Wifi Problem with 9.10

Hi Hanya,

The Starling wireless drivers require a re-write for Karmic. We expect to have them ready to go next week.

I am hoping that the Karmic wireless driver for Starling Netbooks will be available soon as I will be traveling on business soon and need to be able to connect to wireless

It is now "next week." I am hoping to see a wifi driver doe my starling computer. What is your latest target date for providing one?

Please see the first post of this thread...
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1304532&highlight=karmic+upgrade+instructions

We are about to release a new System76 driver that will provide short-range wireless capabilities for the Starling until we are finished working on the full-scale fix. Please subscribe to the above post to be notified when the driver is released, along with instructions for installing it.

There is a new System76 Driver available. It is version 2.4.0.
If you establish a wired Internet connection and check for updates via Update Manager, it should be there.

If it is not there, you can download it from...
http://planet76.com/repositories
It will be the second link from the bottom of the page. Download it to your "Downloads" folder. Double-click it to install.

Once it is installed, go to Administration > System76 Driver and click the Install tab and the Install button. Then reboot your computer when the driver is finished running.

This should activate your wireless and allow you access up to about 30 or 40 feet.

We are working as quickly as possible on the long range fix and expect to have it done next week. We understand how badly you need it and will produce another System76 Driver very soon with the permanent fix.

Thank you for your patience.

Thomas

Neither of the fixes you suggest seem to worm on my Starling. First, I
tried downloading updates, of which there were about 15. There was no driver
for Starling wifi. Next, I downloaded 2.4.0 from planet 76 (your second
option). Although the download works, the wifi driver do not seem to
install. When I click on the install drivers tab, the computer chunks away
for hours. Nothing happens. The message reads installing drivers and thel
little cursor bounces back and forth from the left to the right side of the
download window. In the end, no drivers are installed. Do I need to let the
computer run for more than three hours? I don't think so....

Fred

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Thomas Aaron <email address hidden>
Date: Fri, Nov 13, 2009 at 5:27 PM
Subject: Re: [Question #87396]: Wifi Problem with 9.10
To: <email address hidden>

Question #87396 on System76 changed:
https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396

Thomas Aaron posted a new comment:
There is a new System76 Driver available. It is version 2.4.0.
If you establish a wired Internet connection and check for updates via
Update Manager, it should be there.

If it is not there, you can download it from...
http://planet76.com/repositories
It will be the second link from the bottom of the page. Download it to your
"Downloads" folder. Double-click it to install.

Once it is installed, go to Administration > System76 Driver and click
the Install tab and the Install button. Then reboot your computer when
the driver is finished running.

This should activate your wireless and allow you access up to about 30
or 40 feet.

We are working as quickly as possible on the long range fix and expect
to have it done next week. We understand how badly you need it and will
produce another System76 Driver very soon with the permanent fix.

Thank you for your patience.

--
You received this question notification because you are a direct
subscriber of the question.

Make sure you have a *wired* internet connection when you run the driver.

If that still doesn't run, try running the System76 Driver from a terminal and post any error messages you receive. Here is the command you will need to run...

system76-driver

Yes I have a good wired connection. I'll try running the driver.

Thanks,

Fred

On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 3:14 PM, Thomas Aaron <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Question #87396 on System76 changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396
>
> Thomas Aaron requested for more information:
> Make sure you have a *wired* internet connection when you run the
> driver.
>
> If that still doesn't run, try running the System76 Driver from a
> terminal and post any error messages you receive. Here is the command
> you will need to run...
>
> system76-driver
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

Thomas,

The problem I am having DOES NOT have anything to do with my WIFI setup. It
broadcasts perfectly well all over the house and even down the street a
couple of hundred feet. I have a Windows based computer about 50 feet
away--it picks up a full signal. Before downloading 9.10 onto my Starling
Netbook, it too worked wonderfully anywhere in the house. I have
systematically gone through the process of installing and re-installing
System76 driver 2.4.0 on my netbook. Everything works fine EXCEPT that the
System76 driver inataller WILL NOT install the WIFI driver on my Starling
Netbook, which is now sitting 4 feet from my WIFI box. The process simply
hangs up. The little "Installing screen" pops up, the one that says "Drivers
are being installed" while the little orange cursor races back and forth at
breakneck speed. I have let the installer run for as long as 3 1/2 hours
with no results. I routinely download and install all of the other upgrades
to 9.10 with no problem. And, by the way, my internet connection is quite
fast. It took less than an hour to download the original installation of
Karmic Koala.

