Intel 3945ABG wifi sees only some networks

Question

This is kinda strange.

The router is set fine and I can see it from a Mac and from 2 mobile phones. Is WEP protected and not hidden or other tricks, as it comes from the box. My Ubuntu is 10.04 on HP Pavillion DV1000.

When I try to connect from Ubuntu, it does see other networks (10 or more) but not my own. I've tried restarts, ifconfig up/down, rfkill block/unblock wifi, installing b43-fwcutter and nothing works.

I would appreciate any suggestions. Thanks

$ sudo lshw -C network
  *-network               
       description: Wireless interface
       product: PRO/Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] Network Connection
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:02:00.0
       logical name: wlan0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:19:d2:0c:a6:bf
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwl3945 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abg
       resources: irq:27 memory:d6000000-d6000fff
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: PRO/100 VE Network Connection
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 8
       bus info: pci@0000:05:08.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 02
       serial: 00:16:36:4e:9b:60
       size: 100MB/s
       capacity: 100MB/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e100 driverversion=3.5.24-k2-NAPI duplex=full firmware=N/A ip=10.0.0.1 latency=64 link=yes maxlatency=56 mingnt=8 multicast=yes port=MII speed=100MB/s
       resources: irq:20 memory:d8000000-d8000fff ioport:4000(size=64)


 $ sudo iwlist scan
 lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.

 eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.

 wlan0     Scan completed :
           Cell 01 - Address: 00:21:29:C7:5C:82
                Channel:6
                Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                Quality=39/70  Signal level=-71 dBm  
                Encryption key:on
                ESSID:"Alveveien227"
                Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                          24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                Mode:Master
                Extra:tsf=0000003cfab679b1
                Extra: Last beacon: 1588ms ago
                IE: Unknown: 000C416C7665766569656E323237
                IE: Unknown: 010882848B962430486C
                IE: Unknown: 030106
                IE: Unknown: 2A0100
                IE: Unknown: 2F0100
                IE: Unknown: 32040C121860
                IE: Unknown: 2D1A0C181AFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                IE: Unknown: 3D1606001300000000000000000000000000000000000000
                IE: Unknown: DD930050F204104A00011010440001021041000100103B00010310470010109070C00000109070C0004000000000102100244C696E6B7379732C2041204469766973696F6E206F6620436973636F2053797374656D73102300075752543631304E1024000876312E30302E30301042000234321054000800060050F2040001101100075752543631304E100800020088103C000103
                IE: Unknown: DD090010180202F0050000
                IE: WPA Version 1
                    Group Cipher : TKIP
                    Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                    Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101800003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
                IE: Unknown: DD1E00904C330C181AFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                IE: Unknown: DD1A00904C3406001300000000000000000000000000000000000000
      Cell 02 - Address: 34:21:09:02:FF:A0
                Channel:9
                Frequency:2.452 GHz (Channel 9)
                Quality=22/70  Signal level=-88 dBm  
                Encryption key:on
                ESSID:"Kontoret 2"
                Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                          18 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                Bit Rates:6 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                Mode:Unknown/bug
                Extra:tsf=0000015573e86ed2
                Extra: Last beacon: 1496ms ago
                IE: Unknown: 000A4B6F6E746F7265742032
                IE: Unknown: 010882848B961224486C
                IE: Unknown: 030109
                IE: Unknown: 32040C183060
                IE: Unknown: 33082001020304050607
                IE: Unknown: 33082105060708090A0B
                IE: Unknown: DD270050F204104A0001101044000102104700102880288028801880A88034210902FFA0103C000101
                IE: Unknown: 050400030080
                IE: Unknown: 2A0104
                IE: Unknown: 2D1AEE1117FFFF0000010000000000000000000000000C0000000000
                IE: Unknown: 3D1609070700000000000000000000000000000000000000
                IE: Unknown: 7F0101
                IE: WPA Version 1
                    Group Cipher : TKIP
                    Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
                    Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                    Group Cipher : TKIP
                    Pairwise Ciphers (2) : TKIP CCMP
                    Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                IE: Unknown: DD180050F2020101000003A4000027A4000042435E0062322F00
                IE: Unknown: 0B0505002D127A
                IE: Unknown: DD1E00904C33EE1117FFFF0000010000000000000000000000000C0000000000
                IE: Unknown: DD1A00904C3409070700000000000000000000000000000000000000
                IE: Unknown: DD07000C4304000000

Answer 1

To see available wifi networks you probably want to do:

sudo iwlist scan

By lshw -C network you have listed network interfaces and their current configuration.

Answer 2

The fix. It seems that this wifi booard does not support the channel 13 which was automatically given by my router. Forcing it to a supported channel (10) solved the issue.

$ sudo iwlist channel 
    wlan0     24 channels in total; available frequencies :
      Channel 01 : 2.412 GHz
      Channel 02 : 2.417 GHz
      Channel 03 : 2.422 GHz
      Channel 04 : 2.427 GHz
      Channel 05 : 2.432 GHz
      Channel 06 : 2.437 GHz
      Channel 07 : 2.442 GHz
      Channel 08 : 2.447 GHz
      Channel 09 : 2.452 GHz
      Channel 10 : 2.457 GHz
      Channel 11 : 2.462 GHz
      Channel 36 : 5.18 GHz
      Channel 40 : 5.2 GHz
      Channel 44 : 5.22 GHz
      Channel 48 : 5.24 GHz
      Channel 52 : 5.26 GHz
      Channel 56 : 5.28 GHz
      Channel 60 : 5.3 GHz
      Channel 64 : 5.32 GHz
      Channel 149 : 5.745 GHz
      Channel 153 : 5.765 GHz
      Channel 157 : 5.785 GHz
      Channel 161 : 5.805 GHz
      Channel 165 : 5.825 GHz
      Current Frequency=2.457 GHz (Channel 10)

Mistery solved. No black magic, just lack of knowledge on my part. Thanks everybody.