Ubuntu wireless networking problem since 8.10

I am a Linux newbie who knows just enough to get myself into trouble...

I had my machine seamlessly connecting to the wireless network from
Ubuntu 8.04, and now very, very intermittently from 8.10. Don't have any
idea why - it takes forever to connect now, and multiple tries.

The problem isn't with the ISP. The same laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad T61) has
no problem connecting using Windows XP, and everything worked fine in
8.04. There's something about 8.10 that doesn't like my wireless network
- or vice-versa.

I've appended my hardware setup below. Can anyone out there help?

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory
Controller Hub (rev 0c)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960
Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960
Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82566MM Gigabit Network
Connection (rev 03)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI
Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio
Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
Port 3 (rev 03)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
Port 4 (rev 03)
00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
Port 5 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI
Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HBM (ICH8M-E) LPC Interface
Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E) IDE
Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E)
SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller
(rev 03)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5212 802.11abg
NIC (rev 01)
15:00.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev ba)
15:00.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller
(rev 04)

I too have experienced it after upgrading to 8.10. Experiencing
everything is bit slow.

Thanks

yea man 8.10 does not play nice with wireless.

On Nov 23, 3:10 am, Jagadeesh <mnjagade...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I too have experienced it after upgrading to 8.10. Experiencing
> everything is bit slow.
>
> Thanks

seeds <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in news:0c123c32-e11c-4eec-8bac-
(E-Mail Removed):

> yea man 8.10 does not play nice with wireless.
>
> On Nov 23, 3:10 am, Jagadeesh <mnjagade...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I too have experienced it after upgrading to 8.10. Experiencing
>> everything is bit slow.

Nice to know I'm not the only one. But does anyone know how to fix the
problem?

I find it odd that it will connect at times, usually after a dozen tries or
so. I just don't know enough about Linux to figure out what it's doing...

On Nov 21, 7:53*pm, preacher <n...@noway.com> wrote:
> 03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5212 802.11abg
> NIC (rev 01)

Hi,

You should try the new ath5k kernel module. You will need to install
the following package[1]:

linux-backports-modules-intrepid-generic

[1] http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/rele...es/810#Atheros ath5k
wireless driver not enabled by default

On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:51:04 -0800, seeds wrote:

> yea man 8.10 does not play nice with wireless.
>
> On Nov 23, 3:10 am, Jagadeesh <mnjagade...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> I too have experienced it after upgrading to 8.10. Experiencing
>> everything is bit slow.
>>
>> Thanks

Found a solution, I think. Apparently, the driver is not reliable. I
don't know if this is an upgrade or if I'm reverting back to an older
version. I need to reboot to confirm that it works consistently, but
assuming it does, this is a big relief.

Here's where I got the fix:

http://unsharptech.com/2008/10/31/at...-810-intrepid-
ibex/

On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 21:53:43 +0000, preacher wrote:

> I am a Linux newbie who knows just enough to get myself into trouble...
>
> I had my machine seamlessly connecting to the wireless network from
> Ubuntu 8.04, and now very, very intermittently from 8.10. Don't have any
> idea why - it takes forever to connect now, and multiple tries.
>
> The problem isn't with the ISP. The same laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad T61)
> has no problem connecting using Windows XP, and everything worked fine
> in 8.04. There's something about 8.10 that doesn't like my wireless
> network - or vice-versa.
>
> I've appended my hardware setup below. Can anyone out there help?
>
> 00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile PM965/GM965/GL960 Memory
> Controller Hub (rev 0c)
> 00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960
> Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 0c) 00:02.1 Display controller:
> Intel Corporation Mobile GM965/GL960 Integrated Graphics Controller (rev
> 0c) 00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82566MM Gigabit
> Network Connection (rev 03)
> 00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
> Controller #4 (rev 03)
> 00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
> Controller #5 (rev 03)
> 00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI
> Controller #2 (rev 03)
> 00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) HD Audio
> Controller (rev 03)
> 00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
> Port 1 (rev 03)
> 00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
> Port 2 (rev 03)
> 00:1c.2 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
> Port 3 (rev 03)
> 00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
> Port 4 (rev 03)
> 00:1c.4 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) PCI Express
> Port 5 (rev 03)
> 00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
> Controller #1 (rev 03)
> 00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
> Controller #2 (rev 03)
> 00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB UHCI
> Controller #3 (rev 03)
> 00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) USB2 EHCI
> Controller #1 (rev 03)
> 00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev f3)
> 00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801HBM (ICH8M-E) LPC Interface
> Controller (rev 03)
> 00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E)
> IDE Controller (rev 03)
> 00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801HBM/HEM (ICH8M/ICH8M-E)
> SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
> 00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801H (ICH8 Family) SMBus Controller
> (rev 03)
> 03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5212
> 802.11abg NIC (rev 01)
> 15:00.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev ba) 15:00.1
> FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C832 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 04)

I have Ubuntu 8.10 running on my laptop which has the Broadcom 4318 wireless
network adapter. I had to use ndiswrapper to get my adapter to work since
it is proprietary hardware, and then it usually takes me 3-4 tries to get a
connection to the internet (via my wireless router). I'm hoping Ubuntu works
to better wireless compatibility in the future as I like Ubuntu very much.