My conclusion--your quick fix does not work for the WIFI driver on my
Starling Netbook.

I am hoping that System76 can get this problem resolved soon as you have
promised. A couple of my friends have suggested in their smug ways that I
should have gone with Dell. I hope that you can do something about this to
prove them wrong. With the exception of this glitch (a very big glitch) I
really like the little Starling Netbook.

Fred Bohm

On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 4:10 PM, Fredric Bohm <email address hidden> wrote:

> Yes I have a good wired connection. I'll try running the driver.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Fred
>
>
> On Fri, Nov 20, 2009 at 3:14 PM, Thomas Aaron <
> <email address hidden>> wrote:
>
>> Question #87396 on System76 changed:
>> https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396
>>
>> Thomas Aaron requested for more information:
>> Make sure you have a *wired* internet connection when you run the
>> driver.
>>
>> If that still doesn't run, try running the System76 Driver from a
>> terminal and post any error messages you receive. Here is the command
>> you will need to run...
>>
>> system76-driver
>>
>> --
>> You received this question notification because you are a direct
>> subscriber of the question.
>>
>
>

I understand your problem better now.

Let's move this to phone support, if you don't mind. I have a few clarification questions and suggestions, but I want to help you a little more efficiently.

Also, please see...
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1330531

The fix is getting close, but there is still work to do on it. If you are in a serious hurry, you might want to just re-install 9.04. Contact me via email for instructions...

support...at...system76...dot...com

Well..., another week has passed and no wireless connection for my Starling
computer. You suggested a phone consultation. Give me a number to call and
some times it would be good to call.

Thanks

Fred Bohm

On Mon, Nov 23, 2009 at 12:52 PM, Thomas Aaron <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Question #87396 on System76 changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396
>
> Thomas Aaron proposed the following answer:
> I understand your problem better now.
>
> Let's move this to phone support, if you don't mind. I have a few
> clarification questions and suggestions, but I want to help you a little
> more efficiently.
>
> Also, please see...
> http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1330531
>
> The fix is getting close, but there is still work to do on it. If you
> are in a serious hurry, you might want to just re-install 9.04. Contact
> me via email for instructions...
>
> support...at...system76...dot...com
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

Please follow this thread for the most recent updates. (It was updated today.)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1330531

We're open 8:30-4:30 mountain time, Mon-Fri.
720-226-9269 X603

I see that today System76 has launched a hot new laptop. When are you going
to provide the long-awaited, much promised "fix" so that the wireless
connection will work for us poor fools who purchased your Starling model?

Fred Bohm

On Sun, Nov 8, 2009 at 1:24 PM, fredricbohm <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Question #87396 on System76 changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396
>
> fredricbohm requested for more information:
> It is now "next week." I am hoping to see a wifi driver doe my starling
> computer. What is your latest target date for providing one?
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 12:39 PM, fredricbohm
<email address hidden> wrote:
> Question #87396 on System76 changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396
>
> fredricbohm proposed the following answer:
> I see that today System76 has launched a hot new laptop.  When are you going
> to provide the long-awaited, much promised "fix" so that the wireless
> connection will work for us poor fools who purchased your Starling model?
>

Well, here's my $.02.

Before you fire off mindless comments like this, consider the fact
that System76 are not the primary OS developers. System76 (like anyone
else who upgraded) got sandbagged by Ubuntu's lack of testing. What
worked on Remix no longer works on the latest and greatest, but that
didn't keep Ubuntu from releasing.

Meanwhile, System76 had a perfectly good (better than the standard one
built into the kernel) driver, but of course the kernel developers
keep changing the API, etc., so they (System76) are having a tough
time working on a solution.

I'm too lazy to log into Launchpad for this reply.

Meanwhile, I'm running Debian Sid (sidux), and the wireless works
(newer kernel). Unfortunately, the kernel developers chose a variant
of the driver that has very poor signal strength. I can't get more
than 10-15 feet from my wireless router.

--
Collins Richey
     If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
     of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.

