--This should make life easier.
--Type this:

$sudo nano /usr/bin/staticweb.sh

--ENTER LINES w/ appropriate info:

sudo ifconfig [interface] down
sudo dhclient -r [interface]
sudo ifconfig [interface] [static IP] netmask 255.255.255.0 up
sudo route add default gw 192.168.1.1
sudo iwconfig [interface] essid “ESSID_IN_QUOTES”
sudo iwconfig [interface] mode Managed
sleep 10
ping -c 3 google.com
ifconfig [interface]

--SAVE FILE and EXIT EDITOR
--Make sure the file is in /usr/bin/

$sudo chmod a+x /usr/bin/staticweb.sh

$cd ~

--LOCATE AND EDIT ALIAS FILE:

$ls -a

--EITHER ‘.bashrc’ or ‘.bash_aliases’ IS THE FOLDER

$sudo nano .bashrc

--LOOK FOR ALIASES: example: alias NAME=’command’

--ADD YOUR ALIAS: alias staticweb=’staticweb.sh’

--SAVE AND EXIT EDITOR

$. .bashrc

DONE!

With all that you should be able to just type ‘staticweb’ (without the quotes) into the command line and it will trigger the static-ip shell script you just wrote and do all the work in one single command.

The end of the script will ping google.com and display the status of your network just to make sure you are connected to the web and that you IP address is what it should be.

If your network connection is local only, just change the ping command from ‘google.com’ to your gateway (192.168.1.1 in most cases)

DO NOT include the ‘sudo dhclient [interface]‘ command located at the end because it will automatically issue you an IP… Not the one you are trying to set. Hope this helps

You may try doing that one time to configure from GUI, but always logging in as root is a security and a stability risk. It tends to slowly screw up xserver, and allows all kinds of other fun nasty things to happen. As a security consultant, I had to say that this is horrible advice without clarification.

“No DHCPOFFERS received.
No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.”

This is after carrying out the instructions in the Unencrypted Connection section.

I have a Dell Inspiron 6000 with Ubuntu 9.10 with the latest updates, through Update Manager.

I just bought a brand new NetGear WNR2000 wireless router and I’ve not really made many changes to the config - my Windows XP ThinkPad picked it up like a shiny coin on the ground that you can’t miss - Ubuntu didn’t.

I’m also at the point of giving up on Linux and going back to Windows XP.

I installed it from within Windows XP with no problems, and like the look and feel of the GUI. Trouble is, can’t get the wireless to work on my HP6735s laptop.

I been building and configuring pc’s since MS-DOS 5 era and consider myself quite competant. However after some time trawling the web looking for solutions, decided (much like ‘Werdermouth’ in the above post) just cant be bothered.

If this is to be a serious alternative, basic requirements like internet connectivity must be made much simpler. A good deal of people find MS Windows family operating systems daunting, so they don’t have a prayer with Ubuntu.

That said keep up the good work, as it is a nice interface and once made more user friendly, I would gladly use it.

See you in a few months!

It’s clear to me as I’m not alone there is a serious problem with Ubuntu 9.10 as it simply doesn’t work. I’ve had enough of wasting my time and going round in circles - everything works fine with XP and it’s also so much more user-friendly compared to the hoops you have to jump through to get Ubuntu working properly - it also has problems restarting after hibernating and always needs to be powered off and on.

Perhaps I’ll try again sometime in the future when Linux has got it’s act together as there is little point in using it if you can’t have basic wireless access at home. Linux is a nice concept but it’s not for people who don’t have hours and hours to devote to its cause.

Also, I’m quite computer literate but how many months of study do you need to understand the jargon just to get your laptop functioning using linux - is it always this obtuse and complicated? I think I’ll be sticking to Microsoft for a while longer as at least things work more or less smoothly.

I went through your steps to try to diagnose the problem, and everything froze after
sudo iwconfig [interface] key HEX_KEY
I’ve been trying deal with this issue for days (have tried lots of people’s suggestions in the forums). At this point I’m going to try to go back to 9.04. Just a heads ups that you’re probably going to see a lot more traffic on this until 9.10 is smoother, seems to be a problem for lots of folks.

If You have any problem to connect to AP, try to add this command in the above commands after iwconfig [interface] essid “ESSID_IN_QUOTES”:

iwconfig [interface] ap AP_MAC_address

To get AP_MAC_address:

iwlist [interface] scan

In the list find your AP and enter to iwconfig its MAC address in the following format: xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx

It helped me and it works!!!
Greetings from Poland