No connection power with wifi

[scutiform]

I can't get a wireless connection unless I am within a few feet of my Netgear Rangemax DG834PN router. My laptop has Realtek RTL8187B wireless chip.

The following may help to give more info.

brian@brian-laptop:~$ iwlist rate
lo no bit-rate information.

eth0 no bit-rate information.

pan0 no bit-rate information.

wmaster0 no bit-rate information.

wlan0 unknown bit-rate information.
Current Bit Rate=1 Mb/s

brian@brian-laptop:~$ iwlist power
lo no power management information.

eth0 no power management information.

pan0 no power management information.

wmaster0 no power management information.

wlan0 Current mode:off

brian@brian-laptop:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

pan0 no wireless extensions.

wmaster0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"NETGEAR"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.447 GHz Access Point: 00:1E:2A:FF:F3:66
Bit Rate=1 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
Power Management:off
Link Quality=22/100 Signal level:-60 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

brian@brian-laptop:~$ nslookup Google
Server: 192.168.0.1
Address: 192.168.0.1#53

** server can't find Google: NXDOMAIN

[D-cat]

First I'd set your router's SSID to something other than the default. You could easily be connected to a neighbor's router and not know it (unless you memorized the MAC address).

Once you have a unique ssid, also set up a basic WEP key on your router. WEP is not serious security, but it does prevent neighbors for accidentally (on purpose) using your bandwidth. You should also set a different channel from default if you can. The only channels that should be used are 1,6,11 (and 14 if available in your area and hardware) in order to avoid interference with other frequencies. You can use iwlist wlan0 scanning to get a list of broadcasting AP's in your area; choose one of the channels not used or if all mentioned are, the one with the lowest signal strength (remember, that's a negative number) will be least interfering.

Once we eliminate the possibility of problems from bandwidth and interference, we can see if that fixes the problem or more work is needed.

[scutiform]

I have changed the SSID and channel number. The security is WPA2. I can get a good connection with another laptop, having the same settings (but using a Belkin 802.11g usb wireless dongle).

The laptop with the problem can get a good signal at about 6 feet from the router, further than that and the signal goes down to less that 30%. Using the Belkin dongle gave the same results. The other laptop still has a good signal at about 25/30 feet.

I ran a terminal command for transmitter power (forgotten what it was) and got a power level of 20 and 100Mw. The forum I was on at the time said that a power level of 5 was normal and don't put the power level above 35 or I could blow the chip!

The RTL8187B chip was set up using the manufactures set-up disk through Wine.

Sorry if I am a bit slow replying to the posts, out rooms are being re-furbished, and they keep moving us around.

[reed9]

The RTL8187B chip was set up using the manufactures set-up disk through Wine.

Can you explain more what you mean by this? Are you using ndiswrapper?

There has been a driver for this card in the kernel since 2.6.27. You might try the native driver if you are using ndiswrapper.

Please post the output of

lsusb
lsmod
dmesg | grep wlan0

Regarding the wlan0, if you're wireless interface is called something else, substitute that. You can find out by typing iwconfig.

Also according to the Ubuntu Community Docs, the signal strength doesn't always report correctly.

[scutiform]

When Ubuntu was first installed to the laptop, I used the laptop manufacturers disk to install some of the drivers, including the wireless driver.

brian@brian-laptop:~$ lsusb

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bda:8189 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187B Wireless 802.11g 54Mbps Network Adapter

Bus 001 Device 002: ID 5986:0200 Acer, Inc

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Bus 003 Device 003: ID 04d9:1135 Holtek Semiconductor, Inc.

Bus 003 Device 002: ID 058f:9254 Alcor Micro Corp. Hub

Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub


brian@brian-laptop:~$ lsmod

Module Size Used by

arc4 9856 2

ecb 10752 2

rtl8187 53376 0

mac80211 217592 1 rtl8187

eeprom_93cx6 10240 1 rtl8187

cfg80211 38288 2 rtl8187,mac80211

xt_limit 10116 8

xt_tcpudp 11008 10

ipt_LOG 13700 8

ipt_MASQUERADE 10752 0

xt_DSCP 11264 0

ipt_REJECT 11136 1

nf_conntrack_irc 13220 0

nf_conntrack_ftp 15652 0

xt_state 10112 6

binfmt_misc 16776 1

ppdev 15620 0

bridge 56212 0

stp 10500 1 bridge

bnep 20224 2

nfsd 228012 13

lockd 74284 1 nfsd

nfs_acl 11136 1 nfsd

auth_rpcgss 42144 1 nfsd

sunrpc 195552 13 nfsd,lockd,nfs_acl,auth_rpcgss

exportfs 12416 1 nfsd

input_polldev 11912 0

joydev 18496 0

lp 17156 0

parport 42220 2 ppdev,lp

iptable_nat 13700 0

nf_nat 25876 2 ipt_MASQUERADE,iptable_nat

nf_conntrack_ipv4 21388 9 iptable_nat,nf_nat

nf_conntrack 72008 7 ipt_MASQUERADE,nf_conntrack_irc,nf_conntrack_ftp,x t_state,iptable_nat,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ipv4

