zd1211rw seeing but not connecting

[rockhopper]

Technically I am still a newbie.. but have installed bt3 to hdd with dual boot xp with persistant changes so am a fast learner
After numerous different wl adapters (most got wet when it rained!!) I now have a Planet wl-u356a with zydas chipset.
Initially it would not work but after following many words of wisdom from many contributers on this forumI got the thing to partially work??!!!
I have installed zd1211rw drivers(although i read it should be already included in kernel 2.6.21.5 and copied firmware to /lib/firmware/zd1211.
Now only needs to ifconfig eth1 up after boot and it seemed to work
I then changed /usr/local/etc/kismet.conf accordingly and kismet works...?
Found my AP and client mac's
Closed Kismet
iwconfig eth1 mode managed
start wireless assistant to connect to AP
wireless assistant detects AP's I try to connect but connection failure every time. Signal strength 30 according to kismet.

Same location win xp does connect? so i don't believe it to be a signal issue

I Borrowed a smc usb ez connect wlan adapter from a mate...ironically the same chipset... it does exactly the same thing ...?sees but wont connect.

OK Have I forgotten to config something?

Previously a rt2500 did not have any og these problems (shame about the rain).

I still have not yet updated my kernel. Maybe this will be my next step..unless one of you guys can help me.

Any help in giving me some tips to trace the problem would be greatly appreciated.

lsmod reports;
bt zdsta # lsmod
Module Size Used by
arc4 5888 0
ecb 6656 0
ieee80211_crypt_wep 8064 0
zd1211b 251064 0
zd1211rw 48772 0
ieee80211softmac 29952 1 zd1211rw
ieee80211 33992 2 zd1211rw,ieee80211softmac
ieee80211_crypt 8576 2 ieee80211_crypt_wep,ieee80211
radeon 125472 2
drm 74516 3 radeon
snd_seq_dummy 6660 0
snd_seq_oss 32768 0
snd_seq_midi_event 10112 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 49872 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 10508 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 42656 0
snd_mixer_oss 17920 1 snd_pcm_oss
capability 7304 0
commoncap 9344 1 capability
fuse 41876 2
lp 13864 0
parport_pc 27940 0
parport 34888 2 lp,parport_pc
pcspkr 6400 0
psmouse 38792 0
pcmcia 35244 0
serio_raw 9220 0
yenta_socket 27276 2
tg3 107396 0
rsrc_nonstatic 14848 1 yenta_socket
pcmcia_core 36628 3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
snd_intel8x0 32412 0
snd_ac97_codec 100516 1 snd_intel8x0
ac97_bus 6016 1 snd_ac97_codec
snd_pcm 71428 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec
snd_timer 22276 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
snd 46692 9 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd _mixer_oss,snd_intel8x0,snd_ac97_codec,snd_pcm,snd _timer
intel_agp 25500 1
soundcore 9824 1 snd
iTCO_wdt 12964 0
iTCO_vendor_support 7172 1 iTCO_wdt
agpgart 31304 2 drm,intel_agp
i2c_i801 11536 0
snd_page_alloc 11400 2 snd_intel8x0,snd_pcm
shpchp 33300 0
ata_generic 9220 0
evdev 12032 4
aufs 106372 1
squashfs 48388 16
sqlzma 6916 1 squashfs
unlzma 8576 1 sqlzma

lsusb reports
Bus 1 Device 2: ID 083a:4505 Accton Technology Corp. SMCWUSB-G
Bus 1 Device 1: ID 0000:0000
Bus 4 Device 1: ID 0000:0000
Bus 3 Device 1: ID 0000:0000
Bus 2 Device 1: ID 0000:0000

ifconfig reports
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:11:85:85:2E:C0
inet addr:192.168.1.4 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:8347 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:1
TX packets:8144 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:4433739 (4.2 MiB) TX bytes:1920002 (1.8 MiB)
Interrupt:11

eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:13:F7:2D:B8:B0
inet addr:192.168.0.199 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
UP BROADCAST NOTRAILERS PROMISC MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:5715 errors:114552 dropped:53 overruns:0 frame:114498
TX packets:471 errors:32 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:679409 (663.4 KiB) TX bytes:26832 (26.2 KiB)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:1106 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1106 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:228677 (223.3 KiB) TX bytes:228677 (223.3 KiB)
iwconfig reports
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 IEEE 802.11b/g ESSIDff/any Nickname:"zd1211"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: Invalid
Bit Rate=1 Mb/s
Encryption keyff
Link Quality=9/100 Signal level=6/100
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0


Thanks in advance

[.lonewolf]

Wireless Assistant sucks in any body's opinion. You should use command line.

[killadaninja]

put your card in master mode make sure its up first
ifconfig adadpter up
ifconfig adapter mode master
-ninja

[level]

On some cards when you come out of monitor mode if downs the interface.

Try bringing the interface up again before using the wireless assistant.

[rockhopper]

Thanks for your efforts guys.
I found the soloution was to assign an IP address to my adapter.. hey presto I can now connect.
Although I agree with your comment about wlan assistant as mine crashes frequently
Would you be kind enough to offer command line alternatives?
Am familiure with iwevent iwlist

Thanks to everyone

[killadaninja]

Thanks for your efforts guys.
I found the soloution was to assign an IP address to my adapter.. hey presto I can now connect.
Although I agree with your comment about wlan assistant as mine crashes frequently
Would you be kind enough to offer command line alternatives?
Am familiure with iwevent iwlist

Thanks to everyone

i believe the crash of the wireless assistant is usually due to too many processes on the card e.g using eteercap airodump if your using wireless assitant just to connect i dont think youll have a problem