HP Vista Laptop conversion

Linux Support
61

Undo the changes?
Power Mgt was changed @ same time as screensaver &c…

Here’s what I did:
Turned on, boots up & it starts connecting to wi-fi network, except it never actually connects… (waited 15mins)
So I delete ‘profile,’ make new one & it keeps asking for WPA/WPA2, so I delete ‘profile’ & reboot, I make new profile after reboot after closing out of new profile it immediately wants keyring password (still never made one), ‘enter’ is incorrect so use the user password it allows me then to re-enter WPA/WPA2 password & it’s back into the endless cycle of asking for a password & never actually allowing me to log on to the wi-fi >:(
Half considering just buying more cables but that does make the issue of using a laptop portably slightly difficult!!

(",)

62

Try disabling auto-login, and deleting the profile, and recreating.

If that doesn’t work, I’ll look for an answer tomorrow… I seem to remember having seen something similar somewhere else… just gotta find it again.

63

Nope, it’s not worked
Sweet dreams- catch you tomorrow

(",)

64

Possible solution…

Install Wicd:

sudo apt-get install wicd-gtk

Click the NetworkManager icon (by clock), make sure there are NO ticks next to:-
Enable Network
and
Enable Wireless

Fire up wicd from the Applications Lens

Set up your Wireless adapter in Wicd, and make sure the Wired connection isn’t set as the default.

Once you have it working and have tested a few reboots, you can uninstall NetworkManager if you want (to get rid of tray icon):

sudo apt-get remove network-manager-gnome

If you want, you can add the Wicd tray icon with:

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist "['JavaEmbeddedFrame', 'Mumble', 'Wine', 'Skype', 'hp-systray', 'scp-dbus-service', 'wicd-client.py']"

The Wicd icon won’t appear till you log off and on again.

To undo:

sudo apt-get install network-manager-gnome

then test NetworkManager works… once your happy you can connect through NetworkManager:

sudo apt-get remove wicd-gtk wicd-daemon python-wicd
65

Thanks it worked great!
Until I tried using Transmission, I’ve tried re-installing Net Mgr & that didn’t work & Wicd is saying the ‘Bad Password’, even though it was working fine for hours before hand… apart from not using Transmission how do I rectify this? (Also, is there another torrent app I can use, without screwing the system?)

(",)

66

OK, I’m convinced this is a wireless driver issue now… looking for a solution.

67

Before we go messing with drivers, is there any chance you could change the router from WPA to WEP, or turn security OFF altogether… and test things.

I want to rule in/out WPA encryption.

68

WEP seems to be working fine, had to use hex key as security but it seems okay

[EDIT]
However, after saving it all I logged off modem, went to PC loaded up & logged in modem (to check everything was working as PC isn’t WiFi) but couldn’t because another admin was logged in, re-checked & neither are logged in?

(",)

69

That’s nothing out of the ordinary… you closed the browser whilst still logged onto the router… either wait a while, or turn the router off/on… either way you will then be able to log back into the router, because the session will either time out, or be reset by the off/on.

Next time, remember to hit the Logout link on the rouers web interface :wink:

Rebooting the PC that you were connected to the routers web interface with, also normally clears the session.

70

It’s all hunky-dory now- figured the magical cure of a re-boot my do it!!
Is WEP okay to be left on generally? How secure is it (I’ve only heard of WAP for WiFi previously)

(",)

71

WPA and particularly WPA2 are more secure… in as far as it would take longer for someone who is intent an had the skills to crack WPA/WPA2 than WEP … but for the average home setup, I’d say WEP is fine.

But that depends on how paranoid you are ?

Effectively, WEP is just an access key, whereas WPA is an access key, and also an encrypted data stream.

Obviously WPA has a larger resource overhead, as the system has to unencrypt, but is more secure.

WEP has less overhead, but means it would be easier for someone with the skills to “read” what is being transmitted.

That said… BOTH have now been cracked, so to anyone with the skills WPA isn’t that much more of a barrier.

If security is your main concern… WIRED is the only safe option :wink:

If you’re really that bothered, we can see if we can find some drivers that work better with WPA/WPA2.

72

Have you tried installing from a CD ? When I first changed to Linux I had to burn 6 CDs because of burning issues with my windows burning software.

If the iso image is good try burning it to CD at the slowest speed you can use. And install from the CD and before installing you may want to test the disk for defects.

73

Well I’ve been using the WEP & it seems to be okay, no-one appears to have accessed the router but am gonna invest in laying some cables for general use in living-room & bedroom

Again thank you for all your help

(",)

74

You’re welcome :slight_smile: