Lost ability to connect wireless [Solved]

[bilyo]

I am using a Lenovo G550 which dual boots Win7 and PCLOS (ver 2.6.38.8 -pclos1.bfs with gnome desktop). My wife runs Win7 on her HP Inspiron. Over a period of 2-3 months we have had wifi problems. Sometimes we could connect, sometimes not.  Sometimes, connections would be very slow. With telephone support help, both the DSL modem and wifi router were checked, reset, and reconfigured.  All seemed OK for a short time until yesterday when both OSs on the Lenovo machine refused to connect. Win7 on the HP machine connected with a slow connection. In desperation, I just bought a new Netgear router and hooked it up.  The HP machine connects as does Win7 on the Lenevo.  However, PCLOS (with all current updates) still refuses to connect.  Except, at the moment, I am working from a 2010 Live CD and it connects fine.  I didn't think to try that before hooking up the new router.  But, oh well, it's a better one.

I've gone through the first couple of pages of diagnostic steps presented by Coffeetime, but I haven't a clue how to interpret them.  I would appreciate some guidance.  The command results are as follows:

iwconfig:
eth0      IEEE 802.11abg  ESSID:"NETGEAR20"  
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.417 GHz  Access Point: 84:1B:5E:7E:13:6D  
          Tx-Power=200 dBm  
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=69/70  Signal level=-41 dBm  
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
[root@BillLenovo bill]# cat /etc/modprobe.conf
install scsi_hostadapter /sbin/modprobe ahci; /sbin/modprobe ata_piix; /bin/true
install usb-interface /sbin/modprobe ehci_hcd; /sbin/modprobe uhci_hcd; /bin/true
options snd-ac97-codec power_save=1
alias pci:v000014E4d00004315sv000014E4sd000004B5bc02sc80i00 wl
alias eth0 wl

[root@BillLenovo bill]# cat /etc/modprobe.preload
# /etc/modprobe.preload: kernel modules to load at boot time.
#
# This file should contain the names of kernel modules that are
# to be loaded at boot time, one per line.  Comments begin with
# a `#', and everything on the line after them are ignored.
# this file is for module-init-tools (kernel 2.5 and above) ONLY
# for old kernel use /etc/modules
fuse
raw1394
sbp2
ohci1394
nvram
evdev
evdev
hdaps

[root@BillLenovo bill]# cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
DEVICE=eth0
BOOTPROTO=dhcp
ONBOOT=yes
METRIC=35
MII_NOT_SUPPORTED=no
USERCTL=yes
RESOLV_MODS=no
WIRELESS_MODE=Managed
WIRELESS_ESSID=NETGEAR20
WIRELESS_ENC_KEY=s:(password is correct)
WIRELESS_ENC_MODE=open
WIRELESS_WPA_DRIVER=wext
WIRELESS_WPA_REASSOCIATE=no
IPV6INIT=no
IPV6TO4INIT=no
ACCOUNTING=yes
DHCP_CLIENT=dhclient
NEEDHOSTNAME=no
PEERDNS=yes
PEERYP=yes
PEERNTPD=no

[root@BillLenovo bill]# cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
blacklist ssb

blacklist ssb

[root@BillLenovo bill]# service -f network
Shutting down interface eth0:                                       [  OK  ]
Shutting down interface eth1:                                       [  OK  ]
Shutting down loopback interface:                                   [  OK  ]
Bringing up loopback interface:                                     [  OK  ]
Configuring wireless regulatory domain                              [  OK  ]
Bringing up interface eth0:  Error for wireless request "Set Encode" (8B2A) :
    SET failed on device eth0 ; Invalid argument.
                                                                    [  OK  ]
Bringing up interface eth1:  

[root@BillLenovo bill]# ping 10.0.0.1
connect: Network is unreachable

[Just17]

I find the simplest thing in most cases is to delete all network connections through PCC and then create a new connection.

This ensure that there are no gremlins in the connection set up that might be causing a problem.

If it doesn't work, at least you know you are starting to fault find from a newly created connection.

[bilyo]

just17,
Believe it or not I did try that before with zero results. On your suggestion, I tried again and it worked!  I must have made a misstep the first time somewhere along in the very simple process.  I was afraid, from reading other posts on the subject, that it was going to be a much more complicated issue.
Thanks

[Just17]

just17,
Believe it or not I did try that before with zero results. On your suggestion, I tried again and it worked!  I must have made a misstep the first time somewhere along in the very simple process.  I was afraid, from reading other posts on the subject, that it was going to be a much more complicated issue.
Thanks

   Glad it worked this time for you 

[Yankee]

just17,
Believe it or not I did try that before with zero results. On your suggestion, I tried again and it worked!  I must have made a misstep the first time somewhere along in the very simple process.  I was afraid, from reading other posts on the subject, that it was going to be a much more complicated issue.
Thanks

Just FYI,

When installing new kernels or even lib's related to networking, yes, sometimes the
connection has to be deleted and fully recreated in PCC.   I rehooked up my Wifi last night
just to be sure it still worked OK and I had to reboot twice before it took a recreate
procedure.   Had to install from Synaptic a ndiswrapper I didn't have installed (new
used machine).   After setting the key and leaving everything else on auto it connects
without problem.   Other Wifi's are clearly visible also.    Very easy setup.

PCC-Network and System to delete the connection.
PCC-Hardware, runconfig tool to recreate it.

Disconnecting the ethernet cable might have made it easier, went to the wlan0 without
difficulty, the ethernet connection wasn't the primary connection then. 

regards,

FF

[bnc75ohm]

I had the same problem and it had me going for days.  The solution came from carefully re-reading  Just17's advice:

delete all network connections through PCC and then create a new connection.

I wasn't able to connect establish a normal wireless until I deleted all connections and rebooted.

Thanks for the tip!

[dewin]

I've just spent a frustrating 2 hours trying lots of things - this thread has sorted it out.  Thanks folks.