NOOB status: Configure wireless card for Ubuntu 11.10

[ibthevivin]

I'm completely new to Linux and I've been playing around with it for about 2 days. I've picked up on some things pretty quick, but I just can't seem to understand how to install the appropriate drivers for the wireless card I've installed.

Currently the proprietary drivers are installed and I have slow web browsing performance. What would be the appropriate fix? Installing drivers meant for my wireless card (Intel Centrino 6230) or are the proprietary drivers enough but something else is slowing my web performance?

My dad is running quick on Windows 7 but I'm slower since I've switched.

For the record, I've been to www.intellinuxwireless.org (http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/) and found the specific drivers for my card, but I'm unsure of how to install tar.gz files. Am I supposed to use the terminal? If so, how (if someone could provide me a good instructional website)?

[chipbuster]

http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/softinstall.html I'm guessing this is what you'll need to do. If you enter the command with "configure" in it and the shell spits back an error, try just going to the next step (make). Some drivers come without a configure script. Also, before you do anything, make sure to take a look at the readme and post back if anything doesn't make sense. Some drivers require you to change options in some files before installing.

[sandyd]

I'm completely new to Linux and I've been playing around with it for about 2 days. I've picked up on some things pretty quick, but I just can't seem to understand how to install the appropriate drivers for the wireless card I've installed.

Currently the proprietary drivers are installed and I have slow web browsing performance. What would be the appropriate fix? Installing drivers meant for my wireless card (Intel Centrino 6230) or are the proprietary drivers enough but something else is slowing my web performance?

My dad is running quick on Windows 7 but I'm slower since I've switched.

For the record, I've been to www.intellinuxwireless.org (http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/) and found the specific drivers for my card, but I'm unsure of how to install tar.gz files. Am I supposed to use the terminal? If so, how (if someone could provide me a good instructional website)?
Are you broadcasting on N or G.
If your broadcasting on N, kill it, and sink to G-level speeds. That card doesn't work well with N specs.

[ibthevivin]

@Chipbuster: I'll get back to you on that and let you know. I'm reading the README file and responding to daniweb.com users on their feedback and I'll let you know what I don't understand.

@sandyd: My network's perfect. I rarely have a down connection and I've several shared devices. The router broadcasts a mixed signal in 2.4ghz on a low traffic channel. I never had issues with this card but since I've moved to Ubuntu 11.10 when I stream videos, it seems to need to buffer every other minute. So my goal here is to try a driver made for the card and learn how to install drivers.

So two birds, one stone. Learn to install drivers and try and resolve the issue with my card.

What makes you say this card doesn't work well with N-specs?

Thank you both for your responses.

[ibthevivin]

http://www.tuxfiles.org/linuxhelp/softinstall.html I'm guessing this is what you'll need to do. If you enter the command with "configure" in it and the shell spits back an error, try just going to the next step (make). Some drivers come without a configure script. Also, before you do anything, make sure to take a look at the readme and post back if anything doesn't make sense. Some drivers require you to change options in some files before installing.

Stupid question. Is this assuming the file is located on the desktop, in the home folder, or documents? Where? Or does it not matter (if so, why?)?

Thanks again!

[wildmanne39]

Hi,
What makes you say this card doesn't work well with N-specs?
because of working in networking I can confirm intel cards have trouble with N speed in linux but unless you have a real fast connection above 54 it will not matter and we can disable that module in the driver and you should have improved speed.

I believe I know the driver you are using but I want to make sure please post the results of:

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
if you want to get the speed fixed the best it can be in linux until the driver is redone.
Thanks

[ibthevivin]

Don't thank me. I should be thanking you.

The results were:


ibthevivin@Cronos:~$ lspci -nnk | grep -A2 net
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications AR8151 v1.0 Gigabit Ethernet [1969:1073] (rev c0)
Subsystem: Acer Incorporated [ALI] Device [1025:0364]
Kernel driver in use: atl1c


I noticed that the card has a connect speed of 54mbps (which used to be +/-120mpbs before I switched to Ubuntu) and when streaming video it disconnects and reconnects.

Thanks!

[wildmanne39]

Hi, your wireless card did not show up only the wired connection, was that all the information?
Please double check if it was try these three commands:

lsusb

lspci -nn

sudo pccardctl ident
Thanks

[ibthevivin]

Yup. That was all the information. For that prior command.

The last command you had me run didn't yield anything. As you can see it did ask for password though.

