Wireless suddenly "Out Of Range"

[OneBigFish]

-------------------------
* I. scanning WIFI PCI devices...
-------------------------
* II. querying ndiswrapper...
bcmwlhigh5 : driver installed
device (0846:9020) present
-------------------------
* III. querying iwconfig...
eth0 no wireless extensions.

lo no wireless extensions.

wlan0 IEEE 802.11g ESSID:"removed by me"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point:removed by me
Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power:32 dBm
RTS thr:2347 B Fragment thr:2346 B
Encryption key:removed by me Security mode:restricted
Power Management:off
Link Quality:64/100 Signal level:-55 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:264 Invalid misc:6197 Missed beacon:0

-------------------------
* IV. querying ifconfig...
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr bc:ae:c5:3e:b0:bc
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)

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:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:285 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:285 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:27960 (27.9 KB) TX bytes:27960 (27.9 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 28:c6:8e:58:b1:68
inet addr:192.168.1.9 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::2ac6:8eff:fe58:b168/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:5363 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4116 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:5948802 (5.9 MB) TX bytes:640227 (640.2 KB)

-------------------------
* V. querying DHCP...
RTNETLINK answers: File exists
-------------------------
* VI. querying nslookup google.com...
Server: 192.168.1.1
Address: 192.168.1.1#53

Non-authoritative answer:
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.104
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.105
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.110
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.96
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.97
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.98
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.99
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.100
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.101
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.102
Name: google.com
Address: 74.125.228.103


Everything will work fine for anywhere between 30 minutes to 3 hours then suddenly the wireless goes "Out of Range" and disconnects. I usually have to restart, then disconnect the wireless, then reconnect and it'll only connect about half the time. I then repeat the process over and hope it connects the next time. It's getting unbearably annoying. Any help would be appreciated.

On the positive note, the internet works just fine when it's up and running. Fast, seamless, no lulls in speed. My phone and other laptops in the house always work perfectly, it's only on my desktop.

[gtsfer]

Can you post the results of this back here as well?

Code: Select all

sudo lshw -C network

[OneBigFish]

*-network
description: Ethernet interface
product: RTL-8110SC/8169SC Gigabit Ethernet
vendor: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd.
physical id: 1
bus info: pci@0000:07:01.0
logical name: eth0
version: 10
serial: bc:ae:c5:3e:b0:bc
size: 10Mbit/s
capacity: 1Gbit/s
width: 32 bits
clock: 66MHz
capabilities: pm vpd bus_master cap_list rom ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=r8169 driverversion=2.3LK-NAPI duplex=half latency=64 link=no maxlatency=64 mingnt=32 multicast=yes port=MII speed=10Mbit/s
resources: irq:19 ioport:e800(size=256) memory:fbeffc00-fbeffcff memory:fbec0000-fbedffff
*-network
description: Wireless interface
physical id: 1
logical name: wlan0
serial: 28:c6:8e:58:b1:68
capabilities: ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ndiswrapper+bcmwlhigh5 driverversion=1.58+Netgear,03/28/2011, 5.100.6 ip=192.168.1.9 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11g

[gtsfer]

Link Quality:64/100 Signal level:-55 dBm Noise level:-96 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:264 Invalid misc:6197 Missed beacon:0

I don't know for sure yet, but your initial post shows some "excessive retries". The link quality, signal level and the noise level may be high. Not being sure exactly what those numbers mean, it might be that you're not really getting a good enough signal/connection, even though it performs well enough when connected. I'm sitting right next to a router with my desktop and the same Wifi params, if I enable it look like this.

Link Quality=70/70 Signal level=-39 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:3 Missed beacon:0

It seems a little odd that your device name is not in that output. Guessing that it's a Netgear WNA3100 USB adapter from the driver. Can you try (as an experiment, IF you have a laptop) moving closer to your router and running mintWiFi.py again? Just to see if those numbers improve.

[OneBigFish]

It seems a little odd that your device name is not in that output. Guessing that it's a Netgear WNA3100 USB adapter from the driver. Can you try (as an experiment, IF you have a laptop) moving closer to your router and running mintWiFi.py again? Just to see if those numbers improve.

Current connection is 51%, and it hovers between 50%-70%.

It is, unfortunately, a desktop and I can't move it at this time. I can say that using the exact same setup on Windows XP right before I switched to Linux everything was operating just fine. Never had a disconnect in months. As soon as I swapped to Linux, I began having issues. I'm guessing maybe I missed something in setup when getting the driver installed? I also had to change the router to go in g instead of n to get a connection.

The WNA3100 via USB you guessed is right.

[gtsfer]

Current connection is 51%, and it hovers between 50%-70%.

Those numbers are actually not too bad. I've seen some wireless connections work just fine even (or at least appear to) with a 20% signal strength. Plus if it worked OK in Windows without dropping out as it is now it has to be related to something else.

Next question, did the driver auto-install with Linux or did you have to do it yourself (manually that is)? It looks fine, but maybe this is where to look next. Weird that it's ok for 30 mins or more before you lose it. Usually a flakey driver would drop out pretty fast, but can't rule it out. We may need a guru's help on this.

I'm glad you had the sense not to move your desktop.

