Wireless fails after 1 minute

jaf777 · 2009-09-05 01:58:58

MSI Wind with rtl8187se (name of module and wireless hardware) and using wpa-psk. New installation of arch. Wireless works fine for 1-2 minutes then fails (can't get any response pinging google or pointing elinks to google, etc).

What I'm doing:

bash-4.0# ifconfig wlan0 up
bash-4.0# iwconfig wlan0 essid PrivateNetwork
bash-4.0# wpa_supplicant -B -Dwext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
bash-4.0# dhcpcd wlan0
dhcpcd: version 5.0.6 starting
dhcpcd: wlan0: broadcasting for a lease
dhcpcd: wlan0: offered 192.168.2.2 from 192.168.2.1
dhcpcd: wlan0: acknowledged 192.168.2.2 from 192.168.2.1
dhcpcd: wlan0: checking for 192.168.2.2
dhcpcd: wlan0: leased 192.168.2.2 for infinity
dhcpcd: forking to background

If I pkill dhcpcd and start it again, still no connection.

If I kill dhcpcd, wpa_supplicant, and do "ifconfig wlan0 down", and start over, connection comes back for 1 minute & quits again.

I tried "iwconfig wlan0 rate 11M fixed" (to lower bit-rate from 54) but "fixed" seems not to work-- bit-rate creeps back up to 54 in 30 seconds.

And something weird with dhcpcd:

bash-4.0# dhcpcd -k
dhcpcd: dhcpcd not running
bash-4.0# dhcpcd wlan0
dhcpcd: dhcpcd already running on pid 2100 (/var/run/dhcpcd-wlan0.pid)

Please can someone help me understand what's going on? I've heard of problems with rtl8187se module but apparently its working for some people.

sirocco · 2009-09-05 02:23:00

May be this http://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=28053 ... , but the PKGBUILD (rtl8187se-patched) already removed from AUR...

http://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=53831&p=4

Last edited by sirocco (2009-09-05 02:30:04)

jaf777 · 2009-09-05 02:33:39

Thanks, but that patched version is gone now I think... and afaik it has to do with wireless and xorg together ... I'm having these problems while not running X at all.

But thanks, I appreciate your help.

sirocco · 2009-09-05 02:39:28

sometimes I run this command

watch -n 3 iwconfig wlan0 rate 2M fixed

(on MSI Wind U100)
Yes, this is dirty workaround...

jaf777 · 2009-09-05 04:17:00

Thanks sirocco. Now it seems that the bit-rate wasn't the problem:

It turns out I can talk to my wireless router through it's browser-based interface in firefox, loading all it's pages, changing settings, and the connection to the router is staying up perfectly. The difference between windows xp and arch is that I can't talk to the internet in arch. In xp there's no problem, in linux I can't get past the router. No ping responses, no page loading, firefox never gets past "looking up host" ...

I just don't get it. What the heck is going on.

ifconfig:

wlan0     Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:24:21:8A:61:24  
          inet addr:192.168.2.20  Bcast:192.168.2.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::224:21ff:fe8a:6124/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:4569 errors:35 dropped:5416 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:5037 errors:64 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000 
          RX bytes:1755524 (1.6 Mb)  TX bytes:744414 (726.9 Kb)
          Interrupt:17 Memory:f84a0000-f84a0100

Last edited by jaf777 (2009-09-05 04:42:24)

djszapi · 2009-09-05 05:53:49

Hello jaf777!

Did you try to connect with other applications, like wicd or network manager?

neddie_seagoon · 2009-09-05 05:56:52

I assume you are connecting to the router by its IP - have you tried to directly access any sites by IP to see if the issue is somehow related to name resolution? For example you can try to ping 74.125.45.100 (google.com) ? Maybe also check /sbin/route -n to ensure your gateway is still set to your router.
If the issue seems to be resolving names - http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/OpenDNS
If you somehow lost the gateway - route add default gw your.router.ip
If none of this helps - check dmesg and /var/log/everything.log for any further clues.

stevea · 2009-09-05 12:11:01

Hi,

I had a problem with the wireless dropping after a few seconds then reconnecting about a minute later then disconnecting again etc.etc.etc..

