5:29 a.m.
One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
and WiFi occasionally fails there.
When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
I'm running Fedora-21/KDE.
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
8:51 a.m.
On 05/12/2015 04:52 AM, Timothy Murphy wrote:
<<>>
I tried all the mechanisms suggested in the manual, and none worked.
If I were writing the manual, I would say on page 1,
"The first step has to be to access the device web-page.
If you aren't able to do this you cannot set up the repeater.
To see the web-page you must set the IP address
of your ethernet interface to 192.168.10.n for some n > 1."
try 192.163.10.254 for router web interface.
--
peace out.
in a world with out fences, who needs gates.
CentOS GNU/Linux 6.6
tc,hago.
g
.
8:02 a.m.
Doug:
--
tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.19.5-100.fc20.i686 #1 SMP Mon Apr 20 20:28:39 UTC 2015 i686
All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point trying
to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the public lists.
George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.
> You should be able to access the device over the network in wifi
mode
> simply by entering the ip address in the address line of your router.
Timothy Murphy:
I get the web-page of my router when I do that.
Depending on how your wireless extender works, it could just act like a
switch, passing things through. Or, it could act like a router. You
really need to check its manual.
It can even be that some devices configuration control aren't on the
standard HTTP port 80, so you browse to another port to configure them.
I'm not clear if the repeater has an IP address once it is
working.
If it does, it is not mentioned in "arp -a" or in /var/log/messages .
If you have a DHCP server on your LAN, monitoring it for changes can
show addresses of things being attached to your LAN.
I have a wireless access point that can be operated in two modes, either
as an access point that's similar to a switch, or as a router using NAT.
It does have an ethernet address in both modes, but behaves peculiarly
in access point mode, all the ethernet ports seem to have the same MAC.
Some devices are just damn peculiar, and you really do need to read
their manual.
I have read it, several times.
It does not mention that you must change your ethernet IP address
to 192.168.10.n.
I really do hate devices that insist you change your network to suit
itself. More so, when they use an unusually different one.
Its first suggestion, to use WPS, did not work in my case,
possibly because my router's version of WPS, SecureEasySetup,
is incompatible with the repeater's WPS.
I was under the impression that all devices using WPS were supposed to
be compatible. I'm also under the impression that it's a security risk,
in itself.
4:52 a.m.
Doug wrote:
> In any case, I managed to see the device's web-page briefly,
> by switching off WiFi on my laptop, connecting the device
> to the laptop by ethernet, and changing the laptop's ethernet address
> to 192.168.10.5 .
> Now I could see the web-page at 192.168.10.1 for about 30 seconds,
> before it disappeared and my laptop lost its ethernet IP address
> (ifconfig just gave an IPv6 address).
You should be able to access the device over the network in wifi
mode
simply by entering the ip address in the address line of your router.
I get the web-page of my router when I do that.
In Firefox, it says "Search or enter address" so on that
line enter
192.168.10.1. That should bring up the range extender.
The repeater is working now.
I just tried reaching 192.168.10.1 under Firefox, and it does not connect.
I'm not clear if the repeater has an IP address once it is working.
If it does, it is not mentioned in "arp -a" or in /var/log/messages .
Meanwhile, have you looked at the user manual?
I have read it, several times.
It does not mention that you must change your ethernet IP address
to 192.168.10.n.
Its first suggestion, to use WPS, did not work in my case,
possibly because my router's version of WPS, SecureEasySetup,
is incompatible with the repeater's WPS.
I suggest you print the whole manual out and read it starting
after all the safety stuff, and then you will be able to use the device
and know it's working.
I tried all the mechanisms suggested in the manual, and none worked.
If I were writing the manual, I would say on page 1,
"The first step has to be to access the device web-page.
If you aren't able to do this you cannot set up the repeater.
To see the web-page you must set the IP address
of your ethernet interface to 192.168.10.n for some n > 1."
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
11:57 a.m.
On 05/11/2015 07:33 AM, Timothy Murphy wrote:
/snip/
But I haven't actually solved my problem.
/snip/
I've continued to try to get my SilverCrest WiFi extender working
(model SWR 300 a1, from Lidl).
(Actually, I've asked in a few places about this,
and never heard from anyone who has it working.)
The manual says the device has IP address 192.168.10.1,
but as far as I can see you have to have a machine
running 192.168.1.something to see the device's web-page?
I know 192.168.10.* is an allowed address,
but is it so popular that one can assume it is in use?
In any case, I managed to see the device's web-page briefly,
by switching off WiFi on my laptop, connecting the device
to the laptop by ethernet, and changing the laptop's ethernet address
to 192.168.10.5 .
Now I could see the web-page at 192.168.10.1 for about 30 seconds,
before it disappeared and my laptop lost its ethernet IP address
(ifconfig just gave an IPv6 address).
/snip/
You should be able to access the device over the network in wifi mode
simply by entering the ip address in the address line of your router.
In Firefox, it says "Search or enter address" so on that line enter
192.168.10.1. That should bring up the range extender. If it looks for
a name, try "admin" and as a password, try "admin" again. Presumably
the second, at least, can be changed once you have access to the device.
