dell studio xps 13 wifi weakness issues 9.04 Jaunty

[nynoah]

Ok I am typing on my old laptop. I have a strange problem with my new Dell xps studio 13. The Wifi driver on it is not working correctly. I can get my wifi to work but for some reason the signal is EXTREMELY weak. I can get a great signal when I boot into windows. So I know it is not a card issue but rather a driver issue. Even then the signal on my old lap top is really strong. On my old laptop. I have 4 out of 5 bars. On my Dell xps I have next to NONE. It takes like 10 mins to even get it to get a lock. Does anyone know what I can do to fix this. I trying to use Ndiswrapper to install the windows driver. But I can not figure out how to do that. Because it always says driver not working. So I may not be stearing Ndis to the right place. This problem is also present in Kubuntu too.

This is for Ubuntu 9.04

This the card I have that is listed on the Dell site.

Wireless Networking Cards
Dell Wireless 1510 802.11n Half Mini-Card

Any suggestions?
Thanks

[nynoah (coadventure75)]

This is 64bit Ubuntu

card says dw 1515

[nynoah (coadventure75)]

iwconfig says this

wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:"miranda"
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
          Tx-Power=20 dBm
          Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

[nynoah (coadventure75)]

rachele@rachele-laptop:~$ ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:22:19:dd:a6:34
          UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
          Interrupt:19 Base address:0xc000

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
          RX packets:776 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:776 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:63312 (63.3 KB) TX bytes:63312 (63.3 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:22:5f:62:47:13
          inet addr:192.168.1.137 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::222:5fff:fe62:4713/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:738 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:844 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:624335 (624.3 KB) TX bytes:154097 (154.0 KB)

wmaster0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr 00-22-5F-62-47-13-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00-00
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

rachele@rachele-laptop:~$

[nynoah (coadventure75)]

[ 777.718665] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 2 (2417Mhz) flags 0x300e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 777.718673] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 778.110087] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 3 (2422Mhz) flags 0x300e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 778.110109] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 778.501942] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 4 (2427Mhz) flags 0x300e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 778.501947] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 778.781092] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 5 (2432Mhz) flags 0x700e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 778.781097] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 779.185116] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 6 (2437Mhz) flags 0x700e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 779.185178] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 779.579631] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 7 (2442Mhz) flags 0x700e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 779.579638] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 779.857574] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 8 (2447Mhz) flags 0x500e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 779.857598] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 780.249515] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 9 (2452Mhz) flags 0x500e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 780.249577] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 780.642264] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 10 (2457Mhz) flags 0x500e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 780.642271] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 781.034217] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 11 (2462Mhz) flags 0x500e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 781.034321] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 781.317968] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 36 (5180Mhz) flags 0x30142 hal status 4294967291
[ 781.318025] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 781.671692] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 40 (5200Mhz) flags 0x50142 hal status 4294967291
[ 781.671701] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 782.019688] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 44 (5220Mhz) flags 0x30142 hal status 4294967291
[ 782.019697] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 782.367690] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 48 (5240Mhz) flags 0x50142 hal status 4294967291
[ 782.367747] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 782.715258] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 149 (5745Mhz) flags 0x30142 hal status 4294967291
[ 782.715266] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 783.063354] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 153 (5765Mhz) flags 0x50142 hal status 4294967291
[ 783.063440] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 783.411249] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 157 (5785Mhz) flags 0x30142 hal status 4294967291
[ 783.411307] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 783.759287] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 161 (5805Mhz) flags 0x50142 hal status 4294967291
[ 783.759296] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 784.107344] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 165 (5825Mhz) flags 0x10142 hal status 4294967291
[ 784.107443] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 784.455459] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 11 (2462Mhz) flags 0x500e2 hal status 4294967291
[ 784.455516] ath9k_config: Unable to set channel
[ 789.485509] ath_set_channel: unable to reset channel 1 (2412Mhz) flags 0x300e2 h...

[nynoah (coadventure75)]

rachele@rachele-laptop:~$ sudo lshw -C network
  *-network
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: MCP79 Ethernet
       vendor: nVidia Corporation
       physical id: a
       bus info: pci@0000:00:0a.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: b1
       serial: 00:22:19:dd:a6:34
       capacity: 1GB/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 66MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd 1000bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=forcedeth driverversion=0.61 latency=0 link=no maxlatency=20 mingnt=1 module=forcedeth multicast=yes port=MII
  *-network
       description: Wireless interface
       product: AR928X Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express)
       vendor: Atheros Communications Inc.
       physical id: 0
       bus info: pci@0000:06:00.0
       logical name: wmaster0
       version: 01
       serial: 00:22:5f:62:47:13
       width: 64 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm msi pciexpress msix bus_master cap_list logical ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ath9k ip=192.168.1.137 latency=0 module=ath9k multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn
  *-network DISABLED
       description: Ethernet interface
       physical id: 2
       logical name: pan0
       serial: f6:0b:ad:43:88:d2
       capabilities: ethernet physical
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=bridge driverversion=2.3 firmware=N/A link=yes multicast=yes
rachele@rachele-laptop:~$

[Jon47 (j-zuckerman)]

I was able to get this to work by enabling the proprietary drivers and making sure that the goddamn wireless switch on the physical machine was set to "ON". I had no idea this machine even had a switch, nor how it got set to "OFF" but it is a laptop, I stuff it into and out of my backpack any number of times during the day.

