Wireless issues

[Hadaka]

Hi, we are laughing with you,,,not at you, we have all
done like things...this is how we learn. I honestly wouldnt
bother with some kind of work around or undoing what has been
done...you really are better off to reload 12.04...I know its a pain
but its really the best way to fix this.

[digi007]

Hi, I know what you mean. I am trying to learn.

But, with the reinstallation of OS, i know that the problem is going to come back, after the first update, my wifi will not connect, again. then, I am at step 0 again.

There has to be a solution to this problem, I tried many fix, nothing works. This way, I can never use ubuntu, which I dont want to do, I really love it and spending lot of time resolving the issue.

Please help.

digi

[Hadaka]

Hi, 12.04 is different than 13.04 in the way it works with
your wifi card...[14e4:4727] so there is no need to compile
any drivers.Witch means on a kernel update it will remain the same.
also..when you load 12.04 and if offers you a proprietary driver...say
NO. ... after you do the reload you will have no wireless. Then from a
WIRED connection do..

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

then do..

sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source
sudo modprobe wl

and your driver should be loaded and working.
if not...post back
thanks.

[varunendra]

Hi, I know what you mean. I am trying to learn.

But, with the reinstallation of OS, i know that the problem is going to come back, after the first update, my wifi will not connect, again. then, I am at step 0 again.

Hi digi,

I'd +1 to the idea of doing a fresh install since (I assume) you don't anything to save on it yet.

Even if we get back to step 0 again, that would still be a better situation since won't have to deal with three wrong drivers and related configurations at once. The fact that you have both b43 and wl loaded simultaneously suggests that you must have done quite some manual tweaking to make that happen. So it is easier and better to start fresh.

However, if you are inclined to 'learn', we can try with what you have now, but that may drag the thread unnecessarily long and there will always be a doubt on 'manual' stuff you have done.

In short, currently you need to 'undo' everything you have done manually > double-check that everything is clean > re-install the wl driver > revert to version 5.100.82.38 if the latest one has issues.

On a fresh install, only the last one (or two) step(s) will be needed and it will be much quicker.

I'd be happy to help with whatever you prefer.

[digi007]

Hi Hadaka,

Thanks for the resolution steps after the fresh install. I will try and follow them. However, can I request more details steps? the reason being, as I have stated earlier, intially, it is going to work just fine, it will start create problems only after the first update, which has to be done. However, the driver is version 6 since the begining ( I think as it is 12.04.2). And that means even if I dont update, I will face a problem after some usage.

Hi Varun,

Thanks for your help even in the scenario of current installation. I think I remember things that I have done but of course not everything. So, the i dea of fresh installation seems to be good.

However, this brings to me another question, as long as I am doing the fresh installation, should I go for 12.04, 13.04 or mint 14 or mint 15? (I know it sounds like a stupid question)

I have had error problems with 13.04 and mint 15 (cinnamon crash) which I didnt like. So decided to go for LTS which is supposed to be more stable.

Cheers,

digi

PS: I am really not liking the fact that I need to do reinstall because I set up my system perfectly. Have installed and configured all the software neeeded etc. Will have to do everything again and plus the most annoying is update of 300 plus MB for my 512 kbps internet connection. I wish I didnt mess up. but cant do much I guess

[varunendra]

However, this brings to me another question, as long as I am doing the fresh installation, should I go for 12.04, 13.04 or mint 14 or mint 15?

Being an LTS, 12.04 looks like a good option to me. As per your short description, it also seems to suite you best. As far as driver support is concerned, you can always choose to manually install the latest kernel or backported drivers on it. So I'd suggest 12.04, or the one that suits you best.

PS: I am really not liking the fact that I need to do reinstall because I set up my system perfectly. Have installed and configured all the software neeeded etc. Will have to do everything again and plus the most annoying is update of 300 plus MB for my 512 kbps internet connection. I wish I didnt mess up. but cant do much I guess

That sounds like a good enough reason to give it a shot. If you wish, try these -

Remove the wl package -

sudo apt-get purge bcmwl-kernel-source broadcom-sta-common broadcom-sta-source

Then make sure the /etc/modules file doesn't have any custom entries of these drivers (wl, b43, brcmsmac), if you have any other manual tweaks, revert/remove them as well.

Then with a wired connection, do -

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

Yes I know this will install a version you are afraid of. But who knows if the problems have been fixed? If it indeed misbehaves, it is not difficult to replace it with an older version.

After this is done, reboot and post back -

iwconfig
nm-tool
lsmod

PS:
You should take a look at AptOnCD to avoid downloading same packages again in case of a fresh reinstall of the same version of Ubuntu.

[digi007]

Hi Guys,

So finally, I decided to go ahead for fresh installation and complete the basic software installation etc during the night. Completed majority of the updates as well.

When the installation finished etc, wifi worked fine. After the first restart too, it was working fine. but, it installed the propritory drivers on itself. So I removed it.

