Hello,

I'm trying to set up client mode as follows:
I have a working WLAN using a Netgear MR814 AP, WLAN Channel 3, SSID "HS20", Encryption WEP 64bit, no MAC address filtering. A DHCPd is running there, giving out IPs 192.168.0.x. I checked those settings using my laptop (Debian GNU/Linux), everything is working.

On my WRT54GL I am running OpenWRT White Russian RC4. I first moved /etc/init.d/S45firewall out of the way.
I set up the NVRAM entries for wireless networking as follows:
  nvram set wl0_mode=sta
  nvram set wl0_ssid=HS20
  nvram set wl0_channel=3
  nvram set wl0_wep=enabled
  nvram set wl0_key=1
  nvram set wl0_key1=0d7effb4db
  nvram commit
  reboot

After rebooting, a iwconfig tells me there's no WLAN connection to my Access point:
root@OpenWrt:~# iwconfig eth1
eth1      IEEE 802.11-DS  ESSID:""
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.422 GHz  Tx-Power:19 dBm
          RTS thr=2347 B   Fragment thr=2346 B
          Encryption key:0D7E-FFB4-DB
root@OpenWrt:~#

iwlist scanning detects my WLAN:
root@OpenWrt:~# iwlist eth1 scanning
eth1      No scan results
root@OpenWrt:~# iwlist eth1 scanning
eth1      Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:09:5B:4F:70:D4
                    ESSID:"HS20"
                    Channel:3
                    Quality:0/0  Signal level:-34 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Bit Rate:1 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:2 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:5.5 Mb/s
                    Bit Rate:11 Mb/s

Same with "wl":
root@OpenWrt:~# wl scan
root@OpenWrt:~# wl scanresults
SSID: "HS20"
Mode: Managed   RSSI: -35 dBm   noise: -94 dBm  Channel: 3
BSSID: 00:09:5B:4F:70:D4        Capability: ESS Pollable WEP
Supported Rates: [ 1(b) 2(b) 5.5 11 ]

Trying to join using wl also has no effect. Note the "Invalid argument" message:
root@OpenWrt:~# wl join HS20 key 0d7effb4db
root@OpenWrt:~# wl assoc
eth1: Invalid argument
Not associated. Last associated with SSID: ""

I tried without WEP several times, the result was the same. I also tried White Russian pre-RC5, same result, too. Master (access point) mode works fine.

A full dump of all nvram vars as well as an ifconfig dump can be found here:
http://nopaste.chillfactory.net/show.php?id=224

I now tried getting that to work for hours, hopefully anyone can tell me what I'm doing wrong or if there may be is a bug in the driver or somewhere else.

Thanks,
Stefan

Well I have a similar problem but it doesn't happen constantly ...
Sometimes it seems that my WRT54GL doesn't associate automatically at boot and when doing so the only way to let it associate is using iwconfig ...

I now also tried repeatedly to set channel/mode/key/essid using iwconfig, no success, it doesn't move

Unfortunately, I don't have a WLAN card suitable for sniffing what's actually going on, I don't know if the WRT54GL doesn't even try to associate with my AP (The WLAN LED is constantly on, no flashing except once or twice while booting) or if it fails at some point.
Is there may be any other possibility of getting debug information or a dump of what the driver (it's closed source, isn't it?) sends to the WLAN card?