I've seen a lot of chatter about network problems in Dapper. I suspect my problem was ethernet-chipset-related, so other people may have it as well. We should probably figure out what the common elements are of the problems we're collectively experiencing.

For those with problems, how about we use this thread to report:

- what chipset / adapter you're using
- what symptoms you experienced
- any workarounds you've tried and whether or not they worked?
- is this a regression for something that worked in previous versions of Ubuntu?
- are you using DHCP?

I'll go first...

Hardware
- Both computers had this adapter: Ethernet controller: Davicom Semiconductor, Inc. 21x4x DEC-Tulip compatible 10/100 Ethernet (rev 31)
- One computer also had the build-in adapter in its nForce4 motherboard.

How I installed Dapper
On two computers I upgraded from Breezy to Dapper RC using update-manager. The updates went without a problem.

Symptoms
After installing, upon reboot my attempts to open web-pages failed. Doing some tinkering with ifup/ifdown I concludded:

• Sometimes DHCP lease acquisition would timeout.
• Other times it seemed to complete but I couldn't find a route to other computers.

Workarounds
- On one computer, I did a clean Breezy install and right-away upgraded to Dapper. This was in case some extra junk I had installed on Breezy was causing the problem. This work-around was not effective.
- On the other computer, it turns out my nForce4-based ethernet controller is finally supported. (It wasn't in earlier versions of Ubuntu.) I started using that interface instead. This work-around was effective.

Regression?
Yes. On both computers I had previously run Breezy, and the adapters worked with no problem.

Bug tracking?
I filed this bug:
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu....15/+bug/46822

1. Cisco Aironet 350
2. Sony PCWA 300 (Atheros)
3. Buffalo Airstation WLI-CB-G54A (Broadcom)
4. 3Com 3CRWE254G72 (USB)

1. Won't connect via DHCP after some update (perhaps install of network manager or kismet) - gave up.
2. Works fine out of the box, but kills jogdial on Vaios for some reason
3. Looked into ndiswrapper and lost the will to live
4. Quite like the USB option as this laptop only has one cardbus slot where a 5GB vfat disk lives

1. Reflashed several times, no joy. Backed out network manager and set back to normal and now fails on DCHPDISCOVER.
2. Need jogdial so quite disappointed - works, but no jogdial.
3. Gave up pretty much straight away
4. Discovered driverloader and on 30 day trial - works *really* well, this device was flaky under windows but is reliable under driverloader...

Nope - booted floppy install for Breezy then updated to Dapper straight away.

Yes - and OpenWrt on the router that rocks with everything else - how ironic!
Oh, and only using WEP.

Have ordered two cheapie USB wifi dongles as I'm of the school of thought that thinks paid for Linux software for personal use is a no-no.

One's a Zydas and the other is some other chipset that will need ndiswrapper or driverloader.. Will report back if I get anywhere with these.

Must say I've done so many restarts to attempt to fix the above that I've seen the fsck progress bar twice. After trying every wireless device in the house I am *this* close to reinstalling 'doze, which is a shame as the rest of Dapper is so polished.

Not doing any bug reports until I've managed to do a clean install of Dapper, but can't due to lack of floppy install images (see my other thread floating round this forum)

Hardware
- SMC 2802W v2

How I installed Dapper
Fresh install

Symptoms
Loaded prism54 module, that doesnt work with my v2 card

Workarounds
- Installed ndiswrapper, and blacklisted prism54 (/etc/modprobe.d/blacklist)
- Islsm (softmac) should support it now, but it didnt work for me

Also networkmanager (latest 6.2) doesnt work for me.

Hardware
------------------------
ActionTec 802CAT1 (Atmel based) using the kernel drivers (just works)
info here --> http://thekelleys.org.uk/actiontec.html

Install
------------------------
Fresh install, been trying releases since Xubuntu - Flight 6 or 7

Symptoms
------------------------
when connecting to any AP with WEP (device only supports WEP) everything works fine.

when connecting to any AP without WEP (open) I get no signal but do get the MAC of the AP and also DHCP fails to get a ip. Also from what I can tell trying to setup static ip fails as well. I've tried with 3 different open AP's including 2 that were located 10 feet from the laptop.

