Wireless On Power Cord Disconnected Causing Packard Bell Easy Note on Ubuntu to Crash

kiwipower

Strange one.
I have a Packard Bell M236 Easy Note Running Ubuntu 11.4. When I connect to wireless modem (3G) and am running the laptop on Battery the system crashes. If I have the power cord connected I can run the wireless away with no crash problems.
This is not an issue when I had an O2 modem connected physically to the lap top.
Any thoughts? I am going to search Ubuntu forums but just happen to have Boards.ie open and running at the moment.

boomslang

Try disabling the power saving options and see if the same issue occurs

kiwipower

Hi boomslang,
Thanks for your suggestion. I tried changing the power management settings. Unfortunately this does not solve the problem. After about 10seconds the desktop disappears, and I have the background white text on a black screen (like a terminal) appear, the computer then freezes and crashes.

boomslang

Have you tried the ubuntu 10.04 long term support (It has just had an update to the iso's.) version? You can drop ubuntu 11.04 back to gnome classic desktop by logging out and selecting it from the session menu before logging back in. I have a feeling it might be the underlying ubuntu 11.04 system causing your issue, also try posting at the ubuntuforums.org forum site maybe someone over there might be able to help!

kiwipower

Hi Boomslang,
Thanks for your help and suggestions.
Unfortunately, they go right over my head! Ubuntu 11.4 is my first experience of the Unix family, so I am still struggling with the language.
I must go check out Ubuntu forums again and see what is coming up. I don’t use the particularly laptop that often, so am surviving by just plugging in the power supply when I need to use the WiFi.

boomslang

If your familiar with the windows desktop layout it might be worth looking at pclinuxos 2011.6 it uses the kde desktop and is very new user friendly too. I also found wy wifi on my dell laptop worked perfectly too. You can dowmload and try it as a live desktop straight from the cd.
http://www.pclinuxos.com/?page_id=180

It's based on mandriva and is very good for new linux users, it might resolve the issues.

Johnboy1951

boomslang wrote: »

If your familiar with the windows desktop layout it might be worth looking at pclinuxos 2011.6 it uses the kde desktop and is very new user friendly too. I also found wy wifi on my dell laptop worked perfectly too. You can dowmload and try it as a live desktop straight from the cd.
http://www.pclinuxos.com/?page_id=180

It's based on mandriva and is very good for new linux users, it might resolve the issues.

They are rather proud of the fact that it is not based off Mandriva and tend to be adamant about correcting this
In fact I believe PCLOS was not even RPM compatible with Mandriva lately.
I guess the use of 'based off' and 'a fork of' distinctions for most users are immaterial but Mandriva RPMs were(/are?) not compatible with a PCLOS install.

All that aside I agree with your recommendation .... it is user friendly to use.
You do need to keep it updated in the proper manner, as it is a 'rolling release' with periodic ISOs released for new installs. Lots of info on the forum about how best to maintain it.
Hardware detection is very good and multimedia support out of box.

regards

List of ISOs on Heanet
http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/pclinuxos/live-cd/

PrzemoF

kiwipower wrote: »

Strange one.
I have a Packard Bell M236 Easy Note Running Ubuntu 11.4. When I connect to wireless modem (3G) and am running the laptop on Battery the system crashes. If I have the power cord connected I can run the wireless away with no crash problems.
This is not an issue when I had an O2 modem connected physically to the lap top.
Any thoughts? I am going to search Ubuntu forums but just happen to have Boards.ie open and running at the moment.

Can you PM (or email me) last few pages of /var/log/kernel after a crash?

kiwipower

PrzemoF wrote: »

Can you PM (or email me) last few pages of /var/log/kernel after a crash?

Sorry took me a while to get to this.
Not sure how I go about capturing the information you are after. Were would I find this info?
If its the bit that appears on the screen as it crashes, Im not quick enough to write it down before the screen goes blank.
Cheers.

PrzemoF

OK, so it's a hard crash. You may try that: after a crash, reboot and go to log files viewer (it's in admin menu I think). Then find kernel log (/var/log/kernel ?) and in that log find the part that was created during the crash. It is not at the very end of the log as you rebooted, so something was added to the log.
I hope it makes sense for you :-)

kiwipower

Aug 11 17:34:09 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 24.191859] EXT4-fs (sda1): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro,commit=0
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 28.839797] EXT4-fs (sda1): re-mounted. Opts: errors=remount-ro,commit=0
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.328114] wlan0: authenticate with 00:26:5a:71:ac:73 (try 1)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.336531] wlan0: authenticated
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.336688] wlan0: associate with 00:26:5a:71:ac:73 (try 1)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.345914] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:26:5a:71:ac:73 (capab=0x421 status=0 aid=1)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.345919] wlan0: associated
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.346602] ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): wlan0: link becomes ready
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.346689] cfg80211: Calling CRDA for country: GB
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351813] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2412 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351819] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351822] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2417 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351826] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351829] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2422 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351832] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351835] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2427 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351838] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351841] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2432 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351845] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351847] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2437 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351851] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351853] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2442 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351856] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351859] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2447 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351862] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351865] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2452 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351868] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351871] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2457 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351874] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351877] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2462 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351880] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351883] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2467 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351886] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351889] cfg80211: Updating information on frequency 2472 MHz for a 20 MHz width channel with regulatory rule:
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351893] cfg80211: 2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ KHz), (N/A mBi, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351895] cfg80211: Disabling freq 2484 MHz
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351899] cfg80211: Regulatory domain changed to country: GB
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351901] cfg80211: (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351904] cfg80211: (2402000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351907] cfg80211: (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351910] cfg80211: (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:14 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 29.351913] cfg80211: (5490000 KHz - 5710000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2700 mBm)
Aug 11 17:34:25 s-EasyNote-MZ36 kernel: [ 40.256091] wlan0: no IPv6 routers present

This is from the kern.log for today.
Thanks again! I feel like I did the first time I looked at an x-ray machine as a student radiographer! (And what does this button do??)

PrzemoF

That;s the silngle thing I like in linux - you can "open the bonnet" and see what's inside

That log (if that's really from the crash - it can be, I don't doubt you) means that kernel is not saving any info about the crash, as that part here is perfectly normal.

Does your laptop (on battery) crash every single time when you connect the modem?

Connect the modem with laptop on ac power, type "lsusb" and sent the result. I want to check if someone reported that bug already. Post "uname -a" as well.

kiwipower

sophia@sophia-EasyNote-MZ36:~$ lsusb
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0bb4:0ff9 High Tech Computer Corp.
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
sophia@sophia-EasyNote-MZ36:~$ uname -a
Linux sophia-EasyNote-MZ36 2.6.38-11-generic #48-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jul 29 19:05:14 UTC 2011 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

This is what I came up with when I typed into the Terminal.

The problem only occurs if I am off A/C and have the WiFi on.
I think the WiFi is draining the battery power (from full to nil) in about 5 seconds, as usually just as it crashes a warning for extremely low battery power pops up.

PrzemoF

You have your HTC Hero connected to the PC, but not the modem. Am I right?

kiwipower

I may have had my HTC wildfire connected by USB. (Though I usually wouldn’t have this connected.)

But definitely would have been connected to the net via WiFi over a 3 WiFi Dongle.

PrzemoF

OK, my fault. I should say "connect using usb cable and type lsusb". I want to check USB ID of the device.

BTW I removed ACPI from my kernel - it fixed crashes caused by a bluetooth device going asleep, but switching off has been affected, so it's not the bast way.