iwl3945 fails to connect to MR814 access point

Solution was provided, marking as confirmed.

Thanks for posting the problem and a possible soultion.

To help with debugging you could do the following:

A good testcase is a step by step instruction to reproduce your bug starting with driver unloaded and NetworkManager stopped.

Kill NetworkManager

  sudo killall NetworkManager

To unload your driver modprobe -r DRIVER .

Then load the driver and start NetworkManager:

  sudo NetworkManager

Capture Log

In order to understand whats going on and track down issues, its good to have a full log. To do so, capture the complete test case and submit the whole file (don't cut out what you think is important). Please add markers in the log file so the bug triager can easily see what actions the user takes at what point of time (this isn't essential, but helps a lot).

To capture the syslog, do:

 tail -n0 -f /var/log/syslog > /tmp/syslog

and to stop capturing do Ctrl-C (you will have to type your other commands in an other window or tab)

Adding markers is just like adding new lines with an editor that show the triager what happened at what point of time.

Example marker:

Sep 6 08:12:30 ...

[ clicked on wireless network 'ubuntu']
Sep 6 08:12:31 ...
...

Debugging Crashes

To install debug symbols, add the following line to your /etc/apt/sources.list

deb http://ddebs.ubuntu.com/~ubuntu-archive/ddebs/ gutsy main universe

Then install the appropriate dbgsym packages:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install network-manager-dbgsym libnm-util0-dbgsym libnm-glib0-dbgsym libglib2.0-0-dbgsym

Then restart NetworkManager:

sudo /etc/dbus-1/event.d/25NetworkManager restart

Attach the debugger to the pid of NetworkManager

sudo gdb /usr/bin/NetworkManager $(pidof NetworkManager)
...
(gdb) continue

Once it crashes get a backtrace

(gdb) bt
...
(gdb) bt full
...
(gdb) thread apply all bt full
...

and attach the backtrace above together with your /var/log/syslog to the bug.
Driver Logs

When a bug appears to be driver related or you are asked by a bug triager to submit a driver enabled log, you need to enable driver logging right before you start to capture your testcase. How to do that depends on the driver you use and whether it has been with compiled with debug support.

I can confirm with linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24-7-generic using iwl3945 : I can barely see any APs (from 0 to 1 when I usually see around 10) and trying to associate fails.

The bug I submitted is about the same, only that I don't have this specific router/access point. This is the bug report I submitted and marked as a duplicate of this one: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24/+bug/205100

I do wonder how to compile a newer version of the iwlwifi driver, as I tried it using the howto on the site, but it failed every time. If I know how to compile it properly, I can update the modules myself. _Tom_, can you provide some info about how you compiled the driver via email?

@Sasquatch: You have to use the sources from compat-wireless( http://linuxwireless.org/en/users/Download ) -> extract, make, sudo make install
Hope this helps!

@_tom_: Great, it works now. I used to try to compile the one from intellinuxwireless.org, the original project site. That gave me some problems. Now I can finally have wifi in all kernels that I want, including the Gutsy kernel (2.6.22-14, the iwl module didn't work there too).

After my upgrade to Hardy, I was able to use my iwl3945 if I booted from the 2.6.22-14 kernel with the ipw3945 driver, but in 2.6.24-12 I was able to list the available access points but connecting to them failed. Compiling the latest driver from linuxwireless.org as described above works for me under 2.6.24-14.

For what it's worth, it looks like I'm seeing the same problem that Seth de I'Isle reports.
I upgraded to Hardy, and under 2.6.24-12 I have been completely unable to use my wireless.
iwconfig accurately lists wlan 0 as a wireless extension (and wmaster0 with NO wireless extension), and wicd sniffs out the local available wireless networks BUT cannot connect.

I've tried a variety of fixes I've seen, including:
1. building the latest compat-wireless driver (1.2.26k)
2. switching to 'wicd' from knetworkmanager/network manager
3. removing the /etc/udev/rules/70-persistent-net.rules or commenting out the 3945 line.

Nothing works. Regardless of how I comment or modify #3, the file is recreated with a new
3945 line. The newer driver seemed to have zero effect.

In all cases, I NEVER see my wireless LED indicator come on, ever. There is no indication of
trouble from /var/log/messages or dmesg.

I have had zero success in getting wireless to work. I'll try anything at this point.

I was thinking about this bug today and I remembered a problem I had with Gutsy at first. Basically, my laptop a Dell E1505 has a kill switch for the wireless and bluetooth. It can be setup in the BIOS.

Anyways, when I first installed Gutsy I could not get my wireless light to come on. After much tinkering I went into the BIOS and disabled the kill switch so my Wireless was always on. Then Gutsy wireless worked and I could connect to the web.

Interestingly I later turned the kill switch back on and now everything magically works. This was all using the 3945 driver when upgrading from Feisty to Gutsy.

I don't have a hardy system to test this on as I only have this one laptop and I can't afford to have any crashes at the moment.

Perhaps you could try something similar to get your wireless light to come on?

I would just like to confirm this bug. I couldn't connect to my netgear router on hardy till I compiled the new compat-wireless drivers, and now everything's fine.

Installing the Backport Modules will give a newer module for iwlwifi, version 1.2.25. That one works too.

As mentioned in the above comment the linux-backports-modules package should contain the newer 1.2.26k version for the iwl3945 driver.