n900 WIFI woes
 

I just got my n900. I'm using it without a SIM card or data plan.

In order to get the app manager working, I need to get some sort of network connectivity, so I'm trying to get the WIFI working.

I'm testing it with a wireless router at work, and I've set it up with the correct WEP password. I assume the little radio icon I see at the top of the screen indicates that I'm connected to the router and the signal strength is good.

However, when I open the web browser I can't load any websites. The error message I see in the browser seems to indicate that I have no DNS.


How can I diagnose this further?


What I've tried so far:

I tried to ping the router from the xterm, but apparently "ping" requires root privilages and according to the maemo wiki, I need to install something via the app manager before I can log in as root (with no WIFI I can't use the app manager).

I tried "ifconfig" and "ipconfig", but neither seem to be installed.

The router is fine. My coworker is using his iPhone to browse the web on the same router right now.

I'm pretty sure the WEP password I entered was correct, but I'm not sure where to go to check for error messages.

Right now, I'm not certain whether my n900 is defective or whether I've configured something wrong. Any suggestions?

Re: n900 WIFI woes
 

Does your router use MAC address filtering?

Re: n900 WIFI woes
 

ifconfig is installed in /sbin/ifconfig, either launch it as root or launch it with full path

Re: n900 WIFI woes
 

No. We installed the router specifically to test the n900 and we didn't use any funky settings.

It's using ad-hoc networking and WEP security.

Are there any tools I can use to get more information (is there a command that tells me my IP address? That would at least tell me if DHCP was working)

Re: n900 WIFI woes
 

If you've the latest firmware PR 1.1.1, you can install the following deb file from the file manager for root access - http://maemo.org/packages/package_in...el/rootsh/1.5/

Once the rootsh is installed, "sudo gainroot" command gives you root access (for ping etc)

Re: n900 WIFI woes
 

I'll try it with the full path.

By the way, how can I log in as root if I don't have access to the application manager? According to http://wiki.maemo.org/Root_access I either need to install rootsh or sudser before I can log in as root. Is there any other way?

Re: n900 WIFI woes
 

If you've updated your N900 to PR 1.1.1 firmware, you can just open the downloaded .deb file in the file manager and install it from there

Re: n900 WIFI woes
 

Thank you kindly. I'm sure this is a noob question, but how can I tell what firmware version I'm running?

Regarding my wifi,

ifconfig -a lists two wireless devices "wlan0" and "wlan0:1". The former one has no IP address and the latter one has an IP address starting with 169.254.x.x. I believe this means that it's my WIFI adapter and that it was unable to obtain an IP address from the DHCP server.

What could cause this? Is there a command that can verify my signal strength to the router and test whether authentication has succeeded?

Re: n900 WIFI woes
 

Do not use ad-hoc networking on the router, that's for connecting two computers together. Set the router as base/infrastructure or whatever the other option is. I'm pretty sure that will solve your problem.

Re: n900 WIFI woes
 

Menu->Settings -> About Product. What does the version say ?

if it is 2009.42-11, that's the original firmware. There have been 3 firmware upgrades since the N900 launch. The current version PR 1.1.1 is 2010.02-8.

Why are you using ad-hoc with a router, shouldn't it be in infrastructure mode ?