Mailing List ecs-t6x@2rosenthals.com Archived Message #385

From: "Chuck McKinnis" <ecs-t6x@2rosenthals.com> Full Headers
Undecoded message
Subject: Re: [eCS T60/T61] T60: Disconnect between xWLan and Router/AP
Date: Sun, 17 May 2009 22:16:27 -0600
To: eCS ThinkPad T60/61 Mailing List <ecs-t6x@2rosenthals.com>

Carl Gehr wrote:
Pardon the long post, but I'm trying to provide all I know to minimize
the need for follow up questions.

I have been experiencing an on-going problem for several months where
the connection between my TPad T60, eCS 2.0 RC2 + updates, Widget
xWLan,... and my Linksys AP unexpectedly just drops.  The exact problem
has several manifestations:

*  The LED indicator that the radio is ON will begin blinking, usually
   starting with a slow blink, gradually increasing until the widget
   eventually shows that it is no longer connected, but "Searching
   for a connection with the current profile."  At this point, I can
   often move the 'radio switch' under the lower-left of the KB OFF/ON
   and the connection will be re-established.
*  OTOH, if I miss the blinking and it goes on too long, the blinking
   stops; the LED light is OFF; the 'Searching...' continues, but there
   is no way to get the connection back without a re-boot.  The
physical
   switch OFF/ON does nothing.
*  Sometimes, though, rather than blinking, the LED light is on solid;
   the xWLan is 'Searching...';  but again, the physical switch does
   nothing; and a re-boot is required to recover the connection.

In the first case, where a recovery is possible, the system will just
continue to run as usual.  In the latter two cases, most of the time
the system will continue to do anything except a function that requires
the network connection.  Less often, with the latter two cases, eCenter
may become inoperative [e.g., the CPU Pulse stops working] and attempts
to use eCenter to open a new application from a drawer, to restore
focus to a window or just to re-boot, may end up locking the whole
system.  The only 'recovery' in this case is to Power OFF/ON the whole
system.

Five other pertinent points:
*  When the connection is lost, looking at the lights on the front
   of the Router/AP, shows the 'Wireless' light as ON.  This says
   to me that the AP is active.  Also, this AP is cable connected to
   my primary router that actually has the connection to the Internet.
   PINGs from a PC that is directly connected to that primary router
   gets responses from the WiFi Router/AP.  Recycling the power on the
   AP does not help with this problem.
*  If I move the TPad to a docking station that has a wired connection
   to the primary router, I can switch to the wired connection and
   continue operating.  BUT, an attempt to switch back to the Wireless
   link does not see the AP.
*  Thinking the above was a hardware problem, and since the TPad is
   still under warranty, the WiFi card and the system board have both
   been replaced.  No change in behavior with the new hardware.
*  I have also booted to a USB Flash install of Linux.  While that
   system also experiences the 'flashing LED' for the WiFi radio,
   I have never experienced a case of the connection completely
dropping
   such that it requires a re-boot to get back on-line.
*  I have used this TPad at other locations that have WiFi APs.  I
   have seen the same eCS behavior - flashing LED and lost connections
-
   at those sites also.

I can only conclude, therefore, that it is something with:
a)  eCS or one of its components.
b)  xWLan losing its way and not being able to see the AP.

The questions are:
1)  Why is this happening?
2)  Is there some documentation that I can provide to a network
    guru that will help answer #1?  I obviously have no clue!


I am currently the technical coordinator for the AARP TaxAide program in the Albuquerque area.  During the last tax season, we had about 15 sites with Linksys routers and had problems in at least 1/3 of the sites, all with WinXP networks.  Needless to say, I am not a big Linksys fan.

Are you sure that the router has the latest Linksys firmware?  That was an issue in a couple of the failing sites.

Have you tried powering the router off and on?  In some of my failures, that did the trick.

Have you looked to see if DD-WRT has firmware for your router model? http://www.dd-wrt.com/  On some models, the DD-WRT firmware is far superior to the Linksys firmware.

--
Chuck McKinnis
1449 State Highway 14 N
Sandia Park, NM 87047
505-286-3191
http://www.7cities.net/~mckinnis/
Let not thine heart envy sinners: but be thou in the fear of the Lord all the day long. For surely there is an end; and thine expectation shall not be cut off. Proverbs 23:17,18



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