Even after removing the driver and restart, the wifi was working really smooth. Hence, I completed the installation, update etc. (some updates still needs to installed). But, the next day morning, it started misbehaving. it will keep trying to connect but won't connect, after several attempts it will say, wifi networks disconnected. After few restarts, it did get connected but no interenet connectivity and then again the same problem.

below is the lsmod output

digi@digi-Vostro-3350:~$ lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
ppp_deflate            13039  0 
zlib_deflate           27140  1 ppp_deflate
bsd_comp               12995  0 
ppp_async              17540  1 
crc_ccitt              12708  1 ppp_async
option                 30089  1 
usb_wwan               20180  1 option
usbserial              42594  5 option,usb_wwan
rfcomm                 47562  0 
bnep                   18240  2 
parport_pc             32867  0 
ppdev                  17114  0 
snd_hda_codec_hdmi     32476  1 
snd_hda_codec_idt      70774  1 
arc4                   12530  2 
brcmsmac              541775  0 
mac80211              555198  1 brcmsmac
brcmutil               14756  1 brcmsmac
cfg80211              208382  2 brcmsmac,mac80211
cordic                 12575  1 brcmsmac
dell_wmi               12682  0 
sparse_keymap          13891  1 dell_wmi
dell_laptop            17426  0 
dcdbas                 14491  1 dell_laptop
coretemp               13642  0 
kvm_intel             137888  0 
kvm                   422160  1 kvm_intel
ghash_clmulni_intel    13221  0 
aesni_intel            51134  0 
cryptd                 20531  2 ghash_clmulni_intel,aesni_intel
aes_x86_64             17256  1 aesni_intel
microcode              23030  0 
snd_hda_intel          34117  3 
snd_hda_codec         135141  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep              17765  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm                97523  3 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
joydev                 17694  0 
psmouse               102075  0 
uvcvideo               78117  0 
snd_seq_midi           13325  0 
videobuf2_core         33025  1 uvcvideo
videodev              125126  2 uvcvideo,videobuf2_core
videobuf2_vmalloc      12861  1 uvcvideo
videobuf2_memops       13405  1 videobuf2_vmalloc
btusb                  22432  0 
bluetooth             211812  14 rfcomm,bnep,btusb
snd_rawmidi            30750  1 snd_seq_midi
serio_raw              13216  0 
snd_seq_midi_event     14900  1 snd_seq_midi
lpc_ich                17145  0 
wmi                    19257  1 dell_wmi
snd_seq                61931  2 snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              29990  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device         14498  3 snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
i915                  530857  3 
mac_hid                13254  0 
snd                    83674  16 snd_hda_codec_hdmi,snd_hda_codec_idt,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
drm_kms_helper         49259  1 i915
drm                   290344  4 i915,drm_kms_helper
mei                    41410  0 
soundcore              15092  1 snd
snd_page_alloc         18573  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
i2c_algo_bit           13565  1 i915
video                  19598  1 i915
bcma                   35762  1 brcmsmac
lp                     17800  0 
parport                46563  3 parport_pc,ppdev,lp
ums_realtek            18257  0 
uas                    18073  0 
hid_generic            12541  0 
usbhid                 47259  0 
hid                   100815  2 hid_generic,usbhid
r8169                  62766  0 
usb_storage            49288  1 ums_realtek

Now, I am going to do what Hadaka suggested but that is going to take some time.

below is the output of iwconfig and nm-tool just in case it helps and may be there is something needed to be done before I follow Hadaka's steps.

digi@digi-Vostro-3350:~$ iwconfig
ppp0      no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

lo        no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11bgn  ESSID:off/any  
          Mode:Managed  Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=19 dBm   
          Retry  long limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Power Management:off
          
digi@digi-Vostro-3350:~$ nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: connected (global)

- Device: ttyUSB0  [Reliance connection] ---------------------------------------
  Type:              Mobile Broadband (CDMA)
  Driver:            option1
  State:             connected
  Default:           yes

  Capabilities:

  IPv4 Settings:
    Address:         115.241.189.8
    Prefix:          32 (255.255.255.255)
    Gateway:         220.224.141.129

    DNS:             220.226.100.40
    DNS:             220.226.6.104


- Device: wlan0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 WiFi
  Driver:            brcmsmac
  State:             disconnected
  Default:           no
  HW Address:        E4:D5:3D:E7:54:59

  Capabilities:

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

  Wireless Access Points 
    tikonawifi:      Infra, 04:4F:AA:5D:1E:C8, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 67 WPA2 Enterprise


- Device: eth0 -----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              Wired
  Driver:            r8169
  State:             unavailable
  Default:           no
  HW Address:        18:03:73:A3:9A:C1

  Capabilities:
    Carrier Detect:  yes

  Wired Properties
    Carrier:         off

[varunendra]

Now, I am going to do what Hadaka suggested but that is going to take some time.

Go ahead and post back how it performs. If having problems, post back lsmod again.

[ndefontenay]

Yay! That totally worked for me.
The modprobe command at line 2 didn't work. No wonder I could not have any wireless!

Thanks a lot.

[varunendra]

Yay! That totally worked for me.
The modprobe command at line 2 didn't work. No wonder I could not have any wireless!

Thanks a lot.

Welcome to the refugee camp!

The Edit3 above the commands set in step #8 addresses the possible error people may get on the command #2. If the error was something else, I would love to look into it.

Also, since people have asked many times now, and is an important part of the workaround, I'm going to make a post on reverting the changes in case it doesn't work. You may wish to keep the link to it handy when created (probably in a few hours from now).