Ubuntu
gnome-nettool package

Wireless doesn't work after 9.10 upgrade

Asked by Shaun

I am another one who lost the wireless connection after upgrading from 9.04 to 9.10. I have been using Linux for a long time, and have been using Ubuntu since 5.10, but I have not been able to fix this. I pledge to actively monitor this thread as long as there is help being offered.

Here are my notes so far.

WHAT HAPPENED
lost network connection upgrading "unattended" from 9.4 to 9.10, Karmic
ifconfig says the adapter is UP, but there is no IPv4 DHCP address assigned, nor can it get one. It isn't communicating with the router. The router doesn't use security.

lsusb yields
Accton Technology Corp. SMCWUSB-G
zd1211rw 1-3:1.0: firmware version 4725

from dmesg I found the chip is zd1211b

tried
 ifdown/ifup wlan0
 sudo service samba restart
 sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart #No DHCPOFFERS received.
 booting previous kernel
 pci=noacpi in kernel boot option
 commenting out the line in blacklist-ath_pci.conf

 ping--says unknown host
 unplug, re-plug USB adapter
 configuring the connection manually
 looking for proprietary drivers on the system with the Hardware Drivers application

checked
 still works normally under Windows XP
 /etc/network/interfaces file still the same as before upgrade
 grub/menu.lst and backup are the same as before upgrade
 wlan0 was not changed, not assigned a new name
 iwlist scan detects my network

 connection with wire (ethernet cable)--it was normal, got a connection
 correct driver (module) is loaded for my wireless adapter chipset
 driver is not blacklisted
 threshold settings are the same in Windows
 it appears network-admin is not installed
 router dns is entered in /etc/resolv.conf

All updates have been installed.

I will be happy to repeat anything I did for anyone, because I can't be sure I put everything back to how it was when it worked before. I had hoped by now something common had been found between all those who lost the connection.

Question information

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Ubuntu gnome-nettool Edit question
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Shaun
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Revision history for this message
Ulf Hagström (toocer) said : 		#1

I had to reinstall my wifi card, It might work for you aswell

Revision history for this message
Shaun (noctiphile) said : 		#2

It's USB. I can't remember if I had to install anything special to use it before 9.10. modprobe says the correct driver is loaded. I looked the driver up for my chip somewhere, using a link in help.ubuntu.com. I tried unplugging and re-plugging. Then I waited and checked to see if it acquired an IP address. It did not. ifconfig reported the same as before. I tried forcing it get an IP address by running sudo dhclient wlan0. It couldn't get an address.

Revision history for this message
Ulf Hagström (toocer) said : 		#3

Did you install any restricted driver to get it to work ? (It was that driver i had to reinstall first uninstall then install agian).

Revision history for this message
Shaun (noctiphile) said : 		#4

No, I didn't need a restricted driver for it.

Revision history for this message
Shaun (noctiphile) said : 		#5

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardwareSupportComponentsWirelessNetworkCardsSmc#USB
states I should be using the driver zd1211b. How can I switch drivers to give it a try?

Why does this Question say it's for gnome-nettool? Do I need to remove that, or did somebody else put it there?

Revision history for this message
Shaun (noctiphile) said : 		#6

Sometimes when I have a cable connected my wireless adapter gets an IP address. I can't make it repeat. I haven't tried disabling eth0 when that happens to see if I can use the wireless connection. I'll try that next time.

Revision history for this message
Mannex (russ-mannex) said : 		#7

I am using an older Lucent wireless card (removable) on a laptop. Same thing. Once I upgraded to 9.10, I could no longer connect to anything. Reverting to 9.04, I got my network back. I am not proficient in network protocol stuff, so any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Revision history for this message
Shaun (noctiphile) said : 		#8

The other day, without me doing anything to my settings beforehand, the wireless connection inexplicably started working, and kept working for two hours. It was the only network connection I had up. Then while doing normal Web browsing it just stopped and didn't work anymore.

This makes me think something changed in the current version that perhaps has new thresholds for establishing a connection. Why else would it come and go? The only thing that isn't constant is the radio reception.

Revision history for this message
Mannex (russ-mannex) said : 		#9

I have noticed that the frequency settings for my network adapter are
different in the two different versions. 10.04 is doing this, also. Do
an "iwconfig" at the prompt. It should list the frequency setting of the
card (or a channel). Mine shows 2.412 GHz when it's working, and 2.422
GHz when it's not. I tried changing it with "sudo iwconfig eth1 freq
2.412G" but what I got back was:

Error for wireless request "Set Frequency" (8B04) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Device or resource busy.

This was not encouraging. Is there a way to force a different frequency?
I know the card is capable of it, since it works on one frequency, and
not on another. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

-
-Mannex

-----Original Message-----
From: Shaun <email address hidden>
Reply-to: <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #100484]: Wireless doesn't work after 9.10
upgrade
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:03:02 -0000

Question #100484 on gnome-nettool in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-nettool/+question/100484

Shaun gave more information on the question:
The other day, without me doing anything to my settings beforehand, the
wireless connection inexplicably started working, and kept working for
two hours. It was the only network connection I had up. Then while
doing normal Web browsing it just stopped and didn't work anymore.

This makes me think something changed in the current version that
perhaps has new thresholds for establishing a connection. Why else
would it come and go? The only thing that isn't constant is the radio
reception.

Revision history for this message
Mannex (russ-mannex) said : 		#10

I have just realized that there is a distinct possibility the card is
getting the frequency from a country code somewhere. If anyone knows
more about this, that would be helpful.

-
-Mannex

-----Original Message-----
From: Shaun <email address hidden>
Reply-to: <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Subject: Re: [Question #100484]: Wireless doesn't work after 9.10
upgrade
Date: Thu, 08 Apr 2010 01:03:02 -0000

Question #100484 on gnome-nettool in ubuntu changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gnome-nettool/+question/100484

Shaun gave more information on the question:
The other day, without me doing anything to my settings beforehand, the
wireless connection inexplicably started working, and kept working for
two hours. It was the only network connection I had up. Then while
doing normal Web browsing it just stopped and didn't work anymore.

This makes me think something changed in the current version that
perhaps has new thresholds for establishing a connection. Why else
would it come and go? The only thing that isn't constant is the radio
reception.

Revision history for this message
Shaun (noctiphile) said : 		#11

I installed a new PCI network card, the Belkin N1 F5D8001, which uses the ath9k driver for Atheros chipsets. This is supposed to be a well supported driver in Linux. It has the same problem. It is my wlan1.

Mannex may have something with the frequencies. I will have to check in Windows for what my working frequency is, in order to compare. I was assuming that an adapter's frequency range was hard-coded for the country it was sold in. Does anyone know if this can be checked?

I have not upgraded to 10.4 yet. I installed wicd using Synaptic Package Manager, which uninstalled network-manager. wicd was able to list my wireless network using wlan1, but I was still not able to get an IP address. The wired connection works as before. Changing wlan1 to my old wlan0 in wicd enabled me to get an IP address and a working wireless connection, so I will come back and mark this solved if it still works after a reboot.

Revision history for this message
Shaun (noctiphile) said : 		#12

I found this in 10.04's release notes about frequencies set for country codes. If you think this is your problem, you can check the file mentioned there.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LucidLynx/ReleaseNotes#Setting%20wireless%20regulatory%20domain%20via%20module%20option%20no%20longer%20supported

I don't even have that file, so I don't think that was my problem. I just upgraded to 10.04 but I don't think it would remove that file.

Using wicd is still working after reboot, and in 10.04, so I am appeased. I just have to keep working on getting my better, new adapter working.