Wireless Connection Drops

[pistachiogreen]

Hi - I wonder if anyone else gets this. No major problem but I feel it's linux related as I never found the same when running Windows. I'm running VL 6.0 standard.
I have a wireless network. Sometimes when I switch the PC on I get a signal in wicd and I'm online straightaway. Othertimes I can see the wireless signal but when I try and connect in wicd no IP address can be found. The only solution is to go and reboot the router. When I use wicd Manager again presto I have an IP address assigned. It's intermittent - not as I say a major problem but curious. Any ideas out there?

[GrannyGeek]

I do have some wireless connection problems on VL6 Deluxe. Only one of my computers has wireless.  I use fixed IP addresses and WPA encryption. Most of the time the connection is up when VL starts, but sometimes it's not. I run Wicd and it always connects without trouble. Sometimes the connection will drop while I'm using VectorLinux, but Wicd reconnects easily. So it's not perfect but it's not a problem, either.

The connection always starts okay in Vista, but Vista takes longer to boot than VL, and it may be that sometimes it takes a bit more time for the wireless signal and the access point to find each other. The connection occasionally drops in Vista, though less often than in VL, and it's easily reestablished in Vista.

Wireless can be a bit troublesome regardless of operating system, and the wireless manufacturers don't generally cooperate much with Linux developers. Given this situation, I think we're doing pretty well!
--GrannyGeek

[gime]

I have a net-gear connection that works just fine and my wicd have no problems in finding it, but I can't connect why ? I don't  know. I am pretty new to VL (but loving it), thats why I'm looking for a litle help on connecting to the wireless network...anyone out there whith a solutio ?

[GrannyGeek]

Are you using encryption? If so, turn it all and see if you can connect. If you can, we can work on adding encryption.

What about a firewall? Sometimes a firewall can prevent a connection. Is your router assigning an IP address?

Post the output of iwconfig run as root at a terminal prompt.

That about exhausts my ideas.
--GrannyGeek

[gime]

Hi GranyGeek :-)
here is the output of "iwconfig" :

root:# iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

irda0     no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11ab  ESSID:"gime_NETGEAR" 
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.462 GHz  Access Point: Not-Associated   
          Tx-Power=23 dBm   
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B   
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management: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

[gime]

Are you using encryption? If so, turn it all and see if you can connect. If you can, we can work on adding encryption.

What about a firewall? Sometimes a firewall can prevent a connection. Is your router assigning an IP address?

Post the output of iwconfig run as root at a terminal prompt.

That about exhausts my ideas.
--GrannyGeek

By the way .. yes I'm using encryption that is wpa-personal

[pistachiogreen]

My initial problem on this post is now solved, not thanks to my ingenuity but simply to the fact that my modem router (the Netgear DG834GT) stopped working after three years service. I bought a new modem router (the DG 834) and when I powered up the problem disappeared. I won't now know why. It's almost the same machine but with newer firmware (although I had been fairly rigorous in updating the firmware on the old machine). Whatever the reason, there's been no recurrence.