WiFi issues on dell inspron 6400..Wlan0 no longer connects

[KRASH]

hi,im new to these forums but have been an avid fan of linux fedora distro for a couple of years now,my problem is as follows :

after using windows for the last 2 years on my dell inspiron 6400 i decided to install fedora 7,installation was a breeze apart from a few minor issues but they were soon rectified,however,the last few days Wlan0 connection has not started on boot in,i overcome this by sigining in as su and configuring througfh network connections and everything was cool,but yesterday and today whilst determining ip address it hangs and fails,my router and internet provider are fine so i know its not the problem...

any ideas why the sudden change,or if anyone has had the same problem,help appreciated..thanks.

ps : signal strengh is 100% even in the garden oh and wifi light on laptop is out but that hasnt worked since intallation.

[bbfuller]

Hello KRASH

Did you do any updates before you noticed this problem?

Can you boot the previous kernel from the Grub boot menu and see if that solves the problem.

[KRASH]

thanks for the reply i actually got it to work by configuring the wireless coinnection a final time for luck and it worked,but since return fro holiday after a week its back to normal,the wifi signal strength is now zero where before it was at 100%..and after booting previous kernal it is still the same outcome.

[bbfuller]

Hello KRASH

No real idea why the wireless is good one moment and not the other.

What wireless chipset/driver are you using?

If you are not sure, run the command:

/sbin/lspci

in a terminal window and post back the part that relates to your wireless card and we'll think again.

[KRASH]

after running the command from what i can see im running the :

intel corporation pro/wireless 3945abg network connection

[bbfuller]

Hello KRASH

We haven't yet determined which version of Fedora you are running but as long as it's 7, 8 or 9 it shouldn't really matter as far as the driver goes. The 3945 has all that's needed included in the distributions already.

However, the ways of controlling it can vary.

I see though that you say:

Wlan0 connection has not started on boot in,i overcome this by sigining in as su and configuring througfh network connections

and in F9 that is not the usual way to control wireless cards. That way is called "Network Configuration". The default way something called "NetworkManager" and it lives on the top Gnome Panel just to the left of the clock.

If it is left running as a service then the Network Configuration application will not be able to control your card.

If configuration is attempted in Network Configuration then NetworkManager won't be able to control your card.

You will have to determine which of the two methods you are going to use and clean up the other one.

The major differences are that NetworkManager won't connect a card until you are logged in to a graphical environment.

Network Configuration will only work easily with encryption up to the level of WEP.

[KRASH]

my distro release is fedora 7..this is the steps i take to configure wireless connections (which have worked in the past) but shopuld i be doing something wrong please let me know.. :

1. open NETWORK DEVICE CONTROL..shows wirless lan inactive.
2. try to activate,it trys to determine ip address...fails.
3.re open network device control and click configure.
4.in NETWORK CONFIGURATION im shown my eth0 and wlan0 devices of which wlan0 is ticked.
5. i activate wlan0 again to detemine ip address but to no avail.

everything in the settings foer wlan0 are default by this i mean i havent edited anything for the wlan0 configuration ie ssid name etc...

its really wierd how its gone from a good signalled wifi connection to a good signalled no wifi connection to a no signal at all completely non workin wifi connection???? totally clueless.

[bbfuller]

Hello KRASH

I finally closed down my last F7 machine last week so I'm only going to be able to offer you guesswork, but I thought I saw NetworkManager running on it after the very last set of updates.

If you've not been using NetworkManager then it might be worth looking in "Gnome System Menu - Administration - Services" and see if it is there and enabled. That could cause the problems you describe if it were so.

If you are going to go back to Network Configuration then you also ought to check that the Network service is started at the same time as you disable NetworkManager.

[KRASH]

Thank you so much bbfuller i hope it works and will try first thing when i get home,fingers crossed..thanks once again.