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Thread: Wifi only temporarily connects on Asus EEE 1000HE

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  1. #1
    Join Date
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    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Angry Wifi only temporarily connects on Asus EEE 1000HE

    I've got an Asus EEE 1000HE, and it's worked fine for a long time with the EEEBUNTU distro (a distro based on Jaunty (i think) with a custom kernel). Unfortunately, Eeebuntu is no longer maintained, so I recently did a clean install of Ubuntu 10.04.2. I am now unable to get my wifi to work reliably.

    The wifi tries to connect for a while, then pops up the "Wireless Network Authentication Required" window. If I hit "connect" it will try again for a while, then pop up the window. Etc. Note I know that my connection information is OK. I haven't mistyped the password (see below). Also note that the wifi antenna is turned on. For example, iwlist scan is able to find my network.

    There is a weird twist though: The netbook is always able to connect through an ethernet cable on eth0 just fine. If I boot the netbook with the ethernet cable plugged in, the wifi instantly connects as well! I can then unplug the ethernet cable (eth0 goes away), but I am still able to use the wifi connection for about 5 minutes before it disconnects, and goes back to trying and failing to connect.

    This behavior is 100% replicable--the wifi always works fine (for about 5 minutes) if it boots with the ethernet cable plugged in. Very rarely, the wifi will also connect on boot without the ethernet cable, but that is not replicable.

    Other EEE netbooks seem to have issues with multiple wireless drivers, like in this thread. Perhaps something similar is happening here? My card seems to be using rt2860sta as a driver. I tried blacklisting it, to see if another driver was trying to load instead, but that just negated my wifi altogether. (It's unblacklisted again)

    My router is a very reliable Linksys WRT54GL with factory firmware which has never been flaky.

    I posted another thread about this in the absolute beginners forum here, but I was advised to repost in this forum.

    I'm at my wit's end. This netbook will be useless without wifi. Any suggestions?

    Below is the suggested information for a first post:

    Here's lspci (note there is nothing listed as "Wireless Brand" to grep out):
    Code:
    lspci
    00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Memory Controller Hub (rev 03)
    00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GME Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
    00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 945GM/GMS/GME, 943/940GML Express Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 03)
    00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family High Definition Audio Controller (rev 02)
    00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 1 (rev 02)
    00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 2 (rev 02)
    00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family PCI Express Port 4 (rev 02)
    00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH7 Family USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 02)
    00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 02)
    00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 02)
    00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 02)
    00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation N10/ICH 7 Family USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 02)
    00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev e2)
    00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801GBM (ICH7-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 02)
    00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801G (ICH7 Family) IDE Controller (rev 02)
    00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation 82801GBM/GHM (ICH7 Family) SATA AHCI Controller (rev 02)
    01:00.0 Network controller: RaLink RT2860
    03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCI-E Ethernet Controller (rev b0)
    Here's lsusb:

    Code:
    lsusb
    Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
    Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05dc:0330 Lexar Media, Inc. JumpDrive Expression
    Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04f2:b071 Chicony Electronics Co., Ltd 2.0M UVC Webcam / CNF7129
    Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
    Here's ifconfig:

    Code:
    ifconfig
    eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 90:e6:ba:80:a1:db  
              UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
              RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
              TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:1
              collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
              RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
              Interrupt:28 
    
    lo        Link encap:Local Loopback  
              inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
              inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
              UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
              RX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
              TX packets:12 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
              collisions:0 txqueuelen:0 
              RX bytes:720 (720.0 B)  TX bytes:720 (720.0 B)
    
    wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:25:d3:13:e2:a3  
              inet6 addr: fe80::225:d3ff:fe13:e2a3/64 Scope:Link
              UP BROADCAST MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
              RX packets:20912 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
              TX packets:2414 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
              collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
              RX bytes:2585854 (2.5 MB)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
              Interrupt:19
    Here's iwconfig:

    Code:
    iwconfig
    lo        no wireless extensions.
    
    eth0      no wireless extensions.
    
