Intel Pro/Wireless 4965 AG Frustrations! replacement suggestions please.

[LakeWind]

After wading through all of the bug reports filed regarding the Intel 4965 AG wireless adapter, trying various suggestions and not finding any solutions to my problem, I've finally decided to scrap the idea of actually being able to get my Toshiba laptop to connect reliably to my wireless network with Ubuntu 9.10.

This wireless adapter worked absolutely flawlessly with 8.04 Hardy. I took the plunge once again this week and thought I'd try again to get 9.10 working on my laptop but it's a no go with the Intel wireless adapter (same problem with 9.04, it just doesn't work). You would think with newer versions of drivers and kernels that the same hardware that worked in a previous version, would continue working with newer versions.

Anyway, enough of my frustrated ranting... I need to find a replacement wireless adapter for my laptop that WORKS FLAWLESSLY with 9.10. When I say flawlessly, I mean you plug it in, boot up the laptop and it works all the time, every time. No fooling around with drivers etc... Either a PCMCIA or a USB wireless adapter that is currently available for purchase. I've waded through the sticky on the forum about which adapters are supposed to work, but I'm really hoping that someone here is using either a PCMCIA card or USB card and could please point me in the right direction.

It's kind of funny, I purchase my Toshiba laptop because I read reviews here in the forum about how great it worked with Ubuntu 8.04. How all the hardware was recognized and worked out of the box. It did... with 8.04. Everything still works with 9.10 except the wireless.

Any suggestions for a replacement wireless adapter would be greatly appreciated. But please don't suggest that I stick with 8.04... I need a few of the updated programs in 9.10 that are not available with 8.04.

Thank you!

[chili555]

The 4965 is normally very reliable. What does, or doesn't happen correctly? What have you tried so far to fix it? Will you please tell Dr. Chili where it hurts?

[LakeWind]

The 4965 is normally very reliable. What does, or doesn't happen correctly? What have you tried so far to fix it? Will you please tell Dr. Chili where it hurts?

Thanks very much for responding. Here's my setup and what is going on:

Ubuntu 9.10 64 bit fresh clean install (not an upgrade).

Wireless network:
Hidden ssid wireless network running wpa2 encryption. Static IP.

Problem: With network manager, intermittent connections to the network. It connects when it wants to and right in the middle of online work, disconnects for no apparent reason. Then it won't re-connect even after a re-boot. One of the many known bugs I've found is listed here (among multiple other places):

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...ux/+bug/277634

Trying some of the suggestions listed in the bug report resulted in no change.

I replaced network manager with Wicd (which I was using with 8.04 as well). Unable to connect at all with wicd. Tried various settings etc... Finally copied my previous settings (etc/network/interfaces file and /etc/wicd/wireless-settings.conf file from working 8.04 wicd. Didn't work. Deleted var/lib/wicd/configuration file, rebooted and presto it worked for a while then in the middle of online work, it just disconnected again for no apparent reason. I checked the wicd wireless-settings.conf file and found it had changed itself. Changed it back to original working file (with 8.04), re-booted, and nothing. Checked it again, it was changed. Deleted var/lib/wicd/configuration file and then copied my old wicd wireless-settings.conf file back to the etc/wicd/. re-boot and it worked fine again for a while, then disconnected during internet activity again. Again all files had changed. Tried setting the var/lib/wicd/configuration file and the /etc/wicd/wireless-settings.conf file to read only. They change back to read write all the time and my config files are constantly changed.

Bottom line is this: I can get my wireless working most times at least for a while, if I do the following:

1. Prior to shutting down I must delete the var/lib/wicd/configuration file.

2. Prior to shutting down I must copy my old wireless-settings.conf file back to the etc/wicd/ directory.

Then most times I will be connected immediately upon bootup. Sometimes even with these efforts, it does not work. It's very frustrating but as I said, I do need the upgraded programs that are available with 9.10 so going back to 8.04 is not an option at this point.

I had a similar problem with 9.04 not being able to connect but I also had issues with the intel video. It was just unusable.

Our netbook (asus eeepc) is contently running 9.10 (not the netbook remix) and using network manager even with the hidden ssid and it works consistently, every single time with no loss of connection ever. Fortunately the wireless adapter is an Atheros AR242x. No issues ever with this.

Any help is greatly appreciated. I would much rather get my 4965 wireless working than replace it.

