# Wireless problem - disconnect

## SomeoneHere

Hi

I've got USB wireless network card (ralink). Generally it works ok (no WPA, no WEP), but randomly it disconnects. One of reasons was some timeout (I've done changes in kernel according to http://www.mikegerwitz.com/2008/10/15/ralink-wireless-random-disconnects-no-proberesp and it partially helped - now i have disconnect every few hours instead of half an hour. Is that possible to fix it completly?

Dmesg output:

[11089.159659] No probe response from APXXXXXXXX after 100000ms, disconnecting.

[11089.167696] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain

and that's all - connection is hanging - I have to reset it manually

Wireless is working (another computer with WinXP is working fine) so I assume that network is generally ok.

Thanks in advance

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## audiodef

You might need to set some option somewhere to not check against a static DNS. I had a similar problem recently, using wicd, and once I unchecked that option it was fine.

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## gerdesj

What sort of WiFi bridge is it?

The dmesg output implies that the bridge/router is failing to respond to a probe request which is the actual problem rather than your USB card.

It may be possible to turn off these probes and assume the link is up - that may be what the WinXP is doing.  Try modinfo <name of usb wifi driver> and see if there is a parameter for something like that.

Alternatively, it is actually worth grepping the source code for the driver to see how it works.  Quite often there are comments describing what they do and in some cases in words that us non kernel developers can actually understand. Even if it does not answer your particular question, you will discover something usefull and you will have been able to take advantage of one of the reasons that Linux is important - you get to see the source.  

Start at /usr/src/linux and explore start with your error message or bits of it and see what comes up.  The error is generated in there somewhere ...

If you tell me exactly what driver you are using I'll have a look (eg dmesg | grep ralink or realtek)

Cheers

Jon

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## SomeoneHere

 *audiodef wrote:*   

> You might need to set some option somewhere to not check against a static DNS. I had a similar problem recently, using wicd, and once I unchecked that option it was fine.

 

How can I turn it off? (I don't use wicd)

cat /etc/conf.d/net

config_wlan0=( "192.168.1.111/24" )

routes_wlan0=( "default via 192.168.1.1" )

modules=( "iwconfig" )

essid_wlan0="xxx"

lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by

rt2800usb               9172  0

rt2800lib              19757  1 rt2800usb

rt2x00usb               6946  2 rt2800usb,rt2800lib

rt2x00lib              20956  2 rt2800lib,rt2x00usb

crc_ccitt               1201  1 rt2800usb

Router is Linksys WRT54GL (no changes in firmware)

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## audiodef

That's a good question. I just did a little searching and didn't find anything offhand. The info might be in man iwconfig (or another man page). 

Next time I use wicd, I'll try to remember to run it from a terminal and watch the output to see if it shows what's being changed.

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## SomeoneHere

I decided to change wireless card. What would you recommend (cheap and working without problems?  :Smile:  ). What do you think of something on ATHEROS AR5524?

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## audiodef

I'm not sure that will solve your problems, if that's why you've decided you want a different card. But if you're gung-ho for it, do some searching for (the card you want) + Linux. 

I very vaguely recall seeing something about problems with Atheros, although I think my mom's laptop, on which I've put Gentoo, has one and I don't have any trouble with it. But do that search anyway. It's a good sign if the manufacturer states on their own web site that they either support Linux or have tested that card on Linux with positive results.

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