    wlan0     RT2860 Wireless  ESSID:""  Nickname:"RT2860STA"
              Mode:Auto  Frequency=2.437 GHz  Access Point: 98:FC:11:44:B1:8D   
              Bit Rate=1 Mb/s   
              RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
              Link Quality=10/100  Signal level:-36 dBm  Noise level:-97 dBm
              Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
              Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
    Here's lsmod (note there's no "wlan_module_name" to grep out):

    Code:
    lsmod
    Module                  Size  Used by
    nls_iso8859_1           3249  1 
    nls_cp437               4919  1 
    vfat                    8933  1 
    fat                    47767  1 vfat
    usb_storage            39841  1 
    aes_i586                7268  142 
    aes_generic            26863  1 aes_i586
    binfmt_misc             6587  1 
    dm_crypt               11331  0 
    ppdev                   5259  0 
    joydev                  8740  0 
    snd_hda_codec_realtek   203376  1 
    snd_hda_intel          22069  2 
    snd_hda_codec          74201  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
    snd_hwdep               5412  1 snd_hda_codec
    snd_pcm_oss            35308  0 
    snd_mixer_oss          13746  1 snd_pcm_oss
    snd_pcm                70694  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
    snd_seq_dummy           1338  0 
    snd_seq_oss            26722  0 
    snd_seq_midi            4557  0 
    snd_rawmidi            19056  1 snd_seq_midi
    snd_seq_midi_event      6003  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
    snd_seq                47263  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
    snd_timer              19098  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
    snd_seq_device          5700  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
    snd                    54244  16 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
    uvcvideo               57374  0 
    psmouse                63245  0 
    videodev               34361  1 uvcvideo
    v4l1_compat            13251  2 uvcvideo,videodev
    soundcore               6620  1 snd
    serio_raw               3978  0 
    rt2860sta             481561  1 
    eeepc_laptop           14331  0 
    snd_page_alloc          7076  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
    lp                      7028  0 
    parport                32635  2 ppdev,lp
    fbcon                  35102  71 
    tileblit                1999  1 fbcon
    font                    7557  1 fbcon
    bitblit                 4707  1 fbcon
    softcursor              1189  1 bitblit
    vga16fb                11385  0 
    vgastate                8961  1 vga16fb
    i915                  287810  3 
    drm_kms_helper         29329  1 i915
    drm                   162377  4 i915,drm_kms_helper
    i2c_algo_bit            5028  1 i915
    intel_agp              24375  2 i915
    video                  17375  1 i915
    output                  1871  1 video
    ahci                   32360  2 
    agpgart                31724  2 drm,intel_agp
    atl1e                  28018  0
    Here's dmesg | grep "wlan" (I'll be happy to post other kernel messages if it will help):

    Code:
    dmesg | grep "wlan"
    [   24.200059] wlan0: no IPv6 routers present
    Here's sudo lshw -C network:

    Code:
     *-network               
           description: Ethernet interface
           product: Atheros AR8121/AR8113/AR8114 PCI-E Ethernet Controller
           vendor: Atheros Communications
           physical id: 0
           bus info: pci@0000:03:00.0
           logical name: eth0
           version: b0
           serial: 90:e6:ba:80:a1:db
           capacity: 100MB/s
           width: 64 bits
           clock: 33MHz
           capabilities: pm msi pciexpress vpd bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
           configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=ATL1E driverversion=1.0.0.7-NAPI firmware=L1e latency=0 link=no multicast=yes port=twisted pair
           resources: irq:28 memory:fbfc0000-fbffffff ioport:ec00(size=128)
      *-network
           description: Wireless interface
           product: RT2860
           vendor: RaLink
           physical id: 0
           bus info: pci@0000:01:00.0
           logical name: wlan0
           version: 00
           serial: 00:25:d3:13:e2:a3
           width: 32 bits
           clock: 33MHz
           capabilities: pm msi pciexpress bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
           configuration: broadcast=yes driver=rt2860 latency=0 multicast=yes wireless=RT2860 Wireless
           resources: irq:19 memory:fbef0000-fbefffff
    Here's iwlist scan (it's working properly, and finds my wifi network and my neighbor's):

