[SOLVED] Unable to connect to wireless networks with USRobotics USR5416 PCI card

[mroseberry]

I have installed the LXDE version of PCLinuxOS on a older HP mini tower with a PCI wireless card model USR5416 that was not detected by the OS.  I got the card to be detected by using NDIS wrapper to install a driver I downloaded from a website that USRobotics linked me to.  Now I can see wireless networks but when I try to connect to them I get "Connecting..." then it says "Connection failed." and there are no errors or anything with any information that I can see.  I have been trying with a WPA2 protected and a unprotected wireless network and the only time I got anything else was one time it did connect to the unprotected wireless network, but I don't know what I did that got it working that time.

I'll provide what info I can think of to include below but I should mention that I am a relative noob so I will need instructions in detail.

Please let me know what other info you need and the commands I need to get them.

Thank you

I put the terminal output on pastebin because I exceeded my allowed length here.

http://pastebin.com/KMyekUwY

By the way, the wireless card is detected on line 4 and shows up as 00:08.0 Network controller: Texas Instruments ACX 111 54Mbps Wireless Interface.

Again please tell me what other info you need and thank you in advance for your help with this frustrating problem.

[djohnston]

I got the card to be detected by using NDIS wrapper to install a driver I downloaded from a website that USRobotics linked me to.  Now I can see wireless networks but when I try to connect to them I get "Connecting..." then it says "Connection failed." and there are no errors or anything with any information that I can see.  I have been trying with a WPA2 protected and a unprotected wireless network and the only time I got anything else was one time it did connect to the unprotected wireless network, but I don't know what I did that got it working that time.

One of the unknowns here is if you are trying to connect to your own network, or someone else's. Because you were once able to connect to an unprotected network, it sounds like you don't have the password for the WPA2 one. But that's just a guess. If you are trying to connect to your own WPA2 network, did you set the connection up, including the password?

[mroseberry]

it is my own WPA2 protected network (and i do have the correct key) and the unprotected network is also mine and yes i did setup the protected network including the password

[djohnston]

From a console, try looking at your settings with wpa_cli. You'll need to be user root. To see all the possible options, type wpa_cli --help. You'll probably want to start with a status report wpa_cli status. It's been a while since I've had to do this, but you're going to run the "Wi-Fi Protected Setup: Push Button Configuration" last wpa_cli wps_pbc [BSSID] , where BSSID is the name of the network you're trying to connect to. So, while in the console window, do

su -
(enter root password)
wpa_cli status
wpa_cli list_networks
wpa_cli wps_pbc [BSSID]

exit
exit

[mroseberry]

[root@localhost ~]# wpa_cli
wpa_cli v0.6.10
Copyright (c) 2004-2009, Jouni Malinen <j@w1.fi> and contributors

This program is free software. You can distribute it and/or modify it
under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2.

Alternatively, this software may be distributed under the terms of the
BSD license. See README and COPYING for more details.


Could not connect to wpa_supplicant - re-trying
^C
[root@localhost ~]# wpa_cli status
Failed to connect to wpa_supplicant - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]# wpa_cli list_networks
Failed to connect to wpa_supplicant - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]# wpa_cli wps_pbc [BSSID]
Failed to connect to wpa_supplicant - wpa_ctrl_open: No such file or directory
[root@localhost ~]#

sorry i forgot to put in my SSID, but its clear that wouldnt have made a difference here anyway.
how do i get this wpa_cli to work correctly?

[djohnston]

OK, if wpa_supplicant isn't responding, the wireless driver isn't working yet. I went to the USR page here: http://www.usr.com/support/product-template.asp?prod=5416 . Which driver listed there did you download?

[mroseberry]

i clicked the linux link and i downloaded these three files...

http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/ndis_drivers/usr11gv40q.zip
http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/wlan/full/archive/driverloader-2.50/driverloader-2.50-1.i386.rpm.zip
http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/wlan/full/archive/dldr_wpa_supplicant-0.4.7.0-1.i386.rpm

the ndis driver is what i used to first install the device and the other two files are ones i installed when another person was helping me after i could see the wireless networks.

since my last response there have been a couple changes though...
now the device does not show in network center and i have some terminal outputs to add.

