[GLLUG] Vexing Wireless Problem

[Marshal Newrock]

I don't have a ready solution, but I can relate my own anecdote, which
may help.

I used to use wicd to connect to wireless networks, but it seems to
have trouble with secured networks (and absolutely can not handle
hidden networks).  So, with this, and with getting a wireless card for
my desktop and wanting it to always connect to my home wireless network
on boot, I found a way in Debian to set up the connection
in /etc/network/interfaces.  And, for my laptop, I also found a way to
use a program called guessnet within /etc/network/interfaces to
automatically connect to different networks.

http://wiki.debian.org/WiFi/HowToUse

http://manpages.debian.net/cgi-bin/man.cgi?sektion=8&query=guessnet&apropos=0&manpath=sid&locale=en

Then, I discovered that this method does not work at all for unsecured
connections.

So now, I have the secured connections I want to connect to defined
in /etc/network/interfaces.  If I want to connect to an unsecured
network, I start up wicd.  If I need to switch between the two, it's
usually reboot or face a kernel panic.

Marshal


On Tue, 05 Feb 2013 21:55:21 -0500
Chick Tower <c.e.tower at gmail.com> wrote:

> I'm having a problem getting connected to unsecured wireless access 
> points with my ThinkPad.  (I haven't tried any secured APs.)  It's 
> really tricky, and I've been searching on the web with little
> success. I've found a few things, but they either didn't apply, were
> already in use, or had no positive effect.
> 
> I've been using the laptop's internal wireless system for months with 
> two versions of Bodhi Linux.  I installed ArchBang Linux, and
> wireless networking worked fine.  Both distros have Network Manager
> installed by default, so that's what I use.  However, when I tried
> connecting at Schuler Books last week, ArchBang never did let me get
> anywhere with a web browser.  I could connect with Bodhi just fine.
> ArchBang's nm-applet would sometimes show me a list of detected
> access points, and sometimes it would say networking has been
> disabled.  Even when it showed me the list of APs and I selected the
> Schuler Books one, and even though the icon made it look as though I
> connected, I couldn't access anything on the internet.
> 
> I took the laptop to the downtown branch of the public library on 
> Sunday.  Neither ArchBand nor Bodhi could connect in a useful manner, 
> with several reboots of both distros.  In Bodhi, nm-applet would
> offer me a list of APs, but I get nothing in the browser.  In fact,
> after about twenty seconds I would get an error message, but we can't
> send screenshots in the GLLUG mailing list.  In essence it said "(4)
> Did not receive a reply." and listed a few reasons why that might
> have happened. ArchBang always said networking was disabled, giving
> me no list of APs.  So, instead of solving the problem at the
> library, I got nowhere, and even lost ground.
> 
> In my living room, I can see several APs in the neighborhood, but
> only one is open.  In playing around some more with the ThinkPad,
> I've found that sometimes in Bodhi I can get connected and actually
> load sites like SlashDot, Linux Today, and Google.  I even downloaded
> a Lansing L1040 tax form.  Other times I get the error message and no
> internet. ArchBang still won't connect, although sometimes it offers
> me the list of APs and then the error message when I select the open
> one.
> 
> Now, you might think something in this old wireless chip or the
> antenna is failing.  Perhaps this is so.  Since the one AP that is
> open in my neighborhood has the SSID of "im a hacker", I was
> reluctant to connect to it at first, thinking it may be like a
> honeypot.  So I tried it using a live CD.  It connects to that AP
> just fine with the live CDs of both ArchBang and Bodhi that I used to
> install them on my ThinkPad's hard drive!  Every time I tested them.
> That's what is really puzzling.
> 
> I tried making connections using "manual" commands rather than
> Network Manager.  dhcpcd was not installed, so I used dhclient.  It
> looked like dhclient was sending out connection requests but getting
> no responses or acceptances, whichever is the correct term.  I saw a
> lot of DHCPDISCOVER transmissions using different frequency
> intervals, and dhclient kept trying until I stopped it.
> 
> I considered that perhaps the versions of Network Manager on the live 
> CDs and on the hard-drive installations were different, since I had
> done system upgrades after installation.  They appear to be the same
> version for ArchBang, but it appears I have upgraded Network Manager
> in Bodhi, so that doesn't seem to explain the difference.  Besides, I
> may have upgraded it in Bodhi well before all this started.
> 
> I use Privoxy (an ad-blocking proxy) and a firewall, so I turned
> those off.  No change.
> 
> Oh, yeah, it's an Atheros wireless chipset.  They're usually no
> problem with Linux, and it did work great before.  I guess it's
> possible the driver got updated in both distros and it's causing the
> problem, so I'll try to remember to check on that.  However, I think
> it's in the kernel, so I would have to figure out how to downgrade
> the kernel.
> 
> I'm just about at wits end with this.  The fact that the live CDs
> always work really messes things up.  I could try disabling the
> internal wireless and using a PCMCIA wireless adapter (I did just
> happen to buy a spare one on Craigslist recently), but I'd rather get
> the internal wireless working again.  Do any of you have suggestions
> for things I could try that I haven't thought of?  Installing new
> network connection managers would be a problem if I can't get
> connected, and I have no network at home.  Besides, Network Manager
> was working great before.


-- 
Marshal Newrock
Zordio, LLC - http://www.zordio.com
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