Wireless ipw2200 connects and disconnects immediately

[bumeshrai]

I have an old laptop on 12.04. The wireless connection was working fine till two days back, but now it connects and disconnects immediately and then ask for authentication, and the cycle goes on. I think it happened after an update, though I don't remember what update it was. When I boot with windows partition, the wireless works fine. I had stopped using windows, 2 years back, but now I am forced to use it because of the wireless problem. Please help me.

My system outputs are:

$ uname -a
Linux umesh-TravelMate-4020 3.2.0-32-generic-pae #51-Ubuntu SMP Wed Sep 26 21:54:23 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

$ lshw -C network
*-network:0
description: Wireless interface
product: PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 3
bus info: pci@0000:06:03.0
logical name: eth1
version: 05
serial: 00:12:f0:d6:e8:22
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ipw2200 driverversion=1.2.2kmprq firmware=ABG:9.0.5.27 (Dec 12 2007) latency=32 link=no maxlatency=24 mingnt=3 multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11bg
resources: irq:17 memory:b010b000-b010bfff
*-network:1
description: Ethernet interface
product: BCM4401 100Base-T
vendor: Broadcom Corporation
physical id: 8
bus info: pci@0000:06:08.0
logical name: eth0
version: 02
serial: 00:c0:9f:c0:11:4c
size: 100Mbit/s
capacity: 100Mbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=b44 driverversion=2.0 duplex=full ip=192.168.1.7 latency=32 link=yes multicast=yes port=twisted pair speed=100Mbit/s
resources: irq:16 memory:b0106000-b0107fff memory:84000000-8401ffff

$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

eth1 IEEE 802.11bg ESSID:"\x08p\xD4\xB2\x8A)TH\x9A\x0A\xBC\xD5\x0E\x1 8\xA8D\xAC[\xF3\x8EL\xD7-\x9B\x09B\xE5\x06\xC43\xAF\xCD"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm Sensitivity=8/0
Retry limit:7 RTS thrff Fragment thrff
Encryption keyff
Power Managementff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:80 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

$ iwlist scan
lo Interface doesn't support scanning.

eth1 Scan completed :
Cell 01 - Address: 00:1BA:2C:A1:08
ESSID:"ceeicf"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Encryption keyn
Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
Quality=89/100 Signal level=-40 dBm
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Extra: Last beacon: 180ms ago
Cell 02 - Address: B0:B2C:1D:E0:A1
ESSID:"ICF"
Protocol:IEEE 802.11bg
Mode:Master
Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
Encryption keyn
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=23/100 Signal level=-85 dBm
IE: WPA Version 1
Group Cipher : TKIP
Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
Extra: Last beacon: 12592ms ago

eth0 Interface doesn't support scanning.

[bumeshrai]

Any help please.

At least a direction to another forum, where I could get a response.

[bubbajunk]

There was a kernel regression bug introduced in the kernel update 3.2.0-29. It affects Intel 2200BG wireless card and the signal strength reported by the network manager applet. I have the same issue as you on my Thinkpad with that card. The applet reports zero signal strength and sometimes no wireless APs at all. The work around for me is to toggle the wireless off/on using "Enable Wireless" in the applet. After doing that I can see the wireless networks. Here's a link to the bug: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...x/+bug/1035590

[bumeshrai]

bubbajunk: Thanks for the response. I went through the link. My case seems to be slightly different.

I had no problem till 3.2.0-32. 3.2.0-29 was OK for me. Even now the signal strength is ok. My problem is immediate disconnection after the connection is established. The same is the case even if I go for earlier versions. It seems to be some non-kernel update I may have have permitted, because even 3.2.0-32 was working properly and suddenly one day, when I rebooted the problem happened!!

Now either I have to use wired connection or use ms windows for wireless. Both highly inconvenient options.

[steeldriver]

do you see anything in dmesg that might give you a clue what's happening?

dmesg | grep ipw2200

[bumeshrai]

$ dmseg | grep ipw2200 output is

[ 25.504439] ipw2200: Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200/2915 Network Driver, 1.2.2kmprq
[ 25.504444] ipw2200: Copyright(c) 2003-2006 Intel Corporation
[ 25.554399] ipw2200 0000:06:03.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 17 (level, low) -> IRQ 17
[ 25.554432] ipw2200: Detected Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection
[ 26.103783] ipw2200: Detected geography ZZM (11 802.11bg channels, 0 802.11a channels)

[steeldriver]

Hmm... nothing obvious there... but I noticed your iwlist scan shows the signal quality/level is low

Quality=23/100  Signal level=-85 dBm

that doesn't sound good - have you tried other channels?

[bumeshrai]

Changed to wicd. Problem solved. Thanks to all.