Arch not detecting my wireless device

Question

Here is what I gleaned from Windows Vista (I know, I know; but we have to live with reality):
Name  NETGEAR
SSID   NETGEAR
Network type   Access Point
Device  is Dell Wireless 1395 wlan mini-card
This is the response to ifconfig:
[billb@billbar ~]$ ifconfig -a
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:1D:09:C9:05:83
          inet addr:192.168.1.9  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::21d:9ff:fec9:583/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:9385 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:8648 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:9222099 (8.7 Mb)  TX bytes:1434222 (1.3 Mb)
          Interrupt:21
lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:28 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:1480 (1.4 Kb)  TX bytes:1480 (1.4 Kb)
[billb@billbar ~]$
all of the "iw" utilities report - "no wireless device"
Guess I need a little handholding here.
Otherwise the Arch installtion is running beautifully off a cable connection, which comes from the Netgear wireless router.
Thanks for help.
Bill
Last edited by billbar (2009-12-10 09:39:06)

Answer 1

The ujpgrade from testing did change the wireless capablilities but we still have some problems.
Here is an extract from dmesg:
input: Broadcom Corp as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.3/usb5/5-2/5-2.2/5-2.2:1.0/input/input15
generic-usb 0003:0A5C:4502.0003: input,hidraw2: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Broadcom Corp] on usb-0000:00:13.3-2.2/input0
usb 5-2.3: new full speed USB device using ohci_hcd and address 5
usb 5-2.3: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
input: Broadcom Corp as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:13.3/usb5/5-2/5-2.3/5-2.3:1.0/input/input16
Then from a root terminal:
[root@billbar billb]# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.
eth0      no wireless extensions.
wlan0     IEEE 802.11bg  Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated
          Tx-Power=0 dBm
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
[root@billbar billb]# ifconfig wlan0 up
SIOCSIFFLAGS: No such file or directory
[root@billbar billb]#
Then a request for root password from wicd:
Don't know how wicd gets started.
If I respond the program terminates with an error and disconnects my current eth0 connection.
Here are some extracts from my rc.conf
#eth0="eth0 192.168.0.2 netmask 255.255.255.0 broadcast 192.168.0.255"
eth0="dhcp"
INTERFACES=(eth0)
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network.d
# This now requires the netcfg package
#NETWORKS=menu
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng hal network netfs crond alsa kdm)
The dialog and netcfg packages are in the OS.  i have tried uncommenting NETWORKS=menu but no dialog appears during the boot.
I am currently connected with cable.  Is that a conflict in enabling wireless.
The wireless network uses wpa encryption and connects in Windows Vista on this machine.  It's a dual boot machine.