Alfa AWUS036H + Backtrack 4 (Need help with drivers)

[j0kerm4n]

I just installed Backtrack 4 to my HDD and I am trying to configure the latest driver/patch for my Alfa AWUS036H network device.

I know the r8187 driver is already installed, but I cannot find rtl8187. Also, when I try to configure the latest driver to install it, running: ./makedrv I get a bunch of errors. Can I get some help with this?

I would like to utilize my 9dbi antenna and increase the power. How can I best do this? I have been searching for guides, but everything is seems so outdated.

Please see the attached .txt file for the printout.

Thanks in advance!

[cdagger]

Have you tried 'iwconfig' to see if the AWUS shows up? I just did the same install and mine worked right away.

The r8187 driver should work and comes already patched for packet injection with Backtrack 4. The rtl8187 driver should also work, but when both are installed, one or both will break.

FYI, there are two main drivers for this adapter, the mac80211 (rtl8187) version and the ieee80211 (r8187) version.

Here's some more info; has explanation of differences between two types of drivers, how to blacklist unused driver etc
r8187 [Aircrack-ng]

But ideally, it should be showing up in iwconfig straight away when you plug it in.

[Snayler]

All the drivers come pre-installed with BT so you won't need to install anything. Both r8187 and rtl8187 are correctly installed.

[j0kerm4n]

Thanks for the replies!

Okay, I NOW the rtl8187 driver shows up with ifconfig and NOT r8187.

I reinstalled the bt4-r2.iso to my USB drive and when I boot to it I can use the rtl8187 driver be default.

I am having problems now trying to associate to WEP APs. I get the repetitive response:

"Sending Authentication Request (Open System) [ACK]"

Any ideas on how to fix? I was able to crack my WEP router before with the r8187 driver. How can I switch back to r8187?

Thanks in advance!

[5cardcharlie]

Just to chime in and let you know how to use full power with r8187 (but won't work with rtl8187):

iwpriv wlan0 highpower 1
iwconfig wlan0 txpower 30

This should help when trying to fakeauth with a distant router, but keep in mind that with a minority of wep routers fakeauth fails.

[skor78]

How can I switch back to r8187?

All you need was to google and read half a dozen threads to get this.. But hey! It's new years eve and i'm feeling unusually kind..

#rmmod rtl8187
#modprobe r8187

Please keep in mind no one in this forum support spoon feeding, and if you can't solve such basic things on your own you'll have a hard time evolving to bigger and better things on BT... Like i've said before, all you needed was to read half a dozen threads (or 1 or 2 if you went directly to aircrack forums) to understand rtl8187 is the driver to connect to the network, and r8187 is the driver to monitor the networks...

Happy New Year!!

[j0kerm4n]

Just to chime in and let you know how to use full power with r8187 (but won't work with rtl8187):

iwpriv wlan0 highpower 1
iwconfig wlan0 txpower 30

This should help when trying to fakeauth with a distant router, but keep in mind that with a minority of wep routers fakeauth fails.

Thanks for this!!

[j0kerm4n]

All you need was to google and read half a dozen threads to get this.. But hey! It's new years eve and i'm feeling unusually kind..


Please keep in mind no one in this forum support spoon feeding, and if you can't solve such basic things on your own you'll have a hard time evolving to bigger and better things on BT... Like i've said before, all you needed was to read half a dozen threads (or 1 or 2 if you went directly to aircrack forums) to understand rtl8187 is the driver to connect to the network, and r8187 is the driver to monitor the networks...

Happy New Year!!

Thanks for your kindness!

Actually, the only reason I posted this question was because I knew there was a problem. the r8187 driver was corrupted somehow. I recreated the live USB and all works well.

That only shows my stupidity in running as root. LOL

Thanks again!

[musket33]

First there is no way that I can prove that the power on the AWUS036H is actually set at 30. However I run the following set of commands in a shell script I placed in the /user/bin of a stock Backtrack 4 R2 program. After running this script I type the command iwconfig and the tx power is set to 30, the mac has been changed and airodump starts.


#!/bin/bash
iw reg set BO
iwconfig wlan0 txpower 30
iwconfig wlan0 rate 1M
macchanger -m 00:11:22:33:44:66 wlan0
airmon-ng start wlan0
airodump-ng wlan0

You can skip the first command line #!/bin/bash and type these commands by hand in a terminal window or you can save this shell script(ie bat file in windows) with kate as anyname.sh in the /user/bin/ and then type anyname.sh in a terminal window and your backtrack is up and running in moniter mode. I named my script startwifi.sh but as mentioned just pick a name that works for you and use that name to start the script running from a terminal window. Saves alot of time consuming startup.

If your wifi interface is not wlan0 you will have to change the wlan0 to the name assigned.

[SICARII]

Thanks for your kindness!

Actually, the only reason I posted this question was because I knew there was a problem. the r8187 driver was corrupted somehow. I recreated the live USB and all works well.

That only shows my stupidity in running as root. LOL

Thanks again!

j0kerm4n...what do you mean by this? I just created my BT4r2 USB and I use it as root and I am having some issues with these drivers on my AWUS360H, also. How did changing your user account fix this and did you create another user account with the same root level rights? Thanks in advance!! Sicarri

Edit:

j0kerm4n: how was logging in as root affecting you? did you fix it by logging in as a different user? did you create a new user with root level privileges? Thanks...Sicarri