Salix Forums

So that proves it's not a problem with salix and it's not a problem with the wireless card. Something else is wrong with your network. What I told you about multiple devices (not only PCs, it could be phones/tablets/anything that can get an IP) having the same IP is a possibility. Or maybe your wireless router is dying.

What type of encryption are you using? You mention a "bad password" notification, and I was wondering if you'd tried it with the authentication turned off? Some cards (not limited to, but especially cheaper cards) don't like certain flavors of WPA.

Try turning off encryption entirely on your router and leaving it open (not for a week or anything; just to test). Does the problem still persist without the encryption?

If so, you may have, as gapan mentioned, a bad router.

You know what is NOT the problem:
- The wireless card is fine, or the Ralink would have fixed it.
- Salix isn't the problem, or Live Mint would have fixed it.

That leaves three commonly probable options: a problem with the router itself, a problem with your USB ports (unlikely, but bad voltage *can* cause WiFi errors. You can test that theory with the Ralink, your son's laptop, and the Mint Live disc you made) or something else connected to the router, and on the network causing mischief.

Also, if you have any hacker friends close by, they could be hammering you with a de-authent and Aireplay-NG or something, but the possibility's pretty miniscule.

Out of curiosity, is your router a Belkin? I've seen some WPA problems with Belkin routers vis-a-vis certain network cards. (Also noticed it with some Tenda routers, though I rather like using the latter for small public non-encrypted wifi hotspots, as they're really cheap and semi-durable for the price).

In summary:
Try it out without any security/encryption. If that doesn't work, try out the Ralink on your son's comp with a Linux live disc. If the problem still persists, it's most likely your router.

HalfNote5 wrote:That leaves three commonly probable options

I've got another one. Of course, there's the possibility that there is some general issue with the linux kernel that is causing that problem. If so, most likely triggered by your hardware combination (e.g. the router) or a poor implementation somewhere involved.

gapan wrote:So that proves it's not a problem with salix and it's not a problem with the wireless card. Something else is wrong with your network. What I told you about multiple devices (not only PCs, it could be phones/tablets/anything that can get an IP) having the same IP is a possibility. Or maybe your wireless router is dying.

I agree, I think it is a combanation of laptop, wifi card, and router. I have been using linuxmint on a liveusb and wifi has been doing very well. It has only dropped me a couple of times.

HalfNote5 wrote:What type of encryption are you using? You mention a "bad password" notification, and I was wondering if you'd tried it with the authentication turned off? Some cards (not limited to, but especially cheaper cards) don't like certain flavors of WPA.

Try turning off encryption entirely on your router and leaving it open (not for a week or anything; just to test). Does the problem still persist without the encryption?

If so, you may have, as gapan mentioned, a bad router.

You know what is NOT the problem:
- The wireless card is fine, or the Ralink would have fixed it.
- Salix isn't the problem, or Live Mint would have fixed it.

That leaves three commonly probable options: a problem with the router itself, a problem with your USB ports (unlikely, but bad voltage *can* cause WiFi errors. You can test that theory with the Ralink, your son's laptop, and the Mint Live disc you made) or something else connected to the router, and on the network causing mischief.

Also, if you have any hacker friends close by, they could be hammering you with a de-authent and Aireplay-NG or something, but the possibility's pretty miniscule.

Out of curiosity, is your router a Belkin? I've seen some WPA problems with Belkin routers vis-a-vis certain network cards. (Also noticed it with some Tenda routers, though I rather like using the latter for small public non-encrypted wifi hotspots, as they're really cheap and semi-durable for the price).

In summary:
Try it out without any security/encryption. If that doesn't work, try out the Ralink on your son's comp with a Linux live disc. If the problem still persists, it's most likely your router.

If the router was bad then I would not be able to connect while running windows. I will try with out encryption and see if that makes a difference. The router is a att 2wire uverse gatway.

You could test Shador's theory by upgrading the kernel. But I bet Linux Mint has a more recent kernel than Slackware.

Lady Gaga, are you a bot? If not, please try and keep your posts relevant to the thread. It's great if you find the forum useful, but there is a place on it for making comments like that.

mimosa wrote:You could test Shador's theory by upgrading the kernel.

Not necessarily. There's no guarantee a newer kernel has the respective changes.

kelean wrote:If the router was bad then I would not be able to connect while running windows

Not necessarily too. If a device is/gets bad it might behave not standards-conformant. So some interacting software might work while others don't.

I would like to thank everyone for there help. I am convinced that the problems I am having is a combination of my laptop wifi card. I do not think it my router as I can connect with two different laptops running XP with no problems. I can also connect with another lapto[using crunchbang linux with a ralink wifi card with no problems.

I am going to have a friend check out the laptop and wifi card.

Once again thanks for the help, kelean.

One last thing - if you truly want to eliminate your router as the cause, take the laptop somewhere and try to connect to a different router. If it's stable, you might yet have some weirdness in the router somewhere.

I've seen a lot of routers do a lot of strange things. I had one that would drop the 4th person connected to it every 5 minutes or so. Not the 5th, and not the 6th. Just every 4th person. Slight flaws in a chip will produce some truly bizarre results sometimes.

That said, it may very well be the combo of your lappy and the wifi card. If your friend has a multitester and a USB adapter, try checking the voltage on the port.

Other than that, I'd like to wish you good luck in getting it resolved. Pop back in, and let us know how it goes (or if some new info presents itself). = )

Cheers!