AR5212 Random connectivity issues. [Re-opened]

dohtem · n00b Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Augusta, GA

never got a response earlier, what is the madwifi module name?

Simba7 · Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 1:32 am Post subject:

I had to use the MadWifi driver to get my card to work in Master Mode.

Just make sure you use the latest, and I mean madwifi-ng-9999.

dohtem · n00b Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Augusta, GA

working on installing madwifi at the moment, as soon as i figure out how to patch ebuilds i should have it completed. unfortunately, there is a problem with madwifi-ng-0.9.4-r1 compiling on Kernel 2.6.29 because of some changed symbols. we'll see how that goes.

on a side note, thanks again to all who have contributed

Simba7 · Posted: Thu May 14, 2009 10:03 pm Post subject:

overkll · Posted: Fri May 15, 2009 7:34 pm Post subject:

@dohtem,

I've got an ath9k (AR9280 a/b/g/n) which also displayed weak signal strength. I've used some ath5k cards in the past as well - also with weak signal strength. I always thought is was an chip design issue until I installed a 2.6.29 series kernel. My signal strength doubled from 49/100 to 100/100! That was for the ath9k. Don't know if it would be the same drastic jump on the ath5k. I'm currently using gentoo-sources-2.6.29-r4 (2.6.29.3 kernel). This kernel fixed a broadcast packet issue that affected cups. Now no more cups issue. Atheros development continues in the kernel, so I'd expect improvements that the madwifi drivers won't get.

A gui is nice, but I'd steer clear of NetworkMangler. Have you tried wpa-supplicant's gui? It requires the qt(3|4) USE flag.

Over the past few years using wireless on gentoo, I've come to the conclusion that baselayout-1* has some issues activating wireless on boot, especially for WPA/WPA2 connections. I've been successfully using the following configurations that disables the iwconfig module and relys on wpa_supplicant exclusively for bringing up the interface on machines with rt2500, ath5k and ath9k, whether encrypted or open. I'm using kernel modules, baselayout-1.2.11.1 and wpa_supplicant-0.6.4 with the gui.

/etc/conf.net

dohtem · n00b Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Augusta, GA

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooookay...

Thanks again to all who took the time to give input. I did not get a chance to try all the suggested configurations, madwifi would not compile for me on the 2.6.29 kernel, even after trying to patch the ebuild with the info i had found (and was also posted in this link) from bugs.gentoo.org. However...I DID get it to finally work. MUCH thanks to Overkll for the final help with getting it to work.

I had been using 2.6.29-gentoo-r1 kernel, and it was semi functional with wireless-tools, although it was randomly very sluggish, and sometimes unresponsive altogether.

What finally worked was kernel 2.6.29-gentoo-r4 with wpa_supplicant and ath5k (built as a module, I have not tried it built in yet since one major improvement i had with 2.6.29-gentoo-r1 was in switching from built in to modular ath5k)

I am now using the wpa_gui from gnome to control the wifi, and reading over the man pages it seems i can even control my wired connection from it, although i had planned on trying ifplugd or as was also suggested, netplug. I will experiment and see what works best for me.

The only remaining problem now is that the wpa_gui tray icon is invisible, there is a small block of empty space there where the icon should show, but does not. I did find a patch to fix the actual launcher icon, but so far nothing on how to get the tray icon up. However, given the circumstances, it is an issue i will gladly deal with.

Thanks again to the entire Gentoo community for a great distro, and to all those who gave input, I have been struggling with this, literally, for over a year.

dohtem

overkll · Posted: Sun May 17, 2009 9:21 pm Post subject:

dohtem · n00b Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Augusta, GA

I am using Netplug now and it works great. wpa_supplicant's control of wired connections was...odd...and not very effective for normal use. As you said, netplug allows me to just connect the cable and not think about it anymore.

However...

I seem to be getting the random errors connecting again. I cannot figure out what the problem is. When I am near the router, say within a 10 meter radius, I cannot connect at all. Occasionally at a further distance wpa_gui just spams me with bubbles from the tray saying "disconnected from network".

This is what has made this problem so hard to figure out. For more than a day it was working flawlessly. Connection was almost instant, and speeds were insanely fast. Now 2 days later, I cannot use wifi at my desk where the router sits, and from the living room, wifi works great for a bit then disconnects and will not reconnect.

Here's 'dmesg' (I hid my router's mac address)
Note, that from the time it authenticated to the time it lost response from direct probe i was sitting in the same spot. It booted from there, connected, worked for a moment, then disconnected and went mental.

overkll · Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 3:08 pm Post subject:

Check the signal strength. You can use the "scan" button on the wpa_supplicant gui. There you can also see the frequency and signal strength of other AP's in your vicinity. This is why I use the gnome "network monitor" desktop applet - it gives me a graphical and auto updating signal strength bar graph for my connection.

