[ltp] strange behaviour of wireless

[Richard Neill]

>>
>> One thought: do you have NetworkManager (the system service) running? It
>> does things in the background that can sometimes be strange...if you are
>> manually configuring with iwconfig/dhclient, you may want to check it is
>> off.
>
> No, at least I think it is not running. But to be sure, how can I check it?

/etc/init.d/network-manager status
  or
  ps aux | grep -i networkmanager

If Network manager is NOT running, you might try using it: the latest 
version isn't bad (start the gnome "nm-applet" for a gui, and read logs 
which are sent to syslog).

>> You might try one other distro (eg Ubuntu's) live CD (or live USB stick)
>> - simply as a way to eliminate whether this is more likely a software or
>> a hardware issue.
>
> Will do. (As the X61 doesn't have an optical drive, I have to use anUSB
> stick which I never succeeded so far in making bootable …)

Try using: http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/

>>> • Ok, so far I'd just say “stupid Linux, doesn't work” (or rather
>>> “stupid user, doesn't configure correctly”). But now comes the part that
>>> doesn't make any sense to me: Whenever I connect to my home network, my
>>> rommates cannot. In fact, their machines don't even see the radiation
>>> any more. As soon as I disconnect, they have excellent signal strengths
>>> and connect immediately. When I reconnect, they're out, again.
>>>
>> Wireless g/b issue? Is it possible that you or they are on 802.11b and
>> that this is making the access point switch modes. (Or, for that matter
>> g vs a)?

I'm beginning to be suspicious of your access point, rather than the 
Linux side. Is it possible that you are causing it to crash? Or perhaps 
you are using wireless "a" which is causing the AP to switch away from 
support for wireless "b" devices, thereby cutting off your roomates?
[Is anyone using equipment older than ~ 4 years?]

Does the AP have any form of logging or web control panel? Is it a 
reasonably recent (this year) model, or a much older one? Is it a 
"cheap" AP or not?
[I hesitate slightly here: some £15 APs are actually much better than 
some £50 APs: so cheap refers to quality not to price!]

>
> At the moment (at the university) I'm on a 2.462 GHz connection. I'll
> check tonight what channels are used at home. (If that is the
> information you need.)

Does it work reliably and repeatably for you on the university connection?

>> P.S. Can you post the relevant bit of lspci?
>
> lspci output:
> 03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or
> AGN [Kedron] Network Connection (rev 61)
>
>> Are you using a native
>> Linux driver, or one of the binary linux blobs, or ndiswrapper?

Intel drivers are usually pretty good, and work natively. If you had a 
"blob" or Ndiswrapper driver you'd usually have had to jump through 
hoops to make the device work, whereas if Linux simply autodetects your 
wlan, it's native.


HTH,

Richard