Other Notes
------------------------
Have dual boot with windows 2000 and when in windows can connect to everything just fine.

Intersil Corporation Prism 2.5 Wavelan chipset
RC1
symptoms
won't connect using network manager wep/wpa
solution
gave up on wep forced wpa_supplicant to connect using hostap afterwards works with network manger (go figure)


3com prism54
RC1
islsm driver doesn't support WPA couln't get to work with WEP
solution....
blacklisted islsm to use prism54 .. didn't work

compiled 2.6.16 works fine with prism54 as per prior kernels before devs latest 'feature freeze' kernel updates (no I'm not bitter mutter mutter mutter).


I should point out both funtioned fine in Breezy and earlier Dapper releases.

Hardware: Netgear WG311v2 (ACX111 chipset -aka- Texas Instruments)

Install: Fresh from CD

Symptoms: Claims to work using ACX111 drivers. Lies.

Workaround: Use ndiswrapper. Wrote a script to fix - remove acx module, add ndiswrapper module, reload networking. Needs to be run every time I reboot. Ideas on automating would be helpful.

i) setup: Thinkpad T42 running Ubuntu Dapper,
with an ipw2200 wireless chipset. Netgear DG834G
router.access point
at home, wireless network with various access points.
WAP authentication on my network at home, no authentication
on my network at work.
ii) symptoms: NetworkManager does not work on
the home network (just will not associate).. However, NetworkManager does work, quite
unproblematically, on the work network.

It might seem that the problem lies with wpasupplicant (because
wpasupplicant handles authentication for NetworkManager), but
wpasupplicant works fine on my home network when
driven from the command line with suitable arguments.

iii) workaround: I use ifup/ifdown, after editing /etc/network/interfaces
by hand after each transition from home to work and back. This
works fine.

I have tried, in a similar way, using the Properties tab in System/Administration/Networking, but (apart from the fact that
it's slower to do than editing /etc/network/interfaces by hand)
it seems to have no effect: it claims that interfaces are active
when they are not actually configured.

iv) regression: NetworkManager used to work fine in Breezy,
before it used wpasupplicant for authentication.


Final remark (1): I'm quite a good systems programmer, but it
seems to me that this whole network system is made of so many
interlocking and barely compatible parts that it's extraordinarily
difficult to find out what component is responsible when
something goes wrong.

Final remark (2): Problems like this, which are due to the
interaction between different packages, do no do very well
in the current debugging system, which has to assign
responsibility for failure to a single package. I have
no idea whether this problem is due to NetworkManager, or
to wpasupplicant, or to something strange and arcane about
their interaction.

Ralink RT2500

doesn't work with wpasuplicant and therefore does not work with networkmanager > 0.6
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu....15/+bug/37120

solution

use network manager 0.5 (i can live without WPA)

get the network-manager package
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu....5.1-0ubuntu19
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu....5.1-0ubuntu19
and nm-applet
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu....5.1-0ubuntu19
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu....5.1-0ubuntu19

if you get a message about "The NetworkManager applet could not find some required resources. It cannot continue." then run
(see Bug #37128 )

(if those links go down i have the packages, so email me and i'll put them online)

Ralink RT2500:
I have control of 25 desktop boxes of various types that use this chipset in the wireless card. The cards will connect to a 3Com router with WEP but can not be made to connect to the router with WPA. Further the cards can not connect to WEP or WPA if the wireless router is in mixed mode that allows for clients of either type.

Broadcom:
I also have control of some laptops with built in Broadcom cards and the latest kernel upgrade killed wireless connection using ndiswrapper. We can still boot with wireless on older kernels that are still on the boxes.

*Totally* agree - there should be some sort of automagic way to say versions x y and z of packages a b and c work the best together - having all these disperate versions of vital components is nothing but a headache to diagnose a problem with.