Wireless connection
Hi, never been on a Forum before so here goes ! My daughter has got an Eee PC from school operating on Linux and I cannot link it to our BT broardband. It works wirelessly at school, I have taken it to work and it works ok on wireless (very quickly !!) but I cannot get it to connect at home. When I add the key and say connect it looks like it will work then just comes up "Pending" and will not connect. Would really like to get this working for her as when it does work its a great little thing. Thanks in advance.
Graham Morris
Previously Gareth Bult wrote:
When you say you enter the key, is this in response to it actually finding your router?
I'm not sure about Mr Morris but my computer finds the router easily and gets a brilliant signal but when I try to connect it goes into pending mode after a minute or so. I too like the linux operating system and would love to get this machine working on the internet but like Mr Morris is experiencing, it simply will not connect and I cannot afford to change my family's Windows machines to do it. Neither Orange nor BT support Linux. I don't have any other wireless network to check mine out with but I find it interesting that Mr Morris can connect on his work one but not his home one. This problem cannot be unique to me so surely someone somewhere much have a solution.
Thank you.
Previously Gareth Bult wrote:
When you say you enter the key, is this in response to it actually finding your router?
Hi Gareth, the Eee PC finds the network ok, when I click connect it asks for the wireless key No to allow it to connect to the bt hub. With the key entered it tries to connect but after a short wait it says pending and will not connect. The same process happens on the wireless at work but after the short wait it connects and allows internet use. Regards Graham.
Ok, this "could" be a hardware issue .. it's worth checking the protocol's the router supports and match it up with the list the netbook supports and make sure there is an overlap. (protocols as in 802.xx - these should be listed)
Assuming they are .. there are a number of different wireless authentications systems available, is there a specification with your router of what it's using, i.e. WEP, WPA etc, and how many bits it's using for the key?
[it may be the router is using an authentication mechanism that's slightly newer than those supported by the version of Linux on your netbook]
I agree it's most likely an authentication problem involving WPA or WPA2, try using WEP instead and check MAC address filtering is switched off in your router, or add the Eee PCs MAC to the allowed list, it could also be an IP address problem...is DHCP enabled in the router?
I guess we should ask what the supplied BT documentation says with regards to adding a new wireless device to the network? I'd have to guess DHCP is working, but does it mention authentication mechanism or MAC addresses?
Wow, lots of things to check. Thanks for the ideas. My daughter has just gone into hospital for an operation (which is happening as we speak) so she has taken the Eee PC with her for entertainment which means some things I cannot check just yet. I can confirm MAC filtering is turned off. I have read the paper work and it infers the connection to wireless should be straight forward with the key printed on the router. From what I have read its using WEP but I`m not sure what you mean when you asked how many bits its using for the key (I`m not that clued up with some of the things you are asking...sorry). I am getting a laptop from work which should work on wireless that will be here later this week, it will be interesting to see if that will connect. I will also check the date the Eee PC was set up and the date I installed the broadband, would this answer the question as to the authentication mechanism being supported by the version of Linux on the Eee PC ? Regards Graham.
The easy answer is that on the latest (last year or so) versions of Ubuntu, I've not had any problems connecting to any Wireless networks. Prior to this, I've had many (many) problems .. if in any doubt, consider dumping the eeePC Linux for Ubuntu ..
To check the kernel, Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
cat /proc/version
And tell us what it says, also;
cat /etc/lsb-release
Previously Gareth Bult wrote:
The easy answer is that on the latest (last year or so) versions of Ubuntu, I've not had any problems connecting to any Wireless networks. Prior to this, I've had many (many) problems .. if in any doubt, consider dumping the eeePC Linux for Ubuntu ..
To check the kernel, Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal
cat /proc/version
And tell us what it says, also;
cat /etc/lsb-release
Hi Gareth, sorry for delay, my daughter is now out of hospital so I can try to resolve this. The info I think your asking for is Vendor - American Megatrends inc. Version 0910. Release date 03/03/2008. When you say dump eeePC Linux for Ubuntu how would that be done ? and what is Ubuntu ?. Regards Graham.
there seems to be issues with certain versions of the eeePCs wireless drivers (atheros-swan-module) that came with an early update...try the connection with encryption turned off at the router, as it was a problem with encryption...if it then can connect...get all updates from asus, and reenable encryption.
[copied from another website]
SOLUTION 1:
1: Be sure that you are connected to your internet access point (Modem, Router) with an Ethernet cable.
2: Install the "Wireless Update Pack" in the Settings tab, following the instructions on your screen.
3: Remove the cable, restart your Eee PC and it should work now.
SOLUTION 2:
2: Choose �Network� in the Internet tab, and follow the instructions to create a new account.
