GPS errors out with Kismet

Mirlyn · 05-23-2003

After about an hour of operation, Kismet reports an error and my coordinates disappear. I can't remember what the error was (saw it last night), and Kismet continues scanning, but it stops getting coordinates. I dont' touch the laptop or the GPS. I'm going to go out for a quick spin now and see if I can duplicate the problem and get the error message for you guys and I'll post it later tonight.

Just curious if anyone has encountered this already.

Thanks!

peekitty · 05-24-2003

Nope, I've run Kismet for many hours without GPS issues, you might be experiencing a hardware issue.

Mirlyn · 05-24-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by peekitty
Nope, I've run Kismet for many hours without GPS issues, you might be experiencing a hardware issue.

Perhaps. Last night I couldn't get Kismet to display the coordinates at all.

What makes me think twice about the hardware issue is GPSDrive will keep the coordinates, but Kismet loses them. Hmmm...

c0nv3r9 · 05-24-2003

how bout a little more background info? like.. are you communicating with the device via gpsd, and what settings are you using? did you change any settings in kismet.conf with regards to gps? ..etc

Mirlyn · 05-25-2003

Thanks for your help!
Ok, here's the deal:
RH8 running Kismet 2.8.1 and GPSDrive 1.32. Garmin eTrex Legend.

I can use GPSDrive in GARMIN mode and it'll receive the coordinates, but Kismet will not. No coordinates at all. I don't know if Kismet will run on GARMIN mode or not, but I assume GPSDrive emulates the GPS data specifically for Kismet (hence the port 2947 stuff) so that really shouldn't matter to Kismet.

I can use GPSDrive in NMEA mode and it'll receive the coordinates fine. After 5 minutes (it was that quick tonight) to even as long as an hour (took that long a few nights ago) the terminal window will start showing ***NMEA Checksum Error!*** with the coorindates and lines like blah is blah, should be foo, yet the X display will continue updating coordinates/speed/alt and move the map like it should without complaint or hiccup. Kismet, however, will lose the coordinates after the third or fourth Checksum Error and display this:
GPS error fetching data; GPSD error reading data, aborting GPS

GPS works fine. Tried different batteries and different serial cable (I've got two). The GPS works fine in both NMEA and GARMIN mode in NetStumbler as I had it running during a vacation in December (8+ hours of driving a day, several days).

Am I retarded and doing something wrong? I've reinstalled all the packages/libraries and even reinstalled the entire system and get the same results every time.

c0nv3r9 · 05-25-2003

hmmm... being that you've appearantly tested out your hardware... the only thing I can think of would be an issue with your serial port (or its communication settings on device and gpsd) The only other possibility would be the unit itself.. and that is difficult to test without either another known working GPS unit or another known working gpsd setup.

peekitty · 05-25-2003

Have you tried setting flow control to off? You can tell GPSdrive to ignore the checksum errors with the -i argument, but I think gpsd is passing the error to Kismet.

Mirlyn · 05-25-2003

I have not tried that.....My gear isn't with me at the time so I can't try it right away, but do you think the -i switch will also qwell the errors coming from gpsd (if thats whats causing kismet to choke)?

Thanks for your help!

Mirlyn · 05-27-2003

Started GPSDrive with the -i switch and ran it for a good three or four hours on tonights drive without error. Looks like it fixed it!

Big thanks to everyone--I'm glad I got this working, I've been missing out on a good number of networks out there.

Now I need to take a look at the mass-map download scripts I saw mentioned in the kismet man pages. My friend has his Sprint Vision phone working with his laptop to download the GPSDrive maps as he gets to the city (nearly always in service).

Thanks again!

peekitty · 05-27-2003

Excellent! Glad to hear you've got it working.

Mirlyn · 06-08-2003

Bad news. Last trip I took it pooped on me again. After 5 hours, the gpsd service seems to have crashed. A few things I've noticed so far:

1) GPSDrive works fantastic by itself, without kismet running. I left the laptop running in the car for two days straight without it crashing. I never started kismet, just let GPSdrive run (with my local maps and all). Kismet works fine for days too. When used together, the setup crashes it seems.

