[TriLUG] wifi woes

[Wayne Henley]

You could try changing the default channel on the AP, I had a similar 
issue a few months back and changing the channel worked for me.

Wh

Cristobal Palmer wrote:

>I set my brother up with a desktop in my parents' basement about a
>week ago, and since the fam already had an apple airport base station
>(802.11b), I got an atheros-based PCI nic (802.11a/b/g) and installed
>the madwifi driver. Before you read on, I know, I (sigh) know the
>madwifi driver is in beta, is noisy, etc.
>
>When I set it up in the basement, I fiddled for a bit to find a decent
>spot, finally settling for 68% signal strength. I stuck the little
>gnome network status monitor in his panel and taught him how to bring
>the interface down, play with modules, bring it back up, etc, etc.
>
>The problem, he tells me, is that he loses the connection
>sporadically, sometimes only for five seconds, but sometimes for
>minutes on end (even after bringing the interface down and back up),
>which is really inconvenient when he's trying to turn in an assignment
>on the web or print to the network computer before bed.
>
>As I've typed this, I've lost the connection twice, each time for less
>than ten seconds. It's come back before I could even get to a command
>prompt to check something.
>
>So the real questions:
>
>0) If I'm sitting here and the connection is just GONE, what should I
>be checking to diagnose this?
>1) Would a $20 antenna that's stronger than the 2.5 duck the card came
>with help?
>2) Is there something that I can fiddle with in the driver that will
>help? (The HAL won't let me push the signal, but...)
>3) Should I just throw up my hands and tell my parents they need to
>move the base station?
>4) And be honest with me here guys... do I look fat in these pants?
>
>  
>