Meanwhile, have you looked at the user manual? It is available at
http://www.manualslib.com/manual/785652/Silvercrest-Swr-300-A1.html?page=4
I looked thru a bit of it, and my guess as to the user name and password is
correct. I suggest you print the whole manual out and read it starting after
all the safety stuff, and then you will be able to use the device and
know it's working.
--doug
7:59 a.m.
On Mon, 2015-05-11 at 13:33 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
The manual says the device has IP address 192.168.10.1,
but as far as I can see you have to have a machine
running 192.168.1.something to see the device's web-page?
I know 192.168.10.* is an allowed address,
but is it so popular that one can assume it is in use?
Within a totally isolated LAN, you can use almost any IP that you want
to. But once you join other networks (LAN, WAN, or internet), you have
to use the ones reserved for private use (such as 192.168.x.y, but there
are a few others, as well - 10.x.y.z, 172.16.x.y to 172.31.x.y).
Taking the common 192.168.x.y one, the first three quads have to be the
same (for the usual 255.255.255.0 netmask) to be able to talk between
themselves (the netmask sets the boundary between what's considered
inside or outside; and to reach what's outside, you have to go through
the gateway).
So, if you want to talk to something at 192.168.10.1, you'll either need
to be in the same 192.168.10.x subnet, or you'd need to change the
netmasks on both devices to 255.255.0.0.
I managed to see the device's web-page briefly, by switching off
WiFi
on my laptop, connecting the device to the laptop by ethernet, and
changing the laptop's ethernet address to 192.168.10.5. Now I could
see the web-page at 192.168.10.1 for about 30 seconds,
before it disappeared and my laptop lost its ethernet IP address
(ifconfig just gave an IPv6 address).
You could create a network connection on your laptop that doesn't use
DHCP, so you can preset your laptop to be 192.168.10.something, to play
with that device, while you configure things.
--
tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.19.5-100.fc20.i686 #1 SMP Mon Apr 20 20:28:39 UTC 2015 i686
All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point trying
to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the public lists.
George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.
6:33 a.m.
g wrote:
> Actually, I already did that - I got two much longer arms from
> Amazon, which had a considerable effect.
glad to have seen you cured problem.
while re-indexing my firefox bookmarks, i ran across an interesting
some interesting bookmarks tagged 'wifi antennas' that was still
under 'Unsorted'.
http://freeantennas.com/
Thanks, that is interesting.
I had seen the pringle-tin antenna before, but never tried it.
But I haven't actually solved my problem.
I can get over it by using TP-Link powerline adaptors
(which I am using already with an IP camera)
but it's a bit awkward to set up in this particular room,
and I'm rather lazy.
I've continued to try to get my SilverCrest WiFi extender working
(model SWR 300 a1, from Lidl).
(Actually, I've asked in a few places about this,
and never heard from anyone who has it working.)
The manual says the device has IP address 192.168.10.1,
but as far as I can see you have to have a machine
running 192.168.1.something to see the device's web-page?
I know 192.168.10.* is an allowed address,
but is it so popular that one can assume it is in use?
In any case, I managed to see the device's web-page briefly,
by switching off WiFi on my laptop, connecting the device
to the laptop by ethernet, and changing the laptop's ethernet address
to 192.168.10.5 .
Now I could see the web-page at 192.168.10.1 for about 30 seconds,
before it disappeared and my laptop lost its ethernet IP address
(ifconfig just gave an IPv6 address).
But now I don't know if the repeater is working or not.
When I disconnect the ethernet from the device, turn WiFi back on,
and go back to my usual settings, I can see the repeater with iwlist:
======================
[tim@william ~]$ sudo iwlist scan
...
wlp3s0 Scan completed :
...
Cell 04 - Address: FA:8F:CA:32:68:85
Channel:11
Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
Quality=46/70 Signal level=-64 dBm
Encryption key:off
ESSID:""
======================
But if it is working, should it not have my router's ESSID?
It did have this, during the brief period when I could see the web-page
(with the ethernet connection).
As will be evident, I don't know how a repeater is meant to work,
or what settings it should have if it is working.
If anyone does understand these things, I'd be very grateful
for a brief tutorial.
Do I actually need a 192.168.10.0 network to use this device?
I should add that I did try pressing the WPS switch on the device
when it was connected by ethernet to my Linksys WRT54GL router.
This has SecureEasySetup enabled, which I believe is a version of WPS.
When I do this, device and router exchange a large number of packets
(judging by the LEDs on each) but to no effect that I can see.
Also, I did try setting it up under Windows 7,
which the manual of course assumes one is using,
but I made even less progress there than under Linux.
Any suggestions or advice gratefully received.
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
12:52 a.m.
On 04/24/2015 06:04 PM, Timothy Murphy wrote:
Doug wrote:
> Another "fix"--obtain a longer antenna made for the frequency
> band, which is surely 2400~2480 MHz. Make sure the connector mates
> with the connector on the router!
> This may work, since you _almost_ have enough signal now, and
> another dB or two may make all the difference.