Thanks again.

[chili555]

Please try this:

sudo su
echo options iwlagn swcrypto=1 >> /etc/modprobe.d/iwlagn.conf

Reboot without all these steps:

1. Prior to shutting down I must delete the var/lib/wicd/configuration file.

2. Prior to shutting down I must copy my old wireless-settings.conf file back to the etc/wicd/ directory.

Is the behavior improved? If not, please let us see:

dmesg | grep iwl

Thanks.

[LakeWind]

Thanks for the reply. I tried the above but it didn't help. Here's the output of dmesg | grep iwl:

[ 18.362155] iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27k
[ 18.362159] iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2009 Intel Corporation
[ 18.379096] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 18 (level, low) -> IRQ 18
[ 18.379134] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 18.379204] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN REV=0x4
[ 18.436057] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: Tunable channels: 11 802.11bg, 13 802.11a channels
[ 18.436170] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: irq 32 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 18.450677] phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
[ 18.521683] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: firmware: requesting iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode
[ 18.598082] iwlagn 0000:05:00.0: loaded firmware version 228.61.2.24
[ 18.815889] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::radio
[ 18.815914] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::assoc
[ 18.815933] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::RX
[ 18.815951] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::TX

Thank you again!

[chili555]

Your dmesg looks entirely normal. That's a good thing, because there are no irregularities to resolve at the driver level. Whew!

Now let's take a look at what happens, or not, when the interface tries to connect. Please let us see:

dmesg | grep wlan

Thanks.

[LakeWind]

Here's the output of:

dmesg | grep wlan

while trying to connect (this is without deleting /var/lib/wicd/configuration file & without copying the old /etc/wicd/wireless-settings.conf file).


[ 11.789605] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 34.310270] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 85.764750] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 93.039673] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 133.729564] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 220.919066] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 259.392650] wlan0: deauthenticating by local choice (reason=3)
[ 299.427781] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready


Thanks Doc Chili!!!!

[LakeWind]

Here's the output after it finally connects properly (with my usual intervention, after deletion of /var/lib/wicd/configuration file, copying of old wicd wireless-settings.conf file and re-boot):

[ 15.039677] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 26.767729] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 28.611132] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:18:39:fa:0b:47
[ 28.611166] wlan0: privacy configuration mismatch and mixed-cell disabled - disassociate
[ 80.722646] wlan0: deauthenticating by local choice (reason=3)
[ 82.480176] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 89.729869] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlan0: link is not ready
[ 91.474191] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:18:39:fa:0b:47
[ 91.476209] wlan0: authenticated
[ 91.476217] wlan0: associate with AP 00:18:39:fa:0b:47
[ 91.478772] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:18:39:fa:0b:47 (capab=0x431 status=0 aid=1)
[ 91.478779] wlan0: associated
[ 91.498944] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
[ 102.300115] wlan0: no IPv6 routers present


Thanks!

[chili555]

Very weird! First, I'd like to make sure that Wicd and your old pal Network Manager are not both running, or at least, trying to run. Please open System -> Administration -> Synaptic and search for network. Make certain that Network Manager is removed, along with network-manager-gnome and everything else with network-manager in its name.

Second, let's try another driver parameter:

sudo su
echo options iwlagn disable_hw_scan=1 > /etc/modprobe.d/iwlagn.conf

That command will get rid of our older, non-functional parameter and substitute a new one.

Next, please post your wireless-settings.conf. Disguise any identifiable bits.

Last, reboot without any extraordinary steps and let's see if our new changes have had any effect.

[LakeWind]

Chili, thank you for your help!

Before I read your last post I tried uninstalling wicd and re-installing network manager. After about 15 minutes of screwing around with settings in network manager, I was able to connect to my hidden wireless network. So far so good! I think maybe the swcrypto setting may have made a difference for network manager.

At this point I have re-booted my laptop about 10 times and network manager is automatically connecting to my wireless access point without issue. So far, it has not disconnected me either. Time will tell though. I'm going to try these settings for a while and see if my wireless connection is reliable and repeatable.

The only issue that I have right now with network manager is that I can't seem to connect to my wireless access point after assigning a static IP address. It works fine with dhcp though and for now, that's fine with me.

Thanks again for all your help. You have no idea how much I appreciate it. I will post in this thread in a few days to update my progress either way.

Thank You very much!!!!!!!!!!!!