[wplug] wireless networking stability

Patrick Wagstrom pwagstro at andrew.cmu.edu
Wed Aug 10 12:43:28 EDT 2005


On Tue, 2005-08-09 at 19:15 -0400, Rick Reynolds 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:

[snip]

Just to add to the noise.  If there is nothing in your logs, it may be a
heat issue.  I've noticed that my system runs a lot hotter in Linux
(ACPI isn't fully functional on my system) and I'm pretty sure it
doesn't ever power down my wireless card or lower the power level of it
to prevent as much heat build up.  This heat can cause cards to function
strangely.

A good example of this is the first generation LinkSys WRT54Gs (the ones
with about 30 LEDs on the front).  The venting wasn't so good, and the
chips ran hot.  As a result, they sometimes overheat and just stop
working.  Letting them cool off seems to fix it.   In my case, a dremel
and a little fan did the same thing.

--Patrick




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