So assuming from your responses, I guess installing the drivers provided in intellinuxwireless.org wouldn't do anything? lol

Thank you!


ibthevivin@Cronos:~$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0020 Intel Corp. Integrated Rate Matching Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 058f:6366 Alcor Micro Corp. Multi Flash Reader
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 8086:0189 Intel Corp.
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 0402:9665 ALi Corp.
Bus 002 Device 005: ID 045e:075d Microsoft Corp. LifeCam Cinema



ibthevivin@Cronos:~$ lspci -nn
00:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor DRAM Controller [8086:0044] (rev 18)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Integrated Graphics Controller [8086:0046] (rev 18)
00:16.0 Communication controller [0780]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset HECI Controller [8086:3b64] (rev 06)
00:1a.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [8086:3b3c] (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device [0403]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset High Definition Audio [8086:3b56] (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 1 [8086:3b42] (rev 05)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset PCI Express Root Port 2 [8086:3b44] (rev 05)
00:1d.0 USB Controller [0c03]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset USB2 Enhanced Host Controller [8086:3b34] (rev 05)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge [8086:2448] (rev a5)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge [0601]: Intel Corporation Mobile 5 Series Chipset LPC Interface Controller [8086:3b09] (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller [0106]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset 4 port SATA AHCI Controller [8086:3b29] (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus [0c05]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset SMBus Controller [8086:3b30] (rev 05)
00:1f.6 Signal processing controller [1180]: Intel Corporation 5 Series/3400 Series Chipset Thermal Subsystem [8086:3b32] (rev 05)
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications AR8151 v1.0 Gigabit Ethernet [1969:1073] (rev c0)
04:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Centrino Advanced-N 6230 [8086:0091] (rev 34)
ff:00.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture Generic Non-core Registers [8086:2c62] (rev 05)
ff:00.1 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QuickPath Architecture System Address Decoder [8086:2d01] (rev 05)
ff:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Link 0 [8086:2d10] (rev 05)
ff:02.1 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor QPI Physical 0 [8086:2d11] (rev 05)
ff:02.2 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved [8086:2d12] (rev 05)
ff:02.3 Host bridge [0600]: Intel Corporation Core Processor Reserved [8086:2d13] (rev 05)



ibthevivin@Cronos:~$ sudo pccardctl ident
[sudo] password for ibthevivin:
ibthevivin@Cronos:~$

[wildmanne39]

Hi, the card showed up, please post output of:

lsmod
this will confirm if the driver is loading properly.
Thanks

[ibthevivin]

Where did you learn all this?!? lol Does your occupation involve much of Linux based coding?

Thanks!


ibthevivin@Cronos:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
snd_usb_audio 118064 0
snd_usbmidi_lib 25371 1 snd_usb_audio
nls_iso8859_1 12713 1
nls_cp437 16991 1
vfat 17585 1
fat 61475 1 vfat
hidp 22862 1
hid 95463 1 hidp
bnep 18436 2
rfcomm 47946 8
pci_stub 12622 1
vboxpci 23200 0
vboxnetadp 13382 0
vboxnetflt 23441 0
vboxdrv 282548 3 vboxpci,vboxnetadp,vboxnetflt
parport_pc 36962 0
ppdev 17113 0
snd_hda_codec_hdmi 32040 1
snd_hda_codec_realtek 330769 1
binfmt_misc 17540 1
uvcvideo 72711 0
videodev 92992 1 uvcvideo
v4l2_compat_ioctl32 17083 1 videodev
snd_hda_intel 33390 2
snd_hda_codec 104802 3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_i ntel
keucr 85590 0
btusb 18600 4
bluetooth 166112 28 hidp,bnep,rfcomm,btusb
snd_hwdep 13668 2 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec
usb_storage 57901 1
snd_pcm 96714 4 snd_usb_audio,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd _hda_codec
uas 18027 0
arc4 12529 2
snd_seq_midi 13324 0
snd_rawmidi 30547 2 snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq_midi_event 14899 1 snd_seq_midi
iwlagn 314213 0
snd_seq 61896 2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
i915 566827 9
snd_timer 29991 2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
drm_kms_helper 42558 1 i915
drm 236290 5 i915,drm_kms_helper
snd_seq_device 14540 3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
i2c_algo_bit 13423 1 i915
acer_wmi 23948 0
snd 68266 16 snd_usb_audio,snd_usbmidi_lib,snd_hda_codec_hdmi,s nd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,s nd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd _seq_device
sparse_keymap 13890 1 acer_wmi
video 19412 1 i915
wmi 19256 1 acer_wmi
soundcore 12680 1 snd
lp 17799 0
parport 46562 3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
snd_page_alloc 18529 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
joydev 17693 0
psmouse 73882 0
serio_raw 13166 0
intel_ips 18089 0
mac80211 462092 1 iwlagn
cfg80211 199587 2 iwlagn,mac80211
mei 41480 0
ahci 26002 2
libahci 26861 1 ahci
atl1c 41643 0


