostap from source on the Z with a few flags set. See http://linux.junsun.net/intersil-prism/ for details of the flags needed. I have not tried this though.

Or you can use a Windows updater, download link on the same page above, assuming you have access to a laptop, PCMCIA adaptor and the Ambicom drivers installed from http://www.ambicom.com/support/drivers/wl/...0xpcpciv350.exe

I killed my old Ambicom card using the Windows version, but that was trying to update both primary & station f/w at the same time, and the new replacement came with 1.8.0 already, so no need for me to try the Linux route, although I did successfully flash a Netgear MA701 to 1.8.0 earlier this week using the Windows updater.

My recommendation using either method would be to only update the station firmware, and leave the primary alone.

Hope this helps,

Alistair

[walts]

Actually, I get the same error message with hostap_diag as I did with prism2_srec.

In other ROMs (Opie for sure, maybe others) you have to tell Linux what drivers to use:

card "AmbiCom", "WL1100C 802.11b CF-Card"
manfid 0xd601, 0x0002
bind "hostap_cs"

I find nowhere to do this in pdaXii13, and it looks like the hostap utils don't know what to do with the card.

Any ideas?

Walt

[alijames]

Actually, I get the same error message with hostap_diag as I did with prism2_srec.

In other ROMs (Opie for sure, maybe others) you have to tell Linux what drivers to use:

card "AmbiCom", "WL1100C 802.11b CF-Card"
manfid 0xd601, 0x0002
bind "hostap_cs"

I find nowhere to do this in pdaXii13, and it looks like the hostap utils don't know what to do with the card.

Any ideas?

Walt

Hi Walt,

Probably an obvious one, but have you installed 'hostap-driver' (v0.4.7 IIRC), from the beta3 feed? That's what originally solved my 'operation not supported' error I got.

Cheers,

Alistair

[walts]

yes YES YES!

That was the problem, thank you!

Walt

[alijames]

yes YES YES!

That was the problem, thank you!

Walt

Groovy!! Took me a week to figure that one out...

Cheers,

Alistair

[walts]

I'm BAAACK!

After getting WPA to work with all the help from this forum, I ran into another roadblock - I couldn't get Wellenreiter or kismet to run, so I decided to give Cacko another try.

I first restored the hard drive using the pdaXii13 install utility and copying the files into the first 2 partitions, then did a NAND restore of the Sharp rom. That booted fine, so I flashed Cacko and the flashing process completed OK but the Z wouldn't boot. It got caught in a loop trying to grep a nonexistant file in /etc/pcmcia/. after two tries, i went back to pdaXii13 which is where I now am.

The flashing process went fine, the hard drive loaded fine, and I did all the stuff described earlier in this thread except for uploading the RAM on the card, which I have since learned is not needed.

The card doesn't work. I set up wifi-radar to use hostap, and it does see my AP, but can't get an IP address. wpa_config and hostap_diag give all the IOCTL errors reported previously. I am guessing that it is still trying to use the Orinoco drivers, and the card is still mis-identified as the WF701 card defined in /etc/pcmcia/config. If I try messing with that file, I get "Unidentified card in slot 0" on bootup and nothing works.

I wonder if anyone can explain, or point me at an explanation, of the process for setting up and activating the network card? I'm happy to RTFM but I just don't know where to look!

TIA

Walt

[miskinis]

Hi Folks,

I just wanted to point out a couple things. A year (or two?) ago, I went through
the pains of trying to flash some new firmware into my Linksys WCF-12 CF WIFI
card. I'm very rusty on the details, but I noticed above, someone mentioned flashing
the station firmware, and leaving the primary firmware alone.

1 - I forget what role the "station" firmware plays, but I remember reading warnings about
flashing the secondary firmware without flashing the primary firmware at the same time,
and doing so could render the card useless.

2 - I ended up using a slackware-based Live-CD that had builtin support for flashing. I
believe it was called SLAX.

Supposedly, they turn off flashing capability in most distributions, to prevent folks
from trashing their cards without knowing all the details, etc..

Anyway, again, my memory is rusty on this stuff...

John

[Capn_Fish]

I think the Aircrack site has a link saying not to flash the station firmware without flashing the other firmware (I may be wrong, but there was something to that effect).

And another way to flash firmware is to install pdaX r19x, flash my kernel, and flash your card using that.

[walts]

Yes, that is right, there are dire warnings about permanently damaging your card with the wrong firmware installations - there are a couple of very good descriptions of how to permanently flash Prism2 chipsets on line. When I get back to my office tomorrow I'll post the information, but until then, "Google is your firiend"


Before I figured out that my card's firmware was up to date, I had made my mind up to only upload the RAM version, each time I sed the card. That way I don't run the risk of doing permanent damage to the card.

prism2_srec -r wlan0 /etc/pcmcia/firmware/rf010804.hex

worked for me with my WL1100C card - wlan0 must be started first, and the hex RAM image file is included with the pdaXii13 installation. There are other files that work with different cards, and there is a table published on the web that relates the files to the cards. Again, I'll post that tomorrow.

Walt

Tomorrow

As promised here is the link to a site that explains in some detail about the methods of permanently flashing Prism based cards. Pay attention to the cautions he raises, since you can destroy your card if you mess up. I repeat my own preference for just uploading the code to the card's RAM each time it is needed. The table relating the hex files to the components in the card is on his site as well.
Jun Sun's mini HOW-TO on Flashing Intersil Prism Chipsets

Walt