Nynoah, can you confirm that your wireless switch is set on? on my box, it's on the left hand side panel, right next to the HDMI input.

[nachomp (nachomp)]

Same problem here. Dell XPS Studio 13, Ubuntu 9.04 64-bit and I am sitting by my WRT300N (v2) AP. While Vista connects me to it at 130 Mbps, I can only do it at 54 Mbps.

Besides, signal power is only 76% (and I am only 2 metres away), while in Vista I get 100%.

Can anybody please provide me a solution for this? How are "proprietary drivers" enabled, Jon47?

Thanks in advance!

[icantcontrol (icantcontrol)]

I have similar problem. On my HP laptop i get signal 40% and on sony vaio only 20-24% at the same location.Both have intel b/g type wifi device. If boot into vista the wifi signal boost to 60-80%. Why ubuntu shows always shows a low signal in every laptop.

[Chaitanya (chaitanya-lala)]

I also have a similar issue. I have a Dell XPS Studio 13 with Ubuntu 8.10 on it. The WEP wireless connects, but
1.) The signal is low.
2.) Once you manually disconnect the wireless, it does not re-connect. It keeps asking for the WEP key but does not connect. After a reboot, it connects within a few minutes.
3.) I get an IP on wlan0 but its not able to ping to the default gw. There is no such problem when I connect with the wired n/w. The router is fine as I have 3 other computers running.

[penzoiders (fungoiders)]

Same problem here. Dell XPS Studio 13, Ubuntu 9.04 64-bit

[Nathan (signup)]

And again. Ubuntu 9.04 64-bit, WPA. Not tried anything other than that but have the same problem with weak signals. Haven't seen anything over 50%.

[Fredrik Westmark (fredrik-westmark)]

Same here. Ubuntu 9.04 32-bit. Dell XPS Studio 13. Came with Vista which I booted once, entered WPA key and connected without no hassle whatsoever. Now running Dell's 9.04 iso(tried regular too). After reboot I get two green dots with WEP but then it fails almost every time. I can get connected if I'm lucky, but it usually disconnects after a while.

Can post logs if you tell me what you need(not very Linux savvy)

[lucasdall (lucasdall)]

Same problem here. Dell XPS Studio 13, Ubuntu 9.04 64-bit...

Weak signals, unstable conections, etc...
===============================================================
lucas@ldainfo-note:~$ uname -a
Linux ldainfo-note 2.6.29-020629-generic #020629 SMP Tue Mar 24 11:23:53 UTC 2009 x86_64 GNU/Linux

wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:"ldainfo"
          Mode:Managed Frequency:2.437 GHz Access Point: 00:1C:10:87:C0:0A
          Bit Rate=54 Mb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm
          Retry min limit:7 RTS thr:off Fragment thr=2352 B
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality=86/100 Signal level:-51 dBm
          Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

[Massimo Mund (qos)]

Confirmed, Dell Xps Studio 13, Ubuntu 9.04 64-bit, Dell Wireless 1510 802.11n Half Mini-Card, same issues ...

Good damn, this is so annoying ...

[Fredrik Westmark (fredrik-westmark)]

I resolved my issues by installing linux-backports-modules-2.6.28-14-generic. My connection has been near flawless since.

/Fredrik

[Massimo Mund (qos)]

Guys, my wifi is fine now. There are 2 problems with it. One with the driver itself, another with the network-manager. See my comment here:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/333730/comments/32

[komputes (komputes)]

This seems like bug #289356

Can you please test Ubuntu 9.10 (karmic) and if you still have this issue, please re-open it as confirmed.

[nynoah (coadventure75)]

Issue is still present in 9.10. Even with backports turned on. Basically what I think the problem is, is that Ubuntu is not properly using the Wifi. Like it is not recognizing the inputs for the antenna or for some form of booster. signal is 50% less on Ubuntu thant windows.

[N3uro5i5 (n3uro5i5)]

Same problem here.

Using ubuntu karmic 64 bits, ubuntu studio xps m1340

[r4v3n (r4v3n27)]

Installing linux-backports-modules-2.6.28-17-generic and upgrading to the latest version of network manager 0.7.0.100 seems to have fixed my problem

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

This bug report was marked as Incomplete and has not had any updated comments for quite some time. As a result this bug is being closed. Please reopen if this is still an issue in the current Ubuntu release http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download . Also, please be sure to provide any requested information that may have been missing. To reopen the bug, click on the current status under the Status column and change the status back to "New". Thanks.

[This is an automated message. Apologies if it has reached you inappropriately; please just reply to this message indicating so.]