netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

mailman1175 · 2010-01-10 22:12:52

I'm an Arch n00b, but not a total linux newcomer (I've been piddling with a few different distros for about a year and a half now). I downloaded a netinstall .img to install on our Acer Aspire One. It's more convenient for me to use wifi (though wired LAN is an option), so I followed the instructions for setting up wifi in the Live environment I found in the Arch Beginner's Wiki.

The problem is (and I ran into the same difficulty when setting up wifi from the command line when I did a minimal Ubuntu install) that the access point association keeps timing out. If the same thing happens when using a GUI network manager (like Ubuntu's Network Manager or WICD), it's invisible to me. I assume (but I don't know) that the Arch installer will pick up package downloads where it left off when the connection dropped out. For now, I've connected to wired LAN, but I'm curious about why it only appears to drop out when I configure the network manually, and how I could set it up to reconnect automatically.

TIA

kjon · 2010-01-10 23:10:57

try disabling power management

iwconfig wlan0 power off

mailman1175 · 2010-01-11 00:13:29

kjon wrote:

try disabling power management
iwconfig wlan0 power off

 # iwconfig wlan0 power off
Error for wireless request "Set Power Management" (8B2C) :
      SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.
#

Last edited by mailman1175 (2010-01-11 00:13:51)

mjheagle8 · 2010-01-11 00:21:06

try using

#dhcpcd -t 60

to increase the time it waits before timing out.

mailman1175 · 2010-01-11 00:29:45

mjheagle8 wrote:

try using
#dhcpcd -t 60
to increase the time it waits before timing out.

Perfect. Now we wait for my slow ISP.

Thank you.

mailman1175 · 2010-01-11 01:37:52

Nope. That didn't do it, either. I set:

dhcpcd -t 600

... and got "leased to essid "home" for infinity" or some such, but the download hung up again. I checked:

dmesg | tail

... and the last entry is

wlan0: association with AP <my MAC address> timed out

What gives?

mjheagle8 · 2010-01-11 01:55:23

try wicd. it usually re-connects automatically if the network drops.

mailman1175 · 2010-01-11 02:12:07

mjheagle8 wrote:

try wicd. it usually re-connects automatically if the network drops.

To reiterate: I'm trying to use wireless (because it's more convenient) to complete a net install, and the AP association is timing out. Unless I'm missing something (which is possible), I probably can't install wicd until I get the base installed, eh?

mailman1175 · 2010-01-11 02:59:08

All right, this is getting irritating. My connection's getting dropped, even when using eth0. I guess I can try a different mirror, but it's dropping out at the same spot every time. It gets ~ 62MB downloaded and quits while downloading perl.

jasonwryan · 2010-01-11 03:02:22

I had a similar issue with a fresh install a while back; (the package, from memory was xorg) I moved to another mirror and -Syy'ed and it worked fine...

mailman1175 · 2010-01-11 03:08:05

jasonwryan wrote:

I had a similar issue with a fresh install a while back; (the package, from memory was xorg) I moved to another mirror and -Syy'ed and it worked fine...

The installer hangs, though. I'm downloading base and base-dev; it gets to ~62MB of download and just stops. Nothing. So, I ^C, reboot, start the installer again… but I think I've been trying the same mirror each time. I switched to a mirror I know I haven't used yet this time, so we'll see what happens.

Arch Linux

#1 2010-01-10 22:12:52

netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

#2 2010-01-10 23:10:57

Re: netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

#3 2010-01-11 00:13:29

Re: netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

#4 2010-01-11 00:21:06

Re: netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

#5 2010-01-11 00:29:45

Re: netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

#6 2010-01-11 01:37:52

Re: netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

#7 2010-01-11 01:55:23

Re: netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

#8 2010-01-11 02:12:07

Re: netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

#9 2010-01-11 02:59:08

Re: netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

#10 2010-01-11 03:02:22

Re: netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

#11 2010-01-11 03:08:05

Re: netinstall -> flaky wifi when configured manually

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