Actually, I already did that - I got two much longer arms from
Amazon, which had a considerable effect.
glad to have seen you cured problem.
as old saying goes, "longer is better". ;-)
while re-indexing my firefox bookmarks, i ran across an interesting
some interesting bookmarks tagged 'wifi antennas' that was still
under 'Unsorted'.
http://freeantennas.com/
you, or others, might have a look if you ever need a "quickie"
solution.
--
peace out.
in a world with out fences, who needs gates.
CentOS GNU/Linux 6.6
tc,hago.
g
.
4:30 a.m.
Tim wrote:
> The manual says the device has IP address 192.168.10.1,
> but as far as I can see you have to have a machine
> running 192.168.10.something to see the device's web-page?
> I know 192.168.10.* is an allowed address,
> but is it so popular that one can assume it is in use?
Within a totally isolated LAN, you can use almost any IP that you
want
to. But once you join other networks (LAN, WAN, or internet), you have
to use the ones reserved for private use (such as 192.168.x.y, but there
are a few others, as well - 10.x.y.z, 172.16.x.y to 172.31.x.y).
Taking the common 192.168.x.y one, the first three quads have to be the
same (for the usual 255.255.255.0 netmask) to be able to talk between
themselves (the netmask sets the boundary between what's considered
inside or outside; and to reach what's outside, you have to go through
the gateway).
So, if you want to talk to something at 192.168.10.1, you'll either need
to be in the same 192.168.10.x subnet, or you'd need to change the
netmasks on both devices to 255.255.0.0.
Thanks very much, that clarifies the situation completely.
Actually, the repeater is now working, surprisingly well.
The secret was that I had to run the wizard on the repeater's web-page,
which asked me for the router password.
But as you say, I had to set the ethernet IP address on my laptop
to 192.168.10.5 or similar.
You could create a network connection on your laptop that doesn't
use
DHCP, so you can preset your laptop to be 192.168.10.something, to play
with that device, while you configure things.
Yes, I probably should have edited /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-*
to turn off DHCP.
(NetworkManager has the annoying habit of inventing new entries here -
I see there is one for ifcfg-New_802-3-ethernet_connection.)
Anyway, all's well that ends well.
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
7:52 a.m.
My cell phone has no problem. chromecast has no problem. Shifting seats
doesn't make it go away. I'm 20 feet from the router in line of sight.
I'm not in a faraday cage. There are no overlapping channels.
There's no RF voodoo here.
sean
On 04/28/2015 02:52 AM, Tim wrote:
Timothy Murphy wrote:
>> One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
>> and WiFi occasionally fails there.
>> When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
>> Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
>> Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
>> I'm running Fedora-21/KDE.
sean darcy:
> I'm about 10 feet directly across from an n wireless router. And what
> you describe happens 2-3 times a day. Never on my wife's windows laptop.
> BTW, I don't reboot, just disconnect and reconnect.
You could be in a dead spot for wireless reception - reflections of
signals around the room you're in merge and cancel out where your
computer's antenna is located. Try moving position a bit. I can
produce this sort of problem when just a couple of feet from an access
point.
You could be using the same WiFi channel as a neighbour, and the clash
of each others signals messes up yours. Try changing your access
point's channel. I've had that problem, too. Changing channels made a
world of difference. I wish the interface that shows your nearby
networks that you use to pick the one you wanted showed what channels
were in use, rather than having to use some other debugging tool. It'd
make setting up your wireless LANs a lot easier.
Some access points have an automatic option for them to pick which
channel to use. Mine always automatically picked the worst one to use.
Logically speaking, it'd be scanning nearby networks, and avoiding
channels that are in use; or, for where they're all in use, opting to
re-use the channel with the weakest signal, presuming that it was the
furthest one away. However, there's a fundamental flaw with this
process - the access point can only determine best and worst channels
for itself, your clients are in other locations, and which
already-in-use channels are stronger and weaker, for them, will probably
be a different set of channels than the access point's.
10:55 a.m.
Allegedly, on or about 25 April 2015, Timothy Murphy sent:
When I google for "fedora airplane mode" I get lots of
hits
but none of the ones I've looked at actually explain
what they mean by this term.
Did you mean defining what Fedora does about it, or what "airplane mode"
refers to?
Airplane mode is a term referring to killing all radio-frequency
transmissions that might be a problem on a plane. Some mobile phones
have it, now, so that you can use the other features of the phone (alarm
clock, games, whatever) instead of completely turning off the phone for
airplane safety precautions.
An RF kill function is the same thing. And as another message in this
thread depicts, it makes sense that it sends a signal to the OS to turn
off all RF devices, rather than the kill switch only being directly
wired to some specific RF device inside the computer.
--
[tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.9.10-100.fc17.x86_64 #1 SMP Sun Jul 14 01:31:27 UTC 2013 x86_64
All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point
trying to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the
public lists.
George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.
ZNQR LBH YBBX
10:40 a.m.
On Sat, 25 Apr 2015, Ed Greshko wrote:
On 04/25/15 18:18, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> I'm running Fedora/KDE, and I don't see anything called "Airplane
mode"
> (or Airplane anything) in KNetworkManager.
