wireless doesnt work at boot, only when started manually

JumboAg

I'm stumped. I cannot get my laptop to automatically bring up wireless connectivity with wpa_supplicant during boot. I know I have the wpa_supplicant configuration stuff set up correctly because it works like a champ if I bring it up manually.

The error I get (courtesy of /var/log/messages) : Mar 3 17:03:28 newtardis rc-scripts: Failed to configure eth1 in the background

Here's what DOES work if I remove the wireless NIC stuff from /etc/init.d so it doesnt try to start:
I'm actually running it in a shell script so I dont have to type it every time, but here's the script contents:

#!/bin/sh
wpa_supplicant -Dwext -ieth1 -B -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf &
dhcpcd eth1

(not sure if its relevant, but I AM using ifplug to down/up my eth0 automatically when there's no cable plugged into it. It appears to be working fine.)

Here's what I'm trying to do for auto-starting wireless:
ln -s /etc/init.d/net.lo /etc/init.d/net.eth1 (to create the network interface for the wireless.)

Here's what is in /etc/conf.d/net:

config_eth0=( "dhcp" )
dhcp_eth0="nontp nonis -t 10"

modules=( "wpa_supplicant" )
wpa_supplicant_eth1="-Dwext -ieth1 -d -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf"
config_eth1=( "dhcp" )
dhcp_eth1="nontp nonis"
wpa_timeout_eth1=60

Here's my run level info showing that both eth0 and 1 are in the default level: bootmisc | boot
checkfs | boot
checkroot | boot
clock | boot
consolefont | boot
hibernate-cleanup | boot
hostname | boot
keymaps | boot
local | default nonetwork
localmount | boot
modules | boot
net.eth0 | default
net.eth1 | default
net.lo | boot
netmount | default
pcmcia | default
rmnologin | boot
syslog-ng | default
urandom | boot
vixie-cron | default
vmware | default

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. I'm not dead in the water since I can start it up manually, but it is annoying me...

crush20 · n00b Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

Hi,

I have the same problem and no solution yet. Hope someone can help us!

UberLord · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 9:30 am Post subject:

Why do you set wpa_timeout?
You only need to set that if you absolutely have to see it working in the foreground which 99% of people don't want or need.
_________________
Use dhcpcd for all your automated network configuration needs
Use dhcpcd-ui (GTK+/Qt) as your System Tray Network tool

crush20 · n00b Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

Hi,

first thank you for the answer. Even without wpa_timeout the problem is still there. Any other solutions?

UberLord · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 10:47 am Post subject:

The only problem I see is from the OP

crush20 · n00b Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

starting in foreground, the -w option and without wpa_timeout it now seems to work. Here is my /etc/conf.d/net:

UberLord · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 11:27 am Post subject:

crush20 · n00b Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

y that?

UberLord · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 12:39 pm Post subject:

Why?

Stable wpa_supplicant assumes -Dwext by default
We supply -c/etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf -ieth1 ourselves
-w isn't needed as the interface will already exist by this point.
_________________
Use dhcpcd for all your automated network configuration needs
Use dhcpcd-ui (GTK+/Qt) as your System Tray Network tool

crush20 · n00b Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

hmm ok I will try that

crush20 · n00b Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

No, it doesn't work without the wpa_supplicant_eth1= line! I have to set the -w option!

UberLord · Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:22 pm Post subject:

Is that a pcmcia card or do you have coldplug disabled?
_________________
Use dhcpcd for all your automated network configuration needs
Use dhcpcd-ui (GTK+/Qt) as your System Tray Network tool

crush20 · n00b Joined: 15 Sep 2005 Posts: 14

no pcmcia card, but coldplug is disabled because of an earlier emerge update world, where it has blocked another package.

JumboAg · Posted: Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:05 pm Post subject:

For what its worth, adding the "-w" option is what fixed it for me.