Howto get Madwifi-ng drivers to work properly!

[duxzero]

JUST TO MAKE IT CLEAR, THESE DRIVERS DO NOT NEED PATCHING FOR MONITOR MODE!!

Oki.. I just got an Atheros a/b/g PCMCIA card (Phillips SNN6500 [Atheros 5212 I assume]), and struggeled a little getting it to work properly. Old drivers didn't work, so I grabbed the latest madwifi-ng ("-ng" = totally new code) CVS from madwifi.org, it was a little hard to find good information about usage (especially how to set it to monitor mode), so here is a short tutorial I made.

First, in a console, enter the dir you want to install the sources (will create a directory called madwifi-ng in the dir you're standing in when using the line below).

Type:

svn checkout http://svn.madwifi.org/trunk madwifi-ng

or without svn, download the latest archive from

http://snapshots.madwifi.org/madwifi-ng/

..and extract:

tar xzvf madwifi-ng-rxxxx-xxxxxxxx.tar.gz

(replace x'es with correct rev/date from the file downloaded, duh!)

After completon, cd to madwifi-ng (or whatever it is called after extraction).

Type:

make && make install

If you have ath0 device allready installed, just type:

rmmod -w ath_pci.ko

then type:

modprobe ath_pci (or enter the ath directory and type insmod ath_pci.ko).

now, you should have a wifi0 device when you check with ifconfig.. but that's not nearly enough.. to get ath0 up you must type this:

wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta

NB! If you get an error here saying:

wlanconfig: ioctl: Invalid argument

You have ath0 up allready, but to make it work right (just to be sure) do this:

wlanconfig ath0 destroy

and then (again, as above):

wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta

now it will work without errors messages.

Next step is to set essid, key and shit.. for open WLAN, just use:

iwconfig ath0 essid <your essid>

ifconfig ath0 up

now ath0 is up and running in station mode (also known as managed).

That's it, you now should have your Atheros based card working with the latest madwifi-ng drivers... now, more interresting.. how do we set this card in monitor mode? ath0raw IS NO LONGER USED (even if the readme says so, old info that will confuse people)! Just to make that clear.


Switching to monitor mode:

wlanconfig ath0 destroy

wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode monitor

Explaination:

wifi0 is a "virtual device", and you can sort of link athX devices to this, even if you just have one card. Ie., instead of using "destroy" on ath0 above, you could have set the monitor mode up with ath1 and use that instead, the command would then be:

wlanconfig ath1 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode monitor

That's it.. have fun with madwifi-ng, DuxZ!

[BlackNinja]

Works great!...except for the whole injection thing...

[duxzero]

Didn't get to test the injection first.. bah.. heh.. anyway, it will hopefully be sorted in upcomming releases I assume (defenitly hope so).

[enderst]

the only problem i've run into with the ng driver is kismet support, no worky

[kimbell]

Originally Posted by enderst

the only problem i've run into with the ng driver is kismet support, no worky

This version of kismet does not support madwifi-ng...It is only supported by going to the download page and building via subversion.
http://www.kismetwireless.net/blog/i...1134328776.txt

[kirmet]

hi there
i read throught your post, the man pages, the madwifi side and the slackware side and still have no idea what the hell could be the problem here ... (except, perhaps, for some driver incompatibility)

#make sniplet removed due to uber long text message

before i did the make command i shut down every interface for testing porpuses.

