Problems with Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100 agn, with wifi "n" connection

[akyra]

Dear all,

I’m using Ubuntu Jaunty 64 bits and I have a problem in my laptop (Toshiba Satellite A500-141 with Intel Corporation Wireless WiFi Link 5100 agn) with the wifi “n” connection.

When starts my laptop the Network Manager shows established connection but if I do a ping command to 192.168.1.2 (it's the router) the answer delay until 46 seconds. After this firts ping the answer time reduce until 2ms. Also, disconnections happen regulary (but network manager shows the connection established) but the ping delay until 40 seconds one more time.

If I connect with wifi "b" or cable, works fine and Vista wifi “n” connection works fine too.

I try to install the intel driver, but after copy the driver "cp iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode /lib/firmware" what is the next step? Actually I have iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode installed.

The lspci command return:
jordi@jordi-laptop:~$ lspci -nn | grep Network
14:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless WiFi Link 5100 [8086:4232]

and this is the ping results:
jordi@jordi-laptop:~$ ping 192.168.2.1
PING 192.168.2.1 (192.168.2.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
From 192.168.2.3 icmp_seq=28 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.2.3 icmp_seq=29 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.2.3 icmp_seq=30 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.2.3 icmp_seq=31 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.2.3 icmp_seq=32 Destination Host Unreachable
From 192.168.2.3 icmp_seq=33 Destination Host Unreachable
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=46189 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=45188 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=44188 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=43188 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=5 ttl=64 time=42189 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=6 ttl=64 time=41187 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=7 ttl=64 time=40188 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=8 ttl=64 time=39188 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=9 ttl=64 time=38188 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=10 ttl=64 time=37189 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=11 ttl=64 time=36188 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=12 ttl=64 time=35188 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=13 ttl=64 time=34189 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=14 ttl=64 time=33188 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=15 ttl=64 time=32188 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=48 ttl=64 time=2.44 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=49 ttl=64 time=2.47 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.2.1: icmp_seq=50 ttl=64 time=2.79 ms


Thak you very much in advanced, and sorry my english.

[akyra]

Hi all,
I try to install the new intel firmware "iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode", but I don't know how.
I've done: "sudo cp iwlwifi-5000-ucode-8.24.2.12 (2)/iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode /lib/firmware", but, what is the next step?
This is console result:
jordi@jordi-ubuntu:~$ uname -r
2.6.28-15-generic
jordi@jordi-ubuntu:~$ dmesg | grep iwl
[ 11.269247] iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
[ 11.269250] iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2009 Intel Corporation
[ 11.269335] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
[ 11.269343] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: setting latency timer to 64
[ 11.269375] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100AGN REV=0x54
[ 11.291255] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 24 802.11a channels
[ 11.291325] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: irq 2296 for MSI/MSI-X
[ 11.294866] phy0: Selected rate control algorithm 'iwl-agn-rs'
[ 23.622760] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: firmware: requesting lbm-iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode
[ 23.710974] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: loaded firmware version 5.4.1.16
[ 23.866506] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::radio
[ 23.866524] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::assoc
[ 23.866538] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::RX
[ 23.866551] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::TX
[ 54.361843] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: index 0 not used in uCode key table.
[ 293.541276] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = ffff88013e5ae740 tid = 0
[ 293.541332] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: HW queue is empty
[14096.921265] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = ffff88012c079740 tid = 0
[14096.921325] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: HW queue is empty

Thank you very much in advanced

[chili555]

This is a problem that I don't understand, but it may be related to the firmware:

iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 24 802.11a channels

We don't see that any 'n' channels listed as tunable.

The card wants iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode, but can't find it and so it loads 5.4.1.16 instead. Perhaps the 5.4.1.16 firmware doesn't provide 'n' capabilities. Please check with:

ls -al /lib/firmware | grep 5000

Do you have iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode there? Is it readable by all, like this?

-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 345008 2009-04-02 17:46 iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode

Please post back and we'll try to get you going.

[akyra]

Hi Chilli

This is the console results:

jordi@jordi-ubuntu:~$ ls -al /lib/firmware | grep 5000
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 345008 2009-04-02 23:46 iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode
-rw-r--r-- 1 root root 353240 2009-04-23 21:28 iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode
jordi@jordi-ubuntu:~$

Actually I'm connected to my route (belkin N1 Vision) and teorically the network is b,g,n, and I'm connected in channel 11.

Thank you very much.