[root@localhost ~]# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

[root@localhost ~]# ifc
ifcfg     ifconfig 
[root@localhost ~]# ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:30:18:71:14:70 
          inet addr:192.168.1.2  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::230:18ff:fe71:1470/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:3716 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:3184 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:3418451 (3.2 MiB)  TX bytes:526178 (513.8 KiB)
          Interrupt:11 Base address:0xe800

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:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

[root@localhost ~]# lshw
-bash: lshw: command not found
[root@localhost ~]# apt-get install lshw
Reading Package Lists... Done
Building Dependency Tree... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  lshw
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 removed and 242 not upgraded.
Need to get 1244kB of archives.
After unpacking 3707kB of additional disk space will be used.
Get:1 http://ftp.nluug.nl pclinuxos/2010/main lshw 2.12-2pclos2007 [1244kB]
Fetched 1244kB in 2s (471kB/s)
Committing changes...
Preparing                                ############################## [100%]
Updating / installing
  lshw-2.12-2pclos2007.i586              ############################## [100%]
Done.
[root@localhost ~]# lshw
localhost.localdomain     
    description: Desktop Computer
    product: ��
    serial: $
    width: 32 bits
    capabilities: smbios-2.3 dmi-2.3
    configuration: chassis=desktop
  *-core
       description: Motherboard
       product: KM266-8235
       physical id: 0
     *-firmware:0
          description: BIOS
          vendor: Award Software International, Inc.
          physical id: 0
          version: 6.00 PG (10/03/2003)
          size: 128KiB
          capacity: 192KiB
          capabilities: isa pci pnp apm upgrade shadowing escd cdboot bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppy360 int13floppy1200 int13floppy720 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int9keyboard int14serial int17printer int10video acpi usb agp ls120boot zipboot
     *-cpu
          description: CPU
          product: AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2000+
          vendor: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD]
          physical id: 4
          bus info: cpu@0
          version: 6.8.1
          slot: Socket A
          size: 1666MHz
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 133MHz
          capabilities: fpu fpu_exception wp vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 mmx fxsr sse syscall mmxext 3dnowext 3dnow up
        *-cache:0
             description: L1 cache
             physical id: a
             slot: Internal Cache
             size: 128KiB
             capacity: 128KiB
             capabilities: synchronous internal write-back
        *-cache:1
             description: L2 cache
             physical id: b
             slot: External Cache
             size: 256KiB
             capacity: 256KiB
             capabilities: synchronous external write-back
     *-memory
          description: System Memory
          physical id: 1b
          slot: System board or motherboard
          size: 1011MiB
          capacity: 1GiB
        *-bank
             description: DIMM
             product: ������
             vendor: NoneNoneNoneNone
             physical id: 0
             slot: A0
             size: 512MiB
     *-firmware:1
          description: BIOS
          vendor: NoneNoneNoneNone
          physical id: 1
          size: 826KiB
          capacity: 4224KiB
          capabilities: mca eisa pnp apm upgrade vesa escd bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppytoshiba int13floppy360 int13floppy2880 int14serial int17printer
     *-firmware:2
          description: BIOS
          vendor: NoneNoneNoneNone
          physical id: 2
          size: 822KiB
          capacity: 4224KiB
          capabilities: mca eisa pnp apm upgrade vesa escd bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppytoshiba int13floppy360 int5printscreen int14serial int17printer
     *-firmware:3
          description: BIOS
          vendor: NoneNoneNoneNone
          physical id: 403
          size: 818KiB
          capacity: 4224KiB
          capabilities: mca eisa pnp apm upgrade vesa escd bootselect socketedrom edd int13floppytoshiba int13floppy360 int13floppy2880 int5printscreen int14serial int17printer
     *-firmware:4
          description: BIOS
          physical id: ff00
          size: 916KiB
          capabilities: mca int5printscreen int14serial
     *-pci
          description: Host bridge
          product: VT8375 [KM266/KL266] Host Bridge
          vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
          physical id: 100
          bus info: pci@0000:00:00.0
          version: 00
          width: 32 bits
          clock: 66MHz
          configuration: driver=agpgart-via latency=8
        *-pci
             description: PCI bridge
             product: VT8633 [Apollo Pro266 AGP]
             vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
             physical id: 1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:01.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 66MHz
             capabilities: pci pm normal_decode bus_master cap_list
           *-display UNCLAIMED
                description: VGA compatible controller
                product: VT8375 [ProSavage8 KM266/KL266]
                vendor: S3 Inc.
                physical id: 0
                bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
                version: 00
                width: 32 bits
                clock: 66MHz
                capabilities: pm agp agp-2.0 vga_controller bus_master cap_list
                configuration: latency=32 maxlatency=255 mingnt=4
        *-network:0 UNCLAIMED
             description: Network controller
             product: ACX 111 54Mbps Wireless Interface
             vendor: Texas Instruments
             physical id: 8
             bus info: pci@0000:00:08.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=32
        *-usb:0
             description: USB Controller
             product: VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller
             vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
             physical id: 10
             bus info: pci@0000:00:10.0
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm uhci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=32 module=uhci_hcd
           *-usbhost
                product: UHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 2.6.33.5-pclos1.bfs uhci_hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@2
                logical name: usb2
                version: 2.06
                capabilities: usb-1.10
                configuration: maxpower=0mA slots=2 speed=12.0MB/s
              *-usb UNCLAIMED
                   description: Generic USB device
                   product: Keytronic USB Keyboard
                   vendor: Key Tronic
                   physical id: 2
                   bus info: usb@2:2
                   version: 1.02
                   capabilities: usb-1.10
                   configuration: maxpower=100mA speed=1.5MB/s
        *-usb:1
             description: USB Controller
             product: VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller
             vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
             physical id: 10.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:10.1