I don't know what you mean by "KNetworkManager" but I am running F21/KDE.
I am using "kde-plasma-nm". When I left-click on the Network-Icon in the
systray a dialog is exposed. At the very top are 2 check-boxes. The left most check box
is for turning the WiFi on. I have a desk top with wifi and wired. To the right of the
WiFi is another box with a little airplane. This turns on/off airplane mode. I wonder
if/what the difference is...but since I rarely use the WiFi on this system I've not
spent any time to investigate.
As I remember, turning wifi off will turn wifi and roaming off.
Airplane mode will do that *and* any other wireless connection if you
have it -- bluetooth, GPS, whatever.
Could be wrong, though...
I don't use bluetooth or GPS on my laptop.
billo
7:53 a.m.
On 04/25/15 18:18, Timothy Murphy wrote:
I'm running Fedora/KDE, and I don't see anything called
"Airplane mode"
(or Airplane anything) in KNetworkManager.
I don't know what you mean by "KNetworkManager" but I am running F21/KDE.
I am using "kde-plasma-nm". When I left-click on the Network-Icon in the
systray a dialog is exposed. At the very top are 2 check-boxes. The left most check box
is for turning the WiFi on. I have a desk top with wifi and wired. To the right of the
WiFi is another box with a little airplane. This turns on/off airplane mode. I wonder
if/what the difference is...but since I rarely use the WiFi on this system I've not
spent any time to investigate.
--
If you can't laugh at yourself, others will gladly oblige.
6:24 a.m.
On 25 April 2015 at 11:18, Timothy Murphy <gayleard(a)eircom.net> wrote:
Tim wrote:
> On Sat, 2015-04-25 at 01:22 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
>> Airplane mode? Is there such a thing on a laptop?
>
> I would have thought so, people do use laptops when they travel.
I'm running Fedora/KDE, and I don't see anything called "Airplane
mode"
(or Airplane anything) in KNetworkManager.
Plasma 5 has an explicit 'airplane' icon next to the switch which you
tick to disable wireless, in KDE4 it's just the enable wireless
checkbox, but does the same thing (except you uncheck it to disable):
With 'enable wireless' ticked:
[root@atlas ~]# rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: no
Hard blocked: no
With it unchecked:
[root@atlas ~]# rfkill list
0: phy0: Wireless LAN
Soft blocked: yes
Hard blocked: no
On my old Sony laptop there was a slider switch which would toggle
that 'Hard blocked' status. An interesting effect (that I discovered
when the switch became unreliable and I had to use a USB dongle) was
the Hard blocked setting would stop both attached cards running. I
suspect that's handled in networkmanager, as removing the kernel
module for the builtin wifi allowed the USB one to connect okay. On my
new laptop there is a function key which only acts on the 'Soft
blocked' state, in windows it can be configured to act on bluetooth
and wifi or bring up a controller for the different radios on board.
I'm in the distant room where WiFi sometimes fails - but
infrequently -
and reception is fine at the moment;
but if WiFi does fail I'll first try turning the "wireless switch" off
for a few seconds, and then on again.
I should have thought of that earlier.
If restarting the card allows it to reconnect when it gets into the
connection lost state that does somewhat suggest there are accumulated
errors somewhere (in the driver maybe) due to the poor connection that
eventually cause a failure. Increasing the signal by moving the wifi
access point as suggested may help mask that. One other thing you can
do is do a modprobe -r on the kernel module for your device and then a
modprobe to load it again. If it's a problem in the driver triggered
by connection errors then that may clear it.
--
imalone
http://ibmalone.blogspot.co.uk
5:18 a.m.
Tim wrote:
On Sat, 2015-04-25 at 01:22 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> Airplane mode? Is there such a thing on a laptop?
I would have thought so, people do use laptops when they travel.
I'm running Fedora/KDE, and I don't see anything called "Airplane mode"
(or Airplane anything) in KNetworkManager.
When I google for "fedora airplane mode" I get lots of hits
but none of the ones I've looked at actually explain
what they mean by this term.
I have a switch on the side of my Thinkpad T510
which switches off wireless - I think most Thinkpads have this -
but I haven't seen it referred to as "airplane mode" anywhere.
I'm not sure if "rfkill block wifi" has exactly the same effect
as this switch.
(I had to use "rfkill unblock" while trying to get KDE Connect working,
but that is another story.)
I'm in the distant room where WiFi sometimes fails - but infrequently -
and reception is fine at the moment;
but if WiFi does fail I'll first try turning the "wireless switch" off
for a few seconds, and then on again.
I should have thought of that earlier.
Incidentally, I took an edX course on networking online last year,
and came to the conclusion that it was a miracle that WiFi works at all;
the connection algorithm is completely different to ethernet,
and seemed to me extraordinarily complicated.
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
2:04 a.m.
On 04/25/2015 01:35 AM, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
On Sat, 2015-04-25 at 00:51 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> I did get a longer antenna for the Linksys WRT54GL WiFi router.
> I also tried to set up a WiFi repeater (SilverCrest SWR 300 a1)
> but could not get it working under Fedora or Windows.
