Arch Linux

chris_ak

Member

Registered: 2008-03-25

Posts: 64

Exteremely slow wifi vs. windows

I don't recall having this problem before, but I know my wireless was not working perfectly yet anyway.  The wireless network here at school seems to work fine if I use XP, but under linux it's terribly slow.  I can't quite figure it out.... wifi-radar is showing the signals going from strong to weak pretty frequently.  On windows the signal stays strong continuously.  I'm at a loss but maybe someone might see something in my configuration I don't.  For the record I'm using a bcm4311 wireless card and the b4 (can't remember exactly) driver. 
Here is the output of me turning on wifiradar (note that I'm connecting and disconnecting in this instance - evidently there are some problems here):

[chris@darkstar ~]$ sudo wifi-radar
Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.
err, wlan0: timed out
err, wlan0: lease expired 8348 seconds ago
warn, wlan0: using IPV4LL address 169.254.191.11
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.
err, wlan0: timed out
warn, wlan0: using IPV4LL address 169.254.191.11
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.
[chris@darkstar ~]$ sudo wifi-radar
Password: 
Error for wireless request "Set Mode" (8B06) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Invalid argument.
Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.

Here is my rc.conf:

#
# /etc/rc.conf - Main Configuration for Arch Linux
#

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# LOCALIZATION
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# LOCALE: available languages can be listed with the 'locale -a' command
# HARDWARECLOCK: set to "UTC" or "localtime"
# TIMEZONE: timezones are found in /usr/share/zoneinfo
# KEYMAP: keymaps are found in /usr/share/kbd/keymaps
# CONSOLEFONT: found in /usr/share/kbd/consolefonts (only needed for non-US)
# CONSOLEMAP: found in /usr/share/kbd/consoletrans
# USECOLOR: use ANSI color sequences in startup messages
#
LOCALE="en_US.utf8"
HARDWARECLOCK="localtime"
TIMEZONE="Alaska"
KEYMAP="us"
CONSOLEFONT="ter-v16b"
CONSOLEMAP=
USECOLOR="yes"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# HARDWARE
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Scan hardware and load required modules at bootup
MOD_AUTOLOAD="yes"
# Module Blacklist - modules in this list will never be loaded by udev
MOD_BLACKLIST=()
#
# Modules to load at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a module with a ! to blacklist it
#
MODULES=(powernow-k8 cpufreq_ondemand cpufreq_powersave forcedeth usblp !bcm43xx b43 snd-mixer-oss snd-pcm-oss snd-hwdep snd-page-alloc snd-pcm snd-timer snd snd-hda-intel soundcore)
# Scan for LVM volume groups at startup, required if you use LVM
USELVM="no"

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# NETWORKING
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
HOSTNAME="darkstar"
#
# Use 'ifconfig -a' or 'ls /sys/class/net/' to see all available
# interfaces.
#
# Interfaces to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each interface then list in INTERFACES
#   - prefix an entry in INTERFACES with a ! to disable it
#   - no hyphens in your interface names - Bash doesn't like it
#
# Note: to use DHCP, set your interface to be "dhcp" (eth0="dhcp")
#
lo="lo 127.0.0.1"
eth0="dhcp"
wlan0="dhcp"
wlan_wlan0="wlan0 essid UAFnet" # Unencrypted
INTERFACES=(eth0 lo wlan0)

#
# Routes to start at boot-up (in this order)
# Declare each route then list in ROUTES
#   - prefix an entry in ROUTES with a ! to disable it
#
gateway="default gw 192.168.0.1"
ROUTES=(!gateway)
#
# Enable these network profiles at boot-up.  These are only useful
# if you happen to need multiple network configurations (ie, laptop users)
#   - set to 'menu' to present a menu during boot-up (dialog package required)
#   - prefix an entry with a ! to disable it
#
# Network profiles are found in /etc/network-profiles
#
#NET_PROFILES=(main)

#
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
# DAEMONS
# -----------------------------------------------------------------------
#
# Daemons to start at boot-up (in this order)
#   - prefix a daemon with a ! to disable it
#   - prefix a daemon with a @ to start it up in the background
#
DAEMONS=(syslog-ng @laptop-mode @network @netfs @crond @cron @hal !dhcdb !networkmanager @cups  @fam @alsa @mpd)


# End of file

Also... my wireless does not seem to activate until I open wifi-radar and attempt to connect to an already saved network profile - so the wlan0 section under interfaces might not be working properly.  Thanks in advance for any help.

Last edited by chris_ak (2008-09-18 01:08:00)

drewbug01

Member

From: chicago

Registered: 2007-04-06

Posts: 85

Website

Re: Exteremely slow wifi vs. windows

it could be the driver
look at this recent forum post -- you may have better luck with that new driver

-- drew

cwjiof

Member

From: Taichung, TW

Registered: 2008-01-27

Posts: 131

Re: Exteremely slow wifi vs. windows

I use netcfg2 to manage my wifi connection. That's very fast, and spend about 3 seconds to connect my wireless route, while about 15 seconds in windows vista.