[wplug] wireless networking stability

[Richard Farina]

Does dmesg or the kernel log say anything about the drivers goings 
nuts?  maybe something bad happens with the drivers, I certainly could 
believe it, a lot of the wireless drivers go to lunch in the middle of 
doing something important.

-Rick Farina

At 07:15 PM 8/9/2005, you wrote:
>I'm running Debian testing (Etch) on a Dell D800.  I've had problems with 
>the wireless going spotty on this laptop ever since I've owned it.
>I've even replaced the original wireless card (an atheros based card) with 
>one that seems to have better Linux support (a prism54 card) in an attempt 
>to get better wireless behavior.
>
>I'm hoping that someone on this list has more networking savvy than I have 
>(not an unreasonable hope, really).  I'm thinking this has to do with 
>networking settings and not with the card or driver.  Here's what I observe:
>
>1. I get an IP address via DHCP just fine.
>
>2. I have decent wireless networking for up to an hour or so before it 
>drops out
>
>3. at some point, the wireless networking just drops off.  At this point, 
>the following is the state of the networking:
>
>A. ifconfig confirms that I still have a good IP address
>
>B. iwconfig shows that it still thinks it is talking to the correct AP, 
>ESSID is still there, etc.
>
>C. pings to the local wireless adapter itself work fine
>
>D. pings to the wireless access point fail with "Destination Host 
>Unreachable."
>
>4. I don't find anything conclusive in /var/log/syslog.  Sometimes it 
>seems to be coincident with ntpd attempting to sync, but not always.
>
>5. doing an ifdown/ifup cycle doesn't fix the problem, but a reboot 
>usually will get me working again.
>
>Can anyone give me some pointers on what to check next?  I can usually 
>reproduce this problem easily enough (within in hour or so of working 
>wirelessly).
>
>Thanks,
>Rick Reynolds
>--
>There is no reason ever to have the same thought twice, unless you like 
>having that thought. -- David Allen
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