WTFis going on with promiscuous mode?

[Jizzle]

I've been using 802.11b for years now, mostly with Redhat. Associating with an AP and then starting tcpdump has always worked in promiscuous mode (in other words, I can hear everything as though I'm on a dumb hub).

Recently I got a new laptop (IBM Thinkpad T42) with a built-in ipw2200 wireless card. I'm using the latest drivers from sourceforge. When I run tcpdump I can only see my own traffic (other than broadcasts of course). I'm running SimplyMepis but also tried loading up Suse and had the same results. I've tried first manually setting the card into promisc mode using ifconfig but this doesn't help. Does anyone know what could be going on? (I'd try my Orinoco card, but it just doesn't frickin' work at all -- the subject of another post). This problem has been driving me nuts, and I've posted different places without any results at all. Suddenly I realised I need to ask somewhere where smart people hang out. :) Please Help!

Thanks.

Jizzle

[Thorn]

You need a driver which supports promiscuous mode. Last I heard, the IPW2200 drivers doesn't do promiscuous mode.

You best bet is to just get another ORiNOCO.

[Jizzle]

You need a driver which supports promiscuous mode. Last I heard, the IPW2200 drivers doesn't do promiscuous mode.

You best bet is to just get another ORiNOCO.

That's funny because it supports monitor mode and works great with kismet. I'll start a separate thread about my Orinoco woes.

J

[TheCotMan]

That's funny because it supports monitor mode and works great with kismet.

Sorry, but to me it sounds like you are suggesting they are the same or related or similar. Link: What is the difference betwen monitor and promiscuous mode?

[Jizzle]

Sorry, but to me it sounds like you are suggesting they are the same or related or similar. Link: What is the difference betwen monitor and promiscuous mode?

Thanks, I understand the difference between monitor mode and promiscuous mode. Perhaps I'm wrong here, but in my experience a wireless card is much more likely to support promiscuous mode than monitor mode, in essence it is a more basic functionality than monitor mode. This is just based on my experience with wireless cards and may be totally wrong.

[converge]

It's all about the association. If you have monitor mode, unless I've been mistaken (which is possible), promiscuous mode is pretty redundant unless you are seriously worried about getting other's packets and having to filter by ESSID.

[Jizzle]

It's all about the association. If you have monitor mode, unless I've been mistaken (which is possible), promiscuous mode is pretty redundant unless you are seriously worried about getting other's packets and having to filter by ESSID.

Here's the functional difference that I want: with promiscuous mode I can associate with an AP, use it (ie - surf), and sniff other people's traffic at the same time. (theoretically, not that I'd do that :). With monitor mode I would be sniffing with something like Kismet and not associated with the AP. Please educate me if I am wrong here and there's another way to do it.

[Voltage Spike]

Please educate me if I am wrong here and there's another way to do it.

You are correct. converge is saying that if you only have the option to do one it isn't a big deal. Just use the one that works and you'll get what you want.

[Jizzle]

You are correct. converge is saying that if you only have the option to do one it isn't a big deal. Just use the one that works and you'll get what you want.

Yes, but suppose I'm somewhere like a Defcon conference. I want to go online, check my email (don't worry, I tunnel), check the latest schedule, etc. and at the same time I want to see what other people are doing out of curiosity. I can do that with promiscuous mode but not with monitor mode. So the results are not really the same.