Wi-Fi gets switched off (power-saving?) and the user is not informed of this

[taras]

Binary package hint: network-manager

I was browsing the web in Firefox, over a wi-fi connection, and suddenly no pages would load. Tried restarting router and still nothing. Then tried other (Windows) machines in the house - all are working as normal. Rebooted a few times, tried disconnecting/reconnecting, still no wi-fi. Wired connection to the same modem/router works fine.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
Date: Tue Nov 3 22:52:13 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
InstallationMedia: Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" - Release i386 (20091028.5)
IpRoute:
 192.168.1.0/24 dev eth0 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.1.5 metric 1
 169.254.0.0/16 dev eth0 scope link metric 1000
 default via 192.168.1.1 dev eth0 proto static
Package: network-manager 0.8~a~git.20091013t193206.679d548-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-14.48-generic
RfKill:

SourcePackage: network-manager
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-14-generic i686
XsessionErrors:
 (xfce4-mixer-plugin:4031): libxfce4mixer-CRITICAL **: xfce_mixer_get_track: assertion `GST_IS_MIXER (card)' failed
 (polkit-gnome-authentication-agent-1:4102): GLib-CRITICAL **: g_once_init_leave: assertion `initialization_value != 0' failed

[taras (pidg)]

Computer is a Fujitsu-Siemens Amilo Pro v2085

[Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey)]

How is the network secured? Open / WPA / WEP?

[taras (pidg)]

WPA-PSK.

[Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey)]

Can you try the following:-

Right click network manager, choose edit connections, choose wireless tab, select the network from the list and delete it. Close the dialog and then reconnect by selecting it from the list by left clicking network manager again. You should be prompted for your pre-shared key again.

Does it connect okay?

[taras (pidg)]

Yes, this fixed it. Thanks!

[Alan Pope 🍺🐧🐱 🦄 (popey)]

Was it a clean install or an upgrade from a previous release?

[taras (pidg)]

It was a clean install from the desktop-i386 ISO (from a UNetbootin-created USB stick).

[taras (pidg)]

I should clarify that it was still successfully connecting to the wireless network - the problem was that all network traffic stopped.

[taras (pidg)]

Just noticed something which might help explain this - the same thing happened again, immediately after I got a "battery running low" message (at 30% / 37 minutes). Same fix resolved it (deleting/re-adding the wireless connection).

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Probably power is being saved by switching off the Wi-Fi adapter. This should be communicated to the user somehow, of course.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

@taras: What's the status of this bug in Ubuntu 12.04?

[taras (pidg)]

Sorry, I don't have that machine any more.

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Closing since the only contributor to this report doesn't have the hardware any more.