First Time WiFi Setup

[Sheldoore]

Hello everyone, this is my first time using BackTrack (I primarily use Windows and Ubuntu). So, when I got in everything seemed to be going fine, but then I tried to connect to the Internet and it didn't work. After doing some googling, apparently Wicd Network Manager is how you are able to connect to the internet. When I start Wicd, however, all it says is: No wireless networks found. So, I'm not sure what to do from here because all the other forums talk about people who have been using BackTrack and it just stopped working and there is nothing for first time setup. I've gone through tons of guides and done stuff with ifconfig, wlan0, and a bunch of other stuff so a step-by-step guide would be really helpful. A little information to help you help me:
My wireless network does work I use it all the time on my Windows
Currently, I am dual-booting, NOT USING VM
The computer works and there is nothing wrong with the drivers
I hope you guys can help and thanks in advance!

[bolexxx]

all this but you didn't even mention which wireless card you have?
please include all the important information when asking questions, as instructed in the sticky's.

[maverik35]

Excellent choice (Not using VM or USB).

Please, be more specifis as to the kind of wifi card you are using. Post the output of:
lspci | grep -i network (this will tell you the kind of wifi card you have installed)
Here is my output as example:
root@wheezy-64# lspci | grep -i network
0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection (rev 02)

Post the ouput of :
iwconfig (See if interface is being seen by system, and post mode, access point, etc).
Here is my output:
root@wheezy-64# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11abg ESSID:"MySSID"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Link Quality=41/70 Signal level=-69 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:1 Invalid misc:123 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

Depending on the type of chipset, you can see the driver if supported by chipset: Install ethtool, look for it using the aptitude search ethtool, if in repos, then just do: ----> aptitude install ethtool
Then execute it: ethtool -i "your iface"

Here is a post of mine:
root@wheezy-64:# ethtool -i wlan0
driver: iwl3945
version: 3.2.0-2-amd64
firmware-version: 15.32.2.9
bus-info: 0000:0c:00.0
supports-statistics: no
supports-test: no
supports-eeprom-access: no
supports-register-dump: no

Also can see the driver: type lsmod (you can filter by driver name depending on the chipset, using | grep -i "driver")

First you have to see what is going on in your system, with your card.
Luck.

[Sheldoore]

Hey guys thanks a bunch for the help I didn't even think about the Wifi card.

So:
root@bt:~# lspci|grep -i network
04:02.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)

root@bt:~# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.
eth0 no wireless extensions.
irda0 no wireless extensions.

FYI that is what appears as soon as I boot BackTrack 5 before loading Wicd or messing with anything.
Also, my Dad is in IT and he thinks the problem is probably that because my computer is old (Lenovo Thinkpad T43) BackTrack does not have its drivers pre-installed (just figured out sound doesn't work either) and that I will need to download them myself. However, as I am new I don't know where to go because of course they aren't on IBM's website.

Thanks a bunch for your help and hopefully you can fix the problem

[BBaumer]

I'm having similar issues. I previously had WinXP installed and was able to connect via WiFi. Here are the results for my system as per above:

root@bt:~# lspci | grep -i network
02:03.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)

root@bt:~# iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.


I'm running BT 5 R2 on a Dell Latitude D410.

[Sheldoore]

So I'm working with my Dad to fix this problem and something weird happened. First of all, the problem appears to be that you need to install drivers for linux. Here is a nice guide I found online:

Drivers are an integral part of your computer. They are a type of software that allows your
operating system to understand your hardware. If you're using the Linux operating system, you'll
quickly find that not a lot of devices that were meant for Windows have Linux device drivers.
You can, however, quickly convert a Windows driver to Linux by installing a program called
NDISwrapper on your computer.

Step 1

Click "System," then click "Administration."

Step 2

Click "Synaptic Package Manager." This will open a utility that is built into Linux that is
designed to allow you to download and add software to your machine. This is similar to the
way "Add/Remove Programs" works in Windows.

Step 3

Type "ndiswrapper-utils" into the "Search" box. A listing of the same name will appear. Check
the box next to it. Next, type "ndisgtk" into the "Search" box. A listing of the same name will
appear. Check the box next to it.

Step 4

Click "Apply." Both components of the NDISwrapper utility will now install themselves onto
your Linux computer. Now, when you try to install a Windows driver on your computer, it will
automatically be converted to a Linux-compatible equivalent.

So, once you have that it makes it a lot easier to install these drivers onto linux. You'll have to navigate through your C drive to find the Windows versions and then try to convert them to linux drivers. The weird thing that happens is for me (and probably you too because we have the same wireless driver) is when I install the Wireless driver, which appears to be 7awc24ww, it seems like it's working, but it's actually not. Instead, I noticed the sound started working. So, we may have to create a new forum to try and determine which driver is the Wireless driver.

[maverik35]

Well, if you want the linux driver, just install the firware..I have a Intel 2200 as well, working like a charm in all my 2 laptops with Debian and backtrack 5.

Download it from here: http://mmc.geofisica.unam.mx/debian/...mware-nonfree/

Look for the file: firmware-ipw2x00_0.35_all.deb (18-Jan-2012 22:32 511K). Is the latest. Also you have a bunch of firmwares for others cards.

Just do: dpkg -i firmware-ipw2x00_0.35_all.deb

The driver is for both ipw2100 and 2200.

ipw = Intel Pro Wireless

Luck.

[BBaumer]

Thanks maverik35. I'll give this a go. Where should I save the firemware file to so the "dpkg....." command will work properly?

[maverik35]

Anywhere..Desktop, /root, or create a folder and download it there, then just move to the place you downloaded it and run the dpkg -i "firmware......"

Luck...

[BBaumer]

Thanks. This solved my problem.