Comment 208 for bug 1239578

Hello Graham,

I've been following this bug for quite sometime, just out of curiosity. However, many of the comment posts here look like common issues that may or may not be related to this particular bug. Yours sounds similar. Oh, but not really same as #205 (Venkatesha). His was not connecting at all (dmesg suggests a possible Network Manager bug/confusion where it hops between different APs of same SSID before a connection is finally established), while yours at least seems to connect initially. I can't find your attached dmesg (forgot to attach?).

I am actively involved in wifi troubleshooting at ubuntu forums, and this kind of problem, where network (wifi or ethernet) seems to be connected but browsing internet fails. I'm not yet sure about the exact reason but it seems to be like some sort of issue with 'resolvconf' package that is supposed to take care of DNS configuration. In many of such issues, the connection works as soon as 'resolvconf' package is removed or NM (IP, Subnet, Gateway, DNS, or atleast DNS) is manually configured instead of leaving it to DHCP.

Not saying yours must be same, but it *sounds* like above, so the DNS issue is worth checking. Just try to ping first your gateway (AP/router), if successful, try pinging any internet address, for example Google's DNS servers 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. If you get ping reply, it is definitely a DNS issue.

As for the disconnection issue, I frequently need to set driver parameters "fwlps=N" and "ips=N" with almost all realtek drivers these days. I know these options are there to save power on wireless card, thus disabling them may cause unnecessary power drain issue, but disabling them with values "N" frequently seems to solve disconnection issues.

Then there is another issue where the "Power Management" on wireless kicks in automatically and above two options are either not available or don't help. Common with Intel driver, but I think I have seen that with one of the Realtek drivers as well (recently, but don't remember which one). There are other ways to keep it turned off.

I'm posting this just because I think people posting here should be aware that there are also some common issues out there that may be solved by some other ways. For detailed steps on trying the above possible fixes, just check out the "Networking & Wireless" section of Ubuntu Forums. One may find a similar problem with a solution there. Of course they can also post their own thread asking for help, with reference to this bug if they have the same card.

Good Luck,
Varun