Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

[jakfish]

My specs:

ASUS EEE 900
Internal Wireless
Linksys WRT54G Router
Puppy Linux 4.1.2 running Network Setup (not the optional older version)

I've been wirelessly networking/surfing happily until Puppy began finding my neighbor's wifi signal and ignoring mine until I manually set up/reinstalled my SSID in "Network Setup."

My SSID was "linksys," the neighbor's was "CASA" After much troubleshooting, it came to me that despite the saved linksys profile, Puppy Network was simply using the first open network it found alphabetically.

It was only after I changed "linksys" to "aalinksys" and ALSO changed the channel from 6 to 1 ("CASA" was using Channel 1) did I successfully put my network first alphabetically.

Now Puppy finds that when I toggle on my wifi.

This seems a big workaround. Am I missing something? Shouldn't Puppy look for the SSID in the saved profile and ignore all other available networks?

Any insight would be very helpful.

Thanks,
Jake

[alsastro]

I basically have the same problem, but It's not consistent.

System info: Pup ver 4.1.2 on Dell Latitude D610.

I boot from a USB stick, and at least 50% of the time it comes up with my network, which is a secured WPA/TKIP, Static IP setup. However sometimes, it connects to some close-by Open network by DHCP. When it does so, it seems to rewrite some profile (or something) and it takes many attempts with the wizard to get it back on my network.

Since it's not consistent, I'm wondering if it may be timing issue... like if the default/saved network doesn't connect quickly, it then searches for open DHCP networks. I'm just guessing as I haven't looked to see what scripts bring the wireless up.

Is there a simple way to toggle the wireless to ONLY use a particular profile, but in other cases allow it to find open connections by DHCP?

Thanks for any help

BTW, I'm new to Puppy (1st post to these forums), but have used linux in desktop and home server units off and on for years. I'm really impressed with Puppy. It is fast becoming my favorite way to be secure on the net.... great job.

al

[jakfish]

I haven't figured out why it happens, but renaming my SSID so that it will always come up first in any list has--so far--alleviated the problem. I'd be interested to hear your results with this kind of workaround.

Jake

[alsastro]

Hmmm....

Poking around I found two saved profiles associated with the mac address of my wireless card. One was incorrect (it showed the right IP address info, but tied to an Open network). So maybe Puppy wasn't always using the right profile.

I removed the bad profile and the problem hasn't recurred, so the problem may be solved.... I'll know after a day or so.

al.

[jakfish]

My problem differed slightly than yours, since mine came about only when Santa brought the nextdoor neighbor wifi for Christmas.

My incorrect network listing was not now and then (so your theory that your Puppy was dithering between two saved network files sounds like a good one), it was always, at least when my EEE picked up his signal.

Post back if your solution worked,
Jake

[alsastro]

I'm curious,

I wonder if you've got two saved profiles like mine was, or none at all. I found the saved profiles in /etc/network-wizard/wireless/profiles. The filenames for my saved profiles started with the mac address of my card.

When I looked on mine, I didn't see any profile associated with the Belkin open network that was causing my problem, yet I was hooking up to it, so i'm thinking if my system tried the wrong saved one first, it would then go to 'autoconnect' and then find the neighbors. Dunno, just thinking out loud.... I don't even know what it saves for a dhcp profile,.... think I'll test that.

Guess I'm wondering if you had a saved profile that designated your linksys network (and no profile associated with your neighbor) whether it would have solved your issue?

Heck, I'm just guessing, I'm not even sure if my problem is solved yet. I'll post again if my problem is really solved.

al

[jakfish]

Thanks for the tip to look for wireless profiles. I found two user-made files. One with "linksys", one with "aalinksys" both with different MAC addresses.

But neither showed "CASA," my neighbor's wireless.

Now I live dangerously (and rent a thick-walled house) so my wifi's open, unencrypted, and that may account for Puppy grabbing the first open network. But I'm not sure. (I wonder if deleting "autoconnect.conf", since that's the ubiquitous "ANY" setup, would stop Puppy grabbing at what it can. But in Network Setup, my "aalinksys" appears to be loaded, even after reboot)

Jake

[rjbrewer]

Jackfish

Don't think encryption makes any difference. Had the same thing
happen with the early 4.0 versions. Now with 4.1.2 the wpa
connection sticks; 4.1.1 would occasionally pick up open signal,
but gradually got better all by itself...go figure.

Signal strength may make a difference?

Atheros pci card

rjb

[alsastro]

Wellllll,

I've been doing a little testing (more like fumbling around), and I think the issue is deeper. Maybe in the network startup scripts. Like you're questioning... is it alphabetical. channel, freq,... what?

It seems odd to me. If I purposely attach to the neighbors system, It's very difficult to get back to mine, even though I load my profile which I've verified is good and proper. However, If my profile is the only one in the profiles directory, and I reboot Puppy, all is well. So at this point, I don't have a problem, just some questions abut how it's supposed to work..

I dunno about changing the "autoconnect" template. I was thinking the same thing (making a bakup copy of it and replacing it with my good profile), but decided against it. I'm thinking that there must be a script that chooses a default profile at startup.... I'm going to try to track that down and see what it does.

al