[ltp] Wireless failing to connect

[Micha Feigin]

On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 17:21:17 -0800
John Jason Jordan <johnxj@comcast.net> wrote:

> On Fri, 23 Nov 2007 23:53:42 +0000
> Phil <phil@stairbridge.org.uk> dijo:
> 
> > After many months happily running Ubuntu Feisty my T60 has suddenly 
> > started misbehaving.
> > Connecting to my home wireless network has become really painful, but 
> > connecting to my office wifi is no problem. Before this started 
> > happening I'd work, s2ram, go home, wake up and it would connect fine. 
> > Then I'd sleep it again, go to work, wake up and again, no problem 
> > connecting.
> > Now, when I go home, the nm-applet shows my home wifi and tries to 
> > connect but fails after 30 secs or so. I can get it to connect by 
> > rebooting - most times - although somethimes it takes more than 1 boot, 
> > sometimes I have to disable and re-enable wifi.
> > No problem connecting to work.
> > Both networks are encrypted, but I also have an open wifi at home (which 
> > also fails to connect).
> > I've no idea why it's suddenly gone bad after many months of OK 
> > behaviour. I've installed all updates - but never noticed a wifi update.
> > $ uname -a
> > Linux phil-t60-linux 2.6.20-16-generic #2 SMP Sun Sep 23 19:50:39 UTC 
> > 2007 i686 GNU/Linux
> > $lspci
> >  ...
> > 03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG 
> > Network Connection (rev 02)
> >  ...
> > 
> > Nothing in the system log other than repeated "ipw3945: Detected 
> > geography ABG (13 802.11bg channels, 23 802.11a channels)" messages. 
> > When wifi works there's only one of these, but when it's not working it 
> > repeats every few seconds.
> > 
> > Please tell me where to start diagnosing this problem,
> 
> I'm writing this on the assumption that my problem, while it appears
> similar to yours, is probably completely different.
> 
> I have a brand new T61 with Intel 4965 running Gutsy x86_64. I have no
> wireless at home, but at school and several other locations I suddenly
> lose my DHCP lease. At least, I think that is what is happening. The
> wireless performs beautifully when it works, but it will work for only
> a few minutes to maybe an hour or so. Then suddenly I am unable to go
> anywhere. All my wireless tools and iwconfig and stuff say the wireless
> is connected and working. The only solution is to reboot, and that
> sometimes takes several attempts. Like you, I found that disabling the
> wireless in the BIOS, booting, restarting, enabling it again in the
> BIOS and letting it boot finally gets it working again.
> 

I would suggest downloading the latest iwl-4965 driver, mac-80211 stack and
firmware and compiling them manually. The wireless in the t61 is a bit flaky,
supposed to work but still a work in progress.
http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/?p=iwlwifi&n=News
Note that the firmware 4.44.17 seems to work better for me then 4.44.1.18
although the later seems to be a bit newer by the date (but not the news)

I also found out that the
default scripts in my debian machine start playing with the wireless antenna
when I turn on/off the bluetooth using the keyboard.

Try also checking the value something like
/sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.1/0000:03:00.0/rf_kill
(may have a different device name), 0 means that the antenna is on, 1 that it is
off

> There is a thread about this on the Ubuntu forums - I didn't save the
> bookmark, but I know that "T61" is in the title of the thread so a
> search should turn it up. At least one other person (Nigel) has been
> having the same problem. He said that Intel was working on new drivers.
> 
> I have no idea how this could affect your situation, but our symptoms
> are remarkably similar, in spite of the differences in hardware and OS.
> I thought I would answer in the vain hope that someone can help at
> least one of us.