Re: Small guestion: retrying

[Xamindar <junkxamindar gmail com>]

Darren Albers wrote:
> On 1/23/07, Xamindar <junkxamindar gmail com> wrote:
>> Dan Williams wrote:
>> > On Tue, 2007-01-23 at 01:54 -0800, Xamindar wrote:
>> >
>> >> Is there any way to have NetworkManager retry to connect to a
>> wireless
>> >> network upon failing? I find I have to keep telling it to try to
>> connect
>> >> to a network that has a low signal and eventually I will be able
>> to get
>> >> an IP. It would be nice to be able to tell it to try 5 times and then
>> >> give up for example.
>> >>
>> >
>> > Are you at the margins of the network?  Eventually NM will probably
>> just
>> > not list or even attempt to connect to networks with too low SNRs if
>> > using DHCP.  In these cases, you'll need to have static IP set up.
>> >
>> > Perhaps we should make NM do a retry, but that's a loosing battle.
>> > People will always ask for more retries.  The solution is get a better
>> > antenna, or move closer to the network.
>> >
>> > Dan
>> >
>> I am at the margins of the network I think. In most cases I am not able
>> to move any closer. I am also not able to get a better antenna because
>> it is internal on my laptop. Is static IP setup planned for the future?
>> That would be useful. One thing I was thinking is that dhcpcd gives up
>> too soon. Is there a way to extend the time?
>> Thanks.
>>
>
> If you are willing to build NM from source you can modify it in
> src/dhcp-manager/nm-dhcp-manager.c
>
> #define NM_DHCP_TIMEOUT        45    /* DHCP timeout, in seconds */
>
> You probably also want to increase your association in
> src/nm-device-802-11-wireless.c
>
> #define NM_SUPPLICANT_TIMEOUT    20    /* how long we wait for
> wpa_supplicant to associate (in seconds) */
Thanks for the info, I'll mess with the timeout.
>
> However this doesn't solve the root problem and if you don't have the
> ability to move the AP or your laptop have you considered using
> different antenna's on the AP or increasing the power level?   Making
> the changes I listed above /might/ allow you to associate but you will
> drop A LOT and you will probably find it more frustrating than useful.
>
>
> Just to make sure, you don't have an Atheros card do you?
>
No, it's a "Dell wireless" on a Dell laptop.  Shows up as a Broadcom.
[code]0b:00.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation Unknown device
4311 (rev 01)[/code]
I'm using ndiswrapper with it.  I'm not sure if that is a problem or
not.  I have noticed that Networkmanager has a hard time connecting to
anything at under 3 bars but once it is connected the connection is
stable and solid.  Dhcp must be harder to receive than normal network
traffic for some reason (udp?).