Dear Mr. Richey,

Thanks for your explanation. If I understand what it is you are trying to
imply, someone else, Ubuntu developers in this instance, are to blame for
the Starling problem because they sandbagged System76.

By the way, my comments yesterday were not "fired off" nor were they as
"mindless" as you suggest. They were sent, as I said in my post, after
months of System76 promises to which there appears to have been no
meaningful follow through (we should have it fixed in a week or two, for
instance) and posting suggestions that were untried before offering them. I
remain frustrated. Am I now to conclude that one should add "culture of
denial" and "not our fault" mentalities to the list of things that are
troubling about System76? I certainly hope not. Setting aside the snarky
comments, and trying to say things another way Mr. Richey, I simply would
like to own a netbook that actually works like a netbook. I would like to
"move forward" and someday drink a latte and check e-mail on my Starling
computer in a Starbuck's! I hope that is not too much to ask.

Fred

On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 11:12 PM, Collins Richey <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Question #87396 on System76 changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396
>
> Collins Richey proposed the following answer:
> On Wed, Jan 6, 2010 at 12:39 PM, fredricbohm
> <email address hidden> wrote:
> > Question #87396 on System76 changed:
> > https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396
> >
> > fredricbohm proposed the following answer:
> > I see that today System76 has launched a hot new laptop. When are you
> going
> > to provide the long-awaited, much promised "fix" so that the wireless
> > connection will work for us poor fools who purchased your Starling model?
> >
>
> Well, here's my $.02.
>
> Before you fire off mindless comments like this, consider the fact
> that System76 are not the primary OS developers. System76 (like anyone
> else who upgraded) got sandbagged by Ubuntu's lack of testing. What
> worked on Remix no longer works on the latest and greatest, but that
> didn't keep Ubuntu from releasing.
>
> Meanwhile, System76 had a perfectly good (better than the standard one
> built into the kernel) driver, but of course the kernel developers
> keep changing the API, etc., so they (System76) are having a tough
> time working on a solution.
>
> I'm too lazy to log into Launchpad for this reply.
>
> Meanwhile, I'm running Debian Sid (sidux), and the wireless works
> (newer kernel). Unfortunately, the kernel developers chose a variant
> of the driver that has very poor signal strength. I can't get more
> than 10-15 feet from my wireless router.
>
> --
> Collins Richey
> If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
> of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.
>
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

We've now fixed the wireless for the Starling under 9.10. Please follow this thread...

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1330531

...for notification of the release of a new System76 Driver that will need to be downloaded, installed and run.

It will probably be another day or two for final testing and driver integration.

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 8:21 AM, fredricbohm
<email address hidden> wrote:

> Thanks for your explanation.  If I understand what it is you are trying to
> imply, someone else, Ubuntu developers in this instance, are to blame for
> the Starling problem because they sandbagged System76.

As I stated the most likely reason is kernel changes. Ubuntu bears
responsibility to the extent that (1) they didn't test with this
wireless card or (2) they didn't consider this a show stopper and
released 9.10 anyway.

>
> ... after months of System76 promises to which there appears to have been no
> meaningful follow through (we should have it fixed in a week or two, for
> instance) and posting suggestions that were untried before offering them.  I
> remain frustrated.

I, too, am frustrated, but I don't think you understand the difficulty
involved in preparing a fix that involves kernel modules. If it could
have been fixed in a week or two, I'm sure that System76 would have
done so. You could have solved this yourself (see 3a below) by
remaining at the OS level shipped to you.

If you will remember: (1) The netbook was shipped with Remix and a
perfectly good wireless module. It worked fine. (2) System76 issue a
warning NOT TO UPGRADE to 9.10 because of the wireless driver problem.
(3) I (and you, it seems) chose to upgrade anyway (3a) Either one of
us could have utilized (but obviously did not) the well documented
restore procedure to revert to the initial status. (4) System76 forum
provided an immediate? fairly quick? workaround using the ndiswrapper
procedure. I used that and it worked on 9.10 (5) Launchpad was updated
today with a notice that a replacement System76 driver is almost ready
for release. (6) I've found System76 to be quite responsive in sharing
information about the problem.

