[Debian-eeepc-devel] no WEP with rt2860

[Phil Endecott]

Hi Pierre,

Pierre Meurisse wrote:
> I can't get a wifi WEP encrypted connection with my eeepc 1000H.

> allow hotplug ra0
> auto ra0
> iface ra0 inet dhcp
>         wireless-essid _my_essid_
>         wireless-key _my_key_

This doesn't work because ifup runs the iwconfig commands before 
bringing the interface up, and the rt2860 module doesn't let you set 
the parameters until after it is up.

> This works with 3 other machines.

Yes.  Most wireless modules are happy to have the parameters set before 
the interface is up.  The rt2860 module is broken in this respect, but 
I believe that some other wireless drivers are broken in the same way.  
It would be great if ifup could be configured to run the iwconfig 
commands after bringing up the interface.

> I copied RT2860STA.dat from /usr/share/doc/rt2860-modules-2.6.26-1-686/examples/RT2860STA.dat
> into /etc/Wireless/RT2860STA/ and put my essid and key to proper (I think) place.

This is the method that works for me.  But there may be other 
parameters in that file that you need to set.    For example:

AuthMode=WEPAUTO
EncrypType=WEP

> With WPA encryption, it worsk all right.

I believe that wpa_suplicant can be used for WEP connections too.  You 
could try that.

Good luck.

Phil.