Linux Mint Forums

Am I alone in finding that every four months, like clockwork, the wireless stops working for no reason?

Works fine in Windows, but refuses to connect in Ubuntu/Mint.

Have tried damn near everything. All that I know is that in a few days it will start working again for no apparent reason.

This problem has been here for as long as I've used Ubuntu/Mint.

Addendum: Now that I'm not running out the door in frustration.

Oh yes: Mint 13 Maya Cinnamon

This problem has been with me since a few editions of Ubuntu, then through the last three editions of Mint Linux. At least two years. Many, many hours have been spent trying to track down a solution, but the thing is so sporadic that it's nearly impossible.

In each of several installs the wireless is found and configured with no problem. It will then work flawlessly for a three or four months.

One day it will suddenly pop-up asking for the password for the router.
A couple of days later it will start doing that repeatedly.
A couple of days later it will just refuse to connect.

The router connects fine to everything else in the house.
It also connects flawlessly to the same computer running Windows Vista.

Every possible fix and test has been tried. Every forum and Google search has been explored. Things have been uninstalled and reinstalled.

The one thing that I know fixes it is to do a fresh install of Linux. That seems to reset the clock, and I have another few months before it starts up again.

If I were guessing it seems like at some point after a fresh install something in the system gets upgraded or changed - I just accept whatever upgrades are recommended. Alternatively, is there some part of the system that is accumulating "cruft" that eventually causes the malfunction?

This is not a frivolous compliant. I have done all of the homework expected to try and solve this issue.

Of course, the darned thing is working once again. After a reboot to Windows, then back into Linux. Here's the scoop anyhow:

-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
-- Atheros Communications Inc. AR5416 Wireless Network Adapter [AR5008 802.11(a)bgn] (rev 01)
==> PCI ID = 168c:0023 (rev 01)
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
lo no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11bgn ESSID:"orange"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.442 GHz Access Point: 00:22:B0:BA:18:AD
Bit Rate=130 Mb/s Tx-Power=27 dBm
Retry long limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr:off
Encryption key:off
Power Management:off
Link Quality=54/70 Signal level=-56 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:4 Invalid misc:266 Missed beacon:0

eth0 no wireless extensions.

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:1a:a0:5e:2a:10
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:42 Base address:0xa000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:1903 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1903 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:209868 (209.8 KB) TX bytes:209868 (209.8 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:21:91:01:10:d4
inet addr:192.168.0.197 Bcast:192.168.0.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::221:91ff:fe01:10d4/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:21436 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:20373 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:15917731 (15.9 MB) TX bytes:4505800 (4.5 MB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8)
utility, e.g. service smbd reload

Since the script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an
Upstart job, you may also use the reload(8) utility, e.g. reload smbd
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server: 192.168.0.1
Address: 192.168.0.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.3
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.8
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.7
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.14
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.0
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.1
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.2
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.5
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.9
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.6
Name: google.com
Address: 173.194.33.4

appalbarry wrote:Am I alone in finding that every six months, like clockwork, the wireless stops working for no reason

Quite probably! More info required, see http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=1085