I don't use dhcp on this interface, but notice that once the interface comes up with a static ip it still leases a dhcp ip (bottom of mail). The sequence by hand is exactly the same as that in wireless-tools What state does ifdown leave the iwconfig settings? Notice that ifdown removes the key but not the essid from the wireless interface. If I don't use ifdown but just take the inteface down with ifconfig, then ifup brings the interface up no problem. root@desktop:~# ifdown eth1 Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) : SET failed on device eth1 ; Invalid argument. root@desktop:~# cat /etc/network/interfaces # This file describes the network interfaces available on your system # and how to activate them. For more information, see interfaces(5). # The loopback network interface auto lo iface lo inet loopback # This is a list of hotpluggable network interfaces. # They will be activated automatically by the hotplug subsystem. iface eth1 inet static address 192.168.1.3 netmask 255.255.255.0 gateway 192.168.1.1 wireless-mode managed wireless-essid WLAN wireless-key AABBCCDDEE auto eth1 root@desktop:~# tail -2 /var/log/syslog May 3 19:08:41 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 19 May 3 19:08:41 localhost dhclient: send_packet: Network is down root@desktop:~# iwconfig eth1 eth1 RT2500 Wireless ESSID:"WLAN" Mode:Managed Frequency=2.412 GHz Bit Rate:18 Mb/s RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Encryption key:off Link Quality=44/100 Signal level=-63 dBm Noise level:-205 dBm Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0 root@desktop:~# ifup eth1 + IWCONFIG=/sbin/iwconfig + '[' '!' -x /sbin/iwconfig ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n managed ']' + /sbin/iwconfig eth1 mode managed + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n AABBCCDDEE ']' + eval /sbin/iwconfig eth1 key AABBCCDDEE ++ /sbin/iwconfig eth1 key AABBCCDDEE + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n '' ']' + '[' -n WLAN ']' + /sbin/iwconfig eth1 essid WLAN + '[' -n '' ']' root@desktop:~# iwconfig lo no wireless extensions. eth1 RT2500 Wireless ESSID:"WLAN" Mode:Managed Frequency=2.412 GHz Bit Rate:54 Mb/s RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off Encryption key:off Link Quality=44/100 Signal level=-63 dBm Noise level:-204 dBm Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0 Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0 eth0 no wireless extensions. sit0 no wireless extensions. tun0 no wireless extensions. root@desktop:~# iwconfig eth1 key AABBCCDDEE root@desktop:~# ping 192.168.1.1 PING 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 56(84) bytes of data. 64 bytes from 192.168.1.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=4.99 ms --- 192.168.1.1 ping statistics --- 1 packets transmitted, 1 received, 0% packet loss, time 0ms rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 4.994/4.994/4.994/0.000 ms tail /var/log/syslog |grep dhc root@desktop:~# tail -50 /var/log/syslog |grep dhc May 3 19:12:34 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6 May 3 19:12:40 localhost dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 19 May 3 19:12:40 localhost dhclient: DHCPOFFER from 192.168.1.2 May 3 19:12:40 localhost dhclient: DHCPREQUEST on eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 May 3 19:12:40 localhost dhclient: DHCPACK from 192.168.1.2 May 3 19:12:40 localhost dhclient: bound to 192.168.1.42 -- renewal in 132 seconds. On Wed, 2006-05-03 at 16:40 +0000, Scott James Remnant wrote: > And you can confirm that the commands run by the wireless-tools script are identical in both order, quoting, etc. in EVERY WAY to the commands you run that "make it work" ? > > I'm afraid if that's the case, there's no information here that reveals the bug -- you're saying that there's a difference between you running a command on the shell, and the exact same command being run by a shell script. > > There must be some other difference at work here. > > > After running "ifup eth1", please prove this is failing by providing /var/log/syslog which will show the dhclient attempts and the output of "ifconfig eth1" once an address has been found. >