root@slax:~/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212# make install
sh scripts/find-madwifi-modules.sh /lib/modules/2.6.12.2
for i in ./ath_hal ./net80211 ath_rate/sample ./ath; do \
        make -C $i install || exit 1; \
done
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212/ath_hal'
test -d //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net || mkdir -p //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net
strip -S ath_hal.ko
cp ath_hal.ko //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212/ath_hal'
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212/net80211'
test -d //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net || mkdir -p //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net
for i in wlan.o wlan_wep.o wlan_tkip.o wlan_ccmp.o wlan_acl.o wlan_xauth.o wlan_scan_sta.o wlan_scan_ap.o; do \
        f=`basename $i .o`; \
        strip -S $f.ko; \
        cp $f.ko //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net; \
done
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212/net80211'
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212/ath_rate/sample'
test -d //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net || mkdir -p //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net
strip -S ath_rate_sample.ko
cp ath_rate_sample.ko //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212/ath_rate/sample'
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212/ath'
test -d //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net || mkdir -p //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net
strip -S ath_pci.ko
cp ath_pci.ko //lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212/ath'
(export MODULEPATH=/lib/modules/2.6.12.2/net; /sbin/depmod -ae)
make -C ./tools  install || exit 1
make[1]: Entering directory `/root/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212/tools'
install -d /usr/local/bin
for i in athstats 80211stats athkey athchans athctrl athdebug 80211debug wlanconfig; do \
        install $i /usr/local/bin/$i; \
        strip /usr/local/bin/$i; \
done
install -d /usr/local/man/man8
install -m 0644 man/*.8 /usr/local/man/man8
make[1]: Leaving directory `/root/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212/tools'
root@slax:~/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212# modprobe ath_pci
root@slax:~/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212# ifconfig ath0 up
root@slax:~/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      unassociated  ESSID:off/any  Nickname:"ipw2100"
          Mode:Managed  Channel:0  Access Point: 00:00:00:00:00:00
          Bit Rate=0kb/s   Tx-Power:off
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

eth1      no wireless extensions.

sit0      no wireless extensions.

ath0      IEEE 802.11  ESSID:""
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.447GHz  Access Point: FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF
          Bit Rate:1Mb/s   Tx-Power:50 dBm   Sensitivity=0/3
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0/94  Signal level:-95 dBm  Noise level:-95 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

and here comes the problem ... as far as i understand the the install prozess should create an virtual interface (wifiN) for every physical interface in your laptop.

every following command like

wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode ap/sta

failes due to an error looking like this

wlanconfig:ioctl: no such device

i use the madwifi-ng driver from your link and did as shown above.
my laptop is an ibm t41 and an WG511T wlan adapter.

i would highly appreciate some help here please

[duxzero]

Yeah.. you should have wifi0 there.... does it show up if you do a "ifconfig -a"?

Try:

ifconfig ath down
rmmod -w ath_pci
modprobe ath_pci
ifconfig -a
(see if wifi0 is listed there)
wlanconfig ath0 destroy
wlanconfig ath0 create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta
(set essid + whatever you need with iwconfig)
ifconfig ath0 up

[kirmet]

i did this ~10 times in different orders ... so this is what happens if i follow exactly your order

after doing make & make install ....

root@slax:~/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212# ifconfig ath0 down
root@slax:~/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212# rmmod -w ath_pci
root@slax:~/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212# modprobe ath_pci
root@slax:~/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212# ifconfig -a
ath0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0F:B5:24:E4:23
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:199
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:11 Memory:e1020000-e1030000

eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:04:23:9E:D9:59
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Interrupt:11 Base address:0xe000 Memory:c0210000-c0210fff

eth1      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0D:60:5F:2C:B3
          BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
          Base address:0x8000 Memory:c0220000-c0240000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

sit0      Link encap:UNSPEC  HWaddr 00-00-00-00-31-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          NOARP  MTU:1480  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)

root@slax:~/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212# wlanconfig ath0 destroy
wlanconfig: ioctl: Operation not supported
root@slax:~/driver/madwifi-ng-r1451-20060212# wlanconfig ath create wlandev wifi0 wlanmode sta
wlanconfig: ioctl: No such device

hope you can bring some sense in my wifi0(=meaning)-less life

kirmet

#edit_:

tried the last few version of madwifi driver just for fun ... no wifi0 either *sigh*

[kirmet]

got it working now ...

had to unplug the wlan adapter during bootup
modprobe didnt work at all but insmod worked just fine
after that airmon.sh showed
ath0\t\unknown\t\tunknown (Monitor Mode Not Supported)
but with
wlanconfig ath0 destroy
everything worked just fine from this point on

at last after hours with the efficiency of a one-legged-goat i have a sexy wifi0

greez kirmet

[kimbell]

This maybe of some intrest to someone.

Working aireplay 2.41 madwifi-ng
Here's how to get that working :

1 - Download latest madwifi-ng cvs
(Do not patch!, it will, for the moment cause some speed issue when injecting but
they are working on a way to set rate speed at execution)
2- Apply the patch that comes with this post.
(Wont work anymore with madwifi-old, i was too lazy)

If someone trys this please report back.
source: http://www.netstumbler.org/showthread.php?t=19063