> I have thought of using a TP-Link which is set up on my system.
I tried a wireless repeater a few years ago. Complete waste of money,
despite being a reputable brand (Linksys). Also, repeaters reduce your
wireless bandwidth by about 50% IIRC. A much better solution is to use a
pair of power-line adaptors. Modern ones use the IEEE 1901 standard
(known as Homeplug), are available from several manufacturers and have
good performance.
I went the the same route and share your experience. I now have 2 wlans
in my home. One driven by main router and another one driven by
power-lan. More reliable, powerful and flexible (easy to relocate) than
repeaters.
Ralf
1:42 a.m.
On Sat, 2015-04-25 at 01:22 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
Airplane mode? Is there such a thing on a laptop?
I would have thought so, people do use laptops when they travel.
I kind-of wouldn't expect it on a desktop, though, but the function may
be in all the wireless software.
--
tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.19.4-100.fc20.i686 #1 SMP Mon Apr 13 22:20:50 UTC 2015 i686
All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point trying
to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the public lists.
George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.
1:40 a.m.
On Sat, 2015-04-25 at 00:35 +0100, Patrick O'Callaghan wrote:
I tried a wireless repeater a few years ago. Complete waste of
money,
despite being a reputable brand (Linksys).
Interesting to know. Never actually used one, just know of their
existence. I can well imagine problems if there isn't free channels to
spare to run one, I assume that they work across more than one channel
at once, as a radio relay station.
A much better solution is to use a pair of power-line adaptors.
Modern
ones use the IEEE 1901 standard (known as Homeplug), are available
from several manufacturers and have good performance.
Having used other things that used the mains wiring, I would have
thought there would be performance issues from signal losses,
interference from noisy mains (switchmode power supplies, lighting
dimmers), and issues with RFI filters on some mains inputs or filtered
power boards.
A third option may be another access point. Cable ethernet to it from
your central point, and place this access point in a different/better
position than the problem one.
--
tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.19.4-100.fc20.i686 #1 SMP Mon Apr 13 22:20:50 UTC 2015 i686
All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point trying
to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the public lists.
George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.
6:47 p.m.
Matthew Miller wrote:
> However, I didn't know computers (other than phones) had an
Airplane
> mode. Another thing that could be tried would be to rmmod the wifi driver
They usually do -- look at
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/rfkill.txt
and if you're curious, try the 'rfkill' command (packaged in Fedora,
not to my knowledge installed by default). Or you can use 'nmcli
radio'.
I don't know if this will necessarily reboot the wireless card, though.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I've used "rfkill unblock" before, but it never struck me
that Airplane mode on my Android phone uses rfkill.
Actually, it sounds quite plausible,
as I think the problem is probably with the kernel
rather than NetworkManager.
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
6:35 p.m.
On Sat, 2015-04-25 at 00:51 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> Move the wireless access point, move or improve the antenna
(transmitter
> and/or receiver), re-position the the failing client device, add
another
> access point or wireless repeater, move objects that may be in the
way
> of the wireless signal path.
I did get a longer antenna for the Linksys WRT54GL WiFi router.
I also tried to set up a WiFi repeater (SilverCrest SWR 300 a1)
but could not get it working under Fedora or Windows.
I have thought of using a TP-Link which is set up on my system.
I tried a wireless repeater a few years ago. Complete waste of money,
despite being a reputable brand (Linksys). Also, repeaters reduce your
wireless bandwidth by about 50% IIRC. A much better solution is to use a
pair of power-line adaptors. Modern ones use the IEEE 1901 standard
(known as Homeplug), are available from several manufacturers and have
good performance.
poc
6:31 p.m.
Jim Lewis wrote:
>> One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
>> and WiFi occasionally fails there.
>> When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
>> Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
>> Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
>> I'm running Fedora-21/KDE.
>>
> Try turning on "Airplane" mode and turning it back off. This has the
> effect of restarting the wireless NIC itself.
Yes, doing anything to cause the NIC to reset may get it working again.
However, I didn't know computers (other than phones) had an Airplane
mode. Another thing that could be tried would be to rmmod the wifi driver
and then modprobe it back. This is obviously heavy handed, and the real
problem should still be investigated, but may get it online again which
is what the OP has asked for.
Thanks for the suggestion.
I'll try rmmod next time it happens
(though it sounds a bit dicey to me, like pulling out the plug
while a printer is in the middle of printing).
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
6:22 p.m.
Dan Mossor wrote:
> One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
> and WiFi occasionally fails there.
> When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
> Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
> Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
> I'm running Fedora-21/KDE.
>
Try turning on "Airplane" mode and turning it back off. This has the
effect of restarting the wireless NIC itself.
Airplane mode? Is there such a thing on a laptop?
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
6:04 p.m.
Doug wrote:
Another "fix"--obtain a longer antenna made for the
frequency band,
which is surely 2400~2480 MHz. Make sure the connector mates with the
connector on the router!
This may work, since you _almost_ have enough signal now, and another dB
or two may make all the difference.
Actually, I already did that - I got two much longer arms from Amazon,
which had a considerable effect.