2) With Kismet running, after several hours (3+), gpsdrive will lock up and its' terminal window will repeat "loop detected, please report!" and the X-display will crash and go away (going back to the terminal window). About five minutes later (after the X-display crash), gpsd crashes and kismet loses coordinates. After the first crash of the X-display for the night, both gpsd and gpsdrive programs won't run but 10-15 minutes before they crash again. I tried the -i switch and it isn't having any effect now. When the GPS is set to Garmin mode, I can't start the gpsd daemon in gpsdrive so kismet won't ever get the coordinates.

3) The laptop has a few IRQ settings in the BIOS, I've tried two of the four listed, and it doesn't seem to affect it. I'm on my way out again tonight and I'll try the other two settings.

GPS is an eTrex Legend and the laptop is a Thinkpad 390X running RH8.0. I read a short piece in another recent thread here about problems with IBMs...will search for more about them when I get home--hope I'm not fighting an unknown problem.

I've tried redownloading/reinstalling kismet and gpsdrive--same problem. I'm using GPSDrive 1.32 and Kismet 2.8.1.

Any ideas would be appreciated. I hate looking down and realizing I've lost coordinates sometime during the drive and not knowing where/when.

peekitty · 06-09-2003

It won't solve your problem, but if you have room for Fritz' Festival build (from the GpsDrive site,) you might get some audible warning when the coords go wonky. I'm just guessing this will work, I haven't experienced your problem of course...

c0nv3r9 · 06-09-2003

also possibly not ideal, but have you tested out a lengthy drive by only running gpsd... I've had some issues with gpsdrive itself in the past, and am always at guard when it is in the mix

Mirlyn · 06-09-2003

Quote:

Originally posted by c0nv3r9
have you tested out a lengthy drive by only running gpsd...

Hmm.....Now that I think about it, no I haven't. I'll start gpsd tomorrow and let it run all day and see what happens.

Mirlyn · 06-11-2003

Well, gpsd ran nearly 6 hours yesterday without problems. Only 20 mins after I started Kismet did GPSDrive crash, shortly thereafter gpsd crashed.

Any ideas as to why Kismet would be doing this?

05-23-2003	#1 (permalink)
Mirlyn social engineer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 48	GPS errors out with Kismet After about an hour of operation, Kismet reports an error and my coordinates disappear. I can't remember what the error was (saw it last night), and Kismet continues scanning, but it stops getting coordinates. I dont' touch the laptop or the GPS. I'm going to go out for a quick spin now and see if I can duplicate the problem and get the error message for you guys and I'll post it later tonight. Just curious if anyone has encountered this already. Thanks!

05-24-2003	#4 (permalink)
c0nv3r9 Church of WiFi Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: not behind you, or am I? Posts: 290	how bout a little more background info? like.. are you communicating with the device via gpsd, and what settings are you using? did you change any settings in kismet.conf with regards to gps? ..etc __________________ He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. -- Nahum 2:5, The Holy Bible, KJV

05-25-2003	#6 (permalink)
c0nv3r9 Church of WiFi Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: not behind you, or am I? Posts: 290	hmmm... being that you've appearantly tested out your hardware... the only thing I can think of would be an issue with your serial port (or its communication settings on device and gpsd) The only other possibility would be the unit itself.. and that is difficult to test without either another known working GPS unit or another known working gpsd setup. __________________ He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. -- Nahum 2:5, The Holy Bible, KJV

06-09-2003	#13 (permalink)
c0nv3r9 Church of WiFi Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: not behind you, or am I? Posts: 290	also possibly not ideal, but have you tested out a lengthy drive by only running gpsd... I've had some issues with gpsdrive itself in the past, and am always at guard when it is in the mix __________________ He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence shall be prepared. -- Nahum 2:5, The Holy Bible, KJV

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05-24-2003	#2 (permalink)
peekitty Macaca Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S. Florida Posts: 1,056	Nope, I've run Kismet for many hours without GPS issues, you might be experiencing a hardware issue.