    Code:
    iwlist scan
    lo        Interface doesn't support scanning.
    
    eth0      Interface doesn't support scanning.
    
    wlan0     Scan completed :
              Cell 01 - Address: <snip>
                        Protocol:802.11b/g
                        ESSID:"nosehatnet"
                        Mode:Managed
                        Channel:6
                        Quality:100/100  Signal level:-37 dBm  Noise level:-97 dBm
                        Encryption key:on
                        Bit Rates:54 Mb/s
                        IE: WPA Version 1
                            Group Cipher : TKIP
                            Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                            Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                        IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                            Group Cipher : TKIP
                            Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                            Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
              Cell 02 - Address: <snip>
                        Protocol:802.11b/g
                        ESSID:"linksys"
                        Mode:Managed
                        Channel:6
                        Quality:15/100  Signal level:-84 dBm  Noise level:-97 dBm
                        Encryption key:on
                        Bit Rates:54 Mb/s
    Here's the ubuntu version:

    Code:
    lsb_release -d
    Description:    Ubuntu 10.04.2 LTS
    Here's the kernel/architecture:

    Code:
    uname -mr
    2.6.32-32-generic i686
    Restarting the network:

    Code:
    sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart
     * Reconfiguring network interfaces...                                   [ OK ]

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Aug 2005
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    26,047
    Distro
    Ubuntu Development Release

    Re: Wifi only temporarily connects on Asus EEE 1000HE

    I wonder if it's a power management issue. One of the biggest consumers of power on a laptop is the wireless radio. Because battery power is so precious, laptops have elaborate schemes to throttle down everything on a laptop if it's not in use. I believe that, in some cases, the power management is so aggressive that after two minutes or maybe less, power is reduced and the wireless disconnects. Now the wireless is really not in use and the wireless hasn't enough power to reconnect.

    When your wireless is connected, please run:
    Code:
    iwconfig
    What does it say about power management? Here is a sample from my machine.
    wlan0 IEEE 802.11abg ESSID:"GBR1"
    Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: <snip>
    Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=14 dBm
    Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
    Power Management:off
    Link Quality=70/70 Signal level=-39 dBm
    Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
    Tx excessive retries:1 Invalid misc:61 Missed beacon:0
    If it's on, we could try to see if we can turn it off in System > Preferences > Power Management.

    There are a few other things we could try if power management is the issue, but please confirm it first.


    -------------

    note to chili: http://uselessuseofcat.com/?p=67
    "Oh, Ubuntu, you are my favorite Linux-based operating system" --Dr. Sheldon Cooper, B.Sc., M.Sc., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D.

  3. #3
    Join Date
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    Location
    California
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    Distro
    Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

    Re: Wifi only temporarily connects on Asus EEE 1000HE

    Thanks, Chili555, I think you might be on the right track.

    First, an update: I was wrong about the ethernet cable/automatic wifi thing. I plugged in my ethernet cable this morning and booted the netbook, hoping to get a wifi connection, and it didn't work. It occurred to me that when I was testing this before I probably had the power chord plugged in at the same time I had the ethernet. So I plugged in the power cord, charged up the battery to full, turned on the netbook and bingo!, the wifi connected (for about 3 minutes). A fully charged battery and a connected power cord are what's likely (but not certain) to produce a short-lived wifi connection. So far that's worked about 1/3 of the time.

    Here's the result of iwconfig with the wifi connected:

    Code:
    iwconfig
    lo        no wireless extensions.
    
    eth0      no wireless extensions.
    
    wlan0     RT2860 Wireless  ESSID:"fishface"  Nickname:"RT2860STA"
              Mode:Managed  Frequency=2.437 GHz  Access Point: 98:FC:11:44:B1:8D   
              Bit Rate=54 Mb/s   
              RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
              Link Quality=100/100  Signal level:-38 dBm  Noise level:-81 dBm
              Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
              Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0
    There's no line about power management at all. (I think "Mode:Managed" refers to something else?)

    I poked around in in System > Preferences > Power Management, but that seemed pretty rudimentary. Is there any way to force the machine to give maximum power to the wifi card while the antenna is on?