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm uhci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=32 module=uhci_hcd
           *-usbhost
                product: UHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 2.6.33.5-pclos1.bfs uhci_hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@3
                logical name: usb3
                version: 2.06
                capabilities: usb-1.10
                configuration: maxpower=0mA slots=2 speed=12.0MB/s
        *-usb:2
             description: USB Controller
             product: VT82xxxxx UHCI USB 1.1 Controller
             vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
             physical id: 10.2
             bus info: pci@0000:00:10.2
             version: 80
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm uhci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=uhci_hcd latency=32 module=uhci_hcd
           *-usbhost
                product: UHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 2.6.33.5-pclos1.bfs uhci_hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@4
                logical name: usb4
                version: 2.06
                capabilities: usb-1.10
                configuration: maxpower=0mA slots=2 speed=12.0MB/s
        *-usb:3
             description: USB Controller
             product: USB 2.0
             vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
             physical id: 10.3
             bus info: pci@0000:00:10.3
             version: 82
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm ehci bus_master cap_list
             configuration: driver=ehci_hcd latency=32 module=ehci_hcd
           *-usbhost
                product: EHCI Host Controller
                vendor: Linux 2.6.33.5-pclos1.bfs ehci_hcd
                physical id: 1
                bus info: usb@1
                logical name: usb1
                version: 2.06
                capabilities: usb-2.00
                configuration: maxpower=0mA slots=6 speed=480.0MB/s
        *-isa
             description: ISA bridge
             product: VT8235 ISA Bridge
             vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
             physical id: 11
             bus info: pci@0000:00:11.0
             version: 00
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: isa pm bus_master cap_list
             configuration: latency=0
        *-ide
             description: IDE interface
             product: VT82C586A/B/VT82C686/A/B/VT823x/A/C PIPC Bus Master IDE
             vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
             physical id: 11.1
             bus info: pci@0000:00:11.1
             logical name: scsi0
             logical name: scsi1
             version: 06
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: ide pm bus_master cap_list emulated
             configuration: driver=pata_via latency=32 module=pata_via
           *-disk
                description: ATA Disk
                product: ST340810A
                vendor: Seagate
                physical id: 0
                bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0
                logical name: /dev/sda
                version: 3.35
                serial: 3FB1FNNA
                size: 37GiB (40GB)
                capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
                configuration: ansiversion=5 signature=55054103
              *-volume:0
                   description: Windows FAT volume
                   vendor: MSWIN4.1
                   physical id: 1
                   bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,1
                   logical name: /dev/sda1
                   version: FAT32
                   serial: 0a56-178e
                   size: 4504MiB
                   capacity: 4510MiB
                   capabilities: primary boot fat initialized
                   configuration: FATs=2 filesystem=fat
              *-volume:1
                   description: Windows NTFS volume
                   physical id: 2
                   bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,2
                   logical name: /dev/sda2
                   version: 3.1
                   serial: a4bf078d-0f7f-4947-bc53-8d0dfe4b91c9
                   size: 26GiB
                   capacity: 26GiB
                   capabilities: primary bootable ntfs initialized
                   configuration: clustersize=4096 created=2001-09-15 00:23:24 filesystem=ntfs label=HP_PAVILION modified_by_chkdsk=true mounted_on_nt4=true resize_log_file=true state=dirty upgrade_on_mount=true
              *-volume:2
                   description: Extended partition
                   physical id: 3
                   bus info: scsi@0:0.0.0,3
                   logical name: /dev/sda3
                   size: 6157MiB
                   capacity: 6157MiB
                   capabilities: primary extended partitioned partitioned:extended
                 *-logicalvolume:0
                      description: Linux filesystem partition
                      physical id: 5
                      logical name: /dev/sda5
                      logical name: /
                      capacity: 3152MiB
                      configuration: mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,barrier=1,data=ordered state=mounted
                 *-logicalvolume:1
                      description: Linux swap / Solaris partition
                      physical id: 6
                      logical name: /dev/sda6
                      capacity: 413MiB
                      capabilities: nofs
                 *-logicalvolume:2
                      description: Linux filesystem partition
                      physical id: 7
                      logical name: /dev/sda7
                      logical name: /home
                      capacity: 2591MiB
                      configuration: mount.fstype=ext4 mount.options=rw,relatime,barrier=1,data=ordered state=mounted
           *-cdrom
                description: SCSI CD-ROM
                product: CD-ROM SC-148C
                vendor: SAMSUNG
                physical id: 1
                bus info: scsi@1:0.0.0
                logical name: /dev/cdrom
                logical name: /dev/dvd
                logical name: /dev/scd0
                logical name: /dev/sr0
                version: B100
                capabilities: removable audio
                configuration: ansiversion=5 status=nodisc
        *-multimedia
             description: Multimedia audio controller
             product: VT8233/A/8235/8237 AC97 Audio Controller
             vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
             physical id: 11.5
             bus info: pci@0000:00:11.5
             version: 50
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm cap_list
             configuration: driver=VIA 82xx Audio latency=0 module=snd_via82xx
        *-network:1
             description: Ethernet interface
             product: VT6102 [Rhine-II]
             vendor: VIA Technologies, Inc.
             physical id: 12
             bus info: pci@0000:00:12.0
             logical name: eth0
             version: 74
             serial: 00:30:18:71:14:70
             size: 100MB/s
             capacity: 100MB/s
             width: 32 bits
             clock: 33MHz
             capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
             configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=via-rhine driverversion=1.4.3 duplex=full ip=192.168.1.2 latency=32 link=yes maxlatency=8 mingnt=3 module=via_rhine multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
[root@localhost ~]#