05-25-2003	#5 (permalink)
Mirlyn social engineer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 48	Thanks for your help! Ok, here's the deal: RH8 running Kismet 2.8.1 and GPSDrive 1.32. Garmin eTrex Legend. I can use GPSDrive in GARMIN mode and it'll receive the coordinates, but Kismet will not. No coordinates at all. I don't know if Kismet will run on GARMIN mode or not, but I assume GPSDrive emulates the GPS data specifically for Kismet (hence the port 2947 stuff) so that really shouldn't matter to Kismet. I can use GPSDrive in NMEA mode and it'll receive the coordinates fine. After 5 minutes (it was that quick tonight) to even as long as an hour (took that long a few nights ago) the terminal window will start showing *NMEA Checksum Error!* with the coorindates and lines like blah is blah, should be foo, yet the X display will continue updating coordinates/speed/alt and move the map like it should without complaint or hiccup. Kismet, however, will lose the coordinates after the third or fourth Checksum Error and display this: GPS error fetching data; GPSD error reading data, aborting GPS GPS works fine. Tried different batteries and different serial cable (I've got two). The GPS works fine in both NMEA and GARMIN mode in NetStumbler as I had it running during a vacation in December (8+ hours of driving a day, several days). Am I retarded and doing something wrong? I've reinstalled all the packages/libraries and even reinstalled the entire system and get the same results every time.

05-25-2003	#7 (permalink)
peekitty Macaca Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S. Florida Posts: 1,056	Have you tried setting flow control to off? You can tell GPSdrive to ignore the checksum errors with the -i argument, but I think gpsd is passing the error to Kismet.

05-25-2003	#8 (permalink)
Mirlyn social engineer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 48	I have not tried that.....My gear isn't with me at the time so I can't try it right away, but do you think the -i switch will also qwell the errors coming from gpsd (if thats whats causing kismet to choke)? Thanks for your help!

05-27-2003	#9 (permalink)
Mirlyn social engineer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 48	Started GPSDrive with the -i switch and ran it for a good three or four hours on tonights drive without error. Looks like it fixed it! Big thanks to everyone--I'm glad I got this working, I've been missing out on a good number of networks out there. Now I need to take a look at the mass-map download scripts I saw mentioned in the kismet man pages. My friend has his Sprint Vision phone working with his laptop to download the GPSDrive maps as he gets to the city (nearly always in service). Thanks again!

05-27-2003	#10 (permalink)
peekitty Macaca Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S. Florida Posts: 1,056	Excellent! Glad to hear you've got it working.

06-08-2003	#11 (permalink)
Mirlyn social engineer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 48	Bad news. Last trip I took it pooped on me again. After 5 hours, the gpsd service seems to have crashed. A few things I've noticed so far: 1) GPSDrive works fantastic by itself, without kismet running. I left the laptop running in the car for two days straight without it crashing. I never started kismet, just let GPSdrive run (with my local maps and all). Kismet works fine for days too. When used together, the setup crashes it seems. 2) With Kismet running, after several hours (3+), gpsdrive will lock up and its' terminal window will repeat "loop detected, please report!" and the X-display will crash and go away (going back to the terminal window). About five minutes later (after the X-display crash), gpsd crashes and kismet loses coordinates. After the first crash of the X-display for the night, both gpsd and gpsdrive programs won't run but 10-15 minutes before they crash again. I tried the -i switch and it isn't having any effect now. When the GPS is set to Garmin mode, I can't start the gpsd daemon in gpsdrive so kismet won't ever get the coordinates. 3) The laptop has a few IRQ settings in the BIOS, I've tried two of the four listed, and it doesn't seem to affect it. I'm on my way out again tonight and I'll try the other two settings. GPS is an eTrex Legend and the laptop is a Thinkpad 390X running RH8.0. I read a short piece in another recent thread here about problems with IBMs...will search for more about them when I get home--hope I'm not fighting an unknown problem. I've tried redownloading/reinstalling kismet and gpsdrive--same problem. I'm using GPSDrive 1.32 and Kismet 2.8.1. Any ideas would be appreciated. I hate looking down and realizing I've lost coordinates sometime during the drive and not knowing where/when.

06-09-2003	#12 (permalink)
peekitty Macaca Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: S. Florida Posts: 1,056	It won't solve your problem, but if you have room for Fritz' Festival build (from the GpsDrive site,) you might get some audible warning when the coords go wonky. I'm just guessing this will work, I haven't experienced your problem of course...

06-11-2003	#15 (permalink)
Mirlyn social engineer Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Wichita, Kansas Posts: 48	Well, gpsd ran nearly 6 hours yesterday without problems. Only 20 mins after I started Kismet did GPSDrive crash, shortly thereafter gpsd crashed. Any ideas as to why Kismet would be doing this?