Internal and USB wireless conflict on laptop

[Donald Broatch]

Ubuntu 8.10.

In Network Manager I have Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] and Belkin F5D7050 v4000. The built-in wireless card is useless more than about 6 feet from the router, so I need the USB receiver.

Sometimes Network Manager picks up a weak signal from the built-in card.

The problem is that Network Manager occasionally shows the signal from the built-in card as very strong (even though the laptop has not moved.)

Network Manager then tries to connect to the router via the built in card, prompts for a password and reports that the computer is connected when it isn't. Network Manager then seems to try connecting via the built-in and USB wireless simultaneously, with two requests for passwords and 'connected' messages when there is no connection. Network Manager then sometimes crashes completely.

I could disable the built-in wireless card from the Windows partition in Ubuntu 8.04, but in 8.10 this results in 'Enable Wireless' being greyed out.

To summarise the bug: the signal strength indicator for the built-in wireless card is occasionally reporting a very strong signal which does not exist. Network Manager does not seem to be able to handle two signals from the same router (one from the built-in card, one from a USB receiver) successfully.

Maybe that's two bugs?

I've attached a screen shot which shows Network Manager reporting a 100% signal from Intel Pro Wireless- when the laptop was 9m from the router, and an accurate reading would be ~5% signal strength at best- and both the Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] and Belkin F5D7050 v4000 buttons 'on', just before problems arose.

[lola66 (louislarouche)]

Similar bug on my Compaq X1000 laptop running Intrepid 8.10 with all updates....

I have an internal intel wireless lan 2100 3b mini on the laptop.... works fine out of the box.....

But I wanted to had a faster (read g) USB or Cardbus NIC to go with my n capable router (would be nice to have support in Ubuntu for n wireless by the way) ...... I tried several makes and models....
mostly Broadcom and Atheros based wireless NIC mostly on the cardus port...... but had access to an USB based Broadcom as well from a friend....

The NIC would show up, but I was never able to use them in roaming mode, or manual mode.....
I was disabling the intel built in card by turning it off with the radio button.
Either the radio button turns off all wireless NICs or there's another bug with network manager 0.7 with multiple wireless interfaces....

Anyway.... I decided to remove the internal wireless card from my laptop and upon reboot.... both the Broadcom and Atheros based cards worked in roaming mode (I didn't have a usb based nic to test with anymore at the time, and I tested the cardbus NICs separately of course.)

I

[Donald Broatch (donaldbroatch)]

I found this comment on The Register. Somebody else is describing problems with two wireless cards on a laptop:

"The main problems i have had are with the network.

I have 2 wireless cards in my laptop, an internal one (b), and a decent pcmcia one (g). Unfortunately, I'm not sure if this is the network manager, but it doesn't seem to be able to seperate them. If i disable the internal card (bios, or hardware button), it disable the entire wireless interface and neither work, and the wireless will not work reliably with both running. so i'm stuck using b. (and it took me a week to figure this out and turn it on, as i have the internal card disabled by default!)"

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/11/03/ubuntu_8_dot_one_review/comments/

I've found that as long as I cancel the authentication dialogue when NM tries to connect via the internal card, everything is OK and NM continues to use the external card. I would still like to be able to tell NM not to use the internal card. It would also be good to have the authentication dialogue explain which card is trying to connect, because at the moment I have no idea if it's the internal or external card.

If I do click on 'Connect', NM will try to connect for a minute of so, then report a connection when none exists, as described above. Trying to connect back to the external card produces an identical authentication dialogue to that for the internal card, so it's impossible to tell what is asking for authentication.

I've also noticed that the buttons in NM seem to be behaving in a random fashion. Whatever button I hover over with the mouse is filled in. Hovering over NM manager can result in the external card button checked, the internal card button checked, both checked or neither checked- apparently without any result in the way connections are handled.

I hope these further observation are useful.

[Donald Broatch (donaldbroatch)]

The Wicd network manager (which I'm currently using) has a switch for the wireless interface, so I can choose which card to uses. This eliminates any conflict.

Network Manager needs a similar switch.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

Launchpad Bug Tracker wrote:
> You have been subscribed to a public bug:
>
> Ubuntu 8.10.
>
> In Network Manager I have Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] and Belkin
> F5D7050 v4000. The built-in wireless card is useless more than about 6
> feet from the router, so I need the USB receiver.
>
> Sometimes Network Manager picks up a weak signal from the built-in card.
>
> The problem is that Network Manager occasionally shows the signal from
> the built-in card as very strong (even though the laptop has not moved.)
>
> Network Manager then tries to connect to the router via the built in
> card, prompts for a password and reports that the computer is connected
> when it isn't. Network Manager then seems to try connecting via the
> built-in and USB wireless simultaneously, with two requests for
> passwords and 'connected' messages when there is no connection. Network
> Manager then sometimes crashes completely.
>
> I could disable the built-in wireless card from the Windows partition in
> Ubuntu 8.04, but in 8.10 this results in 'Enable Wireless' being greyed
> out.
>
> To summarise the bug: the signal strength indicator for the built-in
> wireless card is occasionally reporting a very strong signal which does
> not exist. Network Manager does not seem to be able to handle two
> signals from the same router (one from the built-in card, one from a USB
> receiver) successfully.
>
> Maybe that's two bugs?
>
> I've attached a screen shot which shows Network Manager reporting a 100%
> signal from Intel Pro Wireless- when the laptop was 9m from the router,
> and an accurate reading would be ~5% signal strength at best- and both
> the Intel Pro Wireless 3945ABG [Golan] and Belkin F5D7050 v4000 buttons
> 'on', just before problems arose.
>
>
i think there are multiple points here:

 1. you want finer control about enabling/disabling devices in NM
 2. also you have issues with the drivers as they report bad signal
strength ... which is in turn used by NM to find the best connection.
 3. also you might not like the idea thta NM automatically switches to a
"better" network, so you want a better policy.

which part do you want to use this bug for?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for network-manager (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]