WPA Manual Setting

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WPA is not working from the User Interface in Build 650! Some OLPCs (including in the G1G1 program) cannot connect to wireless routers protected with the WPA protocol. Although the networks are visible from the OLPC, they stall when user enters a password.

Turn off WPA

If you can turn off WPA from your router, you should be able to connect by choosing the access point from the neighborhood view, and then upgrade the XO's system. After the upgrade, WPA can be re-enabled.

Upgrade to Build 653

Advanced members and General Public (follow general public instructions on link) should consider upgrading, from build 650 to 653 (G1G1 laptops comes with Build 650 installed), where WPA is working much better (for many more access points, including Netgear) by connecting to a public hotspot

Calculate a WPA key using an XO

Note that WPA is supported in Build 653, (not build 650, Dec. 2007), but yes, you can.

1. Start the "Terminal" activity from the Frame; instructions can be found here. You may have to scroll the icons along the bottom of the Frame to the right (by clicking on the button at the right of the Activities taskbar) to find the icon; it is labeled "Terminal".

2. Type the following, substituting the values for ssid and passphrase (and then press the "Enter" key):

/usr/sbin/wpa_passphrase <ssid> <passphrase>

3. The key will be displayed in the line starting with "psk=".

If you plan to use the same WPA key frequently, there is a script available at WPA Manual Setting with discussion here and here

Manual Script

• If you are having trouble connecting to an specific access point and you want to try it manually, you can try using this script: http://wiki.laptop.org/images/4/44/Wpa.sh. Once this procedure is successful, you will not have to do it again as the settings will be remembered when you reboot.

Instructions

• Copy http://wiki.laptop.org/images/4/44/Wpa.sh to a USB stick. (from a computer other than your XO)
• Connect the USB stick to your XO.
• On your XO, open the Terminal Activity from the taskbar on the home page.
• Determine the name of your USB stick (if you do not know it), by typing:

  $ df

• Look for the line that starts with /dev/sda1 and read across to get the name of your USB stick. In this example the name is USBNAME.

  mtd0       1048576       375772  672804    36%  /
  tmpfs        35676            0   35676     0%  /dev/shm
  /dev/sda1   990432       331024   659408   34%  /media/USBNAME

• Copy the Wpa.sh file from the USB stick by substituting your USBNAME when typing this command. Note the period at the end of the command:

  $ cp /media/USBNAME/Wpa.sh .

• Execute the script as root by typing:

  $ su -
  # cd /home/olpc/
  # ./Wpa.sh

• If you get a "Permission denied" error, then use chmod, and try again

  $ chmod 777 Wpa.sh
  # ./Wpa.sh

• Follow the instructions on screen, providing the SSID, passphrase and WPA version of your Access Point. If you don't know the WPA version, try '1' first.
• Reboot the XO by typing:

  # reboot

• When it boots back up, go to the mesh neighborhood view and click on the circle of your AP, that should be showing as open now (no lock attached to the circle)

Upgrade to Latest Build

When you are online, perform a Simple Online Upgrade to version '653.