Member Avatar for Squires

I did a fresh install of Fedora 10 on my laptop. I'm trying to get my wireless nic connected and not having much luck. The setup looks correct, has an ip, but can't access anything. I'm not sure what I am missing.

1. lspci command returns: 02:01.0 Network Controller(0280): Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection(8086:4220) (rev05)

2. When I go to system>admin>network the wireless nic shows up on eth0

3. Wireless settings tab shows
mode: master
SSID is set to my wireless SSID(tried auto as well with no luck)
channel and transmit rate set to auto
key field is blank, I turned off all security on my router to simplify troubleshooting

4. Wireless device on eth0 is active

5. When I run an ifconfig the wireless nic is shown with a correct ip address. I can ping loopback address, router, my desktop and websites(by name and ip)

When I activate the wireless eth0 I first get a brief error that says SET failed on device eth0; invalid argument, but then it continues to obtain ip info and activates successfully.

Any ideas?

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Dani AI

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Nice catch by and the follow-up from — this is one of those “network looks fine but browser won’t use it” cases that often ends up being a client (browser) setting rather than a kernel/driver problem.

Quick checklist (in order):

  • Confirm Firefox isn’t in offline mode: in older Firefox builds that’s under File → Work Offline (ensure it’s unchecked).
  • Check Firefox proxy settings: Preferences → Advanced → Network → Connection → Settings — set to “No proxy” (or the correct proxy for your network).
  • If you want the desktop session to be sure the network is up before apps start, either make sure NetworkManager/nm-applet is running, or switch to the legacy network scripts so the interface is brought up at boot.

If you prefer the classic init/network approach on Fedora 10, these commands will switch off NetworkManager and start the old network service (run as root):

chkconfig NetworkManager off
service NetworkManager stop
chkconfig network on
service network start

A few extra notes based on the original post:

  • The brief “SET failed on device … invalid argument” often appears when the requested wireless mode is unsupported by the driver. If your GUI shows the interface set to access‑point mode, change it to the client/station mode (often called “Managed” or “Infrastructure”) in System → Administration → Network → Wireless.
  • Seeing the wireless listed as eth0 is just a naming quirk on older kernels/drivers — not automatically a problem if the IP, route and DNS are correct.
  • If problems persist despite ping working, try a direct HTTP test (wget or curl) to rule out browser-specific issues and check for any local proxy or firewall rules blocking TCP/80 or TCP/443.

These steps explain why Firefox started offline for and provide safe options to keep NetworkManager or use the legacy service depending on your preference.

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Member Avatar for John A

>I can ping loopback address, router, my desktop and websites(by
>name and ip)
So you can ping everything on the internet, but your browser just can't use your connection?

Member Avatar for Squires

Correct John, and I have since figured it out...firefox was defaulting to work offline, even if I had a connection. I cleared the check by work offline and was working fine. I feel pretty stupid right now for not catching that sooner.

I looked into why it was starting in offline mode. I found that network manager seems to be the cause. I disabled network manager and now firefox starts in online mode.

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