Recognises wireless networks, but can't connect.

I recently purchashed an AA1 running Linux Linpus Lite, and I loved everything about it. I use it primarily when traveling around for school and work, so I was delighted that I would have something that could connect to the wireless internet in all these places.

After a couple weeks, suddenly it refused to connect to wireless networks anymore. It will sense the networks and tell me their signal strength, but when I try to connect it simply times out. This happens for protected networks (for which I am certain I have the right password) and for unprotected networks.

There is one network for which it does work, and that is my home network (unprotected). This only puzzles me more.

This is getting really frustrating, and it's even more frustrating that I know it worked fine at one point, and then seemingly randomly it stopped working. There was nothing in particular that happened between those two stages.

Specifically, I need it to work at home (unprotected), at school (its own wacky system), at a nearby coffee shop (protected), and at work (Mac Airport setup).

Any ideas?

 

I'm not sure about this, but it could be that the issue is something related to the keyring problems discussed in this thread

 

No solutions, but I have exactly the same problem.
I can connect to my home network (secured) no problem, and it connects automatically when I'm at home, but I can't connect to open public connections in coffee shops/ pubs etc.
It sees the network, the signal strength and that it's unlocked. It then tries to connect but after a little while a message box pops up saying: disconnected, connection timed out.
I have the AA1 running Linux Linpus Lite.

I'm not sure this is the same problem as discussed in the thread mentioned above, as I have no connection problems on my home network and it remembers the settings for that fine.

 

You will note various posts about WiFi problems, with fixes ranging from the one listed above, to wifi card, driver, BIOS, powersave modes etc. Good luck.

Now if you only have had the Acer a couple of weeks, you will have the choice between spending hours investigating all the fixes or quickly taking it back & demanding a refund.
Which most retailers will give within the first month, particularly if you stand there & haggle non-stop until they back down.

I purchased mine just for travelling, so quickly tested the wifi at work & didn't discover the problems until I took it off on holiday several weeks later.
Personally, I take the view it's just another consumer product & a should work out of the box, connecting to wifi just as well as any other lap top. I found everyone else hooked up without problems, at several locations in different countries. Mine worked on some networks, not on others. Then where it did work, it sometimes suffered what could well be the overheating problem & stopped connecting after running for a period of time -fine again when cooling down.

I've switched to a wireless router at home now, just so I can run a few tests on the ACER before deciding if I will fix it myself or subject it to Acer's repair services.

There are plenty of other netbooks around, although some of them cost a bit more as they are unfortunately supporting the Microsoft monopoly.

http://www.aldi-stores.co.uk/uk/html/offers/58_9001.htm

 

Oh good grief, jjj's silly FUD campaign continues....

I've not had much in the way of wireless issues on my AAO from the start - the occasional disconnect, but that's not unusual on wireless connections in my experience. However, it has been absolutely rock solid since I upgraded the network manager following the instructions in this post; it could be worth seeing if it sorts out your issues too.

 

Firstly, thank you for the advice on the Network Manager, which I will be trying later.

FUD? Hardly.

I'm just trying to make the point that most retailers will give a full refund within the first month or so.
Therefore consumers do have a choice -they can either try to complete Acer's unfinished R&D themselves or take it back.

And:
1 You would hardly buy any other consumer product such as a car & expect to modify the hardware or software yourself to make it work.
2 The days when computers were assembled at home by geeks who would require specialist knowledge to make them work passed about 30 years ago. It's supposed to work out of the box, or at the very least after running the updates.
3 As far as I can see, Acer haven't bothered to create a website section which explains the problems & has all the software fixes for the wifi. This doesn't demonstrate much of an attitude by the company. Please correct me if I am wrong.

My recommendation would be to get out & about with your Acer as soon as you buy it & test the wifi at various locations. Also, run the wifi continuously for hours to make sure it stays connected, preferably with ambient temperatures of about 30°C, or whatever the highest temperature at which you would expect to operate it is.
If it works, good. If it does not, decide if you will fix it yourself or return it for a refund within the first month.

Now what's silly about that?

 

Not true. I'd expect to put fuel into a car; I'd expect to need to know how to use it safely. I'd be foolish if I expected it to do everythign it should with no manual intervention.

I don't think I've ever seen a PC which would do this, with all hardware and all networks thrown at it.

The issues you always jump on in these forums relate to Linux networking. Linux is community supported, not commercially supported. If you don't like the model, stop obstructing those who do.

 

Putting fuel into a car is analogous to plugging a PC into the mains. Re-flashing or replacing an Engine ECU is something you wouldn't try yourself, but is similar to what people do with their PCs.