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
5:51 p.m.
Tim wrote:
> One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
> and WiFi occasionally fails there.
> When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
> Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
> Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
*Any other*... To me, it sounds like what you really need to do is
improve the wireless situation.
Move the wireless access point, move or improve the antenna
(transmitter
and/or receiver), re-position the the failing client device, add another
access point or wireless repeater, move objects that may be in the way
of the wireless signal path.
I did get a longer antenna for the Linksys WRT54GL WiFi router.
I also tried to set up a WiFi repeater (SilverCrest SWR 300 a1)
but could not get it working under Fedora or Windows.
I have thought of using a TP-Link which is set up on my system.
But basically I just wondered if anyone had an answer to my query.
The WiFi connection is only lost about once a day,
so re-booting is not really a serious annoyance.
I would have thought re-starting NetworkManager
would re-start the network connection in the same way
as re-booting, but it seems that is not so.
I should have looked at /var/log/messages
to see what the difference is, but I didn't get round to it.
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
11:44 a.m.
On 04/24/2015 07:14 AM, Tim wrote:
On Thu, 2015-04-23 at 18:44 -0400, Tom Horsley wrote:
> I do something similar that works great to boost the signal
> across the length of the house, but I cut off a square of
> aluminum flashing I had instead of opening up a beer can :-).
You hadn't finished drinking it yet? ;-)
I saw that "fix"--it's clever, but it makes the signal directional.
It
will be OK if all the "receivers" are in one direction from the antenna.
Another "fix"--obtain a longer antenna made for the frequency band,
which is surely 2400~2480 MHz. Make sure the connector mates with the
connector on the router!
This may work, since you _almost_ have enough signal now, and another dB
or two may make all the difference.
--doug
6:14 a.m.
On Thu, 2015-04-23 at 18:44 -0400, Tom Horsley wrote:
I do something similar that works great to boost the signal
across the length of the house, but I cut off a square of
aluminum flashing I had instead of opening up a beer can :-).
You hadn't finished drinking it yet? ;-)
--
tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.19.4-100.fc20.i686 #1 SMP Mon Apr 13 22:20:50 UTC 2015 i686
All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point trying
to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the public lists.
George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.
6:03 p.m.
On 04/23/2015 03:44 PM, Tom Horsley wrote:
On Thu, 23 Apr 2015 18:36:16 -0400
Doug wrote:
> WiFi is radio frequency signals. What you need to do is take steps to
> make the signals stronger in that area.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Wi-Fi-Booster-Using-Only-a-Can
(I do something similar that works great to boost the signal
across the length of the house, but I cut off a square of
aluminum flashing I had instead of opening up a beer can :-).
Aw, c'mon! Not NEARLY redneck enough! The beer can is perfect--
especially if you smooth the edges over with duct tape!
----------------------------------------------------------------------
- Rick Stevens, Systems Engineer, AllDigital ricks(a)alldigital.com -
- AIM/Skype: therps2 ICQ: 22643734 Yahoo: origrps2 -
- -
- "I understand Windows 2000 has a Y2K problem." -
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5:44 p.m.
On Thu, 23 Apr 2015 18:36:16 -0400
Doug wrote:
WiFi is radio frequency signals. What you need to do is take steps to
make the signals stronger in that area.
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Wi-Fi-Booster-Using-Only-a-Can
(I do something similar that works great to boost the signal
across the length of the house, but I cut off a square of
aluminum flashing I had instead of opening up a beer can :-).
5:36 p.m.
On 04/23/2015 06:29 AM, Timothy Murphy wrote:
One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
and WiFi occasionally fails there.
When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
I'm running Fedora-21/KDE.
WiFi is radio frequency signals. What you need to do is take steps to
make the signals stronger in that area.
One of the possibilities is making the transmitting antenna higher up,
or closer to the weak area. The height may make the signals clear
obstacles which could be blocking--such
things a filing cabinets, refrigerators, other large metal objects--a
metal-clad fire door, for instance. Closer, of course is obvious, but
may be inconvenient. If the receiver in
the weak area of the house is fixed in location, then moving that
antenna to a closer or higher spot may be the answer, but if the
receiver site is mobile--a laptop, for instance,
then that is not going to be feasible.
If both antennas are or can be fixed in location, then it is
possible--likely, even--that there is a spot on the "weak" area that has
stronger reception. Due to reflections, there are
peaks and nulls in signal strength, and if the antenna in the weak area
is in a null, just moving the antenna a foot or two in some direction
may be all you need.
Finally, there are repeaters--devices which receive the signal on one
frequency and retransmit it on another channel. The repeater can be
placed somewhere in between the
two areas. The repeater will only need AC power and a clear signal
path--on top of a high piece of furniture, or perhaps on a small bracket
high on a wall.
Note: I have used the terms "transmitter" and "receiver" for
simplicity,
but in reality, of course, signals are being transmitted and received in
both directions.