Most AP's/Wireless Routers default to channel 6. If there is more than one router in the vicinity using the same channel it can cause problems, especially if it's close to you and has a strong signal. I think channel 6 equates to 2.437 Ghz. Pick a different channel on your AP/wireless router. I usually use channel 11 (2.462 Ghz). Only Apple Airports use this as a default. If 11 is busy too (apple airports in the area), try channel 1. Channels 1,6 and 11 should work the best.

Don't know what else to say. Maybe the signal strength issue hasn't/can't be worked out on the ath5k driver.

EDIT: You may want to check your router/access point logs to see if there are any issues.

Forgot to mention, 2.4 Ghz cordless telephones can interfere with your wireless connectivity if you have a 54mb 802.11g router. If you have one, do yourself a favor get a phone that doen't use 2.4 Ghz. Panasonic has a good line of 5.8 Ghz phones.

dohtem · n00b Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Augusta, GA

Signal strength reads as 100% almost all the time. Even when it disconnects. (I also use the gnome network monitor as well as checking with wireless-tools.)

I am on an 8 acre property and my router is the only one in the area so I don't have any interference from neighbors.

I don't have a home phone so there's no cordless phones around either.

My router is a Linksys WRT300N and the issues I'm having had persisted even when I was visiting other places. My wife's computer is in the other room and has absolutely no problems connecting and maintining a functional link.

On a side note, I had not originally added the '!iwconfig' section to my conf.d/net file, so I put that in there, and when I booted up, the wlan0 was down. wpa_supplicant was registering it as up but it was not turned on. I did an 'ifconfig wlan0 up' and it turned on and was functional but again had problems staying connected.

I may try to get madwifi working again, perhaps they have patched it in portage for 2.6.29.

overkll · Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 8:35 pm Post subject:

Curious, which version of wpa_supplicant are you using?

dohtem · n00b Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Augusta, GA

wpa_supplicant-0.6.9-r1

overkll · Posted: Tue May 19, 2009 10:04 pm Post subject:

Sometimes when I use the wireless button on my laptop to turn off the radio, then turn it back on later, my laptop has problems re-associating with the AP. When this happens, I just issue "/etc/init.d/wlan0" as root and it works again.

What rate does iwconfig show for your connection?

You may also want to try jacking up the power to see if that helps:

/etc/conf.d/net

dohtem · n00b Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Augusta, GA

well I got madwifi compiled, it took some tinkering, but it finally installed.

thinks are working so-so right now. i have not had any absolute signal drops yet, but there have been some serious lag times.

my signal strength is giving actual readings now. although 'iwconfig' reports lower signals than the gnome network tray icon. the oddest thing, is that instead of being out of 100, i get signals such as 58/70. is that normal?

will test it out some more tonight and see what happens.

overkll · Posted: Wed May 20, 2009 1:07 am Post subject:

dohtem · n00b Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Augusta, GA

well things are working better, i have been on the road this weekend and had great luck with associating with a router with a WPA-PSK and the connection has stayed active and fully functional. hopefully it will continue when i return home.

overkll · Posted: Mon May 25, 2009 3:34 pm Post subject:

madwifi or ath5k?

dohtem · n00b Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Augusta, GA

currently madwifi, but i still have the same issues once I return to my router at the house. I cannot get a signal when I am within 10-20 feet of the router, after that it seems to work fine. Other people do not have this problem with my router, and I do not have this problem with other people's routers, but I am going to check the firmware on my Linksys (its a WRT300N) and see if I can do an update.

overkll · Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 6:25 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the update. I've heard that the WRT300N isn't that great and that the new style linksys' (no external antennas) aren't that great either. I don't have any experience with either.

I still buy and recommend 54g routers. My personal favorite is the WRT54GL with tomato firmware. They just work! If I need to extend the range, I just get another WRT54GL and put the second in AP mode and use WDS on both routers.

dohtem · n00b Joined: 20 Apr 2009 Posts: 22 Location: Augusta, GA

Well I updated my firmware for my router, and it made no difference whatsoever on my connections. I have wanted to swap to a WRT54G for a while, and as soon as i have the spare cash I probably will. I dug around with some settings in my BIOS and disabled something to do with setting the signal for the wireless card. I will have to go back and get the full description. The first time I messed around with it, the way it read I thought it was a BIOS on/off switch for the radio. But I turned it off and I seem to be able to use my wireless fine now. Again, only time will tell, but so far I can use it in places it didn't ever work before, and I can leave if sitting for hours and come back to a still fully functional connection. Hopefully this will solve my problem once and for all, but with the rough history I've had with this card, I'm not going to get my hopes up.