    Note: I've got a pretty vanilla install of 10.4.2. I haven't installed any extra acpi stuff.

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    Re: Wifi only temporarily connects on Asus EEE 1000HE

    "Mode: Managed' means that the wireless card is being managed by the router or other access point. The AP sets the channel, bit-rate and many other details and your wireless card says, "Yes, Master." Here is my scan result:
    $ sudo iwlist eth1 scan
    eth1 Scan completed :
    Cell 01 - Address: <snip>
    ESSID:"GBR1"
    Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
    Mode:Master
    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
    Encryption key: on
    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
    9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
    48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
    Quality=82/100 Signal level=-49 dBm
    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
    Group Cipher : CCMP
    Pairwise Ciphers (1) : CCMP
    Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
    Extra: Last beacon: 64ms ago
    Now, as I type this, I am reviewing your scan results:
    lan0 Scan completed :
    Cell 01 - Address: <snip>
    Protocol:802.11b/g
    ESSID:"nosehatnet"
    Mode:Managed
    Channel:6
    Quality:100/100 Signal level:-37 dBm Noise level:-97 dBm
    Encryption key: on
    Bit Rates:54 Mb/s
    IE: WPA Version 1
    Group Cipher : TKIP
    Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
    Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
    Group Cipher : TKIP
    Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
    Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
    I am like:

    Is your router set to some unusual mode? Also, we have better luck with WPA2 only, not WPA/WPA2 mixed mode.

    Please try turning power management off; let's see if we get an informative error, warning or other result:
    Code:
    sudo iwconfig wlan0 power off
    "Oh, Ubuntu, you are my favorite Linux-based operating system" --Dr. Sheldon Cooper, B.Sc., M.Sc., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D.

  5. #5
    Join Date
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    Re: Wifi only temporarily connects on Asus EEE 1000HE

    I'm not sure if this will be useful, but here are a bunch of my linksys router's wifi settings:

    Code:
    Wireless Network Mode: Mixed
    Wireless Channel: 6 - 2.437GHz
    Security Mode:  WPA2 Personal
    WPA Algorithms: TKIP+AES
    Group Key Renewal: 3600 seconds
    Wireless MAC filter: Disabled
    Authentication Type: Auto
    Basic Rate: Default
    Transmission Rate: Auto
    CTS Protection Mode: Disable
    Frame Burst: Disable
    Beacon Interval: 100 (milliseconds)
    DTIM Interval: 1
    Fragmentation Threshold: 2346
    RTS Threshold: 2347
    AP Isolation: Off
    SecureEasySetup: Enabled
    I will point out that I haven't changed my router settings in a while, and this all worked fine when the netbook had eeebuntu on it (and these router settings work fine for the half dozen other wifi devices that use my network).

    Here's the result of sudo iwconfig wlan0 power off. I had an active wifi connection at the time I tried this:

    Code:
    Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) : 
        SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    Re: Wifi only temporarily connects on Asus EEE 1000HE

    Is any module loaded specifically for EEE?
    Code:
    lsmod | grep eee
    If so, we might remove it or manipulate its parameters; for example:
    Code:
    $ modinfo eeepc-laptop
    filename:       /lib/modules/2.6.38-8-generic/kernel/drivers/platform/x86/eeepc-laptop.ko
    license:        GPL
    description:    Eee PC Hotkey Driver
    author:         Corentin Chary, Eric Cooper
    srcversion:     6DF4D06541AA2FFC7EB3691
    alias:          acpi*:ASUS010:*
    depends:        sparse-keymap
    vermagic:       2.6.38-8-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 686 
    parm:           hotplug_disabled:Disable hotplug for wireless device. If your laptop need that, please report to acpi4asus-user@lists.sourceforge.net. (bool)
    I see nothing in your router settings that's troublesome.
    Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.
    That means we the user and even we the sudo user are not permitted to monkey with power management in the usual, obvious way. I may not take 'No' for an answer.
    "Oh, Ubuntu, you are my favorite Linux-based operating system" --Dr. Sheldon Cooper, B.Sc., M.Sc., M.A., Ph.D., Sc.D.

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