[GLLUG] Vexing Wireless Problem

Thu Feb 7 22:16:16 EST 2013

Hello All,

Another thing to bring up again is to make sure you have the correct
drivers installed. As you mentioned there could of been a change. Atheros
has great Linux support but that does not necessarily mean you are using
the correct drivers. I know Debian some times does not have the correct
wifi drivers for a chip set. Most the time they use a generic driver to try
to support the chip set. Here is a helpful link for you:
http://wiki.debian.org/WiFi#Install_Driver

On Thu, Feb 7, 2013 at 10:00 AM, Marshal Newrock <marshal at zordio.com> wrote:

> 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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>
>

-- 
Jordan Robison
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