[solved] Internet connection issues

machinebacon · 2011-07-29 20:53:32

MacFadden wrote:

 sudo iwconfig eth1 essid any
There's no output. I'm assuming iwcofig did it's job, but nothing's changed. I mean, there's still no usable wifi connection.

Now comes a very stupid question: is wifi actually enabled in BIOS? Is there a kind of switch/button on the computer?

MacFadden · 2011-07-29 21:17:40

machinebacon wrote:

Now comes a very stupid question: is wifi actually enabled in BIOS? Is there a kind of switch/button on the computer?

It's a fair question. As far as I can tell, it is on. There is no physical switch. When I first got in late 2008 it was running Dellbuntu and switched off and on via fn 2. And of course there is the right mouse "enable wireless." I have ever only turned wifi off when I was on Dellbuntu, I migrated to Mint Xfce in late 2009 and have never turned it off using fn 2 since. I have only occasionally used right button "wireless disabled."

After finishing my dissertation last month I decided to play with other distros (tired of Mint Xfce). Since then I have briefly installed #! Statler, #! 9.04, lubuntu 11, and Ali puppy remix. I have never turned off wifi during that time but have had similar problems in puppy as in Statler but wifi worked fine under 9.04 and lubuntu.

TMI? ANyway, not a dumb question. I actually wondered if I had somehow turned it off during the installs. I don't know if fn2 even works anymore and right mouse shows "wireless enabled."

THe thing that kills me is that this seems to be a regular problem but I'm the only one who cannot get it resolved. Yargh.

machinebacon · 2011-07-29 21:23:57

Yes, everything related to Broadcom is a PITA.
Just curious:
Now that you mention the fn key - does the fn key actually work?
In a terminal enter

xev

a little window will appear, but you concentrate on the terminal smile press the fn key and check if it gives feedback. To quit xev close the little window. If fn doesn't react, the key is not mapped right.

MacFadden · 2011-07-29 21:32:09

machinebacon wrote:

If fn doesn't react, the key is not mapped right.

Then it isn't mapped right. With the window open, pressing just the fn key does nothing in the terminal. Of course, the terminal goes crazy if the mouse moves over it. In usage it works with some things: Fn9 dims the screen and fn0 brightens it. Fna operates the F1 key (I'm using a gen1 Dell mini9, btw). Those are the things I used, so i never noticed. Do I remap? Is there a way in the terminal to see if the wifi is on?

MacFadden · 2011-07-29 21:33:19

But it DOES change the terminal if I Fn + something else...

machinebacon · 2011-07-29 21:39:14

I don't know if we should be happy about this big_smile

iwlist eth1 scan

shows information about the wifi connection/devices. Assuming wifi is eth1, of course.

machinebacon · 2011-07-29 21:46:21

FYI, generally:

iwconfig eth1 power off

disables the power-management, this could be responsible for connection problems. Replace eth1 with the device (wlan0) if needed.

MacFadden · 2011-07-29 21:53:47

Both versions give grim results

lappy:~$ iwlist eth1 scan
eth1      Interface doesn't support scanning.

lappy:~$ iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0     Interface doesn't support scanning.

machinebacon · 2011-07-29 21:55:35

Are the bad modules blacklisted (as of Point 6 in the Debian Wiki entry)?

echo blacklist brcm80211 >> /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-common.conf

MacFadden · 2011-07-29 21:56:05

As for turning off the power:

lappy:~$ iwconfig eth1 power off
Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
    SET failed on device eth1 ; Operation not permitted.
lappy:~$ sudo iwlist eth1 power off
[sudo] password for aaron: 
iwlist: command `power' needs fewer arguments (max 0)

MacFadden · 2011-07-29 22:34:43

machinebacon wrote:

Are the bad modules blacklisted (as of Point 6 in the Debian Wiki entry)?
echo blacklist brcm80211 >> /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-common.conf

As far as I know. I ran through the Debian wiki code once yesterday when I did the reinstall and the command wouldn't work. I don't remember exactly what the error was, but I gave up for the day at that point.

Today I tried again using tranche's directions here: http://crunchbanglinux.org/forums/post/110823/#p110823

I ran the code, as root:

aptitude update
aptitude install module-assistant wireless-tools
m-a a-i broadcom-sta
echo blacklist brcm80211 >> /etc/modprobe.d/broadcom-sta-common.conf
update-initramfs -u -k $(uname -r)
modprobe -r b44 b43 b43legacy ssb brcm80211
modprobe wl
iwconfig

And received no error messages. When I did modprobe -r... the terminal just went to the next command line (there was no output). I don't know if there was supposed to be.

machinebacon · 2011-07-29 22:40:21

Should be fine when there is no feedback from modprobe. What about sudo modinfo wl ?

