Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Wireless network failing at DHCP

Collapse
This topic is closed.
X
X
Collapse
 
  • Page of 2
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts
Previous 1 2 template Next
    #1

    Wireless network failing at DHCP


    So I bought a nice new laptop the other day and everything works swimmingly except the much-needed wireless card.

    The card is a Realtek 8191SE PCI-E thing which I have generally working using ndiswrapper. Unfortunately though, it won't connect properly to my home network.

    Using either knetworkmanager or WICD, it will authenticate and begin DHCP, but will then wait for a prolonged time before simply giving up without an IP address (in WICD, this means it stays "Obtaining IP address..." for about 90 seconds before returned to "Disconnected", in knetworkmanager the spinning cogwheel in the systray has its progress bar fills completely and stays there without connecting until it simply lapses back to the disconnected icon).

    I've tried a static IP address, and it appears to get further - it connects - but I then cannot ping anything (even the router) - the error is Destination host unreachable - and DNS fails, obviously enough.

    If anyone could give any pointers on how I might solve this one, I'd be very grateful. I've googled and worked my way through dozens of HowTos to no avail.

    Cheers,

    M
    Tags: None
    • Top
    • Bottom
    #2
    Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

    you know, the one thing you may want to try is to enable the karmic repo (just copy the main jaunty repo and replace it by karmic). You can run their latest kernel without upgrading any other software. Of course you need an ethernet connection ... but it may work just fine with no ndiswrappers
    • Top
    • Bottom

    Comment

      #3
      Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

      Thanks for the suggestion. It's a possibility, but I'm a bit wary of committing to such a big change if something less drastic might work. After all, it's not just my kernel that would want to upgrade if I enabled the karmic repo, and it might not even work!

      Do you happen to know if the latest kernels support the card?

      Cheers.
      • Top
      • Bottom

      Comment

        #4
        Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

        Is this a secured network? Because your problem is exactly what happens if the network key is borked.
        • Top
        • Bottom

        Comment

          #5
          Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

          I don't know if it is supported, but it seems like pretty new hardware, so it has a shot. Note that you DO NOT need to upgrade ANYTHING MORE than than the kernel. It actually stas side by side with the jaunty one. I do it on my eeepc to get better graphics.

          I think Detonate's idea is good, you may want to disable network authentication in the router for a lil' bit and see if that is the problem (in my recollection the error is different, it says explicitly that it couldn't authenticate, but hey, it's a quick test).

          Cheers!
          Leo
          • Top
          • Bottom

          Comment

            #6
            Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

            Hi,

            Thanks for the pointers. It looks like encryption/authentication is the problem - probably ndiswrapper/driver related.

            If I disable encryption on the network I can connect with no problems. With WEP and a static address it will connect but not allow any network activity. With WEP and dynamic IP it passed the "Validating authentication" stage of connection, but then hangs on "Obtaining IP address...", with WPA, it hands on the "Validating authentication" stage.

            All of which is a bit discouraging. Changing my kernel may well be the only option. From what I could google, the intent is to merge the (hopefully) appropriate realtek driver at 2.6.31 which is what karmic is using at the moment?

            How stable have you found that kernel?
            • Top
            • Bottom

            Comment

              #7
              Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

              Yes, 2.6.31 is already in Karmic, and they are in sync with kernel.org, now at rc5. It's been rock solid. Keep in mind it's already at the 5th Release Candidate, so it shouldn't have too much room for new stuff, neither for too many broken bits ... trying it out is probably faster than thinking about it (and you get to keep the old one, so there is no risk)

              But please remember, ONLY get the kernel from there, nothing else, it should work in Jaunty.

              Also, make sure the module is not blacklisted in /etc/modprobe.d/
              • Top
              • Bottom

              Comment

                #8
                Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

                High hopes, but nothing so far. I've installed the 2.6.31 kernel, but I can't check whether the wireless card works because using the new kernel has screwed up my nvidia driver. Nothing I do seems to make the driver work with 2.6.31. I thought DKMS would take care of everything, but it doesn't seem to be doing anything (there is no DKMS output during boot).

                I reinstalled the nvidia driver, and upgraded it to the version in the karmic repo. No joy.

                I also tried to drop back to the generic nv driver by editting xorg.conf, but there seem to be some references to the nvidia driver I'm missing, because X still won't start.

                Any suggestions?
                • Top
                • Bottom

                Comment

                  #9
                  Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

                  Yes, DKMS should take care of that! Can you, for now, uninstall the nvidia driver and try with "nv", maybe rebooting in rescue mode and choosing the option to fix graphics?



                  • Top
                  • Bottom

                  Comment

                    #10
                    Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

                    @marek, I'm not exactly what all you have done previously to install the nVidia driver, but here is the "process":

                    http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...4892#msg164892

                    Disregard the version numbers written there -- since nothing else is working for you, go ahead and download the 190.18 Beta driver and give it a try -- you have nothing to lose.

                    I'll cross my fingers ....


                    EDIT: I'm also not sure why I'm posting about video drivers in a thread with "DHCP" in the title .... time for bed, I guess!
                    • Top
                    • Bottom

                    Comment

                      #11
                      Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP


                      Alas. No joy. Got graphics working with the 2.6.31 kernel. I had to blacklist ndiswrapper but having no luck at all with the wireless card.

                      I'd prefer not to give up, but I don't see any real options at the moment. Any other possibilities?
                      • Top
                      • Bottom

                      Comment

                        #12
                        Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

                        No, I don't see any Other than probably getting a cheap usb dongle, which is what I do when things get ugly. Of course this means something sticking out there Sorry!
                        • Top
                        • Bottom

                        Comment

                          #13
                          Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP


                          Well, there's hope for the future at least:

                          http://www.h-online.com/open/Kernel-...--/news/113670

                          Looks like the new Realtek driver is "pending" in 2.6.31 (or was in July), so the fact that it's not working with the version of the kernel I have doesn't necessarily mean that it won't be at some point....soon.

                          I'll just have to hold on and figure out how to get a network cable from the router in my sitting room to my study on the other side of the house...
                          • Top
                          • Bottom

                          Comment

                            #14
                            Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

                            Marek, if you want to test it, the 9.10 Alpha version comes with a 2.6.31 kernel. I'm actually running it even though it is Alpha and not recommended for serious use at this point. Here's where you get the current daily build ISO:

                            http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/daily-live/current/
                            • Top
                            • Bottom

                            Comment

                              #15
                              Re: Wireless network failing at DHCP

                              But Marek just tested the very latest kernel from karmic, it seems like the new module for this is missing (see a couple posts above).

                              Marek: keep an eye on the package for backported modules, once 2.6.31 is released, and assuming Linus didn't include this driver, it might make it there. Actually, do you know the name of the module? Is it one of these? It might be your lucky day

                              http://packages.ubuntu.com/karmic/i3...neric/filelist

                              • Top
                              • Bottom

                              Comment

                              Previous 1 2 template Next
                              Working...
                              X