Lost wireless connection after upgrade

[IMQ]

I downloaded both the LiveCD and the installation CD. I was delighted when I tested the LiveCD and got the wireless card, a BCM4318-based, working. With WPA!

I then installed it onto my laptop, using the installation CD. Everything worked after the initial install. After I got the wireless card configured and connected, there were 19 upgradeable packages. So I did the upgrades. All 19. Then reboot.

Now I cannot connect. I tried to delete then recreate the connection. No luck.

I even tried the ndiswrapper without success.

Something happened with the upgrade. From what I can recall, none of the packages seems to relate to networking, but I could be mistaken.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Update: Out of curiosity, I logged in as root and as able to connect to my wireless router. So the upgrade somehow changed the settings or something so that normal user cannot make connection anymore.

[benvdh]

Hey,

Maybe a problem with the group settings for your user account. Just open TASMA. Then go to the system section and click the 'add or remove users' icon.

There double click your username and make sure the box 'show all groups' is checked in the dialog that appears. Then check your group settings.

Regards,

Ben

[IMQ]

benvdh,

Specifically, what am I looking for in the group settings? What groups should be included for a Pardus normal user?

Thanks.

PS: Something I notice different between Pardus and Sidux on the same laptop when running the command iwlist scan

For Pardus using ndiswrapper:

Code:

Cell 01 - Address: 00:14:10:10:5A:ED
                    ESSID:"homework"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:57/100  Signal level:-59 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : WEP-40
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : WEP-40
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

For Sidux using ndiswrapper:

Code:

Cell 02 - Address: 00:14:10:10:5A:ED
                    ESSID:"homework"
                    Protocol:IEEE 802.11g
                    Mode:Managed
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality:54/100  Signal level:-61 dBm  Noise level:-96 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:bcn_int=100
                    Extra:atim=0
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK

Notice the differences: Group Cipher and Pairwise Ciphers

Also, does anyone know where Network Applet stores the configuration file?

[benvdh]

By posting these iwlist scan reports, it could be possible that you just discovered the problem all by yourself, since the group ciphers differ, and if sidux does connect it could mean that pardus chooses the wrong cipher when you are trying to access it from your user account  (probably you already configured your user account before the upgrade and after the upgrade you configured the root account) since it was already configured.

Something you could try is creating a new user and try to connect from that user account. If I'm right (not very sure about this) then you should be able to connect from your new account.

If I'm wrong it could be something with the user groups. Try looking if the boxes for pnp, pnpadmin and wheel are checked.

Regards,

Ben

[IMQ]

Actually, the connection works in both cases which kind of a puzzle to me since I didn't expect the Pardus setting would work with WEP-40.

This works whether I use the Pardus default bcm43xx driver or the ndiswrapper. However, once I disconected when using the bcm43xx driver, I couldn't reconnect.

Also, there is another difference between bcm43xx and ndiswrapper. The speed limit for bcm43xx was 11 Mb/s while it was 54 Mb/s for ndiswrapper.

Nevertheless, this is not important since I don't use wireless for transferring file between storage devices. Only for web surfing and downloading, most Linux ISO and packages, etc.

I am new to Pardus way of doing things so I'll have to play around some more to get comfortable. And I am no expert at all. Just a little more informed user.  :wink:

I am going to try out your suggestion of creating another user to see how that work out.

Thanks.

[Jan Gnodde]

This works whether I use the Pardus default bcm43xx driver or the ndiswrapper. However, once I disconected when using the bcm43xx driver, I couldn't reconnect.

I too have this problem, that I can't reconnect with the bcm43xx driver. To make it work I have to:

Code:

rmmod bcm43xx
modprobe bcm43xx

(you can only do this being root).
After that I can make a new connection.

Jan.

[IMQ]

I created another user account and ran the test but same problem. I then logged in as root and re-do the wireless configuration again (deleted then re-created and configured). While I was connected, I also ran the updates.

Loggeg back in as normal user and the wireless seemed to work OK.

Reboot and the thing still works. Mysteriously!

I did nothing different than before. So it remains a mystery.

I am a little concern about the difference between Sidux and Pardus as related to Group Cipher and Pairwise Ciphers. Maybe it was nothing to worry about.

[msullivan]

I've also had problems with the wireless connection using the same broadcom chipset.  Intermittently it stops working with the bcm44xx driver.  I always get the connection back by removing and reinstalling the module using modprobe.  I've done some research on the driver and found that it is still considered "experimental."  Pardus is the first distro I've been able to get it to work in at all.  I've always had to use ndiswrapper with redhat,  fedora,  suse,  knoppix, kubuntu and every other distro I tried.  At least they're making progress with it.  The bcm44xx gives me far greater signal strength than the ndiswrapper module.  That's why I've stuck with it.

Marty