AAO Linux Wireless HELP

Discussion in 'Networking' started by maxpower, Dec 12, 2008.

  1. maxpower

    maxpower

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    Hi all!

    I just bought the AAO Linux version, and I'm having an odd issue-the wireless network says I'm connected, but no web pages load and none of the other web based apps work. This happens about 80% of the time. Resetting router and modem don't have an affect on the issue.

    I'm not at all familiar with Linux commands (very much a newbie) so any help troubleshooting this would be appreciated!

    One other note-the wireless seems to work best when farther away from my router, ie, i have an office upstair away from my router, where it seems to work ok, but when it's used in the same room as the router I almost always get the "connected" but then no internet thing.

    Thanks in advance!
     
    maxpower, Dec 12, 2008
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  2. maxpower

    dattaway

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    Type "iwconfig" at the command line and that will get you started.
     
    dattaway, Dec 12, 2008
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  3. maxpower

    maxpower

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    Once I type that, are there any settings or commands I need to be aware of in order to fix the issue?
     
    maxpower, Dec 12, 2008
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  4. maxpower

    dattaway

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    There's a nifty KDE utility called "wlassistant" that will do all this for you and help keep your link up:

    iwconfig will tell you if the radio link is established and can change it if so desired...

    ifconfig will let you know if an ip address is assigned to your interfaces.

    dhcp (in many of its names, depending on your distribution or install) will automate the ifconfig, routing, and perhaps the iwconfig process depending how your network scripts are set.

    There's a nifty KDE utility called "wlassistant" that will do all this for you and help keep your link up.
     
    dattaway, Dec 12, 2008
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  5. maxpower

    maxpower

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    ok...

    i've installed the wlassistant, and looked at everything, but i don't see anything that jumps out as the reason that my AAO stops working when it gets close to my router and away from my pc on the 2nd floor.

    is there something else i'm missing?
     
    maxpower, Dec 13, 2008
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  6. maxpower

    donec

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    I also started with Linpus and I didn't like all I had to do to get the programs I wanted running an to get a look I liked. So I decided to try a different distro. I am running Mandriva 2009 Gnome and one of the reasons if not the main one is the wireless problems I had with other distros. Mandriva 2009 Gnome is the only distro I found that is a standard distro (meaning it was not designed specifically for the AAO) that works with slight modifications and keeps working with the updates coming in and not braking the setup. So I suggest if you want to end your wireless problems give Mandriva Gnome a shot.
     
    donec, Dec 13, 2008
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  7. maxpower

    maxpower

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    The other thing is that, using the wlassistant, if i'm on the 2nd floor of my house, the channel for the network is at 6. If i go downstairs, it flips to an identical network broadcasting at 11 and won't reconnect to the network at 6.

    what could be causing that?

    Donec, how does one change distros?
     
    maxpower, Dec 13, 2008
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  8. maxpower

    donec

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    Changing distros is changing OS (Operating Systems). You would need to download the distro you wanted to try and then install it. This would wipe out your current OS unless you set up you system to dual boot. I personally think that trying to dual boot with the 8Gb SSD is not a good idea as there is not a lot of room. The easiest thing to do would be to get and external CD drive and then download the distro ISO you want and burn a CD from the ISO you downloaded. Then boot from the CD and give the Live CD a try. That means running your AAO from the CD. If you can get things working this way then most likely they will work once you install the distro. I hope this helps if you have any other questions just let me know. I am not a Linux Guru. I almost never use the command line or terminal because I don't know the proper commands so I am limited to copy and paste. However with Mandriva I feel I can do almost anything there is to do with the GUI (Graphical User Interface).
     
    donec, Dec 13, 2008
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  9. maxpower

    maxpower

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    okay, the wlassistant crashed and gave me a SIGSEGV error.

    I'm beginning to think this machine isn't worth the trouble. I still can't get the wireless to work

    Seriously, can anyone explain why it would work 20 feet away and up 13 stairs and not 10 ft away in the same room? I don't want to return this if I don't have to
     
    maxpower, Dec 13, 2008
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  10. maxpower

    treker

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    Interference from 2.4ghz cordless phone could be your problem. That is the same frequency used by wifi. I have seen handsets close by a laptop cause intermittent loss of wifi signal. Moving the handset (or base station) away from the laptop will sometimes cure the problem. Sometimes it takes complete replacement of the older 2.4ghz phones to the newer 5.8 or 6.0 frequency phones.

    Nice article about interference: http://www.wi-fiplanet.com/tutorials/ar ... hp/2191241
     
    treker, Dec 13, 2008
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  11. maxpower

    maxpower

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    I don't have a phone, and my other laptop works ok down there. I think it's AAo specific :-(

    I just don't understand the channel swapping at random.
     
    maxpower, Dec 13, 2008
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  12. maxpower

    maxpower

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    I guess I'll ask one more time:

    What could cause my AAO to stay properly connected to my network away from my router, but when on the same ground floor the channel switches from 6 to 11 (SSID stays the same) and even though my connection manager says "100%", it won't allow access to the internet?

    The problem only affects the AAO and not my laptop when used side-by-side on the same floor
     
    maxpower, Dec 14, 2008
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  13. maxpower

    yodersj

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    Is your wireless router's SSID the one it came out of the box with? For example, most Linksys routers have the SSID of "linksys" by default. When the laptop wireless software sees the same SSID and one is a stronger signal than the other it can try to "fail over". That might be causing your issue, as the AA1 does seem to have killer range compared to some other laptops I've owned/seen.
     
    yodersj, Dec 15, 2008
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  14. maxpower

    maxpower

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    Yeah, in a last ditch attempt to avoid whipping my AAO out the window I changed the SSID, and now it works downstairs....but not upstairs!

    Oh well. Its much more important to have it work down there, but now if i'm upstairs it gets stuck trying to aquire the network address. Weird.
     
    maxpower, Dec 16, 2008
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  15. maxpower

    dattaway

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    I had this problem once and tried to troubleshoot the router. I would soon find out it wasn't the same router in my basement...
     
    dattaway, Dec 16, 2008
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  16. maxpower

    yodersj

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    Have you removed the old WLAN connection from NetworkManager? Right-click on the NM icon and pick "Edit Connections".
     
    yodersj, Dec 17, 2008
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