Hi, Newbee with wifi problems.

brian · April 07, 2015, 04:10:03 PM

I've been gifted several Lenovo T400 thinkpads, which I'm passing on to grandchildren with no PCs.( Intel core 2 duo processor. 2Gb Ram, 60Gb HDD,
Intel(R) Wifi Link 5100AGN)
I selected Sparky Gameover 64bit version as it seemed to contain all they could ever need.
I downloaded the Distro over wire and burned to a DVD which I then installed as a live test on one of the machines. It seemed fine, so I installed to Hard drive . I updated the system, down loading 520 Mb is of stuff and then rebooted the system.
During the live test the wifi seemed fine but after the reboot the wifi fails to connect. The Authentication password for the wifi kept coming up.
I did the install again. This time with the wired network disconnected. The system installed to disk perfectly, updated over the wifi (520Mb ish), but after rebooting into the updated system the wifi failed to connect. always asking for the authentication password.
I have reconnected the wired network and the system works fine. But the Wifi, no. ---- Any Ideas.

pavroo · April 07, 2015, 05:23:16 PM

Show me the output, please:

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lspci -v | grep Network

brian · April 07, 2015, 10:24:46 PM

Thank you . From LXterm:

brian@spat400:~$ lspci -v | grep Network
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82567LM Gigabit Network Connection (rev 03)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 5100 AGN [Shiloh] Network Connection
brian@spat400:~$

pavroo · April 08, 2015, 12:51:00 AM

Check do you have 'firmware-iwlwifi' package installed:

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apt-cache policy firmware-iwlwifi
If yes, try to load the module:

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modprobe -r iwlwifi
If no problem then:

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modprobe iwlwifi

brian · April 08, 2015, 12:21:55 PM

brian@spat400:~$ apt-cache policy firmware-iwlwifi
firmware-iwlwifi:
Installed: 0.43
Candidate: 0.43
Version table:
*** 0.43 0
500 http://ftp.debian.org/debian/ testing/non-free amd64 Packages
100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
brian@spat400:~$ modprobe -r iwlwifi
bash: modprobe: command not found
brian@spat400:~$ modprobe iwlwifi
bash: modprobe: command not found
brian@spat400:~$

pavroo · April 08, 2015, 01:46:57 PM

Sorry, mea culpa.
Use:

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sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi
If no problem then:

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sudo modprobe iwlwifi

brian · April 08, 2015, 03:28:04 PM

brian@spat400:~$ sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi

We trust you have received the usual lecture from the local System
Administrator. It usually boils down to these three things:

#1) Respect the privacy of others.
#2) Think before you type.
#3) With great power comes great responsibility.

[sudo] password for brian:
modprobe: FATAL: Module iwlwifi is in use.
brian@spat400:~$ sudo modprobe -r iwlwifi
modprobe: FATAL: Module iwlwifi is in use.
brian@spat400:~$

-----------------------------------------------------
NB. Before the second execution of the modprobe command I went to the Network menu and disabled the "Wifi network" in the menu, to see if it made any difference. But No.

-------------------------------------------------------
PS. Unless you need to sort this issue, then please don't spend any more time on it in this context on my behalf.
I noticed you have released the SparkyLinux 4 RC. It may not have the wide range of gaming stuff included, but it looks like it ticks all my boxes. It worked strait off the Live test with no apparent Wifi issues.

brian · April 08, 2015, 03:39:00 PM

Re my previous post: I am keeping the Gameover 64bit machine until you tell me othewise - and don't need to do any more tests.
The 4RC distro is on a different machine.
Regards.

FranceIsBacon · April 08, 2015, 05:04:06 PM

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sudo ifconfig wlan0 down

This will fix that pesky error when trying to modprobe.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2010968&page=3

After some light googling it seems that some intel cards have some issues with wifi and BT coexisting. adding a line of code to the iwlwifi.conf might fix your issue.

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sudo leafpad /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf

then add the following line to the file and save it:

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options iwlwifi bt_coex_active=0

then bring wlan0 back up:

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sudo ifconfig wlan0 up

brian · April 09, 2015, 10:44:25 AM

No change after carrying out the above procedure.
This stuff is well above my Linux pay grade, but:
The Wifi (Intel 5200AGN) works fine during live run, and after install to HDD.
It fails after the "System update". So it seems that whatever is changed during that update (500Mb ish.) causes the problem.
I don't know how to find out what part of the update affects the wifi stuff, or how to roll back the update until it starts working again.

pavroo · April 09, 2015, 12:29:57 PM

The 'firmware-iwlwifi' package is in version 0.43 before and after upgrading so can't be that one.
Should be something else ?

brian · April 10, 2015, 12:41:08 AM

Re:
The 'firmware-iwlwifi' package is in version 0.43.

Is this package. also used in the 4rc distro??

pavroo · April 10, 2015, 06:18:19 PM

Yes, it is.
It means it is not problem with firmware.
The upgrade changed something else, but don't know what.

