Re: Sitecom WLAN USB Adapter WL-003

Hi,

> hey together,
>
> i'm kinda new to the linux scene and i wanted to install a wireless lan
> between my desktop pc and my laptop. SuSE linux is running on both: sus=
e
> 9.0 pro with 2.4.x kernel on the big one. Suse 9.1 pro with 2.6.x kerne=
l
> on the laptop.
>
> I've got two usb adapters: site wireless lan usb adapter wl-003 with
> atmel chipset of course.
>
> I've sucessfully installed the drivers for both adapters and configured
> both wird iwconfig. ifcondig shows that on both systems the wlan0
> interface is up and running.
>
> The problem is: i only get a link quality between 1 and 5. A ping to th=
e
> other system doesn't work. The link is so weak, ping can't find the
> host.
>
>
>
> Here is my iwconfig for the desktop pc:
>
> wlan0     IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:"family"
>           Mode:Ad-Hoc  Channel:10  Cell: 02:00:D4:xx:xx:xx
>           Bit Rate:11Mb/s
>           RTS thr=3D1536 B   Fragment thr=3D1536 B
>           Encryption key:off
>           Power Management:off
>           Link Quality:3  Signal level:107  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
>
> Here is my iwconfig for the laptop:
>
> wlan0     IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:"family" nick:"spliffy"
>           Mode:Ad-Hoc  Channel:10  Cell: 02:00:D4:xx:xx:xx
>           Bit Rate:11Mb/s RTS thr=3D1536 B   Fragment thr=3D1536 B
>           Encryption key:off
>           Power Management:off
>           Link Quality:3/100  Signal level:-136dBm  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
>
> (i left some parameters out)
>
> the laptop has got the ip 192.168.0.1 (static) the pc 192.168.0.2
> (static).

Which driver are you running - this mailing list is for both  Berlios
and the Sourceforge driver users. Which version?

I'm not sure if a link quality value of 1..5 is too low, no idea
what the unit is and if lower numbers mean worse quality. Most radio
chipsets with the Atmel chip don't report the link quality, but RSSI only.
And your signal levels are pretty high.

I'm neither convinced the problem lies in the wireless connection at all.

Has either side managed to get the peer's mac address ("arp -n")?

How does the routing table look like on both sides?

Try to run a "tcpdump -i wlan0" in the background (or another sniffer
like ethereal) while you ping the peer
- do you see any incoming packets on the interface?

If you run the Berlios driver in a decent version (latest CVS
recommended), try to set the debug level to 0x180183 and restart the
driver:
	iwpriv wlan0 set_debug 0x180183
	ifconfig wlan0 down
	ifconfig wlan0 up
	ping <peer address>

Post the syslog (containing kern.debug). The above settings will log all
rx data with header and contents (together with info on the startup
procedure) so your syslog may be huge. Please cut it down or consider
sending it to me in a personal mail (as a compressed attachment).

HTH,
J=F6rg.