On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:35:06 +0000, preacher wrote:

> On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:51:04 -0800, seeds wrote:
>
>> yea man 8.10 does not play nice with wireless.
>>
>> On Nov 23, 3:10 am, Jagadeesh <mnjagade...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I too have experienced it after upgrading to 8.10. Experiencing
>>> everything is bit slow.
>>>
>>> Thanks
>
> Found a solution, I think. Apparently, the driver is not reliable. I
> don't know if this is an upgrade or if I'm reverting back to an older
> version. I need to reboot to confirm that it works consistently, but
> assuming it does, this is a big relief.
>
> Here's where I got the fix:
>
> http://unsharptech.com/2008/10/31/at...-810-intrepid-
> ibex/

Oh, you're lucky. I had one of those laptops with the Broadcom 4318 wireless
adapters which is not supported by Ubuntu. This required the use of ndiswrapper
to run the hardware using a Windows driver. It works well, but only after 3-4
connection attempts with my Linksys WRT53G wireless router.

unknown wrote:

> On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:35:06 +0000, preacher wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:51:04 -0800, seeds wrote:
>>
>>> yea man 8.10 does not play nice with wireless.
>>>
>>> On Nov 23, 3:10 am, Jagadeesh <mnjagade...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> I too have experienced it after upgrading to 8.10. Experiencing
>>>> everything is bit slow.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks
>>
>> Found a solution, I think. Apparently, the driver is not reliable. I
>> don't know if this is an upgrade or if I'm reverting back to an older
>> version. I need to reboot to confirm that it works consistently, but
>> assuming it does, this is a big relief.
>>
>> Here's where I got the fix:
>>
>>
http://unsharptech.com/2008/10/31/at...-810-intrepid-
>> ibex/
>
> Oh, you're lucky. I had one of those laptops with the Broadcom 4318
> wireless
> adapters which is not supported by Ubuntu.

I think it is see below --->

> This required the use of ndiswrapper
> to run the hardware using a Windows driver

Yeck, just the thought of using windows makes my stomach sick

> It works well, but only after 3-4 connection attempts with my Linksys
WRT53G wireless router.

I have Broadcom wireless cards in both my desktop and notebook computers.

I haven't used ndiswrapper since Fedora 6.

lspci --->

00:0b.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One 54g]
802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)

What kernel are you running?

Arch linux with kernel26 2.6.26.5 works. Broadcom drivers are in 2.6.24 and
later ( If I recall correctly ) .

1. use the firmware tool b43-fwcutter, to install the firmware.

2. modprobe the b43 module.

3. ifconfig wlan0 up

4. iwlist wlan0 scan -- list access points available

5. iwconfig wlan0 essid <your wireless pt here>

6. if you are not using WEP or WAP then:
dhcpcd wlan0 or
ifconfig wlan0 <ip addr>
route add default gw <gateway ip here>

If the access point is using WAP or WEP then you will need to add the key to
step 5.

Hint: check out netcfg2 if you use WEP or WAP

YMMV

On Tue, 25 Nov 2008 11:47:58 -0500, Gang Greene wrote:

> unknown wrote:
>
>> On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 00:35:06 +0000, preacher wrote:
>>
>>> On Sun, 23 Nov 2008 07:51:04 -0800, seeds wrote:
>>>
>>>> yea man 8.10 does not play nice with wireless.
>>>>
>>>> On Nov 23, 3:10 am, Jagadeesh <mnjagade...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> I too have experienced it after upgrading to 8.10. Experiencing
>>>>> everything is bit slow.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks
>>>
>>> Found a solution, I think. Apparently, the driver is not reliable. I
>>> don't know if this is an upgrade or if I'm reverting back to an older
>>> version. I need to reboot to confirm that it works consistently, but
>>> assuming it does, this is a big relief.
>>>
>>> Here's where I got the fix:
>>>
>>>
> http://unsharptech.com/2008/10/31/at...in-ubuntu-810-
intrepid-
>>> ibex/
>>
>> Oh, you're lucky. I had one of those laptops with the Broadcom 4318
>> wireless
>> adapters which is not supported by Ubuntu.
>
> I think it is see below --->
>
>> This required the use of ndiswrapper
>> to run the hardware using a Windows driver
>
> Yeck, just the thought of using windows makes my stomach sick
>
>> It works well, but only after 3-4 connection attempts with my Linksys
> WRT53G wireless router.
>
> I have Broadcom wireless cards in both my desktop and notebook
> computers.
>
> I haven't used ndiswrapper since Fedora 6.
>
> lspci --->
>
> 00:0b.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4318 [AirForce One
> 54g] 802.11g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 02)
>
> What kernel are you running?
>
> Arch linux with kernel26 2.6.26.5 works. Broadcom drivers are in 2.6.24
> and later ( If I recall correctly ) .
>
> 1. use the firmware tool b43-fwcutter, to install the firmware.
>
> 2. modprobe the b43 module.
>
> 3. ifconfig wlan0 up
>
> 4. iwlist wlan0 scan -- list access points available
>
> 5. iwconfig wlan0 essid <your wireless pt here>
>
> 6. if you are not using WEP or WAP then:
> dhcpcd wlan0 or
> ifconfig wlan0 <ip addr>
> route add default gw <gateway ip here>
>
> If the access point is using WAP or WEP then you will need to add the
> key to step 5.
>
> Hint: check out netcfg2 if you use WEP or WAP
>
> YMMV

Does anyone have any idea why network connectivity with the Broadcom 4318
(Airforce One) network adapter in ubuntu 8.10 (after getting the hardware
to work by running the Windows driver, since that driver is proprietary)
is so fickle? Sometimes I'm able to connect on the first attempt (which
is rare). Other times it may take 2-3 attempts to get achieve a
connection. There seems to be no rhyme nor reason as for why this
occurs. Your thoughts.