WiFi Disconnects, When Connected: No Internet

[MasterRolfe]

Okay. I wasn't able to get hold of a LiveUSB. However, I've spent the day setting up PuppyLinux on an AcerAspire One A101, and that connects perfectly to the router. Been able to download a couple of programs. To me this looks like the problem doesn't lie with the router, but I may be mistaken. Now that I'm connected to the network, I could download the Live USB iso if we'd still like to try that option.

Here's the output of the second command:

devon@Devon-Laptop:~$ apt-cache show bcmwl-kernel-source | grep Version
Version: 6.30.223.141+bdcom-0ubuntu1

[varunendra]

Which driver PuppyLinux was using? I hope the following commands will work in the same way on it -

lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
lsmod

Their outputs will tell us about the driver currently in use, as well as all other driver that are loaded.

I'm not familiar with PuppyLinux, but I assume its package manager should also have a way to determine the driver version. If the driver turns out to be the sta driver (wl), that will come handy.

By the way, the wl driver version you got in Ubuntu is the latest one. So it should have significant improvements, but so far I don't have any proof of it working better for BCM4313 card than current versions of brcmsmac. You are the first person to report back to me that the brcmsmac is worse, so I suspect some other custom settings or broken packages in the backgrounds may be causing the trouble.

[MasterRolfe]

Puppy Linux is apparently based on Ubuntu. Here are the outputs.

sh-4.1# lspci -nnk | grep -iA2 net
02:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8101E/RTL8102E PCI Express Fast Ethernet controller [10ec:8136] (rev 02)
    Kernel driver in use: r8169
    Kernel modules: r8169
03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:001c] (rev 01)
    Kernel driver in use: ath5k
    Kernel modules: ath5k

sh-4.1# lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
joydev                  6492  0 
iptable_mangle          1189  0 
iptable_nat             2666  0 
nf_nat                 10083  1 iptable_nat
ipt_REJECT              1485  1 
nf_conntrack_ftp        4020  0 
nf_conntrack_irc        2359  0 
iptable_filter           958  1 
xt_state                 895  4 
nf_conntrack_ipv4       7063  7 iptable_nat,nf_nat
nf_conntrack           36999  6 iptable_nat,nf_nat,nf_conntrack_ftp,nf_conntrack_irc,xt_state,nf_conntrack_ipv4
nf_defrag_ipv4           755  1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
ip_tables               7321  3 iptable_mangle,iptable_nat,iptable_filter
aes_generic            25730  2 
i915                  183740  2 
drm_kms_helper         17823  1 i915
drm                   106327  3 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit            3539  1 i915
usbhid                 18009  0 
fan                     2478  0 
snd_hda_codec_realtek   165209  1 
snd_hda_intel          14978  0 
snd_hda_codec          38539  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_pcm_oss            26845  0 
snd_mixer_oss           9963  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                45385  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy            907  0 
snd_seq_oss            18888  0 
snd_seq_midi            3156  0 
snd_rawmidi            11924  1 snd_seq_midi
arc4                     962  2 
snd_seq_midi_event      3592  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
ecb                     1377  2 
snd_seq                32379  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
wmi                     4337  0 
fbcon                  27736  69 
snd_timer              11986  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
snd_seq_device          3601  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
tileblit                1509  1 fbcon
snd                    30859  11 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
ath5k                 105381  0 
font                    6916  1 fbcon
mac80211               99898  1 ath5k
ath                     6106  1 ath5k
soundcore               3403  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          4645  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
bitblit                 3514  1 fbcon
r8169                  25792  0 
mii                     2650  1 r8169
cfg80211               90319  3 ath5k,mac80211,ath
serio_raw               2928  0 
softcursor               805  1 bitblit
shpchp                 21148  0 
pcspkr                  1179  0 
pci_hotplug            18286  1 shpchp
led_class               1733  1 ath5k
i2c_i801                6146  0 
intel_agp              19189  1 
agpgart                18904  2 drm,intel_agp
squashfs               15984  0 
sg                     19093  0 
uhci_hcd               15444  0 
battery                 7164  0 
thermal                 9263  0 
aufs                  110466  0 
fuse                   42549  0 
nls_iso8859_1           2937  0 
nls_cp437               4465  0 
uvcvideo               44782  0 
videodev               27339  1 uvcvideo
v4l1_compat             9930  2 uvcvideo,videodev
video                  14642  1 i915
i2c_core               11497  6 i915,drm_kms_helper,drm,i2c_algo_bit,i2c_i801,videodev
output                  1120  1 video
evdev                   5517  0 
button                  3522  1 i915
ac                      2143  0 
processor              24987  2 
ehci_hcd               25830  0 
usbcore                91279  5 usbhid,uhci_hcd,uvcvideo,ehci_hcd

[varunendra]

Are these outputs from the same computer? The earlier one reported a Broadcom card, while this one reports an Atheros card -

03:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR242x / AR542x Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) [168c:001c] (rev 01)
    Kernel driver in use: ath5k
    Kernel modules: ath5k

Either the card, or the whole computer is changed. Which is the case? And which one we need to work on?

[MasterRolfe]

Sorry, I should have been a bit more clear about that. I'm setting up a whole new laptop for someone with Puppy Linux, and that one connects flawlessly to the troublesome router.

My own laptop refuses to access the internet through that router. But since every other device I've connected to the router (Android phone, Puppy Linux) works well, I'm inclined to think the problem lies in my laptop.

That last output was from the Puppy Linux machine.

[varunendra]

Well, I can think of only 3 options for you at this point -

1) Revert to the previous driver to get to the point we started from. To install it -

sudo apt-get install bcmwl-kernel-source

..or 'Activate' the proprietary driver from "Additional Drivers" application. Both lead to the same thing - installing the sta driver again.

2) Get or create a live media (usb or cd) to test the native driver's performance and hopefully confirm a better performance to proceed further.

3) Do a fresh install, without installing "3rd party software" or "Updates" during the installation to avoid anything non-default. Then start everything fresh and only switch to the sta driver if the native one is proved to be inefficient.

I can provide plenty of pages of information worth tens of hours' reading to prove that the current settings in the router are not 'Optimal' for 'Any' driver, be it windows, osx or Linux. But neither that is going to solve anything, nor am I too much inclined to fixing those first.

Even though the router settings are not optimal, I am already suspicious of something wrong with the settings in the laptop itself and that's why we should focus on try things differently on that very laptop, not on different devices.

We may try digging up everything that can be even remotely related with wireless settings and performance, but that can be very time consuming and let me warn you, I am extremely irregular on the forums.

Let me know how you'd like to proceed and I'd be happy to help as long as I am available.

[MasterRolfe]

Ok great! Thanks for your help! I've reinstalled the original driver, and it looks like it's back to where we started.

I think I'm going to find myself an Ethernet cable and just connect the good old fashioned way. I'm not going to try make changes to the router, because it isn't mine to fiddle with.

Thanks again for your help!