linksys wpc11 as an access point

[Saad Shakshir]

Hi,

I'm trying to get my redhat linux 7.3 (kernel version 2.4.27) to work as an 
802.11b access point.  I have a linksys wpc11 (ver. 3) wireless card.  I 
recently recompiled the kernel and made sure the necessary wireless modules 
are installed.  I also installed the kernel pcmcia tree.  When I insert the 
card, it detects it and the hostap driver is loaded.  lsmod | grep hostap 
gives:

hostap_cs     48768     2
hostap          105608   0 [hostap_cs]

Right now the Power LED is on constantly and the Link LED blinks constantly 
at about 2 times per second.  Here are the contents of my 
/etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-wlan0:

DEVICE=wlan0
BOOTPROTO=static
ADDRESS=192.168.10.1
NETMASK=255.255.255.0
BROADCAST=192.168.10.255
ONBOOT=yes
MODE=Master
ESSID=linuxAP
CHANNEL=11
RATE=AUTO

Here is the output of iwconfig wlan0:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:"linuxAP"  Nickname:"rashmi"
         Mode:Master  Frequency:2.462GHz  Access Point: 00:06:25:2A:6D:B0
         Bit Rate:11Mb/s   Sensitivity=1/0
         Retry min limit:8   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:82  Rx invalid frag:0
         Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:12749   Missed beacon:0

And here is the output of ifconfig wlan0:

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:06:25:2A:6D:B0
         UP BROADCAST RUNNING 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:0
         RX bytes:0 (0.0 b)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 b)
         Interrupt:5 Base address:0x100


One thing I noticed is that the IP address isn't being set, even though i 
have it setup in the ifcfg-wlan0 file.  I also have an 
/etc/pcmcia/wireless.opts file (but I don't know if this gets called).  Here 
are the relevant contents:

case "$ADDRESS" in

# Configuration for linksys wpc11 card to be an access point
ap,0,*,00:06:25:*)
INFO="Linux Laptop with Linksys WPC11"
ESSID="linuxAP"
MODE="Master"
RATE="Auto"
IPADDR="192.168.10.1"
NETMASK="255.255.255.0"
BROADCAST="192.168.10.255"
;;

I cannot connect to the access point from my other linux laptop using a 
lucent orinoco card.  I know that the configuration on the client laptop is 
fine because I have tried to connect to access points elsewhere and it works 
fine.  I set the ESSID on the client laptop to be "linuxAP" but it doesn't 
detect the access point.  Also the constantly flashing LED makes me more 
certain that the problem is with the access point and not with the client.

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,
Saad