nf_defrag_ipv4 9984 1 nf_conntrack_ipv4

iptable_mangle 10880 0

snd_hda_intel 434100 6

iptable_filter 10752 1

snd_pcm_oss 46336 0

snd_mixer_oss 22656 1 snd_pcm_oss

ip_tables 19600 3 iptable_nat,iptable_mangle,iptable_filter

x_tables 23044 9 xt_limit,xt_tcpudp,ipt_LOG,ipt_MASQUERADE,xt_DSCP, ipt_REJECT,xt_state,iptable_nat,ip_tables

snd_pcm 83076 4 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss

snd_seq_dummy 10756 0

snd_seq_oss 37760 0

snd_seq_midi 14336 0

snd_rawmidi 29696 1 snd_seq_midi

snd_seq_midi_event 15104 2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi

snd_seq 56880 6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_mid i_event

snd_timer 29704 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq

snd_seq_device 14988 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi ,snd_seq

snd 62756 19 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,sn d_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_de vice

sis190 26116 0

psmouse 61972 0

sis_agp 15360 0

nvidia 7233756 38

uvcvideo 63368 0

pcspkr 10496 0

video 25360 4

soundcore 15200 1 snd

snd_page_alloc 16904 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm

mii 13312 1 sis190

serio_raw 13444 0

sdhci_pci 15232 0

sdhci 23940 1 sdhci_pci

agpgart 42696 2 sis_agp,nvidia

compat_ioctl32 9344 1 uvcvideo

usbhid 42336 0

output 11008 1 video

videodev 41600 1 uvcvideo

v4l1_compat 21764 2 uvcvideo,videodev

fbcon 46112 0

tileblit 10752 1 fbcon

font 16384 1 fbcon

bitblit 13824 1 fbcon

softcursor 9984 1 bitblit



brian@brian-laptop:~$ dmesg | grep wlan0

[ 339.561631] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready

[ 483.585361] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 try 1

[ 483.784076] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 try 2

[ 483.984055] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 try 3

[ 484.184069] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 timed out

[ 497.557318] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 try 1

[ 497.721323] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 try 1

[ 497.920056] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 try 2

[ 498.120049] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 try 3

[ 498.320055] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 timed out

[ 511.545275] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 try 1

[ 511.709280] wlan0: direct probe to AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 try 1

[ 511.711658] wlan0 direct probe responded

[ 511.711664] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66

[ 511.713287] wlan0: authenticated

[ 511.713294] wlan0: associate with AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66

[ 511.912046] wlan0: associate with AP 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66

[ 511.918549] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:1e:2a:ff:f3:66 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=1)

[ 511.918554] wlan0: associated

[ 511.924151] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready

[ 522.344049] wlan0: no IPv6 routers present

brian@brian-laptop:~$

[reed9]

This is a known bug.
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/293946

There are some ideas for workarounds folks have posted in the bug report. The easiest two ideas to try are 1) install updated drivers via the linux-backports-modules-jaunty package, 2) upgrade to kernel version 2.6.30.

[scutiform]

The site gives dire warnings about updating to 2.6.30 Is there anything I need to do before trying this?

[waterhead]

Have you tried to just manually set it at a higher rate?

iwconfig wlan0 rate 54M

If your wireless doesn't support 54 Mb/s, then try 48. After changing it check it with this command.

iwconfig

Look for the rate reported:

Bit Rate=48 Mb/s

[scutiform]

The iwconfig wlan0 rate 54M command came back with:-

Error for wireless request "Set Bit Rate" (8B20) :
SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not permitted.

When 9.10 is available, what kernel will it have? If the problem is a bug in the kernel , I can wait a few weeks before doing an update.

[waterhead]

Try running the command with sudo.

You can get a development version of Karmic Koala. It is available as an Alpha Build.

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) Alpha 6
Karmic Koala Alpha 6 | Ubuntu

I am running two PCs with the Karmoc Koala "Daily Build". I am not sure how this differes from the alpha releases, but they seem to run OK. I have compiled MythTV 0.22 on them.

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) Daily Build