Wireless Network Is Getting Weird...

On my laptop with an "Intel PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN Network Connection" on wlan0, I'm getting the most bizarre behavior:
- it detects the wireless networks properly and connects without errors. The issue is that it does not transfer any data over an unsecured network I have available at home. It worked just fine up to 2 weeks ago... On another Windows laptop I have it transfers just fine.
- more weird than that is that when I'm running Windows XP Home as a guest OS on VirtualBOX I get to transfer data with the virtual machine but not with the host system :angry:
- I use 5 wireless networks: 1 at home, 3 at the university and 1 at the public library; and this last week it started losing connection randomly, forcing me to reboot the machine over and over in order to get the signal back on. Even though some times it does not get anything.

Should I reinstall openSuSE, or are there any packages that must be reinstalled?
As far as Yast "tells me" the system has all the latest packages...

Best regards.

please
add more informstion
opensuse release, output of ifconfig command, etc..

Ciao Roberto60!

I'm using OpenSuse 10.3 x86_64, kernel 2.6.22.13-0.3-default, KDE 3.5.7 "release 72.4".

The output of the ifconfig command is:
<blockquote>eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr **cut**
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 )</blockquote>
<blockquote>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:1759 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:1759 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:112309 (109.6 Kb) TX bytes:112309 (109.6 Kb)</blockquote>
<blockquote>
wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr **cut**
inet addr:**cut** Bcast:**cut** Mask:**cut**
inet6 addr: **cut** Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:38335 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:29352 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:39861560 (38.0 Mb) TX bytes:3998780 (3.8 Mb)</blockquote>
<blockquote>wmaster0 Link encap:UNSPEC HWaddr **cut**
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 )
</blockquote>

What annoys me the most is the random behavior: it works just fine for 2 hours, then suddenly it stops without any error message, then you reboot and it still doesn't work but after another 2 hours it rolls on again...

Another thing is that happened was that the KNetwork Manager on the system bar was showing the not connected icon (the little "x") and the web pages were loading on Firefox! (and there were new pages, so no cache...)

I'll try to re-install the KNetwork Manager...

In the meanwhile if some one can provide with further advice I'd be very very appreciated!

BR.

Well, the problem is not yet solved, I re-installed KnetworkManager and the network, even though detected and connected, does not transfer information. When it does is at a low 0.1 to 0.2 kb/s.

I tried to "refresh" the wlan0 network (through YaST) and found out that the firewall was on "prevent all data transfer" mode! I don't make the slightest idea of how it got onto this state. So I changed to a more open option that enables communication and it started transferring something, still slow, but at about 10kb/s.
After a few hours it stopped working again, and now the firewall is on the correct (I believe) mode.

Can anyone give help me on this? I'm seriously considering a full disk format and re-install openSuSE 10.3 from zero!

Situation update:
- suddenly the wireless got connected (I don't figure out why, as well as I don't now why not :angry: )
- the network is painfully slow (3 to 5 minutes to load a regular web page)

Is there anything I can do?
Please Help!

have you turned off ipv6 ? as this is known to cause slow-downs on network/internet

Andy

have you turned off ipv6 ? as this is known to cause slow-downs on network/internet

Andy
[/b]

Hi Andy,

How can I check/do it?
Sorry, but I'm still far from mastering all the options of the system.

Thank you!

Originally posted by quixote
How can I check/do it?

"To disable or enable IPv6 on an installed system, start YaST, open the Network Devices+Network Card dialog and in the Global Options tab, check or uncheck Enable IPv6."

"To disable or enable IPv6 on an installed system, start YaST, open the Network Devices+Network Card dialog and in the Global Options tab, check or uncheck Enable IPv6."
[/b]

Thanks'! It seems to work.
I hope that this has solved the problem. I'll try to get more information regarding this option as to better understand the situation. Again one thing that really annoys me is the random behaviour, that prevents from finding the cause.

Thanks'! It seems to work.
I hope that this has solved the problem. I'll try to get more information regarding this option as to better understand the situation. Again one thing that really annoys me is the random behaviour, that prevents from finding the cause.
[/b]

Well, in the end everything stayed more or less the same: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Today, as a last option, I've formated the HD and re-installed from scratch openSuSE 10.3 64bit (KDE), from the original DVD.
After installation the system went on smoothly (as I recalled from the last months of usage). I made some updates (virtualbox, openoffice) and some fresh installs (tellico, kbib, kdar, kchmviewer, multimedia codecs), and the system kept on like a swiss clock.
Then I've passed on to updating the kernel form the original 2.6.22.5-31_x86-64-default to the 2.6.22.16-0.1_x86-64-default. One particular point I've noticed was that the "iwlwifi-kmp-default - Intel Wireless Link WiFi drivers" would also be updated. I clicked "next" and after rebooting the problem was there again! No internet access through the wlan0.
Pushed back onto the previous version of the kernel and "iwlwifi-kmp-default - Intel Wireless Link WiFi drivers" and it started working fine.
Seems like there is some bug on the driver or on its compatibility with the kernel. I'll pass on the message to the author.

Thanks everyone for your help.