wicd Bad!

[pottzie]

 I've just installed VL light 7.0, and just tried to get wicd working using  the wireless.  wicd  just pops on screen saying "no wireless networks," without first searching to see if there are any available.

 When I've used wicd before, wicd goes for several seconds while it checks for networks. I can't get wicd to scan before giving me the "no networks" message. lsusb shows my usb Belkin f5d7050, and I know that it's worked in linux for years.

 I ran dmesg tail and posted that to pastebin.
  http://pastebin.com/LyHUYXZa

[nightflier]

It sounds like you need to reconfigure wicd manually. As root, in a terminal, enter command "iwconfig" and look for the entry with "IEEE 802". That should list your adapter (eth1, wlan1, ra0 or similar).

Now click the wicd icon and find "Preferences". It may be hidden below a down arrow in the upper right corner. In the "General Settings" tab, enter the name of your wireless interface.

[pottzie]

 This is happening in VL light 7.0, downloaded from a link at Distro Watch
 http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=vector
 with the date 12-03-22.  When I bring up the "properties" in wicd, all I see is a panel that says: 'Name: Wicd Network Manager; Command:wicd-gtk --no-tray; (with a "browse' button beside that panel that, when I tried it, just brought up all the programs available on the operating system); and Tooltip; Start the Wicd client without system (whatever that means). Also a check box for "Runs in terminal emulator".

[nightflier]

On your desktop, towards the lower right hand corner, find the notification area (systray) with several icons. The one for wicd is usually next to the speaker symbol. Try left-clicking that icon.

[pottzie]

 Left clicking the 'double computer screens' just gives me a (rather blank) Wicd Network Manager' box, with Network, "Switch off wi-fi" and Disconnect All in the panel at the top of that box. The box itself just has "No Wireless Networks Found", with "not connected" showing on the bottom panel.

 If I right click the same icon, I get "Connect" (which goes immediately to "Scanning..no wireless networks found"), connection info and quit.

 There must be some way to get to "preferences" for wicd, as I remember somehow getting to a screen that let me change from "auto-connect" (the recommended default) to DHCP when I was trying to get wicd to hook up with my router. This happened last night, and I don't recall how I got to that screen.

[stretchedthin]

Check out this tutorial if it is something simple it may solve the problem.
Wicd Network Manager, potential quick answers for forum questions.

[nightflier]

Option 1: In that wicd window, look in the upper right hand corner, right below the close button on the title bar (the button with an X on it). Look for a small triangle, like an upside down pyramid. Click on it and see if you see the entry for Preferences.

Option 2: Maximize the wicd window by clicking the middle button in the upper right hand corner, the one with a square on it. Look for Preferences right below the title bar.

Option 3: Make the wicd window wider by grabbing the lower right hand corner and dragging it to the right. Look for preferences right below the title bar.

[pottzie]

 Nightflier's advice to look for the small triangle was the solution to accessing properties. I was about to mark this solved, but when wicd scans, even though it "sees" my network(s), it comes up as "Failed to get IP address."

 I tried several combinations of setting up my computer and usb wireless receiver, and tried using a usb hub and plugging the receiver into the hub, and running "lsusb." When I did that, the terminal showed the hub, but not the wireless receiver. I removed the hub and plugged the receiver in, and retried "lsub."  When I did, the hub was still listed, and the  receiver still wasn't showing.

[pottzie]

 Just as an exercise, I'm posting this from my computer. The good news is that I'm conected wirelessly. The bad news is that it's working because I loaded up and ran VL light live, version 6.0. The live cd wireless fires right up! It took about 6 seconds to connect to my router.

[pottzie]

 I ran "lsmod", just to see if anything looks odd.
http://pastebin.com/TKw6Aewv

[nightflier]

Most likely the problem is a driver issue. Try comparing the output of lsmod between VL6 and 7.

Assuming the lsmod you posted was VL7: both rt2500usb and rt2x00usb are loaded. Try unloading rt2500usb.

[pottzie]

 All I could find to unload the module was "rmmod." When I ran that, the system froze and I had to shut it down.
 Here is the lsmod from VL light live 6.0
http://pastebin.com/69XM22q6
 

[nightflier]

We need to step back a little and figure out which chipset your adapter uses. As root, run command "lsusb".

[pottzie]

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 050d:7050 Belkin Components F5D7050 Wireless G Adapter v1000/v2000 [Intersil ISL3887]

[pottzie]

Maybe there's something up with my computer that makes this happen. I just downloaded Ferdora 19 lxde to see what it would do. Same thing, Network Manager can see the network, but can't connect,, probably due to not getting an ID from the router. This also happens when I try ArchBang's live cd. Linux Mint's lxde won't even load on my computer, along with several other distro's.

 I'm thinking I should install VL light live 6.0, and just learn to live without Google Chrome.