Network screwy when <60% signal strength

[baxters]

my compaq Presario C700 laptop running 10.04 isnt connecting properly all the time to my home network if it has about 60% signal strength.
it will prepare to connect, and then continually ask me for the password to my wireless router and then eventually just give up trying, but if i get close enough, it will just connect straight away

USING: kNetworkManager
DRIVER: ath5k


RESOLUTION:
not the best one, but it works
install wicd, and uninstall knetworkmanager

[Guest]

Re: Network screwy when &lt;60% signal strength

The symptoms are that of a too weak a signal. Often a signal strength of 60% being indicated by Knetworkmanager doesn't mean a great deal. The return signal from your wireless adapter can be far less.

You probably need to boost your signal from your adapter. Are you using a PCI card or a USB? The latter often have stronger signals. Using a booster aerial may help.

[baxters]

Re: Network screwy when &lt;60% signal strength

its an inbuilt wireless adapter, so it would be a PCI slot.
it used to work fine, but recently has started doing this

EDIT:
i just increased the timeout values in the system settings, it may have just been an issue with that

[baxters]

Re: Network screwy when &lt;60% signal strength

sorry bout the double post:

due to the network issue with knetworkmanager dying after hibernation, i installed wicd instead, which seems to have resolved the problem

[GreyGeek]

Re: Network screwy when &lt;60% signal strength

Glad to see that you got the problem solved.

Monday I installed Lucid Lynx on an 8 year old Compaq Presario 1500 that has a 2.2GHz CPU with 1GB of RAM an 30GB HD, and two USB 2.0 ports. A DLink 6350 PCI card supplied the wireless connection.

I used an ethernet cable to install Synaptic and remove KPackageKit.
I also replaced KNetworkManager with wicd. My favorite version of wicd is wicd-curses because it is very fast.

When I delivered the laptop I found that the wireless router was in the basement. The signal strength varied between 54% and 65%. Anything below 60% disconnected. 60-65% was barely usable. Youtube videos paused every 10 or so seconds because the buffers were so slow filling up.

My solution was to extend the eth cable from the cable modem up through the wall to an eth connector in the kitchen and to attach the wireless router there.