> I simply would
> like to own a netbook that actually works like a netbook. I would like to
> "move forward" and someday drink a latte and check e-mail on my Starling
> computer in a Starbuck's! I hope that is not too much to ask.
>

I hope so, too, but as I noted above you could have been enjoying the
netbook at Starbucks if you had remained at the OS level shipped with
the product.

--
Collins Richey
     If you fill your heart with regrets of yesterday and the worries
     of tomorrow, you have no today to be thankful for.

Starling 9.10 wireless fix was released today. To install go to System > Update Manager and install all updates. Then go to System > System76 Driver. Click Install Driver > Install button.

Reboot and Ubuntu will take advantage of the full range of the wireless card. Also with this new release, kernel updates will no longer break wireless. The wireless driver will be automatically compiled and installed when a new kernel is installed.

Carl,

The System76 driver "install" will not install the driver for the "wireless
fix" on my Starling. The driver menu comes up and says installing drivers;
the little cursor races back and forth; it has done this now for more than
two hours. I am running System76 driver version 2.4.4 and I am connected to
the Internet via a good Ethernet connection. Suggestions?

Fred Bohm

On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 11:25 AM, Carl Richell <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Question #87396 on System76 changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396
>
> Carl Richell proposed the following answer:
> Starling 9.10 wireless fix was released today. To install go to System >
> Update Manager and install all updates. Then go to System > System76
> Driver. Click Install Driver > Install button.
>
> Reboot and Ubuntu will take advantage of the full range of the wireless
> card. Also with this new release, kernel updates will no longer break
> wireless. The wireless driver will be automatically compiled and
> installed when a new kernel is installed.
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

Fred, please stop the driver and then establish a wired Internet connection. Then open a terminal and run this command...

sudo apt-get install grub-pc

Then, wired connection still active, restart the driver. It should take only a few minutes to run. Then reboot your computer.

Did that work?

The Driver install program works now..., and it says it has installed the
drivers, but, after following your instructions (re-booting) the wifi still
does not activate. The package installer says my updates are current....So I
don't know what to do.

Fred

On Mon, Jan 11, 2010 at 3:57 PM, Thomas Aaron <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Question #87396 on System76 changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396
>
> Thomas Aaron requested for more information:
> Fred, please stop the driver and then establish a wired Internet
> connection. Then open a terminal and run this command...
>
> sudo apt-get install grub-pc
>
> Then, wired connection still active, restart the driver. It should take
> only a few minutes to run. Then reboot your computer.
>
> Did that work?
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

First, right-click your network manager icon and see if "Enable Wireless Networking" is enabled.

If it *IS NOT* enabled, enable it and wait a minute to see if your network manager starts spinning and detects wireless access points.

If it *IS* enabled, locate the spring-loaded toggle switch on the front, right leading edge of your computer. Press it *ONLY ONCE* to the right and release it. Now, restart your machine.

Did that get it going?

Thomas

Thank you for getting back to me. However, when I right click the "network
manager" the icon that is presented is an "enable NETWORKING" box (it is
checked). There is no "Enable WIRELESS Netowrking" box for me to check in
the menu. The other choices in the network manager are: Edit connections;
it is a drop down menu titled "Network connections," which, in turn,contains
a listing of sites I visited four to seven months ago (prior to Karmic).
There is no enable wireless choice here either.

Fred

On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 11:13 AM, Thomas Aaron <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Question #87396 on System76 changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/system76/+question/87396
>
> Thomas Aaron requested for more information:
> First, right-click your network manager icon and see if "Enable Wireless
> Networking" is enabled.
>
> If it *IS NOT* enabled, enable it and wait a minute to see if your
> network manager starts spinning and detects wireless access points.
>
> If it *IS* enabled, locate the spring-loaded toggle switch on the front,
> right leading edge of your computer. Press it *ONLY ONCE* to the right
> and release it. Now, restart your machine.
>
> Did that get it going?
>
> --
> You received this question notification because you are a direct
> subscriber of the question.
>

Hi, Fredric.

Could you call me directly? Just use the number on System76's website, and ext. 603. It's kind of sounding hardware-related, but I'd like to walk you through everything step-by-step before making a determination.

LinkedIn
------------

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- Fred

Fred Bohm
Acquiring Editor at University of Alberta
Edmonton, Canada Area

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