Re: Switching wireless adapters loses all rules

[Derek Frye <frye0031 umn edu>]

Oops, forget to CC the list. Hopefully this shows up.

Thanks a bunch for the response; if nothing else I learned where to
manage the networks I manually added to NetworkManager (in the Gnome
configuration application, which strangely resembles a Windows
registry). The rest of my reply is mixed with your message.

> Dan Williams wrote:
> NetworkManager finds networks through a scan, which is basically the result of 
> '/sbin/iwlist ethX scanning'.  If you execute that command, do you see your 
> access point in any of the entries?  

Yes, it does show the access point.
$ /sbin/iwlist ra0 scanning
 Cell 01 - Address: 00:13:10:9F:40:A9
  Mode:Managed
  ESSID:"djf"
  Encryption key:on
  Channel:11
  Quality:64/100  Signal level:-58 dBm  Noise level:-196 dBm

> Next, can you run 'gconf-editor' and drill down
> to the /system/networking/wireless/networks/ level, find your network in the 
> list there, and tell me if you have anything in the "addresses" key in the 
> right-hand pane of the window?

Yes, that shows as well. All of the other properties show values as
well, like "auth_method 3", "essid djf", "key_type 2", and timestamp
1127461394 (which I suppose is Fri Sep 23 02:43:14 2005, the last time I
manually added the wireless network).

> If any of these things are missing, it probably will not find your network 
> automatically.  Cisco cards, for example, filter out non-ESSID-broadcasting 
> access points from their scan lists, which means we can't automatically match up 
> the BSSID and the scanned access point and connect automatically.  You problem 
> might also be a case of a bad network driver that needs to get fixed.

About the driver: the rt2500 chipset driver was released by Ralink under
the GPL (consequently, why I bought the card). It's the rt2500 module
compiled from the 2.6.13 kernel.

Seems strange that the network wouldn't show in NetworkManager even when
those things are all correct. Of course, when I manually "Connect to
Other Wireless Network..." and type in the proper details it begins to
bring up the interface, asks for my password for the default keyring,
and connects properly.

Thanks,
Derek