Why does rebooting make it work? Probably because the signal is
digitally encoded, on the very edge of detection, and the decoding is
marginal. While it works, the clock is
locked up, and when it fails, the clock is free running, and can't find
enough signal to lock up again. When you turn off the signal completely,
during reboot, the receiving
end settles down and is likely to be close to the necessary frequency to
begin with. Just a guess, but it's reasonable.
Hope that helps.
--doug, retired RF engineer
3:44 p.m.
On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 10:23:53AM -1000, Jim Lewis wrote:
However, I didn't know computers (other than phones) had an
Airplane
mode. Another thing that could be tried would be to rmmod the wifi driver
They usually do -- look at
https://www.kernel.org/doc/Documentation/rfkill.txt
and if you're curious, try the 'rfkill' command (packaged in Fedora,
not to my knowledge installed by default). Or you can use 'nmcli
radio'.
I don't know if this will necessarily reboot the wireless card, though.
--
Matthew Miller
<mattdm(a)fedoraproject.org>
Fedora Project Leader
3:23 p.m.
On 04/23/2015 05:29 AM, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
> and WiFi occasionally fails there.
> When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
> Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
> Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
> I'm running Fedora-21/KDE.
>
Try turning on "Airplane" mode and turning it back off. This has the
effect of restarting the wireless NIC itself.
Yes, doing anything to cause the NIC to reset may get it working again.
However, I didn't know computers (other than phones) had an Airplane
mode. Another thing that could be tried would be to rmmod the wifi driver
and then modprobe it back. This is obviously heavy handed, and the real
problem should still be investigated, but may get it online again which
is what the OP has asked for.
Note, there may be issues trying this. If the writer of the driver did
not follow the correct procedures, doing the rmmod might not work at
all, might cause a memory leak, modprobe may not work, the rmmod might
even crash your system. Drivers, in particular Ethernet, are supposed to
be tested thoroughly before being released but that is not always the
case.
However, if it does work let us know, I may have a way to automate this
for you (been there, done that).
Jim Lewis
2:30 p.m.
On 04/23/2015 05:29 AM, Timothy Murphy wrote:
One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
and WiFi occasionally fails there.
When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
I'm running Fedora-21/KDE.
Try turning on "Airplane" mode and turning it back off. This has the
effect of restarting the wireless NIC itself.
--
Dan Mossor
Systems Engineer at Large
Fedora KDE WG | Fedora QA Team | Fedora Server SIG
Fedora Infrastructure Apprentice
FAS: dmossor IRC: danofsatx
San Antonio, Texas, USA
9:20 a.m.
I have the same issue when the DHCP lease expires even though I
authenticate again to the network I do not get an IP back without a reboot
"systemctl resatart network.service" doesn't even work.
On Thu, Apr 23, 2015 at 9:53 AM, Erik P. Olsen <epodata(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On 2015-04-23 at 20:47:10 Tim wrote:
> On Thu, 2015-04-23 at 12:29 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> > One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
> > and WiFi occasionally fails there.
> > When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
> > Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
> > Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
>
> *Any other*... To me, it sounds like what you really need to do is
> improve the wireless situation.
>
> Move the wireless access point, move or improve the antenna
> (transmitter and/or receiver), re-position the the failing client
> device, add another access point or wireless repeater, move objects
> that may be in the way of the wireless signal path.
>
I believe the question is relevant - for other reasons. Sometimes after
suspend/resume the connection is gone and the desktop is right in front
of the router. It would be nice to be able to reconnect to the Wifi
short of rebooting.
--
Erik
--
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8:53 a.m.
On 2015-04-23 at 20:47:10 Tim wrote:
On Thu, 2015-04-23 at 12:29 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
> and WiFi occasionally fails there.
> When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
> Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
> Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
*Any other*... To me, it sounds like what you really need to do is
improve the wireless situation.
Move the wireless access point, move or improve the antenna
(transmitter and/or receiver), re-position the the failing client
device, add another access point or wireless repeater, move objects
that may be in the way of the wireless signal path.
I believe the question is relevant - for other reasons. Sometimes after
suspend/resume the connection is gone and the desktop is right in front
of the router. It would be nice to be able to reconnect to the Wifi
short of rebooting.
--
Erik
6:17 a.m.
On Thu, 2015-04-23 at 12:29 +0200, Timothy Murphy wrote:
One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
and WiFi occasionally fails there.
When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
*Any other*... To me, it sounds like what you really need to do is
improve the wireless situation.
Move the wireless access point, move or improve the antenna (transmitter
and/or receiver), re-position the the failing client device, add another
access point or wireless repeater, move objects that may be in the way
of the wireless signal path.
--
tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.19.3-100.fc20.i686 #1 SMP Fri Mar 27 17:30:08 UTC 2015 i686
All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point trying
to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the public lists.
George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.
1:52 a.m.
Timothy Murphy wrote:
> One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
> and WiFi occasionally fails there.
> When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
> Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
> Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
> I'm running Fedora-21/KDE.
sean darcy:
I'm about 10 feet directly across from an n wireless router. And
what
you describe happens 2-3 times a day. Never on my wife's windows laptop.
BTW, I don't reboot, just disconnect and reconnect.
