Wireless Network Adapter as Functional as Congress

wagscat123 · 03-13-2014, 09:08 PM

I have a AR9285 wireless on a Dell Inspiron 620, and the wireless networks I have will sometimes show up and work, but some times it does not make it to Setting Network Address, or worse, it does not find my network at all. While I am having trouble, the other computers in the house have no problem with connecting, and my 7 and 8 installations can connect easily.

I have the issue in both an openSUSE 13.1 and LinuxMint 13 installation. It has also been an issue with this computer in 12.1-12.3. In at least openSUSE 13.1, I know things are handled through NetworkManager. Fiddling with every wireless YaST setting under the sun has led nowhere. Any pointers or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

jefro · 03-14-2014, 03:44 PM

Seems to be a laptop brand issue or some motherboard component.

One thread suggested looking at power settings.

wagscat123 · 03-14-2014, 05:40 PM

I meant to say that it works on that same computer under Windows 7/8 - but I'll check my power settings. What thread said that?

jefro · 03-14-2014, 07:53 PM

This may help.

on fix I have found for the random disconnects is to turn off power management for the card with the following command under root:
iwconfig wlan0 --> to verify power management is on
iwconfig wlan0 power off --> turns power management off
exit 0 --> ofcourse to exit root

http://forums.opensuse.org/showthrea...Atheros-driver

It could still be some transmit power issue or driver issue or chipset oddity.

If the driver settings are set wrong it could cause this too. Maybe default power set too high or duplex simplex or what not.

wagscat123 · 03-14-2014, 08:15 PM

I tried typing in those commands and got

Code:

linux-qtq7:/fun/Home/jared # iwconfig wlan0
wlan0     No such device

linux-qtq7:/fun/Home/jared # iwconfig wlan0 power off
Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; No such device.

I am also using a desktop if that affects the possibility of power management settings having an effect.

Shadow_7 · 03-15-2014, 05:53 AM

Some drivers under linux have low power quirks. As in weak signal strength. A few years ago, the b43 driver was that way and the ndiswrapper driver didn't have that issue for the chipset / card that I had at that time. I've got a different older laptop now and the firmware that comes by default in a distro is not the firmware that appears to work best for that card. But we're talking tech that is nearly a decade old now.

These days I get a ddwrt compatible stand alone router and ethernet to it for wireless. So much simpler and works out of the box regardless of the OS being used. Plus I can ethernet to it with multiple devices and enjoy ethernet speeds between those devices.

wagscat123 · 03-15-2014, 07:42 AM

So I should try to find the old WinXP 32-bit driver and hook it up in ndiswrapper.

wagscat123 · 03-15-2014, 09:50 PM

For others struggling with this in the future, I googled up a Windows XP .inf driver and threw it into ndiswrapper and now everything works in both openSUSE and Mint. Ironically, the Windows XP driver does not work in XP.

2 1/2 year old mystery solved. Thank you everyone for giving suggestions.