Ubuntu

Wireless problem on Dell X1

Asked by dave

I have installed Hardy Heron on a Dell X1 laptop, as dual-boot with Windows XP. The install goes fine, everything seems fine EXCEPT wireless networking. Strange thing is, when I first connect, there is a wireless signal for about a minute (although i still can't browse the web), and then the signal gets dropped. Have tried various solutions from the forums,
nothing has worked yet. I am relative newbie to Linux, so go easy on me!. Here is the output from iwconfig:

BELOW IS OUTPUT FROM iwconfig WHEN SIGNAL IS PRESENT:

l0: no wireless extensions

eth0: no wireless extensions

eth1:
unassociated ESSID: "network_name"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point:00:1A:70:9F:A2:00
Bit Rate:54 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm Sensitivity-8/0
Retry Limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Managment:off
Link Quality:79/100 Signal Level=47 dBm Noise Level:89 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

BELOW IS OUTPUT FROM iwconfig AFTER SIGNAL IS DROPPED:

l0: no wireless extensions

eth0: no wireless extensions

eth1:
unassociated ESSID: ""
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point:00:1A:70:9F:A2:00
Bit Rate:0 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm Sensitivity-8/0
Retry Limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Managment:off
Link Quality:0 Signal Level=0 Noise Level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

Appreciate any help!

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Answered
For:
Ubuntu Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
dave (dsmith-ryeenergy) said : 		#1

Forgot to mention the wireless card: Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG

Revision history for this message
dave (dsmith-ryeenergy) said : 		#2

Also, when I click on the wireless icon at top right of the desktop, the list of all wireless networks within range are successfully displayed, along with their signal strength...so the card must be working, it just keeps dropping the connection

Revision history for this message
Henning Eggers (henninge) said : 		#3

Is your wireless network secured? Did you enter the key or passphrase?

Revision history for this message
dave (dsmith-ryeenergy) said : 		#4

Hi Henning, yes I am using the same passphrase as I use to connect to the wireless network from XP, so I am sure the passphrase is OK. But after about a minute the connection gets dropped and it asks again for the passphrase. I have tried using WEP, WEP2 etc but it still doesn't connect.

Revision history for this message
Tony Mugan (tmugan) said : 		#5

Looks like it's supported
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardwareSupportComponentsWirelessNetworkCardsIntel

Does the ipw2200 driver show up when you run the following in a terminal window?

lsmod

Have you got the latest updates applied?

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

What about the results from these...

sudo ethtool eth1
sudo dhclient eth1
sudo mii-tool
sudo mii-diag

Revision history for this message
dave (dsmith-ryeenergy) said : 		#6

Q: Does the ipw2200 driver show up when you run the following in a terminal window?
A: Yes

Q: Have you got the latest updates applied?
A: I don't have the internet connection because the wireless is down...can I get them somewhere else?

Q: sudo ethtool eth1
A: I get: "Link Detected: Yes" for one minute, and then "Link Detected: No" after the connection is dropped

Q: sudo dhclient eth1
A: "Listening on LPF/eth1/00:13:ce:35:c4:70
     Listening on LPF/eth1/00:13:ce:35:c4:70
     Sending on Socket/fallback
     DHCPDISCOVER in eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
     DHCPDISCOVER in eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 13
     DHCPDISCOVER in eth1 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 10
     No DHCPOFFERS received
     No working leases in persistent database - sleeping

Q: sudo mii-tool
A: eth0: no link
    SIOCGMIIPHY on 'eth1' failed: operation not supported

Q: sudo mii-diag
A: Using the default interface 'eth0'
    Basic registers of MII PHY #1: 100 7949 0020 6180 05e1 0000 0004 2001
    Basic mode control register 0x1000: Auto negotiation enabled.
    Basic mode status register 0x7949 ... 7949
    Link status: not established
    End of basic transceiver information

Revision history for this message
dave (dsmith-ryeenergy) said : 		#7

Oh well, I thought Linux might finally be ready for prime-time, but the usual Linux 'gotchas' always seem to get me :-(

Revision history for this message
Tony Mugan (tmugan) said : 		#8

Q: Have you got the latest updates applied?
A: I don't have the internet connection because the wireless is down...can I get them somewhere else?

Either through a wired connection (even temporarily if you can plug it into your router/modem) or by borrowing a different wireless network card.

If you have it working under XP, we have to assume there is no hardware faults.
My guess is that the driver is buggy and an update to latest Ubuntu Kernel would be the first thing I'd try.

On a different tack you mentioned WEP, have you tried it with WPA or just completely Open to see if it works?

Can you help with this problem?

Provide an answer of your own, or ask dave for more information if necessary.

To post a message you must log in.