You could be in a dead spot for wireless reception - reflections of
signals around the room you're in merge and cancel out where your
computer's antenna is located. Try moving position a bit. I can
produce this sort of problem when just a couple of feet from an access
point.
You could be using the same WiFi channel as a neighbour, and the clash
of each others signals messes up yours. Try changing your access
point's channel. I've had that problem, too. Changing channels made a
world of difference. I wish the interface that shows your nearby
networks that you use to pick the one you wanted showed what channels
were in use, rather than having to use some other debugging tool. It'd
make setting up your wireless LANs a lot easier.
Some access points have an automatic option for them to pick which
channel to use. Mine always automatically picked the worst one to use.
Logically speaking, it'd be scanning nearby networks, and avoiding
channels that are in use; or, for where they're all in use, opting to
re-use the channel with the weakest signal, presuming that it was the
furthest one away. However, there's a fundamental flaw with this
process - the access point can only determine best and worst channels
for itself, your clients are in other locations, and which
already-in-use channels are stronger and weaker, for them, will probably
be a different set of channels than the access point's.
--
tim@localhost ~]$ uname -rsvp
Linux 3.19.4-100.fc20.i686 #1 SMP Mon Apr 13 22:20:50 UTC 2015 i686
All mail to my mailbox is automatically deleted, there is no point trying
to privately email me, I will only read messages posted to the public lists.
George Orwell's '1984' was supposed to be a warning against tyranny, not
a set of instructions for supposedly democratic governments.
8:04 p.m.
On 04/23/2015 06:29 AM, Timothy Murphy wrote:
One room in my house is at the boundary of WiFi reception,
and WiFi occasionally fails there.
When this happens it is nearly always restored by re-booting.
Re-starting NetworkManager never does the trick, however.
Is there any other step I could take, short of re-booting?
I'm running Fedora-21/KDE.
I'm about 10 feet directly across from an n wireless router. And what
you describe happens 2-3 times a day. Never on my wife's windows laptop.
BTW, I don't reboot, just disconnect and reconnect.
So it's not just wireless mojo, there's a bug somewhere, But given it's
intermittent nature, it'll be hard to find.
sean
7:34 a.m.
On 27 April 2015 at 11:02, Timothy Murphy <gayleard(a)eircom.net> wrote:
Ian Malone wrote:
> If restarting the card allows it to reconnect when it gets into the
> connection lost state that does somewhat suggest there are accumulated
> errors somewhere (in the driver maybe) due to the poor connection that
> eventually cause a failure. Increasing the signal by moving the wifi
> access point as suggested may help mask that. One other thing you can
> do is do a modprobe -r on the kernel module for your device and then a
> modprobe to load it again. If it's a problem in the driver triggered
> by connection errors then that may clear it.
Thanks for the response.
I suspect from the entries in /var/log/messages that the problem is
with the kernel module.
In any case I'll add modprobe -r (which I assume is the same as rmmod ?)
to the remedies I'll try if and when the problem recurs.
Similar, though modprobe -r deals with module dependencies (provided
they're not in use).
--
imalone
http://ibmalone.blogspot.co.uk
5:02 a.m.
Ian Malone wrote:
If restarting the card allows it to reconnect when it gets into the
connection lost state that does somewhat suggest there are accumulated
errors somewhere (in the driver maybe) due to the poor connection that
eventually cause a failure. Increasing the signal by moving the wifi
access point as suggested may help mask that. One other thing you can
do is do a modprobe -r on the kernel module for your device and then a
modprobe to load it again. If it's a problem in the driver triggered
by connection errors then that may clear it.
Thanks for the response.
I suspect from the entries in /var/log/messages that the problem is
with the kernel module.
In any case I'll add modprobe -r (which I assume is the same as rmmod ?)
to the remedies I'll try if and when the problem recurs.
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
4:46 a.m.
Ed Greshko wrote:
On 04/25/15 18:18, Timothy Murphy wrote:
> I'm running Fedora/KDE, and I don't see anything called "Airplane
mode"
> (or Airplane anything) in KNetworkManager.
I don't know what you mean by "KNetworkManager" but I am running F21/KDE.
I am using "kde-plasma-nm". When I left-click on the Network-Icon in the
systray a dialog is exposed. At the very top are 2 check-boxes. The left
most check box is for turning the WiFi on. I have a desk top with wifi
and wired. To the right of the WiFi is another box with a little
airplane. This turns on/off airplane mode. I wonder if/what the
difference is...but since I rarely use the WiFi on this system I've not
spent any time to investigate.
Thank you, I had never noticed these icons -
they seem to answer all my queries.
Next time WiFi fails, I'll see if they do the trick.
--
Timothy Murphy
gayleard /at/ eircom.net
School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin
3265
days inactive
3284
days old
39 comments
17 participants
participants (17)
-
Dan Mossor -
Doug -
Ed Greshko -
Erik P. Olsen -
g -
Ian Malone -
Jim Lewis -
Matthew Miller -
Patrick O'Callaghan -
Ralf Corsepius -
Rick Stevens -
sean darcy -
Terry Polzin -
Tim -
Timothy Murphy -
Tom Horsley -
William Oliver