wifi keeps dropping out

[phantom16]

Hello everyone, i am pretty new to linux and have been using PCLOS with relative success, but one problem is that My computer keeps dropping my wifi connection and then automatically reconnecting. Sometimes my wifi will stay on for only a second, sometimes it will go interuppted for up to 10 minutes, and when it gets disconnected it will sometime immediately reconnect and sometimes it will take up to 5 minutes or so to reconnect. it really is random though and no consistency with the connections or disconnections.  I am running this on a desktop that has a AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter in the pci slot.

I have another laptop and it has no problems with the wifi, regardless of whether or not the desktop is fine. I have tried turning off my wifi on my laptop to see if it will make my desktop work better (was thinking my router was having issues, but that doesn't seem to help. i also was monitoring my router through my laptop and whenever my desktop would disconnect my router would show it as not connecting anymore (i don't really think that bit of info really helps though  ) I'm just trying to figure out what the problem could be, maybe my router just hates something about this computer? maybe  i need a new wireless adapter? maybe theres a setting withing PCLOS that needs to be changed? your thoughts please.

i looked through the basic wireless tips sticky and i put a bunch of stuff through the konsole, but i don't really know what any of it means, but if it helps you help me, it's below:

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uname -r

2.6.26.8.tex3

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lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 Host Bridge
00:02.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Graphics Port 0)
00:05.0 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc RS690 PCI to PCI Bridge (PCI Express Port 1)
00:11.0 SATA controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 SATA Controller [IDE mode]
00:12.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:12.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller
00:12.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:13.0 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI0 Controller
00:13.1 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700 USB OHCI1 Controller
00:13.2 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB EHCI Controller
00:14.0 SMBus: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 SMBus Controller (rev 3a)
00:14.1 IDE interface: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 IDE Controller
00:14.2 Audio device: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 Azalia (Intel HDA)
00:14.3 ISA bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 LPC host controller
00:14.4 PCI bridge: ATI Technologies Inc SBx00 PCI to PCI Bridge
00:14.5 USB Controller: ATI Technologies Inc SB700/SB800 USB OHCI2 Controller
00:18.0 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] HyperTransport Technology Configuration
00:18.1 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Address Map
00:18.2 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] DRAM Controller
00:18.3 Host bridge: Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] K8 [Athlon64/Opteron] Miscellaneous Control
01:00.0 VGA compatible controller: ATI Technologies Inc RV530LE [Radeon X1600]
01:00.1 Display controller: ATI Technologies Inc Device 71ee
02:00.0 Ethernet controller: Attansic Technology Corp. L1 Gigabit Ethernet Adapter (rev b0)
03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5008 Wireless Network Adapter (rev 01)
03:01.0 Multimedia audio controller: Creative Labs Ectiva EV1938

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iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wifi0     no wireless extensions.

ath0      IEEE 802.11g  ESSID:"all your wifi are belong to us"  Nickname:"localhost"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.422 GHz  Access Point: 00:21:91:09:30:7F
          Bit Rate:18 Mb/s   Tx-Power:19 dBm   Sensitivity=1/1
          Retry:off   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=49/70  Signal level=-47 dBm  Noise level=-96 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

pan0      no wireless extensions.

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cat /etc/modprobe.conf

install usb-interface /sbin/modprobe ohci_hcd; /sbin/modprobe ehci_hcd; /bin/true
blacklist audio
blacklist snd-usb-audio
alias sound-slot-1 snd_hda_intel
alias sound-slot-0 snd_ens1371
alias eth0 atl1
alias net-pf-10 off
install scsi_hostadapter /sbin/modprobe pata_atiixp; /sbin/modprobe ahci; /sbin/modprobe ata_piix; /bin/true
alias net-pf-1 unix
alias net-pf-2 ipv4
alias net-pf-3 ax25
alias net-pf-4 ipx
alias net-pf-5 appletalk
alias net-pf-6 netrom
alias net-pf-7 bridge
alias net-pf-8 atm
alias net-pf-9 x25
alias net-pf-10 off
alias net-pf-11 rose
alias net-pf-12 decnet
alias ipv6 off
alias net-pf-15 af_key
alias net-pf-16 af_netlink
alias net-pf-17 af_packet
alias net-pf-19 af_econet
alias net-pf-20 atm
alias net-pf-23 irda
alias net-pf-24 pppoe
alias net-pf-25 wanrouter
alias net-pf-26 llc
alias net-pf-31 bluetooth
alias eth1394 off
alias ath0 ath_pci
alias pci:v0000168Cd00000023sv00001186sd00003A6Dbc02sc80i00 ath_pci
alias eth1395 ndiswrapper

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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
capability
yenta_socket
floppy
bttv
ohci1394
8250_pci
mmc_core
mmc_block
slamr
amd64-agp
nvram
intel_agp
sdhci
amd64_agp
ati_agp
evdev



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cat /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ath0

cat: /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ath0: Permission denied

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cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist

blacklist snd-usb-audio

blacklist ath5k
blacklist mac80211
blacklist ssb

[phantom16]

I'm certainly no specialist here, but I remember fixing this issue on my laptop by switching from dhclient to dhcpcd.