MacFadden · 2011-07-30 19:41:24

If

sudo modinfo wl

then

filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.32-5-686/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/wl.ko
license:        MIXED/Proprietary
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004727sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004357sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004353sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d0000432Dsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d0000432Csv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d0000432Bsv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d0000432Asv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004329sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004328sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004315sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004313sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004312sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v000014E4d00004311sv*sd*bc*sc*i*
depends:        lib80211
vermagic:       2.6.32-5-686 SMP mod_unload modversions 686 
parm:           oneonly:int
parm:           piomode:int
parm:           instance_base:int
parm:           nompc:int
parm:           name:string

french t0ast · 2011-07-30 22:05:25

Thanks for all the help so far!
I now have the wired connection working after following the suggestions here.
http://blog.technicallyworks.com/2011/0 … er-on.html

Now to try and fix the wireless!
I do not seem the have the file he says to edit for the wireless

/etc/modprobe.d/b43.conf

machinebacon · 2011-07-30 22:09:02

Create that file if you don't have it.

sudo echo "options b43 pio=1 qos=0" > /etc/modprobe.d/b43.conf

french t0ast · 2011-07-30 22:31:31

YAY! It works, Thanks everyone, I learned a lot over the past few days.

Should I mark this thread as solved, or is MacFadden still having problems?

machinebacon · 2011-07-30 23:04:59

I would mark it as solved, as it was the original problem. It won't be locked for MacFadden smile

MacFadden · 2011-07-31 04:35:38

@machinebacon

So I thought I'd look into this:

machinebacon wrote:

Create that file if you don't have it.
sudo echo "options b43 pio=1 qos=0" > /etc/modprobe.d/b43.conf 

but when I tried I got a "permission denied"

If I sudo cat /etc/modprobe.d it shows as a directory, but if I sudo cat .../b43.conf I get "no such file or directory." Obviously, without a file I cannot edit it to add "options b43 pio=1 qos=0", but that's what the echo command does, right? It adds the file "options...qos=0" into the /etc/modprobe.d directory.

Or do I have that wrong?

machinebacon · 2011-07-31 05:14:04

yes, you can create an empty file with sudo touch /etc/modprobe.d/b43.conf and then execute the above command again.

MacFadden · 2011-07-31 15:15:09

In spite of the the "permission denied" and the "no such file" messages, my wifi is now working after inputting these commands. Whether it's stable or not is a question for another day, but it works now. I don't know what I did, though. Here's my question:

What file or files should I look in see the status of my working wifi? Does this question even make sense? I mean, how do I see what the now working code looks like so that I can replicate it in the future?

And thanks for all your help. Like t0ast, I've learned a lot.

machinebacon · 2011-07-31 15:36:41

Re "permission denied"

open an editor as root (gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/bc43.conf ) and put options b43 pio=1 qos=0 in it, then save

Re "working wifi"

For status and configuration: iwconfig shows the status of all available wifi devices. iwlist INTERFACE_NAME scan shows available wireless connections.ifconfig -a lists all network connections.

For the modules: lsmod shows the status of all modules loaded by the kernel. modinfo MODULE_NAME shows the information about the module (which you can find in the lsmod) list. modprobe MODULE_NAME loads the requested module, rmmod MODULE_NAME removes it. There are files named blacklist and configuration files which additionally disable/enable or change properites - they can be edited.

All commands require root (su/sudo)

MacFadden · 2011-08-01 01:30:23

Great! Glad the question made sense after all. Thanks for the help. This community is so good.

CrunchBang Linux

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#26 2011-07-29 20:53:32

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#27 2011-07-29 21:17:40

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#28 2011-07-29 21:23:57

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#29 2011-07-29 21:32:09

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#30 2011-07-29 21:33:19

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#31 2011-07-29 21:39:14

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#32 2011-07-29 21:46:21

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#33 2011-07-29 21:53:47

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#34 2011-07-29 21:55:35

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#35 2011-07-29 21:56:05

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#36 2011-07-29 22:34:43

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#37 2011-07-29 22:40:21

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#38 2011-07-30 19:41:24

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#39 2011-07-30 22:05:25

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#40 2011-07-30 22:09:02

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#41 2011-07-30 22:31:31

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#42 2011-07-30 23:04:59

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#43 2011-07-31 04:35:38

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#44 2011-07-31 05:14:04

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#45 2011-07-31 15:15:09

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#46 2011-07-31 15:36:41

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

#47 2011-08-01 01:30:23

Re: [solved] Internet connection issues

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