RX packets:3 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:18 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:1222 (1.1 KiB) TX bytes:3442 (3.3 KiB)
Since information supplied by a DHCP server is considered a lease that expires after a preset time, dhclient continues to run in the background so that it can renew the lease when necessary. If you move the machine to a new network and attempt to run dhclient again, the existing background process will be detected, and the new copy of dhclient will exit immediately without obtaining a new network configuration. To work around this problem, kill the background copy of dhclient before running it for the second time:
# killall dhclient
# dhclient wlan0
dhclient may be running even if you didn't start it manually, since boot-time network activation or activation through system-config-network or system-control-network may have launched it.
3.2.1.4. Using wireless adapters that require firmware
Fedora's distribution policies do not permit the inclusion of binary software without source code, and that includes firmware. Unfortunately, some very popular wireless network cards require firmware for which the vendor will not release source code.
The most common wireless adapter family affected by firmware issues is the Intel Pro Wireless (IPW) seriesoften integrated into systems under the Centrino moniker, but also sold as add-on units with Mini-PCI, CardBus, or USB interfaces.
If you find that your wireless network card is not working, it is possible that a driver is present, but the firmware file is not. Use grep to search the system logfile for messages related to firmware:
# grep firmware /var/log/messages
Jun 29 04:11:57 beige kerneclass="underline" usb 2-1: Failed to load zd1201.fw firmware file!
Jun 29 04:11:57 beige kerneclass="underline" usb 2-1: Make sure the hotplug firmware loader is installed.
Jun 29 04:11:57 beige kerneclass="underline" usb 2-1: zd1201 firmware upload failed: -2
Jun 29 04:11:57 beige firmware_helper[14394]: Loading of /lib/firmware/zd1201.fw for usb driver failed: No such file or directory
These messages clearly show that the system attempted to load firmware for a USB wireless adapter but failed because the firmware file was not found ( No such file or directory ).
To find more information, view the /var/log/messages file using a text editor or the less program, and search for the date and time identified by the previous grep command:
# less /var/log/messages
...(Lines skipped)...
Jun 29 04:11:57 beige kerneclass="underline" usb 2-1: new full speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 5
Jun 29 04:11:57 beige kerneclass="underline" usb 2-1: configuration #1 chosen from 1 choice
Jun 29 04:11:57 beige kerneclass="underline" usb 2-1: Failed to load zd1201.fw firmware file!
Jun 29 04:11:57 beige kerneclass="underline" usb 2-1: Make sure the hotplug firmware loader is installed.
Jun 29 04:11:57 beige kerneclass="underline" usb 2-1: Goto http://linux-lc100020.sourceforge.net for more info
Jun 29 04:11:57 beige kerneclass="underline" usb 2-1: zd1201 firmware upload failed: -2
Notice the message directing you to the driver web site. Visit that web site and download the firmware file provided (in this case, the file was named zd1201-0.14-fw.tar.gz , which was downloaded to the /tmp directory through a web browser). The next step is to unpack this file and then install the firmware by copying the *.fw files to /lib/firmware :
# cd /tmp
# tar xvzf zd1201-0.14-fw.tar.gz
zd1201-0.14-fw/
zd1201-0.14-fw/zd1201.fw
zd1201-0.14-fw/README
zd1201-0.14-fw/makefile
zd1201-0.14-fw/zd1201-ap.fw
# cd zd1201-0.14-fw
# cp *.fw /lib/firmware
You can now use the wireless device after resetting the device driver, which you can do by physically disconnecting and reconnecting the adapter (if it is a removable device, such as a USB or CardBus adapter), rebooting the system, or using modprobe to remove and then reload the device driver.
In this case, the driver name is zd1201 , so the driver can be reloaded with these commands:
# modprobe -r zd1201
# modprobe zd1201
After pausing for a moment to permit the interface to be configured, you can view /var/log/ messages and the output of ifconfig to see whether the driver loaded successfully and brought up the interface:
# tail - 50 /var/log/messages
...(Lines snipped)...
Jun 29 04:25:58 beige kerneclass="underline" usbcore: deregistering driver zd1201
Jun 29 04:26:04 beige kerneclass="underline" usb 2-1: wlan0: ZD1201 USB Wireless interface
Jun 29 04:26:04 beige kerneclass="underline" usbcore: registered new driver zd1201
Jun 29 04:26:05 beige dhclient: DHCPREQUEST on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
Jun 29 04:26:10 beige dhclient: DHCPREQUEST on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67
Jun 29 04:26:11 beige dhclient: DHCPACK from 172.16.97.254
Jun 29 04:26:11 beige NET[15776]: /sbin/dhclient-script : updated /etc/resolv.conf
Jun 29 04:26:11 beige dhclient: bound to 172.16.97.101 -- renewal in 39113 seconds.
# ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:0D:56:33:D7:18
inet addr:172.16.97.100 Bcast:172.16.97.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::20d:56ff:fe33:d718/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:18181 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:3263 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:2561730 (2.4 MiB) TX bytes:375878 (367.0 KiB)
Interrupt:177
lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0