Wifi started acting up today

[nathanvy]

Hi folks, I have a bit of a problem. Without doing any updates (unless there was an automatic one that I can't remember), the wifi on my brand-new Thinkpad x220 has started dropping the connection every 10 minutes or so, and ESPECIALLY if I let it go to sleep. Pages don't load, and I can't access the router via the browser. In fact, I can't even ping the router.

The network manager in gnome thinks it's still connected, so I can't just hit reconnect. But turning the wifi off and then back on, or using the hardware switch to power-cycle the radio restores connectivity for a while, but it inevitably drops again.

At first I thought it was a network congestion issue, but changing wifi channels hasn't helped, and the issue doesn't occur on my girlfriend's laptop, nor on either of our phones. Additionally, I booted into Windows 7 on the same machine and have not experienced the same problem. So, I'm ruling out traffic congestion on 2.4GHz.

I'm running F16 with Gnome 3, with intel 6205 (centrino) wireless card. Running kernel 3.4.4

Nothing in dmesg, this is seriously puzzling. Please help!

---------- Post added at 04:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:47 AM ----------

Bump, edited original post after updating to kernel 3.4.4

---------- Post added at 06:35 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:41 PM ----------
.
Tried changing encryption modes on advice from #fedora folks, but no dice.

[nathanvy]

The problem appears to steadily be getting worse. As of tonight I can no longer get it to work long enough to even load a single webpage.

Network manager thinks it's still connected/associated with the AP, and dmesg seems to confirm this, but I can't ping the router, much less a stable website like google.

This has essentially turned my laptop into a brick if I want to use Fedora. The problem doesn't manifest itself on Windows on the same machine. Is there noone out there who can help?

[jonathonp]

What modem/router are you using?

In this situation, the logical thing to do is to boot up the fedora 16 live cd and or fedora 17 live cd, and then see if the problem still exists.

To me it sounds like your modem router is problematic or else your internet service provider is the cause of the authentication errors (most likely). Just because it worked with windows 7 does not mean anything at all to me.


Isolate problem by:
1. check wireless with fedora live cds
2. update modem/router, especially if it's old (or a faulty model - they don't last forever) NOTE some models are faulty if you browse forums.
3. Internet Service Provider is giving you grief, in which case test your lap top using a different connection eg at a shopping centre, library, MacDonalds or your mates house.

[nathanvy]

Originally Posted by jonathonp

What modem/router are you using?

It's a cisco dpc3825. My girlfriend's windows laptop doesn't experience any wifi issues, and I haven't experienced any problems if I boot my own laptop into windows.

I think if it was the AP, then I'd be seeing problems across all devices.

In this situation, the logical thing to do is to boot up the fedora 16 live cd and or fedora 17 live cd, and then see if the problem still exists.

See above.

To me it sounds like your modem router is problematic or else your internet service provider is the cause of the authentication errors (most likely). Just because it worked with windows 7 does not mean anything at all to me.

My ISP has no bearing on how I connect to my own router. I can't even ping the router, so the problem is not with my ISP. If I boot into an older 3.3.x kernel, I still get problems but much less frequently.

Isolate problem by:
1. check wireless with fedora live cds
2. update modem/router, especially if it's old (or a faulty model - they don't last forever) NOTE some models are faulty if you browse forums.
3. Internet Service Provider is giving you grief, in which case test your lap top using a different connection eg at a shopping centre, library, MacDonalds or your mates house.

I'll test at the Starbucks down the street.