From: "Carl Gehr" Received: from [192.168.100.201] (account carl.gehr@mcgcg.com HELO localhost) by 2rosenthals.com (CommuniGate Pro SMTP 5.1.16) with ESMTPA id 2475348 for ecs-t6x@2rosenthals.com; Mon, 18 May 2009 02:00:35 -0400 To: "eCS ThinkPad T60/61 Mailing List" Date: Mon, 18 May 2009 02:00:23 -0400 (EDT) Reply-To: "Carl Gehr" Priority: Normal X-Mailer: PMMail 2.20.2382 for OS/2 Warp 4.5 In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Subject: Re: [eCS T60/T61] T60: Disconnect between xWLan and Router/AP Message-ID: Hi, Chuck... On Sun, 17 May 2009 22:16:27 -0600, Chuck McKinnis wrote: >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. Yes, it's the latest firmware. If anything, I almost suspect the latest firmware that I installed several months before this started. The 'problem' is that this disconnect behavior did not start immeiately after the upgrade. Also, as I mentioned, the problem occurs when I am in other locations where the router and the rest of the local network is completely different. >Have you tried powering the router off and on? In some of my failures, >that did the trick. Yes, I do this occasionally. Very rarely does it help. >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. I've not investigated DD-WRT. But, again, I'm hesitant to suspect the router.