[chili555]

I try to install the intel driver

Can you provide us a link to the driver you tried to install? Did something go wrong with the install? It looks like the stock, inbuilt driver is being loaded and it's requesting iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode instead of iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode. May we assume you tried the Intel driver to try to solve your slow pings?

Have you installed linux-backports-jaunty-generic? It evidently contains a newer iwlagn driver, as well as microcode. It is available through Synaptic.

teorically the network is b,g,n

What does iwconfig say your bit rate is? 54Mb/s? That's certainly not 'n'.

[akyra]

Hi,

Can you provide us a link to the driver you tried to install?

This is the download link: http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/?n=Downloads and you can find the " iwlwifi-5000-ucode-8.24.2.12.tgz" firmware.

Did something go wrong with the install?

I follow the instructions, well, I only done "sudo cp iwlwifi-5000-ucode-8.24.2.12 (2)/iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode /lib/firmware", but I think that is not enough, but I dont know wich is the next step (compile the firmware??)

Have you installed linux-backports-jaunty-generic?

I've installed "linux-backports-modules-jaunty-generic" (I think that is ok).

May we assume you tried the Intel driver to try to solve your slow pings?

Yes, I tried, and also I try to solve the periodic disconnections.

What does iwconfig say your bit rate is? 54Mb/s? That's certainly not 'n'.

Really doesn't is wifi "n".
In this link you can find a router configuration:
http://www.badongo.com/pic/7223176

Thank you very much.

[chili555]

I follow the instructions, well, I only done "sudo cp iwlwifi-5000-ucode-8.24.2.12 (2)/iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode /lib/firmware", but I think that is not enough, but I dont know wich is the next step (compile the firmware??)

That would simply copy the entire folder, containing the firmware, the README and the license to /lib/firmware. The driver cannot find it if it's inside a folder. However, you do have the -2.ucode in there, probably from the installation of backports.

Really doesn't is wifi "n".

I don't really understand this, I guess something got lost between Spain and South Carolina, USA. When you open a terminal and run:

iwconfig wlan0

What is the bit rate? Can you please post the output of iwconfig?

you can find a router configuration

It looks like you have the router set correctly to connect at 'n' speeds if the wireless card negotiates it; the question is, is it or not? Why not? iwconfig will help us.

[akyra]

Hi chili555,

That would simply copy the entire folder, containing the firmware, the README and the license to /lib/firmware.

I've only copied the "iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode" firmware file, I haven't copied the license, neither all the folder. It's necessary?

jordi@jordi-ubuntu:~$ ls /lib/firmware/iw*
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-3945-1.ucode /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-4965-2.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-3945-2.ucode /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode
/lib/firmware/iwlwifi-4965-1.ucode /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode

I don't really understand this, I guess something got lost between Spain and South Carolina, USA

Sure! It was in the atlantic ocean.

What is the bit rate? Can you please post the output of iwconfig?

jordi@jordi-ubuntu:~$ iwconfig wlan0
wlan0 IEEE 802.11abgn ESSID:"Jordi_Belkin_N1"
Mode:Managed Frequency:2.462 GHz Access Point: 00:1CF:C6:1C:F8
Bit Rate=60 Mb/s Tx-Power=15 dBm
Retry min limit:7 RTS thrff Fragment thr=2352 B
Power Managementff
Link Quality=70/70 Signal level=-14 dBm Noise level=-85 dBm
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

This are the instructions to install the new firmware (from intel), but I don't understand.

2. INSTALLATION

The iwlagn driver will look for the file iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode using the
kernel's firmware_loader infrastructure. In order to function
correctly, you need to have this support enabled in your kernel. When
you configure the kernel, you can find this option in the following
location:

Device Drivers ->
Generic Driver Options ->
Hotplug firmware loading support


You can determine if your kernel currently has firmware loader support
by looking for the CONFIG_FW_LOADER definition on your kernel's
.config.

In addition to having the firmware_loader support in your kernel, you
must also have a working hotplug and udev infrastructure configured.
The steps for installing and configuring hotplug and udev are very
distribution specific.

Once you have the firmware loader in place (or if you aren't sure and
you just want to try things to see if it works), you need to install
the microcode file into the appropriate location.

