Weird Wireless Problem


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Thread: Weird Wireless Problem

  1. #1
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    Weird Wireless Problem

    Yes, this is really software and not hardware. So, my wife trashed her Windows laptop with a lovely virus for the third time this year. I told her that three strikes and she's going to somewhere she can do no harm: Linux. So, her personal laptop is an old HP-Compaq from 2004. It took Ubuntu 9.0.4 like a champ, wireless and everything working. I expected nothing less. OK but here's the problem, on the wireless connection, not the wired connection, she can't browse with Firefox. Oh, I can ping external IPs, I can ping external host names and I can browse from the CLI with Lynx. I know this is going to be something really obvious but I am stumped. Any thoughts? Thanks!
    I equivocate, therefore I might be.

    My Linux/Unix Boxes:
    Home: Slackware 10, CentOS 5.3, RHEL 5, Ubuntu Workstation 9.10, Work: RHEL 5, CentOS 5

  2. #2
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    Yeah that is strange. I would check the proxy settings in Firefox. Go to Edit -> Preferences. Click on Advanced, and then Network. Click the Settings button and see how your proxy is configured. Mine is currently set to "Use system proxy settings".

    At my previous house this was wired into my router. Now I'm at my parent's house (close on my new place next Monday -- THANK GOODNESS!!) and I have to use wireless. My system has been working just fine with wireless here for over a month, so copying my config doesn't sound like it can hurt.

    Have you tried disconnecting from the wireless network and then reconnecting? You can just disable the wireless by right-clicking on the icon in the top panel (the one that shows the signal strength), and then re-enable it by right-clicking again. Or you could perform something like:

    Code:
    sudo ifdown ath0
    sudo ifup ath0
    Of course, replace ath0 with whatever the name is for your wireless card on that system.

    Finally, have you tried power cycling the modem/router? Just unplug them both for about 10 minutes or so and then plug in the modem. Wait about a minute or so and plug in the router. I don't seriously think it will help but it's worth a shot I suppose. Sounds more like a config setting on the laptop though -- just not sure where. :/
    "The author of that poem is either Homer or, if not Homer, somebody else of the same name."

  3. #3
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    If another browser, apt/synaptic work, and only Firefox doesn't, could Firefox be in "offline" mode?

    Probably too simple.

  4. #4
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    Thanks for both replies. I'll check both possibilities when I get home from work tonight. It's a totally fresh install and I have never had Firefox auto-configure a proxy before or start in offline mode but who knows? I'll look. Thanks.
    I equivocate, therefore I might be.

    My Linux/Unix Boxes:
    Home: Slackware 10, CentOS 5.3, RHEL 5, Ubuntu Workstation 9.10, Work: RHEL 5, CentOS 5

  5. #5
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    similar issue

    I had a similar issue with Sabayon 4.2, now 4.1 didnt bring up this issue, but I did a:

    su:
    password

    equo remove mozilla-firefox
    removes software

    then
    equo install mozilla-firefox

    probelm was resolved, also found out that the issue cam into account when I did a nm-applet -sm--disable & on the install.

    when I reinstalled and left no network up, it did not have the same issue.

    for ubuntu/debain or debain distro's try

    sudo apt-get remove mozilla-firefox

    then

    sudo apt-get install mozilla-firefox

    been ahwile sinmce Ive played with a debain distro, but give that a shot, and if ya get a change check out sabayon, works like a charm on low lvl pc's as well as modern.

    matt
    registered Linux user number 371609

    SaBaYoN LiNuX DoWnLoAd NoW

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  6. #6
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    All,

    Still no luck. As a reminder, the wired connections works. I did just completely remove Firefox and reinstalled but it still doesn't work. I'm installing Opera now. If that works, this really gets interesting!
    I equivocate, therefore I might be.

    My Linux/Unix Boxes:
    Home: Slackware 10, CentOS 5.3, RHEL 5, Ubuntu Workstation 9.10, Work: RHEL 5, CentOS 5

  7. #7
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    OK, so Opera on wireless is dead too. Firewall, perhaps? Where have they hidden that in 9.0.4?
    I equivocate, therefore I might be.

    My Linux/Unix Boxes:
    Home: Slackware 10, CentOS 5.3, RHEL 5, Ubuntu Workstation 9.10, Work: RHEL 5, CentOS 5

  8. #8
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    Update

    OK, Opera DOES work but there is a significant delay, which makes me think some sort of a proxy is involved. I'm falling back to 8.10 to see if we are really talking about a 9.0.4 specific issue.
    I equivocate, therefore I might be.

    My Linux/Unix Boxes:
    Home: Slackware 10, CentOS 5.3, RHEL 5, Ubuntu Workstation 9.10, Work: RHEL 5, CentOS 5

  9. #9
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    Well 8.10 is doing the same thing. Totally crazy!
    I equivocate, therefore I might be.

    My Linux/Unix Boxes:
    Home: Slackware 10, CentOS 5.3, RHEL 5, Ubuntu Workstation 9.10, Work: RHEL 5, CentOS 5

  10. #10
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    so they all work with the wired connection, but not the wireless?

    is it possible that your earlier ping testing wasn't actually successful in some way?

    I frequent various forums and I'm amazed at all the sudden connectivity issues with both wired and wireless and also browser difficulties(Firefox in several versions)

    .

  11. #11
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    Nope. Everything pings fine. Now, I just managed to get Yahoo to come up but it resolved painfully slow. Nslookup works as well, again very slow. I'm playing with my DNS settings now.
    I equivocate, therefore I might be.

    My Linux/Unix Boxes:
    Home: Slackware 10, CentOS 5.3, RHEL 5, Ubuntu Workstation 9.10, Work: RHEL 5, CentOS 5

  12. #12
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    Resolved

    OK, by default, DNS was set to look at some weird local file and not my true DNS servers. It was in fact kind of like a "DNS proxy" for lack of a better term. Once I fixed the settings to look at my DNS servers first, all was well. Thanks!
    I equivocate, therefore I might be.

    My Linux/Unix Boxes:
    Home: Slackware 10, CentOS 5.3, RHEL 5, Ubuntu Workstation 9.10, Work: RHEL 5, CentOS 5

  13. #13
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    Yea if you can connect....or everything in "ifconfig" looks kosher then it's more than likely DNS.....I've had multiple difficulties on new installs with DNS. I have them memorized now.
    "I was pulled over for speeding today. The officer said, "Don't you know
    the speed limit is 55 miles an hour?" And I said, "Yes, but I wasn't going
    to be out that long."

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  14. #14
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    Oh, it wasn't a crap NAT box that didn't understand AAAA record types in the DNS requests, and hung?

    Good. Those are all over these days. To the point where firefox had to add a pref so people could tell it when their local resolver acted sanely when asked for a quad-A record.

    (AAAA records are for IPv6. IPv4 addresses are in (single-)A records. The pref setting is network.dns.disableIPv6 in FF; not sure if Opera has a setting or not.)

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