Ubuntu

Unable to wirelessly connect to internet via 2WIRE router

Asked by TheHackMan

I have been having some very annoying trouble while trying to wirelessly connect to the internet on my laptop. There are several things that seem to be going on:
1. At random for about 2 seconds I can connect to the internet before it stops working. Via manual configuration I open it, check the box to enable the wireless connection, click on close, and about 45% of the time a web page will load and then the internet dies and upon opening up the manual config again I notice that its then unchecked itself(this is 5% of the time)
2. About 95% of the time however when I check the box to enable wireless, click close and try to access a webpage nothing loads, and when I reopen the manual config box the box for wireless internet is still checked
3. I have been able to connect to the internet wirelessly at my dads house. He has a Linksys router but at my moms house(where the problems are) she has a 2WIRE HomePortal 1800HW
4. At my dads house I have to enter the DNS information of the ISP to get to the internet not the IP address of Linksys router(192.168.1.1)
5. At my moms house 2WIRE configures the wireless to use the router as the DNS(via the IP 192.168.1.254) instead of using the ISP DNS info(The DNS info is auto changed when I connect via a wired connection).
6. The connection never seems to last for more than two seconds before it dies
7. The two second spurts of internet have happend when I put in the two DNS servers of the ISP and with I put in the IP of the router as the DNS server
8. Under manual configuration when I go to select the Network Name from a list the SSID of the router DOES show up 100% of the time

I am using Ubuntu 8.04 and all updates are installed so I know everything is up to date and I have a Dell Inspiron E1505 Laptop. I know that its nothing to do with the hardware because as I mentioned above I can connect with no problem at my dads house its just that at my moms house I am unable to connect no matter how I configure the settings even though the wireless network shows up in the list of possible networks.

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TheHackMan
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Charles Profitt (cprofitt) said : 		#1

I would think it is an issue with the 2wire router or you might not be using the right kind of password to 'connect' to the 2wire

Do you know if it is WPA, WPA2 or WEP?

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Charles Profitt (cprofitt) said : 		#2

I think the issue might be in the type of security used...

check to ensure you are using the right type... WPA, WPA2, WEP, etc... the configuration of the 2wire might not be matching up.

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TheHackMan (animesfan77) said : 		#3

Its a 10 character ASCII WEP key that is also on the bottom of the router. To check and see if that might have been the problem I changed it to a custom HEX WEP key and still had the same problem.

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TheHackMan (animesfan77) said : 		#4

Well I got some more information that might help. I was messing around with the router and whatnot and I changed the settings to remove all encryption and whatnot and I changed to roaming mode and even after entering the SSID of the network it still does not connect, it somehow manages to get the MAC address of the router but won't connect to the internet or anything. Even tried a new SSID name and still no luck. I believe part of the problem is that Ubuntu wants either a 5 character ro 13 charcter ASCII WEP key but the router is set to a 10 character WEP key. Tried changing this to a custom 64bit HEX WEP key and whatnot but still no luck no matter how I try to configure the router in terms of security

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Allen Chemist (alchemist) said : 		#5

Looking at this, I'm a little confused... there is a difference between a 10 character ascii wep key and a hex wep key...

The 2-wire default is a 10 character hex key, so give the following settings a try, in the System -> Admin -> Networking -> <your wirleless device> -> Properties

Disable roaming mode

type in the case-sensitive network name (or choose it from the list)
Password type: WEP key (hexadecimal)
Network password: whatever you have set it to

Configuration: Automatic (DHCP)

If this doesn't work, when you are supposed to be connected, can you type the following into a terminal, so we can see exactly what is going on:

ifconfig
iwconfig
route

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Charles Profitt (cprofitt) said : 		#6

By chance does the 2wire have Mac address filtering? (it will only allow certain MAC addresses to connect?)

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TheHackMan (animesfan77) said : 		#7

Unfortunatly it does not have MAC address filtering but I managed to fix the problem. I went out and got a TRENDnet wireless router and then set it up and daisy chained that router to the 2WIRE and I have Ubuntu connecting through the TRENDnet wirelessly now so I have internet access :D
I do appreciate the help though. It did take some time to figure out that I needed to hook them up both via port 1 on the routers and not the WAN port to port 1 on the 2WIRE >.>

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Chad E. (elliott-c2003) said : 		#8

I was having the same problem using Ubuntu 8.04. I used System->Administration->Network and entered the SSID, WEP (hexidecimal), key from the bottom of the 2WIRE, and DHCP. I also ran sudo dhclient from the command line, but I'm not sure that it was necessary.

Regardless, I was able to get an IP address.

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Charles Profitt (cprofitt) said : 		#9

Chad:

In your case the SSID was hidden then?