[muungwana]

i have a wireless network here and pclinuxos tools can not connect to it and it gives the same error msg you are getting. It errors out on both protected and unprotected networks.

I am connecting now using networkmanager. It is another tool used to manager wired and wireless connections and for some reason, it works reliably for me.

network manager is a daemon and desktop environment independent but it is controlled by desktop dependent applications like  "knetworkmanager" in kde4 and "nm-applet" in gnome.

Just looked in the repository and these seem to be an application called "LXNM" for LXDE that managers wireless networks, try to use it and see if it works.

There is another tool in the repository you can use that manage wireless networks called "Wicd" (http://wicd.sourceforge.net/)

try to use wicd and lxnm first to see if you can connect. The problem could be with the default pclinuxos tools and not your card settings.

[mroseberry]

I reinstalled the wireless card using ndiswrapper (since I don't see any other way to do it) and I was then back at being able to see wireless networks but not connect.  I then found LXNM in Synaptic and installed it and after rebooting I started having some success with connecting to the open wireless but I have still never connected to the WPA2 wireless.
I tried to connect to the WPA2 wireless while booted in Windows XP and I ended up downloading and installing the latest driver and wireless utility on the USRobotics website, but on the site it says it's compatible with WPA but does not mention WPA2.  After installing the latest version I was still unable to connect to my WPA2 wireless but had no problem with connecting to the open wireless and using the Windows wireless config tool was locked out at that point but in their infinite stupidity, USRobotics did not include an option to use the Windows wireless tool so I don't know if it would be possible for this card to work in Windows XP on a WPA2 protected wireless network but I don't think so at this point.
As far as LXNM is concerned, I'm not convinced that it's even doing anything because I haven't noticed anything different at all but I have had some more success with connecting to the open wireless than I did before (although I haven't nailed down a pattern of when it does and doesn't work).

How can I be absolutely sure if I am even using LXNM?

[mroseberry]

ive got a pattern with the PC
when i try to connect with the network center it always fails
but at this point it is able to create and it seems maintain a connection on its own
my brother in law was looking at it and he only was able to work with it a couple minutes so i dont think he did much
on the router that was open i enabled WEP and the PC was able to connect after i changed the settings through (oddly enough) the network center
but still it would only connect on its own and never when i told it to
i have successfully connected to WEP and WPA (but not WPA2) protected wireless networks but again, i have never successfully connected to a wireless network when i click connect in the network center (although it works fine when clicking connect on the wired network device)

any thoughts as to why it cant connect through the network center but can connect on its own?
can i replace the network center with something that works?
what do i need to paste to give you any needed info at this point?

i know im really close now but if i dont get any responses soon i will need to give up on getting it to work and go with it as is
all help is greatly appreciated

[djohnston]

Try this, and post results. As user root in a terminal:

wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

If you get "Association request to the driver failed", then do

wpa_supplicant -Dndiswrapper -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf

That should give a clearer picture as to what's going on. Also, have you tried network manager yet, as muungwana suggested?

