How to connect to my WPA2 network?

[tempestuous]

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STAID: id=0x001f v1.3.5 (station firmware)

OK, there's your problem. Prism2.5/3 devices need to have station firmware 1.7.0 or higher, in order for WPA to work with the hostap family of Linux drivers. This is documented in the hostap/wpa_supplicant source code, from
http://hostap.epitest.fi/
The solution is to upgrade your wifi device's onboard (non-volatile) firmware.
This is possible while running Linux by using the "prism2_srec" utility in combination with the hostap_cs driver, but sadly this function of the driver is not enabled by default in Puppy kernels.
I can provide the suitably upgraded hostap_cs driver, but unfortunately I cannot provide it for Puppy 4.3 because I recently trashed my 4.3 development installation.

EDIT May 22 2011:
Prism2 firmware flashing instructions under Puppy 5.1/5.2 now available here
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 677#525677

[tempestuous]

If the Linux firmware upgrade process I just described sounds too arduous, you could consider doing the firmware upgrade under Windows. Go to this site -
http://linux.junsun.net/intersil-prism/
and refer to the section "Window-based flashing steps".

[AgentBlair]

I did the steps provided under windows (on a seperate HDD) and did successfully upgrade everything, however I am still unable to connect. I get the red alert message on the top of my screen. The ram on this laptop is at 128mb and perhaps this might be the issue.

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NICID: id=0801b v1.0.0 (PRISM III PCMIA (SST parallel flash))
PRIID: id=0x0015 v1.1.1
STAID: id=0x001f v1.8.2 (station firmware)

I get the error message: 'Output of wpa_cli -i wlan0 status'
Failed to connect to wpa_supplicant - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory

And thank you for going out of your way to help me.

[tempestuous]

You have made some progress.

I get the error message: 'Output of wpa_cli -i wlan0 status'
Failed to connect to wpa_supplicant - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory

That's clearly an error message generated by the Network Wizard. I have never been comfortable with the WPA configuration commands used in the Network Wizard, so I suggest you run the manual wpa_supplicant commands we discussed earlier. If it fails, I suggest you then replace "-D hostap" with "-D wext" as an experiment.

On the subject of the "-D" parameter, don't use Puppy 5.1! I just discovered its version of wpa_supplicant was not built with hostap support!

[AgentBlair]

All right it works! I am finally connected to my network! : D

Edited wpa_supplicant2.conf

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ifconfig wlan0 up 

rm /var/run/wpa_supplicant/* 

wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -D wext -c /etc/network-wizard/wireless/wpa_profiles/wpa_supplicant2.conf -dd 

-B

Then did Auto-DHCP.

Thanks guys again.

[tempestuous]

That's great.
But just to check - it fails with "-D hostap"
but is successful with "-D wext"?

If this is the case, I can revise the Network Wizard accordingly.

[AgentBlair]

That's great.
But just to check - it fails with "-D hostap"
but is successful with "-D wext"?

If this is the case, I can revise the Network Wizard accordingly.

I can't 100% confirm it fails with -D hostap, but I can confirm with certainty that -D wext worked.

When I rebooted it seems my settings went away so I had to re-enter the commands, but the wpa_supplicant2.conf had what I edited it to be. It may have been a bad save, not exactly sure.

[Béèm]

Glad you got it working, but one thing worries me.
You did specify having 128MB ram?
Then you need a swap file/partition so you have in total 512MB.

[AgentBlair]

Glad you got it working, but one thing worries me.
You did specify having 128MB ram?
Then you need a swap file/partition so you have in total 512MB.

Okay, I picked half that, my mistake.

[rjbrewer]

Glad you got it working, but one thing worries me.
You did specify having 128MB ram?
Then you need a swap file/partition so you have in total 512MB.

Okay, I picked half that, my mistake.

The swap partition is an "arbitrary" amount. Less or more may be needed depending on how many apps you are trying to run at once,
and what kind of install (full or frugal) you are using.

It takes 256mb of "real" ram to eject the live cd when it's booted.

[AgentBlair]

I resized it to 512mb. Rebooted and it won't connect at all until I do it manually. Right now I have a full instal.

[tempestuous]

... it won't connect at all until I do it manually.

Yes, that's to be expected, but it can be fixed ...
I just posted a WPA-configuration hotfix for Puppy 4.3 here
http://www.murga-linux.com/puppy/viewto ... 838#479838

[AgentBlair]

I upgraded to 431, it seems I was using 430. Here are the commands that worked with 431:

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ifconfig wlan0 up 

rm /var/run/wpa_supplicant/* 

wpa_supplicant -i wlan0 -D hostap -c /etc/network-wizard/wireless/wpa_profiles/wpa_supplicant2.conf -dd 

-B

wext did not work, but hostap did.

I rebooted and was unable to automatically connect to the internet even after installing the package.

[rjbrewer]

Sometimes you can right click 'connect' icon, and click 'autoconnect'

after losing the connection.

[AgentBlair]

Sometimes you can right click 'connect' icon, and click 'autoconnect'

after losing the connection.

Doesn't work for me. I still have to do everything manually.

Ok nevermind it worked, it's just very slow I have to right click and do it a few times before it goes. Otherwise it won't work.