You can do this from PCC. Something like "Network/internet>>Network center>>>Wireless>>Configure>>Advanced>>DHCP client"

hmm, i gave it a shot, but i still am experiencing the disconnections.I appreciate you trying to help though

[coolbreeze]

phantom16 Welcome to the house

Is the card seated properly in the slot?, are you using a driver from the repo? or from the disk for the card?, unfortunately i don't understand the read-out from the Terminal but after looking at mine, yours looks O.K.

[siamer]

ok so that card WORKING PERFECT !!
Do that:
go to (as a root): cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist and remove "ath5k" and add "ath-pci" later just in terminal type (as a root): "modprobe athk5" and reboot Your system...i was using all the time module ath5k and was ok  so for You have to work as well

good luck !
siamer

[phantom16]

phantom16 Welcome to the house

Is the card seated properly in the slot?, are you using a driver from the repo? or from the disk for the card?, unfortunately i don't understand the read-out from the Terminal but after looking at mine, yours looks O.K.

i am just using a driver that came with the OS, i have no idea how i would go about getting a custom driver on linux...:-/

ok so that card WORKING PERFECT !!
Do that:
go to (as a root): cat /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist and remove "ath5k" and add "ath-pci" later just in terminal type (as a root): "modprobe athk5" and reboot Your system...i was using all the time module ath5k and was ok   so for You have to work as well

good luck !
siamer

ok so i navigated to the file, removed the ath5k and added ath-pci, however when i went to terminal ans typed what you told me i got a mesage saying "FATAL: module athk5 not found." and the internet still seems to be dropping out...

[coolbreeze]

Don't know if this is installed by default, do you have DKMS MADWIFI?, you could try wicd it's in the repo, it did solve an issue i used to have.

Have you tried going back into pcc>network and connections and deleting all connections and setting it up again?

The only other thing i can think is going into the router and see what IP your desktop has and make it static.

[phantom16]

Don't know if this is installed by default, do you have DKMS MADWIFI?, you could try wicd it's in the repo, it did solve an issue i used to have.

so i gave that a try, and it didn't really seem to help at all

Have you tried going back into pcc>network and connections and deleting all connections and setting it up again?

again tried that, still having drop outs

The only other thing i can think is going into the router and see what IP your desktop has and make it static.

i tried that and then my internet wouldn't work at all. the computer said i was connected, but i couldn't go to any webpage whatsoever.

======================================

i have tried the internet in my windows partition and it works fine, so it has to be a problem with pclinuxos, because i had perfect uninterrupted internet there, and i doubt it's a hardware issue now.

i have noticed that when i lose connection to the net i can still see my wifi listed in the list of available networks, but when i try to connect it will sit there and try to connect and say "connecting..." and then it will tell me "connection failed", and then spontaneously it will reconnect. would that lead it to be more of a router issue than a OS issue? but then why would windows work fine...

i have no idea what else to try. everytime someone has recommended something and it hasn't worked i have gone and reversed the process becasue i don't want my system with a bunch of changed settings that didn't do what i was hoping it would accomplish in case anyone was curious, so as of now i am basically back to square one. just thought i should mention that...

[phantom16]

so anything else to try? i dont know what else to try to get the wifi working correctly...

[phantom16]

hate to be a nuisance, but does anyone have any other ideas to try to get my wifi working?

i appreciate everyone's effort's so far, however nothing seems to help for some reason, and i'm pretty sure its PSLOS based because my xp partition works fine.

[poiema]

phantom16 have you ever resolved this issue? I am having a similar issue and just started trying to solve it. I was wondering if it might be something in the kernel? Most of these drivers are now a part of the kernel. In addition to what you have mentioned,I have also pulled out a Zyxel dongle that I have and I experience the same issues. I have been using PCLOS on and off since 0.7 and hope to get this completely solved so I don't have to look back again. Everything else now seems to be working smooth.

John

[gilado]

I have similar issues only when the connection uses encryption. First it takes forever to connect, with multiple retries using drakroam. After it connects it drops every 10-20 minutes, and immediately connects again.

Specifically in one location where I also manage the access point, I sit about 10 feet from the access point.  Signal is perfect, however, the connection drops every so often, and immediately reconnects.  I checked the access point logs, it claims the end point (my laptop) drops the connection.

It never happens where the connection is open.

This has been a long standing problem, going back as far as I can remember 2-3 years, through many upgrades; hardware stayed the same.

Built-in Intel Pro wireless 2915ABG Calexico2

modprobe.conf
alias eth1  ipw2200

lsmod:
ipw2200
ieee80211

[marrandy]

Any new news on this wifi dropoing in and out issue ?

[DeBaas]

Tried the windowsXP drivers with ndiswrapper ??
crossed my mind..........................

[Joble]

Last time I saw a situation similar to this where nothing helped, it was a hardware/heat issue.  Card got hot enough, it quit.

[Village Idiot]

Time for a story...

I have a linksys router and netgear usb wireless g stick running on an old version of PCLOS, with the xp drivers. The reason I mentioned the linksys router is I had to change the 'Group Key  Renewal:' time from the default setting. The dropout only affected the connection when it was using WPA.

Another netbook with inbuilt wifi never suffered the same symptom so I got advised to change it value in the router config since it would not affect any other devices anyhow. Now it drops the connection after about two hours which I can live with. 

I'll probably never know if it's the router or the usb stick(or it's driver) that's causing the problem. But the change in the router settings made it bearable.

What about swapping the AP and/or wifi device and try in different combinations?