Tell me a little bit of what I'm reading here. I understand it sorta. So the "module" is the device or driver? "Used by" meaning what?

Thank you again. This is a great learning experience. I don't want to be totally reliant. This was the whole purpose of moving to Linux. lol

[alexandari]

An unexplainable fix to most wireless problems (I won't go into details) is being fixed with (for example for me) WICD network manager. You can give it a try,you can install it via the package manager,nothing complicated. The only thing that you have to add manually is the wireless interface in the Preferences,which should be wlan0 (you have to type it) ,tell me how it went,cheers

++ Here's an exact screenshot if I got you confused with my explanation http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FgQHVo9XFIw/ThrMfJP_6VI/AAAAAAAAAdk/JDrbWMuXNsI/s1600/wicd-preferences.png

[ibthevivin]

I barely understood that! lol. But I got it. I downloaded the manager via Synaptic and opened up the wizard. So what does this do anyways? Got any idea? You said it was an odd fix.

I'll let you know how it affects my network performance and if my wireless is still dropping signal.

[wildmanne39]

Hi, the information you posted shows all the drivers in use on your system, and the driver is loaded for your wireless card there are two things most likely going on by looking at your information, we need to disable N speed and you may have a problem with the kernel telling the wireless to turn on, so we need to check for that as well.

Everything I have learned is from working on the forum, spending hours and hours of studying and research.

Please do this for the N speed issue.

gksudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/iwlagn.conf
add one line:

options iwlagn 11n_disable=1
Proofread carefully, save and close gedit. Reboot.

If it does not come on post:

iwconfig
rfkill list all
nm-tool
Thanks

[ibthevivin]

These are the results. The speeds are still the same. It started off lower but worked its way up to 54mbps.


ibthevivin@Cronos:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth0 no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11abg ESSID:"742 Evergreen Terr"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 30:46:9A:00:F2:0C
Bit Rate=5.5 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=65/70 Signal level=-45 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:45 Missed beacon:0

ibthevivin@Cronos:~$ rfkill list all
0: hci0: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
1: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
2: acer-wireless: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
3: acer-bluetooth: Bluetooth
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
ibthevivin@Cronos:~$ nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected (global)

- Device: eth0 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Type: Wired
Driver: atl1c
State: unavailable
Default: no
HW Address: 20:6A:8A:2C:07:06

Capabilities:
Carrier Detect: yes

Wired Properties
Carrier: off


- Device: wlan0 [742 Evergreen Terr] ------------------------------------------
Type: 802.11 WiFi
Driver: iwlagn
State: connected
Default: yes
HW Address: 88:53:2E:28:13:88

Capabilities:
Speed: 5 Mb/s

Wireless Properties
WEP Encryption: yes
WPA Encryption: yes
WPA2 Encryption: yes

Wireless Access Points (* = current AP)
QCRL1: Infra, 00:1F:90:E9:AA:26, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 19 WEP
D5136: Infra, 00:1F:90:BE:F7:1C, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 22 WEP
NETGEAR: Infra, A0:21:B7:A4:B3:14, Freq 2417 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 17 WPA2
UWC88: Infra, 00:1F:90:E1:C0:1F, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 17 WEP
belkin.d6f: Infra, 08:86:3B:23:4D:6F, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 27 WPA WPA2
*742 Evergreen Terr: Infra, 30:46:9A:00:F2:0C, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 84 WPA2
HomeHUB: Infra, C0:C1:C0:97:F4:EF, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 27 WPA WPA2

IPv4 Settings:
Address: 192.168.1.5
Prefix: 24 (255.255.255.0)
Gateway: 192.168.1.1

DNS: 192.168.1.1


ibthevivin@Cronos:~$

[wildmanne39]

Hi, change your settings to match the screenshots except leave yours to auto connect then reboot.