The Little Guy Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 I hope this is the correct place to post this... I have Ubuntu 8.10 and when I look under "Connection Properties", my Signal strength is greater than 50% most of the time, but I only have 1 bar for a connection (10%). How can I fix this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daniel0 Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Move closer to the AP or purchase a signal extender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Little Guy Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 But I got a better connection with my Windows Vista, so I should assume that I should get the same with Ubuntu... This is the card I have: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 20) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbin Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 It doesn't make sense for the software to influence the connection strength of the hardware. Something environmental has changed, or one of the two OSes is lying to you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted December 15, 2008 Share Posted December 15, 2008 Do you experience any problems with your connection? If no, why even bother? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Little Guy Posted December 15, 2008 Author Share Posted December 15, 2008 Some sites I do experience problems... Maybe... Its the cold? probably not Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 If you experience problems with SOME sites, I doubt it's your WiFi. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Little Guy Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 OK, right now I am sitting next to the Router (about 5 feet away), and I still have only one bar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbin Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Have you dropped anything lately or something? (As in physically dropped, not signal dropped.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted December 16, 2008 Share Posted December 16, 2008 Are your drivers up to date? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Little Guy Posted December 16, 2008 Author Share Posted December 16, 2008 OK, Im trying to install the drivers, but i have no idea what I am doing. I am getting this error: ryan@ryan-laptop:~/Desktop/rtl8185_linux_26.1027.0823.2007$ sudo ./wlan0up insmod: can't read 'ieee80211_crypt-rtl.ko': No such file or directory insmod: can't read 'ieee80211_crypt_wep-rtl.ko': No such file or directory insmod: can't read 'ieee80211_crypt_tkip-rtl.ko': No such file or directory insmod: can't read 'ieee80211_crypt_ccmp-rtl.ko': No such file or directory insmod: can't read 'ieee80211-rtl.ko': No such file or directory insmod: can't read 'r8180.ko': No such file or directory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Little Guy Posted December 17, 2008 Author Share Posted December 17, 2008 Here is some driver information: 06:09.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE 802.11a/b/g Wireless LAN Controller (rev 20) Subsystem: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. Device 8225 Flags: bus master, medium devsel, latency 64, IRQ 11 I/O ports at 6000 Memory at b3400000 (32-bit, non-prefetchable) Capabilities: <access denied> Kernel driver in use: rtl8180 Kernel modules: rtl8180 The drivers are installed, but I don't think they are correct, or even up to date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.josh Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 It doesn't make sense for the software to influence the connection strength of the hardware. Something environmental has changed, or one of the two OSes is lying to you. Using drivers not specifically designed for the hardware can result in poor performance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Little Guy Posted December 17, 2008 Author Share Posted December 17, 2008 that is what I thought, Ubuntu automatically choose that driver when I installed the Operating System. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbin Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 It doesn't make sense for the software to influence the connection strength of the hardware. Something environmental has changed, or one of the two OSes is lying to you. Using drivers not specifically designed for the hardware can result in poor performance. Hrmmm, true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maq Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 You should probably go to their site and download the latest driver. I did a search on, "Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL-8185 IEEE ubuntu", and found that a lot of other people are having similar/worse problems, as in they can't even get a connection. The issue seems to lie either with Ubuntu, the driver being out of date, or just having the wrong driver. Has this card worked properly on previous versions of Ubuntu? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 The issue could actually be just the software your using to report your link quality with. What does the following produce? $ sudo iwconfig wlan0 | grep 'Link Quality' Assuming wlan0 is your card. The issue seems to lie either with Ubuntu, the driver being out of date, or just having the wrong driver. Driver issues rarely have anything to do with the distribution, they are part of the kernel itself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Little Guy Posted December 17, 2008 Author Share Posted December 17, 2008 I get this: Link Quality=19/100 Signal level:27/65 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Little Guy Posted December 17, 2008 Author Share Posted December 17, 2008 Can weather affect a wireless signal? Because I seem to bet getting a better signal to day, it is no longer snowing outside. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted December 17, 2008 Share Posted December 17, 2008 Can weather affect a wireless signal? If your accesspoint is across the street and there is a lightning storm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig79 Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 I've noticed it too. I have XP and Ubuntu 8.10 on the same machine, different drives. I get much better reception in XP than Ubuntu. So it's not just you! As for the weather, I've noticed also that cloudy days / rain do tend to decrease reception. I've noticed that with cell phones too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corbin Posted December 27, 2008 Share Posted December 27, 2008 I've noticed it too. I have XP and Ubuntu 8.10 on the same machine, different drives. I get much better reception in XP than Ubuntu. So it's not just you! As for the weather, I've noticed also that cloudy days / rain do tend to decrease reception. I've noticed that with cell phones too. I bet it is driver related then.... I really don't know why drivers would make a signal measure wrong though. I guess the strength of the signal essentially comes down to how quickly data can pass through the computer though, so if the driver were slowing things down.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jek Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I get similar problems with my Ipod Touch and my Laptop running Vista. Could it be a router problem? ??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trq Posted January 8, 2009 Share Posted January 8, 2009 I get much better reception in XP than Ubuntu. So it's not just you! I get similar problems with my Ipod Touch and my Laptop running Vista. Could it be a router problem? My bet is that *nix just has more accurate monitoring tools than windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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