[daveinuk]

I had quite a similar scenario a good while back . . . . . . turned out the router was going on the blink . . . . . . . just a thought ...

[gtsfer]

I had quite a similar scenario a good while back . . . . . . turned out the router was going on the blink . . . . . . . just a thought ...

That's a possibility as well. But since no other devices seem affected I'm leaning towards the driver or some other area as the problem. Seems kind of improbable the driver would only kick out after 30 mins to 3 hours. But ??? maybe.

On the positive note, the internet works just fine when it's up and running. Fast, seamless, no lulls in speed. My phone and other laptops in the house always work perfectly, it's only on my desktop.

[OneBigFish]

Next question, did the driver auto-install with Linux or did you have to do it yourself (manually that is)? It looks fine, but maybe this is where to look next. Weird that it's ok for 30 mins or more before you lose it. Usually a flakey driver would drop out pretty fast, but can't rule it out. We may need a guru's help on this.

I did it myself. And I moved my whole desktop to the landline in order to do so.

Installed from CD mount, got a few of the necessities, updated ndiswrapper, added ndisgtk, added driver, changed router from n to g, rebooted and it worked.

[gtsfer]

I did it myself. And I moved my whole desktop to the landline in order to do so. Installed from CD mount, got a few of the necessities, updated ndiswrapper, added ndisgtk, added driver, changed router from n to g, rebooted and it worked.

Ok OneBigFish, that's a lotta work involved. Did you follow directions from any particular web site or posting, here on the forums possibly? I think it's time to explore the driver as the cause of your "out of range" problem.

I need to research that Netgear WNA3100 USB adapter a bit. I'm warning you this might turn out to be a case of "the blind leading the blind". Let me see if I can find any more on this sort of problem. Can you run this command too just in case it gives us any additional info?

Code: Select all

sudo inxi -Fx

[OneBigFish]

Sorry for the delay:

System: Host:*** Kernel: 3.11.0-12-generic x86_64 (64 bit, gcc: 4.8.1) Desktop: N/A Distro: Linux Mint 16 Petra
Machine: Mobo: ASUSTeK model: SABERTOOTH X58 version: Rev 1.xx serial: 108216150003000
Bios: American Megatrends version: 0702 date: 11/16/2010
CPU: Quad core Intel Core i7 CPU 950 (-HT-MCP-) cache: 8192 KB flags: (lm nx sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx) bmips: 24589.8
Clock Speeds: 1: 1600.00 MHz 2: 1600.00 MHz 3: 1600.00 MHz 4: 1600.00 MHz 5: 1600.00 MHz 6: 1600.00 MHz 7: 1600.00 MHz 8: 1600.00 MHz
Graphics: Card: NVIDIA GF108 [GeForce GT 630] bus-ID: 03:00.0
X.org: 1.14.3 drivers: (unloaded: fbdev,vesa) FAILED: nouveau tty size: 80x24 Advanced Data: N/A for root
Audio: Card-1: NVIDIA GF108 High Definition Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 03:00.1
Card-2: Intel 82801JI (ICH10 Family) HD Audio Controller driver: snd_hda_intel bus-ID: 00:1b.0
Sound: Advanced Linux Sound Architecture ver: k3.11.0-12-generic
Network: Card-1: Realtek RTL-8110SC/8169SC Gigabit Ethernet driver: r8169 ver: 2.3LK-NAPI port: e800 bus-ID: 07:01.0
IF: eth0 state: down mac: bc:ae:c5:3e:b0:bc
Card-2: NetGear WNA3100(v1) Wireless-N 300 [Broadcom BCM43231] driver: ndiswrapper ver: 1.58 usb-ID: 0846:9020
IF: wlan0 state: up mac: 28:c6:8e:58:b1:68
Drives: HDD Total Size: 320.1GB (3.0% used) 1: id: /dev/sda model: WDC_WD3200AAKS size: 320.1GB temp: 30C
Partition: ID: / size: 288G used: 8.9G (4%) fs: ext4 ID: swap-1 size: 6.43GB used: 0.00GB (0%) fs: swap
RAID: No RAID devices detected - /proc/mdstat and md_mod kernel raid module present
Sensors: System Temperatures: cpu: 41.5C mobo: 38.0C gpu: 38.0
Fan Speeds (in rpm): cpu: 1885 psu: 0 sys-1: 1654 sys-2: 0
Info: Processes: 242 Uptime: 3 min Memory: 463.9/5959.8MB Runlevel: 2 Gcc sys: 4.8.1 Client: Shell inxi: 1.8.4

[OneBigFish]

Ok OneBigFish, that's a lotta work involved. Did you follow directions from any particular web site or posting, here on the forums possibly? I think it's time to explore the driver as the cause of your "out of range" problem.

Honestly, I can't recall getting everything accomplished from just one. I visited many, many threads as each new speed bump was slightly different than what anyone else had discussed.

[gtsfer]

Honestly, I can't recall getting everything accomplished from just one. I visited many, many threads as each new speed bump was slightly different than what anyone else had discussed.

OK, it was just a thought. So we'll have to look at this driver and see if there's any patches or similar issues with it. I was hoping your problem sort of "went away". I'll have to do some poking around now.

[OneBigFish]

Bump--issue still persistent