Wireless network problem after upgrade to 8.04

[Paul Johnson]

Hello!

On Thu, Jun 5, 2008 at 3:29 AM, Ken McLennan <kenrmcl at mysoul.com.au> wrote:
> G'day there Paul,
>
>>> PRO/Wireless 3945ABG wireless network card and connected reliably
>>> without problem.
>>>
>>
>> I have that device working in a fresh install of 8.04, so lets see if
>> you might have some old settings running that are causing trouble.
>>
>    That wouldn't surprise me but the install told me that it was
> replacing necessary files. I assumed the old settings would be amongst
> those.
>

"Assumed".  That's not a "Linux Guy" thing to do :)

>> # sudo /sbin/lsmod
>>
>> it lists out loaded kernel modules. If you don't see iwl3945 in there,
>> it means it is failing. Could try to load manually
>>
>> # sudo /sbin/modprobe iwl3945
>>
>    Wasn't necessary, it showed up.
>> Then run
>>
>> # dmesg
>>
>> to see if it started.
>>
> ken at Epona:~$ sudo dmesg | grep iwl
> [   27.246704] iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network
> Connection driver for Linux, 1.2.0
> [   27.246707] iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2007 Intel Corporation
> [   27.246871] iwl3945: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network
> Connection
> [   28.880368] iwl3945: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels
> [   28.883542] wmaster0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-3945-rs'
> ken at Epona:~$


Yes, it is running.  On my system that does work, here is what I see:


$ sudo dmesg | grep iwl3
[sudo] password for pauljohn:
[   25.024643] iwl3945: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 3945ABG/BG Network
Connection driver for Linux, 1.2.25
[   25.024649] iwl3945: Copyright(c) 2003-2007 Intel Corporation
[   25.024858] iwl3945: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection
[   40.925687] iwl3945: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels

Note my module version is much newer than yours.

Recall in the previous email I said the iwl3945 driver that is
delivered with ubuntu 8.04 does NOT connect to many routers for me,
but after installing the modules backport package, then it DOES.

So until you install that, we'll never really know for sure...




>
>    I guess it's running.
>
>> Here's a very important thing to know:
>>
>> The LED light for the wireless device DOES NOT turn on, even if it is working!
>>
>    I've never looked. I figured that if it wasn't working then I'd know
> without checking the light =).
>
>> So in the terminal again, make sure the network-manager is running
>>
>> # /etc/init.d/network-manager restart
>>
>    I don't have a 'network-manager' there, only a 'networking' entry.
> Is that the same?

NO. "networking" is different.  I think it conflicts, actually.  It
did in Fedora, anyway.  There is a separate, replacement networking
thing called NetworkManager. It is a replacement for the old, manual
network config approach.  In Fedora 8, the two did NOT work together
at all. I'm new-ish in Ubuntu, but I can tell you that if the
NetworkManager service is running without competition from other
system, then it can work. Here
are the packages I see now, after doing the upgrade I mentioned in the
other email:

$ dpkg -l | grep network-manager
ii  network-manager                            0.7.0~svn3645-1
                           network management framework daemon
ii  network-manager-gnome                      0.7.0~svn718-1
                           network management framework (GNOME
frontend

The network-manager-gnome provides the program "nm-applet."  It says
"gnome", but it actually runs under KDE as well.  It is the gui thing
to try to control DHCP.

I'm a bit stuck on how to tell you to make sure which services are
running and which are not.  In Fedora, I could tell you because I
understood its system of symbolic links and run levels. In Ubuntu, I'm
confused...

I don't know what the relationship is between the program Derek B
points out, under /etc/dbus-1/events, and the
/etc/init.d/network-manager script.

Ubuntu has a menu System/Administration/Services, but it is not an
exhaustive list of possible services, it shows neither networking nor
network-manager.  In Fedora system-config-services shows a more
massive list.  So obviously, I can't help on that detail.  The init.d
framework is quite different between the two systems.


>
> ken at Epona:/etc/init.d$ ls net*
> networking
> ken at Epona:/etc/init.d$
>
>> and then
>>
>> # nm-applet
>>
>> should make sure the network-manager applet is running.  Try to use
>> that to manage your connection.
>>
>    Yep. The applet is in the top bar and I've used it to set what I
> thought were the correct settings as previous, but no success.
>
If  you did not run nm-applet from a terminal, there is no way for me
to know for sure if it is same applet.


>> IF you want the LED light to come on, you can get it by installing the
>> backported linux kernel module.
>>
>    Not a priority <g>.

Only problem if you are having config troubles...

>
>> There is also an updated version of the Network Manager available.
>> Look in archives for last week for an email I posted in this list
>> called "Head's up for people with Wireless in Harty, especially Intel
>> Wireless IPW adapters".  That points at the links.
>>
>    Now that I'm in Windoze I can have a look for it. Dunno it it will
> be more suitable than the standard installation, but it can't hurt.
>
>    If it's any use, this is the result of stopping & starting the
> init.d/networking command:
>
> root at Epona:/etc/init.d# ./networking stop
>  * Deconfiguring network
> interfaces...                                          There is already
> a pid file /var/run/dhclient.wlan0.pid with pid 9263
> killed old client process, removed PID file
> Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.6
> Copyright 2004-2007 Internet Systems Consortium.
> All rights reserved.
> For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/
>
> wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
> wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
> Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:19:d2:75:cf:ff
> Sending on   LPF/wlan0/00:19:d2:75:cf:ff
> Sending on   Socket/fallback
> Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
>    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
>
> [ OK ]
> root at Epona:/etc/init.d# ./networking start
>  * Configuring network
> interfaces...                                            Error for
> wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
>    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Device or resource busy.
> There is already a pid file /var/run/dhclient.wlan0.pid with pid 134519072
> Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client V3.0.6
> Copyright 2004-2007 Internet Systems Consortium.
> All rights reserved.
> For info, please visit http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/
>
> wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
> wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801
> Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:19:d2:75:cf:ff
> Sending on   LPF/wlan0/00:19:d2:75:cf:ff
> Sending on   Socket/fallback
> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 11
> DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to 255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 12
> No DHCPOFFERS received.
> No working leases in persistent database - sleeping.
>
> [ OK ]
> root at Epona:/etc/init.d#
>
>    It make little sense to me, except to indicate that something's not
> working as I wish it to.
>

Well, I can certify the ipw3945 device is good and will work.  But you
are bumping up exactly the same configuration problem that plagued me
in the upgrade from Fedora 7 to Fedora 8.  The change in approach left
a non functional system, and I kept complaining long and loud and
everybody who did a clean install kept saying "works for me."  Finally
John Linville, who is the maintainer of the iwl3945 software driver
and also a Fedora kernel packager, stepped up and pointed out the
conflicting services were making nothing work.

Since my 8.04 "clean install" does work after applying the updates,
I'm confident you can make it work.  We just need a bit of clear
information about how to clear out the old configuration and get the
new one working.



> Thanks for taking the time to help,
> It's much appreciated.
> Ken McLennan
> Qld, Australia.
>
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-- 
Paul E. Johnson
Professor, Political Science
1541 Lilac Lane, Room 504
University of Kansas