Thanks to this forum, I got my wireless networking going with the following setup;

Mandrake 10.0 (2.6.3 kernel)
Netgear WG511 wireless PC card

It's working really well, but I'd prefer to have WEP turned on. I've played with the IWCONFIG command but haven't been able to get it going.

Has anyone out there used WEP with this particular card on Mandrake?

Thanks.

Set up your router with the encryption key and then edit /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 to include:

WIRELESS_ENC_KEY=your wireless encryption key

Then do a

service network restart

It can also be done by:

iwconfig eth0 key <<your wireless encryption key>>

Ok, here's the saga.

1) I edited /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 (it's eth1 on my notebook), and put the key under WIRELESS_ENC_KEY.

2) Then I ran 'service network restart', and got this;

Shutting down interface eth0: [ OK ]
Shutting down interface eth1: [ OK ]
Shutting down loopback interface: [ OK ]
Setting network parameters: [ OK ]
Bringing up loopback interface: [ OK ]
Bringing up interface eth0: [FAILED]
Bringing up interface eth1: [FAILED]


...but this isn't unusual. ETH0 always fails (because it isn't plugged in), and ETH1 (my wireless) always fails at bootup. A few seconds after it fails, however, the green light on the card comes on, and it works fine. I know it's ETH1 that I'm using, because it is the only one that picks up an IP address (according to ifconfig).

Is this weird? This is my first Linux machine, so I don't know.

Anyway...

3) I ran 'ifup eth1', and it said 'Determining IP information for eth1...' for ages, then failed.

4) I turned WEP *off* on the router, and brought eth1 back up with 'ifup eth1' no problem. But I'd forgotten to clear the WIRELESS_ENC_KEY entry from the config file!

I don't know if this is unusual at all, if anyone can shed light on the subject I'd be most grateful.

Don't you mean ifconfig eth0 key <<your wireless encryption key>>

Sorry if you were right but I thought the ipconfig commands for linux were ifconfig.

And best of luck with your problem,
SwiftDeath

P.S. I'll probably be using this post for reference in the future when I want to get wireless on my dad's laptop once I convince him to allow me to put some linux power on it.

iwconfig is similar to ifconfig, but is dedicated to the wireless interfaces.

In /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 make sure there are absolutely *no* quotation marks in there. If there are, it will be screwy.
Other things to check:
Don't put the hyphens in the key in /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 or in the iwconfig command, but you will see the hyphens when you do
iwconfig

Make sure you have the correct values/variables like so in there, also:

MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=yes
WIRELESS_MODE=Auto
WIRELESS_ESSID=your wireless essid

It is quite possible, also, that the driver cannot handle as high an encryption as you are attempting. Try lowering the encryption key and see what happens if none of the above works.

Is it possible that /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth1 is NOT the file that controls the configuration of my wireless card?

Steve, I have changed that file as per your instructions, and still no luck. If I leave the WEP key in the file, I can still connect to the wireless router with WEP turned off!

Might the configuration lie somewhere else? Where are changes made when I run IWCONFIG?