Wireless Stopped Working on Laptop - Fails to get IP address
 

Hello.

My wireless networking is broken on my ThinkPad T60. It has worked in the past, but no longer. My OS is Slack 12.2 and I'm using Wicd 1.5.6. Here is a description of the problem.

When I open the Wicd window, it displays the wireless networks it can see, as it always has. When I try to connect to a network, even one I have successfully connected to in the past, it sits for a long time trying to get an IP address and then fails to connect.

I could use some help debugging this. Here are the sanitized lines from wicd.log from the failed attempt, followed by my successful wired re-connection.

Also, iwconfig returns the following (ran while connected via wired connection).

What other information do you need to help me find the problem?

Thanks for your help.

I don't know if this will help but here is my output from my lenovo X61 Laptop:

I am using Wicd 1.7.0

I noticed, in your output, that you have no 'Access Point'.

Perhaps, the wifi card is turned off?

HTH,

I suspect that the access point would not get a value unless the wifi is connected. Since I can't connect, I cannot run iwconfig while connected to test this.

Although my T60 has a switch, it is ignored by the wireless driver. The fact that I can see wireless networks suggests that the card is on.

What about uninstalling your existing Wicd and installing a new version?

Actually, now that the memory popped back into my brain, I once had the exact same problem as you describe:

My problem was that I had not set up the properties correctly. Either I was not using WEP or I had not entered the key correctly but the answer was to reset all the properties correctly. The symptom was exactly as you describe.

Well, I could try a new version, but I'd like to understand why it stopped working in the first place.

In the case of the network I attempted to connect to in my example, there is no key to enter. In terms of the network in my home, it used to work with the same settings that are there now.

Just a quick update. I did an upgrade to version 1.5.9 of wicd from the slack repository. I connected to my home network, got an IP address, but nothing would route. In the "External Programs" tab of the preferences box, I noticed that at some point in the past, I must have changed the DHCP client from Automatic to dhcpcd. When I changed this to Automatic, I successfully connected, and even posted this message wirelessly.

I got excited too soon. After I was connected to my home network for a few minutes, my traffic again started having routing problems. When I'd connect to a website I had just previously connected to, it would take a long time to look up the address. Eventually, all traffic stopped and I could not even connect to my router. I don't think it's a router problem because I have several wired connections (and even reconnecting the laptop to the cat5 restored my connectivity) and my wife's laptop is wireless, all with no problems.

This morning, I again tried a wireless network in the office. It is open with no encryption. I could not get an IP address. Again, I have used this network in the past.

I will try booting the laptop in windows to see if it's a wireless card issue. Meanwhile, any other thoughts?

I'm interested in the solution to this problem because I get exactly the same problems when trying to connect to unauthenticated essids. WPA works fine and I haven't tested WEP. I'm running -current.

Your device might be broken broken. For me it seems that USB wifi cards work well ca. 2 years. Try different adapter to be sure it is not a hardware fault.

I've never used wicd... do you maybe want to try connecting from the command line? not sure if that will solve it but it cant hurt to try.

if your network doesn't need a password, then I just connect with:

$ iwconfig wlan0 essid foo
...foo in your case would be SMH_Guest it looks like, but any essid is viable, then

$dhcpcd wlan0

I'm just curious of what the output of this is. If this and wicd do not work, it very well may be a hardware malfunction

oh, and bonixavier,

I actually have the opposite problem, I have difficulty connecting to essid's that require a key. how do you connect in this situation? I'm doing everything from the command line, what happens is I execute:

$ iwconfig wlan0 essid arbitrary_essid
$ iwconfig wlan0 key associated_key_to_arbitrary_essid
$ dhcpcd wlan0

and it seems to always fail. sort of frustrating when it connects to unauthorized networks just fine. any advice is much appreciated

OK. Here are the results at home, which I can connect to, the connection degrades. Note that my home network uses WEP.

I will need to wait until Tuesday to try the WLAN without a key.

By any chance did you edit the rc.inet1.conf file in /etc.rc.d/? If so, you might want to read this:
http://slackware.osuosl.org/slackwar...ADME.SLACKWARE

Here's an alternative for you to try if wicd doesn't work. Take your time and read, you'll learn a lot :)
http://alien.slackbook.org/dokuwiki/...e:network#wicd

This gets more and more puzzling. Last night (July 29) I started wireless at home manually. It stayed connected all evening (several hours) with no issue. Today (July 30) I connected using wicd. It has remained stable all afternoon.

I guess this rules out hardware? I will still try connecting to the open network manually next week and report back.

OK. I've tried this on the open network at my office with decidedly different results.

So, I notice a couple of things. When I attempt to connect, no access point is acquired. Is this because there are multiple access points reachable and I need to specify a specific one to connect to? I'm sure there is no key to access this WLAN because my Blackberry connects with no issue.

Obviously, the dhcpcd displays failure to contact a server and obtain an address.