[SOLVED] Random wireless disconnects in openSUSE 11.1

Raaj · 09-08-2010, 05:35 AM

Hello everybody,
I have a hp dv3 2110eg laptop with OpenSuse 11.1 (KDE 3.5.10) and Windows 7 dual boot. My wireless disconnects and connects automatically at random intervals. I do not observe this behavior when operating my laptop under Windows 7. Following some suggestions given in this forum , I uninstalled networkmanager and installed wicd. However, this does not seem to solve the problem. Given below are the relevant information.
uname -r

Code:

2.6.27.48-0.2-pae

/sbin/lspci

Code:

03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN [Shiloh] Net                                                                    work Connection

/sbin/lspci -n

Code:

03:00.0 0280: 8086:4237

/sbin/lspci -nnk

Code:

03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN [Shiloh] Network Connection [8086:4237]
        Kernel driver in use: iwlagn
        Kernel modules: iwlagn

dmesg

Code:

iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2008 Intel Corporation
iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
iwlagn 0000:03:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
iwlagn: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100AGN REV=0x54
iwlagn: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 24 802.11a channels
phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
firmware: requesting iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode

The dmesg output shows firmware request (highlighted with red font), but i have already installed the firmware using YAST.
iwconfig

Code:

wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  ESSID:"WLAN-001F3F79C289"
          Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.412 GHz  Access Point: 00:1F:3F:79:C2:89
          Bit Rate=18 Mb/s   Tx-Power=15 dBm
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr=2352 B
          Encryption key:  [3]   Security mode:open
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=100/100  Signal level:-40 dBm  Noise level=-84 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

iwlist scan

Code:

wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:1F:3F:79:C2:89
                    ESSID:"WLAN-001F3F79C289"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:1
                    Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
                    Quality=100/100  Signal level:-43 dBm  Noise level=-85 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: Unknown: 2D1A4E101BFFFF000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=000000000915c982
                    Extra: Last beacon: 84ms ago

Hope i have given all the information needed to troubleshoot this problem. Please help !!

yooy · 09-09-2010, 07:16 AM

have you checked cpu usage at "this random intervals" is it normal?

Raaj · 09-10-2010, 11:58 AM

>have you checked cpu usage at "this random intervals" is it normal?
I have not checked the cpu usage when there is null signal.
I searched for a possible solution in other forums and came across this site https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/575492. Following the workaround, I created options.conf in /etc/modprobe.d and added the following

Code:

options iwlagn 11n_disable=1 11n_disable50=1

There was no drop in wireless connection for the past two days and if I delete options.conf, the problem reoccurs. According to the site, this bug affects Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN cards. Since I'm not currently accessing any N-based networks, I can live with this workaround for the moment.