"iwconfig essid" disables WEP key

[alevmi]

Hi, fiolks,
I'm really stuck setting up wireless.
Look...

Code: Select all

iwconfig wlan0 essid HOMEWIFI key <my key goes here>

works just fine!
Then I set up /etc/conf.d/net

Code: Select all

essid_wlan0=( "HOMEWIFI" )
key_HOMEWIFI=( "<my key goes here>" )

Wireless fails to start. The problem is in the way network startup scripts work.
I've found out that they call

Code: Select all

iwconfig wlan0 key <my key goes here>

first and then

Code: Select all

iwconfig wlan0 essid HOMEWIFI

Setting up ESSID turns WEP key off and hence no connection to access point.
Please help in setting up /etc/conf.d/net correctly
Regards,
Alexander

[thecooptoo]

I dont understand the options for setting keys ,but mine looks like this in /etc/conf.d/net

key_wlanhome="1AF1-C013-592B-AD53-EF82-9B7C-BA enc open"

[alevmi]

The problem is not in incorrect key setting, but in the way Gentoo network init scripts work together with iwconfig.
Scipts set WEP key first and then call iwconfig wlan0 essid HOMEWIFI, which turns WEP key off in the interface.
As a result, WEP key is not enabled when interface goes up and wi-fi doesn't work.
I can't understand which is the best way to handle this, except for not using baselayout network scipts at all.

[alevmi]

My further investigations show that wlan0 starts to work only after I run

Code: Select all

iwconfig wlan0 key on

regardless of what wireless program I use for net.wlan0 start - iwconfig or wpa_supplicant.
Can it be an ndiswrapper problem?