3: Remove the cable, restart your Eee PC and it should work now.
SOLUTION 3: <REMOVED DUE TO BAD URL>
SOLUTION 4:
1: Be sure that you are connected to your internet access point with an Ethernet cable.
2: Access your Terminal via CTRL + Alt + T
3: Type the following command:
"sudo iwconfig ath0 essid", followed by your WLAN SSID (your Wireless Network's "name").
Obviously type only what is between the quotes along with your WLAN SSID
4: Remove the cable, restart your Eee PC and it should work now.
SOLUTION 5:
1: Be sure that you are connected to your internet access point with an Ethernet cable.
2: Access your Terminal via CTRL + Alt + T
3: Type the following commands after one another:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
When prompted, say y.
4: Remove the cable, restart your Eee PC and it should work now.
SOLUTION 6:
1: Choose �Network� in the Internet tab, disconnect it and then delete the Connection in the �Manage�.
2: Click �Create� to recreate the connection, choose �Local Area Network- Wireless�, then Next.
3: Choose �Next�.
4: Select Address Type, and then Next.
5: Browse Wireless Networks and then choose the one you want to use, choose the mode to be �infrastructure� and the Transfer rate to be �auto�, and then Next.
6: Wireless Channel Settings, choose any channel.
7: If your Internet access point is using the WEP or WPA encryption, you need to choose �Enable encryption� and then input the key / password / passphrase and its Index. Then choose Next.
(If the Internet access point doesn't use any encryption, you can ignore this.)
8: Fill in the Name of connection, then choose Next.
9: You can choose the �Connect automatically at system startup� or �Start this connection when finished� if you want, and then choose Finish.
Previously Mark Greaves wrote:
Post Script:
for SOLUTION4...example =
sudo iwconfig ath0 essid MYSSID
Ok Mark, thanks for these options, I will go and try these and let you know how I get on.
More info:-
SOLUTION 1, works for most people ie. connect with an ethernet cable...get wireless update pack (settings-->add/remove programs-->check for updates)...remove cable...reboot...try wirless connection again.
I stated earlier that it was an encryption problem with the atheros-swan-module...it is a problem with this module, but it is not an encryption problem...it seems to be a problem with recieving an IP address from the routers DHCP server, so using a static IP on the eeePC might solve the problem.
If you need to try this and require help...just ask.
Also a lot of people have reported that thier eeePC doesn't seem to like SSID's or WPA passwords that contain spaces...as you use WEP, you only need to check the SSID has no spaces
MY SSID = hung wireless connection
MY_SSID or MYSSID = working wireless connection
As stated ALL these problems seem to be linked to an old wireless driver, so updating the atheros-swan-module (by going to..settings-->add/remove programs-->check for updates) should solve the problem without changing any router settings...so try this first.
the update you want is:-
atheros-swan-modules-2.6.21.4-eeepc_20080319-1_i386
and you may also want to update to the latest xandros-wpa-supplicant if you use WPA encryption...not needed if you use WEP.
Probably best to let it get ALL updates though...but check the atheros-swan-modules version is the above one...if not you MAY have the wrong repositories selected
Previously Mark Greaves (PCNetSpec) wrote:
the update you want is:-
atheros-swan-modules-2.6.21.4-eeepc_20080319-1_i386
and you may also want to update to the latest xandros-wpa-supplicant if you use WPA encryption...not needed if you use WEP.
Probably best to let it get ALL updates though...but check the atheros-swan-modules version is the above one...if not you MAY have the wrong repositories selected
Hi Mark, finally I have got this Eee PC connected to the wireless hub at home. Sorry for the delay in the reply but a lot of the things you gave me to try took a lot of working out for me and with a very busy start to the year I had to abondon it for a short while. However I finally worked out how to enter the IP address etc etc manually, it did not work at first but with all the surrounding info altered bit by bit eventually it changed from pending to connected and I am sending this reply from the offending Eeee PC. So many thanks to you and your collegues for all your help. THANK YOU. Gaham Morris.
hiya mate. I am trying to use the synaptic manager to install applications on my ubuntu but somehow whichever the app i choose, the download speed is just extremely slooooowwww..... only a few KBs per second. My laptop is duo core with 4GB RAM and the windows download speed on this very same laptop with the same internet connection could reach near 1MBps.
Any idea why the speed is like that in unbuntu? Cheers
This forum is now closed, but if you post the question to the new forum:
We will be more than happy to help.
Please post as much info as you can including your network card make and model, Ubuntu version, how you are running Ubuntu (LiveCD or Dual Boot) and if this problem is with ALL downloads, or just through Synaptic.
Hardware Compatibility