I changed my script was to pause 10 seconds after the wpa_supplicant and before dhcp.

For me that worked.

S~

jaf777 · 2009-09-05 14:49:32

djszapi wrote:

Did you try to connect with other applications, like wicd or network manager?

No, I haven't been able install them yet, but thanks.

neddie_seagoon wrote:

have you tried to directly access any sites by IP to see if the issue is somehow related to name resolution?

I can ping 74.125.45.100 with no drops for the 1st minute or so, then after that 100% packet loss.
Just for info:

bash-4.0# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
192.168.2.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     302    0        0 wlan0
0.0.0.0         192.168.2.1     0.0.0.0         UG    302    0        0 wlan0

bash-4.0# route add default gw 192.168.2.1
bash-4.0# route -n
Kernel IP routing table
Destination     Gateway         Genmask         Flags Metric Ref    Use Iface
192.168.2.0     0.0.0.0         255.255.255.0   U     302    0        0 wlan0
0.0.0.0         192.168.2.1     0.0.0.0         UG    0      0        0 wlan0
0.0.0.0         192.168.2.1     0.0.0.0         UG    302    0        0 wlan0

Does that first table look normal? Thanks for your help very much!

stevea wrote:

I changed my script was to pause 10 seconds after the wpa_supplicant and before dhcp.

Thankyou, yes, I'm not even running a script yet, just running ifconfig/iwconfig/wpa_supplicant/dhcpcd on the command line. I've tried waiting a while before starting dhcpcd. Doesn't seem to make a difference.

Last edited by jaf777 (2009-09-05 15:57:35)

neddie_seagoon · 2009-09-07 00:00:14

Your routing table looks normal, and based on the first output you wouldn't need to add the gateway (as you can already see the 0.0.0.0 destination with flags UG going to your router). No more ideas on my end atm..

Goico · 2009-09-07 00:53:32

According to lsusb I have: Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bda:8197 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL8187B Wireless Adapter

And the only way I can use it is installing Compat Wireless. If I dont I can only connect to unsecured networks. If I try to connect to WEP or WPA/WPA2 sometimes dhcpcd fails, others it connects but can't browse the web (but I cant send pings).

So I recommend you to give it a try: http://linuxwireless.org/

Last edited by Goico (2009-09-07 00:54:28)

jaf777 · 2009-09-10 20:19:55

Sorry to take so long getting back to this. Thank you very much everyone who has helped!

So, it seems that in the end the driver is still somewhat immature. Apparently some people have it working w/ WPA2 but I don't know why. Perhaps my router model is related (Belkin F5D7234-4 v4). Testing three different distros, the problem is exactly the same, including what shows up in the kernel logs. My solution will be to get a different wireless card (one of the intel cards referenced here.

For reference:
I am now running without WPA encryption at all, only MAC address filtering in my router which I realize is NOT secure but ... where I live, it's *highly* unlikely this will cause any immediate problem. Wireless works fine when not using encryption.

My problem is the same as comment #159 at this launchpad bug report.

I get the same kernel log messages "CCMP: replay detected:" in kernel logs in three different distros (Arch, Sidux, Crunchbang (Ubuntu variant). These messages flood the log whenever I'm trying to actively resolve addresses or pinging. Wikipedia says that CCMP is the encryption protocol created to replace TKIP (WPA) and WEP, and is "a mandatory part of the WPA2 standard."

@neddie_seagoon Thanks I appreciate your time

@Goico Thanks I'll try Compat Wireless while I'm waiting for the new card.

Cheers!

Arch Linux

#1 2009-09-05 01:58:58

Wireless fails after 1 minute

#2 2009-09-05 02:23:00

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

#3 2009-09-05 02:33:39

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

#4 2009-09-05 02:39:28

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

#5 2009-09-05 04:17:00

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

#6 2009-09-05 05:53:49

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

#7 2009-09-05 05:56:52

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

#8 2009-09-05 12:11:01

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

#9 2009-09-05 14:49:32

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

#10 2009-09-07 00:00:14

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

#11 2009-09-07 00:53:32

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

#12 2009-09-10 20:19:55

Re: Wireless fails after 1 minute

Board footer