Where that appropriate location is depends (again) on your system
distribution. You can typically find this location by looking in the
hotplug configuration file for your distro:

% grep \"^FIRMWARE_DIR\" /etc/hotplug/firmware.agent

This should give you output like:

FIRMWARE_DIR=/lib/firmware

If it lists more than one directory, you only need to put the
microcode in one of them. In the above example, installation is
simply:

% cp iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode /lib/firmware

You can now load the driver (see the INSTALL and README.iwlwifi provided with
the iwlwifi package for information on building and using that driver.)

Thank you for your patience.

[chili555]

I haven't copied the license, neither all the folder. It's necessary?

No. Your /lib/firmware file looks just perfect.

Bit Rate=60 Mb/s

Your bit rate is in the 'n' range, but still low. Your signal strength is as high as it can get, so we would expect that the bit rate would be higher still.

After I studied the instructions you linked us to, it appears to me that this firmware will be asked for by the driver that can be downloaded on the same page. However, I do not think it is appropriate for you because it is version 1.2.25 and the version installed in Jaunty is 1.3.27. I can't imagine that reverting to an older version will fix anything.

As well, the instructions say the driver is only for kernels 2.6.18 to 2.6.23. My kernel, and, I suspect yours, is 2.6.28-15. You can find out with:

uname -r

There is doubt that the older driver would even build and install correctly if it's built for an older kernel. Why is there not a newer version on Intel's site, you ask? I suspect it's because they believe the driver and firmware associated with the current kernel is the best.

I am convinced that we must look elsewhere, aside from the driver and ucode, to try to solve your pings and disconnects. When you ping and it takes a long time, please do:

sudo cat /var/log/messages | grep iwl

Let's see what the system tells us.

As far as this:

2. INSTALLATION

The iwlagn driver will look for the file iwlwifi-5000-2.ucode using the
kernel's firmware_loader infrastructure. In order to function
correctly, you need to have this support enabled in your kernel. Etc.

You can ignore all this. We know that the driver is loading the firmware.

[akyra]

Hi,

uname -r

jordi@jordi-ubuntu:~$ uname -r
2.6.28-15-generic

After I studied the instructions you linked us to, it appears to me that this firmware will be asked for by the driver that can be downloaded on the same page. However, I do not think it is appropriate for you because it is version 1.2.25 and the version installed in Jaunty is 1.3.27. I can't imagine that reverting to an older version will fix anything.

Yes, I agree with the driver, but I don't understand why de firmare loaded is "lbm-iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode" (I put in the second message):
[ 23.622760] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: firmware: requesting lbm-iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode
[ 23.710974] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: loaded firmware version 5.4.1.16

Why is there not a newer version on Intel's site, you ask?

I dont find new drivers version on Intel's site. All the information that I've found, are in http://www.intellinuxwireless.org/?n=Downloads
I understand that the new drivers are inclusive with the kernel. Is it correct?

This are the results (sudo cat /var/log/messages | grep iwl):

jordi@jordi-ubuntu:~$ sudo cat /var/log/messages | grep iwl
Sep 27 16:53:25 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 11.788445] iwlagn: Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link AGN driver for Linux, 1.3.27ks
Sep 27 16:53:25 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 11.788449] iwlagn: Copyright(c) 2003-2009 Intel Corporation
Sep 27 16:53:25 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 11.788541] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: PCI INT A -> GSI 19 (level, low) -> IRQ 19
Sep 27 16:53:25 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 11.788601] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: Detected Intel Wireless WiFi Link 5100AGN REV=0x54
Sep 27 16:53:25 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 11.810277] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: Tunable channels: 13 802.11bg, 24 802.11a channels
Sep 27 16:53:33 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 23.637777] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: firmware: requesting lbm-iwlwifi-5000-1.ucode
Sep 27 16:53:33 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 23.696622] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: loaded firmware version 5.4.1.16
Sep 27 16:53:33 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 23.851485] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::radio
Sep 27 16:53:33 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 23.851504] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::assoc
Sep 27 16:53:33 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 23.851518] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::RX
Sep 27 16:53:33 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 23.851532] Registered led device: iwl-phy0::TX
Sep 27 17:11:28 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 1100.754535] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = ffff88012ac91340 tid = 0
Sep 27 17:14:10 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 1262.435826] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = ffff880131475b40 tid = 0

And this is the result from /var/log/messages:

Sep 27 17:14:10 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 1262.435826] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = ffff880131475b40 tid = 0
Sep 27 17:15:27 jordi-ubuntu kernel: [ 1339.727804] iwlagn 0000:14:00.0: iwl_tx_agg_start on ra = ffff88011540d340 tid = 0

Thank you very much.