Ubuntu 7.10 can't keep wireless up

[Dazed_75]

On Jan 12, 2008 9:42 PM,  <fouldragon at aol.com> wrote:
> I've writing a fresh install of Ubuntu 7.10 (the only major change
> being the nVidia drivers, because scaling on LCDs makes my eyes bleed).
>
> The system uses an 802.11g card which can be supported by the rt61
> wireless drivers.  It connects to a network running WPA-PSK security
> with a Linksys WRT54G (normal firmware, guys, stop salivating).
>
> The network doesn't connect reliably on boot, and when it does connect,
> it tends to only hold for 30 minutes or less.  Sometimes as little as 3
> or 4 minutes.  This makes it hard to get updates, among other things.
>
> The most reliable scenario for the connection seems to be:
>
> -Fresh boot
> -Discover that it's not connected
> -Open Network Manager, find that while "roaming mode" is off, it's
> forgotten the WPA key.  It does that sometimes, but I'm not sure why.
> -Reenter WPA key.
> -Enjoy connection somewhat.
>
> When the connection is bad, dmesg reports endless loops of connecting,
> then drops a few seconds later, with "RX deauthenticated (reason=15)".
> I suspect the deauthentications may start when some change in the
> security may be missed by some part of the system (wpasupplicant?  The
> driver?  who knows?)
>
> Network Manager is not good at things like "actually disconnecting
> everything" when you tell it to turn off networking.  It will still
> announce it's connected to the network in iwconfig.
>
> The info I could find said "try this other wpasupplicant package",
> which didn't help.
>
> I suppose it might work if I removed WPA, but would YOU? :D
> ________________________________________________________________________

No I would not want to do that either.  Especially since my very
similar setup seems very solid.  Granted that was originally set up
under 7.04.  Nevertheless, it remains solid under 7.10.  A couple of
differences:

1-you mention that NetworkManager seems to "forget" your WPA key but
other parts of your description sound more like the router has
"de-authenticated" you.  Perhaps the problem is not with ubuntu 7.10
but with your router.  I am wondering if the dmesg stating RX
deauthenticated is the result of a msg/handshake with the router.  The
other side of that coin is that the key should be kept by a keyring
manager (I forget the name) in ubuntu.

2-You made mention of when the connection is bad.  And that makes me
wonder if you are seeing low signal strength due to distance,
intervening structure, or interference.  Is it possible to move closer
to the AP even if just as an experiment?  You could also have had a
neighbor start up one of the pre-N wireless networks and they are
occupying too many channels and thereby interfering with you.  I have
read that some of them are not nice about this.  Oh, BTW, on my
WRT54GL (as one can do on the 1st 4 revs of the 54G), I had flashed in
the Thibor firmware and turned up the radio power a tad to have a
reliable wireless connection to the other end of the house (roughly 50
feet and 3 walls away).

-- 
Man is the only animal that laughs and weeps, for he is the only
animal that is struck with the difference between what things are and
what they ought to be.
  - William Hazlitt