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Thread: (Solved) WiFi question.

  1. #1
    d-cosner is offline Gee! These Aren't Roasted!
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    Jul 2013
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    (Solved) WiFi question.

    I installed Ubuntu 14.04 x64 on my HP 655 laptop and am seeing some behavior with the WiFi in system monitor that I am unsure about. Every few seconds I see the system receiving 260 bytes. I am not sure if this is normal behavior and I am not seeing this with my desktops using a wired connection. The laptop seems to be working fine but I wanted to know if anyone else is seeing the same thing?

    I have online search results for the dash turned off on all of my computers so I know that is not causing this.
    Last edited by d-cosner; April 17th, 2014 at 10:35 AM.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
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    London, England
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    Ubuntu Development Release

    Re: WiFi question.

    Run this command

    Code:
    ifconfig
    Look for something like this

    UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
    RX packets:879 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
    TX packets:490 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
    collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
    RX bytes:197923 (197.9 KB) TX bytes:74289 (74.2 KB)
    You will see something like that for both wired and wireless connections to the router. Notice, "BROADCAST." Both the network adapter in the machine and the network adapter in the router are broadcasting their existence. Otherwise they will not know that the other network adapter exists. They "handshake" to maintain the connection.

    RX = Receiving. TX = Transmitting. These figures will change as we make use of the connection to the router or wireless access point. If the network adapter was not transmitting and receiving packets then it would not be connected to the wireless adapter. It might be switched off or broken.

    The network indicator icon will show a list of wireless networks in range. Network Manager can only do that because those wireless access points are transmitting and the network adapter in the machine is receiving. If the network adapter in the machine does not "handshake" with the router then Network Manager will inform us that the connection is broken and we are off line.

    This is not specific to 14.04.

    Regards.
    Last edited by grahammechanical; April 15th, 2014 at 01:29 PM.
    It is a machine. It is more stupid than we are. It will not stop us from doing stupid things.
    Ubuntu user #33,200. Linux user #530,530


  3. #3
    d-cosner is offline Gee! These Aren't Roasted!
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    Re: WiFi question.

    I really appreciate you taking the time to answer my question. I had never noticed this before and your explanation makes perfect sense. I did run the command and the results were very similar to what you posted. Thanks again! You taught me something new!

  4. #4
    d-cosner is offline Gee! These Aren't Roasted!
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    129

    Re: WiFi question.

    Updates must have fixed something, today my network activity looks like what I am used to seeing. Everything is working just great!

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
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    Reykjavík, Ísland
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    Xubuntu

    Re: WiFi question.

    Please mark the thead 'solved'.
    Bringing old hardware back to life. About problems due to upgrading.
    Please visit Quick Links -> Unanswered Posts.
    Don't use this space for a list of your hardware. It only creates false hits in the search engines.

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