[mroseberry]

[root@localhost ~]# wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: Invalid argument
CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys
ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Resource temporarily unavailable
Trying to associate with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc (SSID='SCM06' freq=2462 MHz)
l2_packet_receive - recvfrom: Network is down
Authentication with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc timed out.
Trying to associate with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc (SSID='SCM06' freq=2462 MHz)
Authentication with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc timed out.
Trying to associate with 00:16:b6:e3:b0:95 (SSID='linksys' freq=2437 MHz)
Associated with 00:16:b6:e3:b0:95
CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:16:b6:e3:b0:95 completed (auth) [id=1 id_str=]
CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys
^CCTRL-EVENT-TERMINATING - signal 2 received
[root@localhost ~]# wpa_supplicant -Dndiswrapper -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: Invalid argument
CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys
ioctl[SIOCGIWSCAN]: Resource temporarily unavailable
Trying to associate with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc (SSID='SCM06' freq=2462 MHz)
Association request to the driver failed
Associated with 00:16:b6:e3:b0:95
Authentication with 00:16:b6:e3:b0:95 timed out.
Trying to associate with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc (SSID='SCM06' freq=2462 MHz)
Association request to the driver failed
Authentication with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc timed out.
Trying to associate with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc (SSID='SCM06' freq=2462 MHz)
Association request to the driver failed
Authentication with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc timed out.
Trying to associate with 00:16:b6:e3:b0:95 (SSID='linksys' freq=2437 MHz)
Association request to the driver failed
Authentication with 00:16:b6:e3:b0:95 timed out.
Trying to associate with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc (SSID='SCM06' freq=2462 MHz)
Association request to the driver failed
Authentication with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc timed out.
Trying to associate with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc (SSID='SCM06' freq=2462 MHz)
Association request to the driver failed
Authentication with 00:1f:90:bc:ae:fc timed out.
Trying to associate with 00:16:b6:e3:b0:95 (SSID='linksys' freq=2437 MHz)
Association request to the driver failed
Authentication with 00:16:b6:e3:b0:95 timed out.
Trying to associate with 00:16:b6:e3:b0:95 (SSID='linksys' freq=2437 MHz)
Association request to the driver failed
^CCTRL-EVENT-TERMINATING - signal 2 received
Failed to disable WPA in the driver.
[root@localhost ~]#

i dont care about getting WPA2 working anymore because its clearly a waste of time

i installed LXNM and Wicd which were the only things i could install in synaptic

i tried to install networkmanager but it failed
W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.nluug.nl/ibiblio/distributions/pclinuxos/apt/pclinuxos/2010/RPMS.main/libnm_util1-0.7.1-2pclos2010.i586.rpm
  404 Not Found [IP: 192.87.102.43 80]


W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.nluug.nl/ibiblio/distributions/pclinuxos/apt/pclinuxos/2010/RPMS.main/libnm_glib0-0.7.1-2pclos2010.i586.rpm
  404 Not Found [IP: 192.87.102.43 80]


W: Failed to fetch http://ftp.nluug.nl/ibiblio/distributions/pclinuxos/apt/pclinuxos/2010/RPMS.main/networkmanager-0.7.1-2pclos2010.i586.rpm
  404 Not Found [IP: 192.87.102.43 80]

[mroseberry]

I don't know why for sure but the wireless is working just fine now (at least it is with the open network it is connecting to) and that includes being able to connect with the default Network Center as well as the Wicd Network Manager that I installed.

After I installed Wicd and rebooted I was still unable to connect by clicking connect in either application, but after another restart without changing anything at all it just started working like I would expect it to on its own.

The owner does not want to have his wireless encrypted (despite my warnings) so as far as I can tell, everything is good now.

Thank you everybody for all your help.

[djohnston]

Hmmm. You got Invalid argument with both drivers. It appears that your wireless card doesn't support WPA2 encryption, as shown by the "ioctl[SIOCSIWPMKSA]: Invalid argument" reply, even though the router does. Either that, or the wireless card just isn't handshaking properly with the router. In any case, I'm glad you got it working. Solving wireless issues can be very tough.

Please edit the title of your post and mark it as SOLVED.