MoroS · April 10, 2015, 06:28:04 PM

Quote from: pavroo on April 10, 2015, 06:18:19 PM
Yes, it is.
It means it is not problem with firmware.
The upgrade changed something else, but don't know what.

Kernel/modules perhaps? You could compare (or post here) the output of lsmod ran both on the installed system and on the livecd.

brian · April 11, 2015, 12:42:09 AM

OK -- This is the output from lsmod on the "updated" installation.
I.ll Load the live session next, and then paste that output.

brian@spat400:~$ lsmod
Module Size Used by
rfcomm 57927 4
bnep 17431 2
nfsd 263032 2
auth_rpcgss 51211 1 nfsd
oid_registry 12419 1 auth_rpcgss
nfs_acl 12511 1 nfsd
nfs 188136 0
lockd 83389 2 nfs,nfsd
fscache 45542 1 nfs
sunrpc 237402 6 nfs,nfsd,auth_rpcgss,lockd,nfs_acl
btusb 29721 0
bluetooth 374429 9 bnep,btusb,rfcomm
6lowpan_iphc 16588 1 bluetooth
joydev 17063 0
iTCO_wdt 12831 0
iTCO_vendor_support 12649 1 iTCO_wdt
snd_hda_codec_conexant 17841 1
snd_hda_codec_generic 63107 2 snd_hda_codec_conexant
pcmcia 49012 0
iwldvm 135156 0
mac80211 474218 1 iwldvm
radeon 1345162 1
coretemp 12820 0
kvm_intel 139116 0
kvm 388635 1 kvm_intel
yenta_socket 38994 0
pcmcia_rsrc 17433 1 yenta_socket
psmouse 98616 0
pcmcia_core 18392 3 pcmcia,pcmcia_rsrc,yenta_socket
pcspkr 12595 0
snd_hda_intel 26327 3
iwlwifi 96547 1 iwldvm
snd_hda_controller 26727 1 snd_hda_intel
evdev 17445 25
i2c_i801 16965 0
lpc_ich 20768 0
snd_hda_codec 104463 4 snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller
i915 837133 2
serio_raw 12849 0
mfd_core 12601 1 lpc_ich
cfg80211 405538 3 iwlwifi,mac80211,iwldvm
ttm 77862 1 radeon
snd_hwdep 13148 1 snd_hda_codec
drm_kms_helper 49210 2 i915,radeon
snd_pcm 88662 3 snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_controller
snd_timer 26614 1 snd_pcm
mei_me 17941 0
mei 74977 1 mei_me
thinkpad_acpi 69119 0
nvram 13034 1 thinkpad_acpi
snd 65244 14 snd_hwdep,snd_timer,snd_hda_codec_conexant,snd_pcm,snd_hda_codec_generic,snd_hda_codec,snd_hda_intel,thinkpad_acpi
tpm_tis 17182 0
soundcore 13026 2 snd,snd_hda_codec
rfkill 18867 6 cfg80211,thinkpad_acpi,bluetooth
wmi 17339 0
drm 249955 7 ttm,i915,drm_kms_helper,radeon
battery 13356 0
button 12944 1 i915
i2c_algo_bit 12751 2 i915,radeon
i2c_core 46012 6 drm,i915,i2c_i801,drm_kms_helper,i2c_algo_bit,radeon
shpchp 31121 0
ac 12715 0
tpm 31511 1 tpm_tis
video 18096 1 i915
acpi_cpufreq 17218 1
processor 28221 3 acpi_cpufreq
loop 26605 0
fuse 83350 3
parport_pc 26300 0
ppdev 16782 0
lp 17074 0
parport 35749 3 lp,ppdev,parport_pc
autofs4 35529 2
ext4 473802 1
crc16 12343 2 ext4,bluetooth
mbcache 17171 1 ext4
jbd2 82413 1 ext4
sg 29973 0
sd_mod 44356 3
crc_t10dif 12431 1 sd_mod
crct10dif_generic 12581 1
sr_mod 21903 0
cdrom 47424 1 sr_mod
crct10dif_common 12356 2 crct10dif_generic,crc_t10dif
ahci 33291 2
libahci 27158 1 ahci
libata 177457 2 ahci,libahci
scsi_mod 191405 4 sg,libata,sd_mod,sr_mod
firewire_ohci 39523 0
firewire_core 56665 1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t 12347 1 firewire_core
thermal 17559 0
thermal_sys 27642 3 video,thermal,processor
uhci_hcd 43499 0
ehci_pci 12512 0
ehci_hcd 69837 1 ehci_pci
e1000e 203664 0
ptp 17692 1 e1000e
pps_core 17225 1 ptp
usbcore 195340 4 btusb,uhci_hcd,ehci_hcd,ehci_pci
usb_common 12440 1 usbcore
brian@spat400:~$