Actually, I'm very supportive of Linux & am a little disappointed to find only 5% of Acers are sold with a Linux OS. Someone needs to give Mr Gates some competition.

I keep asking questions about Linux because most of the posts on this forum are from XP users who also seem to have hardware & driver related difficulties, but I have a Linux machine.
As I missed the chance to "easily" get a refund in the first month of ownership, I want to make sure it's working properly for the next holiday.

I do appreciate the advice from all the more experienced users on this site & have just updated the network manager, as advised by daldred (thank you). It did come up with an error message, however the new network manager was there after a reboot. For a start, the interface on the new network manager looks more promising -even the signal strength bars look fit for purpose. Now for some testing.

If only Acer would buck their ideas up & provide this kind of advice & service on their website.


Testing update (about 1 hour later):
New network manager worked fine for a while, then disappeared, taking the connection with it.
OK on reboot, but new Network manager does not have an obvious way of saving the password, so I have to type it in, rather than getting an automatic connection. Am I missing something?
Testing update 2 (several hours later)
Acer goes into standby. Network centre does not re-appear. Reappears after reboot.

Testing update 3 (about 15 minutes later)
Switched off for a few minutes. Works on reboot.
Deliberately clicked the "SLEEP" option. Network centre does not re-appear after going back to powered up state. :evil:
Switched off for 5 minutes, connects OK afterwards.
Network manager not remembering login details is very tiresome.

Testing update (a couple of days later)
Tried running Acer in a box, sat on a beer heater mat to simulate running in a warmer climate (about 35 °C ambient). No evidence of wifi dropping out due to overheating, although it would drop out every time the Acer goes into standby, requiring a reboot.

Only 3 problems apparent at the moment:
(i) Network Centre disappearing when going onto standby
(ii) Network Centre will not remember passwords (not the end of the world)
(iii) Cannot access Network Centre through menu -only via icon at the bottom of the screen. Would be OK if the icon was there every time.

Where next? I would rather stay with Linux than pay for XP, but it's wearing thin.

 

Only 3 problems apparent at the moment:
(i) Network Centre disappearing after going onto standby :evil:
(ii) New Network Centre will not remember passwords (not the end of the world)
(iii) Cannot access Network Centre through menu -only via icon at the bottom of the screen. Would be OK if the icon was there every time.

Where next? Are there any other Network Centre options for Linux?
I'm running BIOS 3114, but guess that won't affect this?

If not, guess my options boil down to buying XP & an Intel network card (to make really sure), or taking it back, letting them make their "repair" & then demanding my money back when it still isn't working.

 

http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=1028&start=40#p28283. I'd forgotten making that change!

http://www.aspireoneuser.com/forum/...be impossible to craft a .desktop file for it....

 

Thanks for the advice daldred.

I did see that thread on Network Manager not starting after Standby, but didn't understand the term "comment out".

What do I need to do?

 

In pretty well any Linux config file, a line starting with the character # is treated as a comment, so for reading by humans rather than computers, and so ignored. 'Commenting out' is just prefixing the relevant lines with #.

An example:

Code:

#The first two lines are real comments explaining what is going on
#The next line is a genuine config line which has been commented out
# The one below it is the replacement line
#preforkchildren = 6
preforkchildren = 10

The advantage of doing this instead of deleting the line in question is that if your changes don't work you can easily go back and un-comment the lines (by deleting the #) to restore the status quo.

 

When I have ran recently into Issues with my WIFI I found that shutting down the netbook then removing the battery and hitting the power switch a few times get's the WIFI to work. After doing the driver upgrade and downgrade game. It's a real relief.

 

Thanks.
The above solution works, so the networking icon does not disappear after standby.

I just need to get it to remember the password now.

One of the threads refers to the following as a solution to most of the wifi problems.
http://macles.blogspot.com/2008/12/acer-aspire-one-recovery-dvd.html

I'm not quite sure how to create a recovery USB from the files on the download site.

 

Hi, jjj

That suggestion would give you an updated Aspire One, but would lose any other changes you'd made - if that's OK with you then the steps are these:

Download the ISO: have you found a working link?
Start a terminal and go to your Downloads directory (which is where the ISO should be)

Code:

cd Downloads

Get the aa1rlinux USB installer:

Code:

wget -O aa1rlinux [url]http://sites.google.com/site/aa1recovery/1/aa1rlinux[/url]

With a bifg enough USB stick plugged in, make the installer executable and run it as root:

Code:

chmod 755 aa1rlinux && sudo ./aa1rlinux

It should prompt you to tell it which USB port to use, and then make the installable USB stick.