i have an aspire one on which i have linux installed. i use it infrequently when i go abroad - normally i use a windows 7 laptop… which will explain why i’m not a linux expert!
Last week i was in austria and on the first day connected to the hotels wireless network on the acer. But for the rest of the week it wouldn’t connect. It did keep coming up and telling me it was connected to my home network (!) some 800 miles away… but it wasn’t connected to anything. I got so fed up with it telling me this i deleted the home network off the m/c, but still, for the remainder of the week i couldn’t connect to the hotel’s internet, though other people in the same location could.
Now i’m home i’ve added my home network back, but it now won’t connect to that either - no error messages - it just keeps going round in a loop trying to connect, asking for the authentication, then not connecting. In an effort to resolve this i connected to the internet via network cable, then downloaded the latest updates from linux. I appear to be running ubuntu 10.04 lucid now. So - i again tried to connect to my home network but now it says wireless is disabled. Can anyone explain any of this, but mainly can someone tell me how i enable wireless again? (err… no, there isn’t a wireless switch on the netbook! 
Hi popeye, and welcome to the forum
Can you open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and post the output from running these commands:
sudo lshw -C network
(be aware, Linux commands ARE case sensitive)
and
iwconfig
and
iwlist scanning
and
rfkill list
Have you tried right-clicking the NetworkManager icon (by the clock), and selecting “Enable Wireless” ?
Something else to try if the right-click (mentioned above) doesn’t work …
Turn OFF the Acer Aspire One.
Remover the power adapter and battery (so there is NO power to the AA1)
Press the power button as if you want to turn it ON (to discharge any power remaining in the motherboard capacitors).
Replace the power adapter and battery
Boot the AA1 and see if the wireless is now active.
If neither work … along with the output from the commands above, can you post the exact model of AA1, as AFAIK they all do have a hardware switch
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thanks for the reply Mark. just after posting the above i switched off the m/c and went out for a few hours (note i had rebooted after downloading updates previously but it still didn’t work).
guess what? when i switched the m/c on again it auto-connected to my home network, and now everything works again!! Doesn’t explain though why i couldn’t connect when abroad.
thanks for this -<<< Have you tried right-clicking the NetworkManager icon (by the clock), and selecting “Enable Wireless” ? >>>-
Didn’t need to use it but you were right, there is an “enable wireless” option… wish i’d known that before - google search for “enable wireless linux” brought up far more complex terminal stuff.
the AA1 - it just says aspire one on the label, but def no wireless switch…
Hi Mark
I have a similar problem.
Wifi stopped connecting a few months back, but OK with cable connection.
Wireless is enabled but Wifi just circles round for a minute or so and then comes up with ‘Disconnected’
Also it doesn’t remember the password
But worse than that I can’t get into Terminal either by right clicking in a blank screen area or Ctl-Alt-T
- so I can’t send you the logs
Aspire one ZG5
still running Linpus I’m afraid - but actually not using it since the wifi went
Oh! Forgot to say that on 15 April I reloaded + Live update after the wifi went, but made no difference
Have you tried clearing ALL the network configurations for both user and root … then setting up the connection again ?
Open a terminal…
you can do this by hitting Alt+F2 and then typing terminal and clicking the Run button.
When the terminal opens, enter:
sudo gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /system/networking
and hit enter, then your password if/when asked… to clear all the root network connections.
Then back in the terminal, enter:
gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /system/networking
and hit enter… to clear all the user network connections.
reboot… network center should now work.
Be Aware - This will clear ALL network settings, so be prepared to have to re-enter your wireless settings etc.
First the good news
- I loaded Peppermint 3 and it works fine with a wired connection
I did all the updates and even got to Stage 8 - getting the right hand card reader to work.
EXCELLENT instructions Mark!
The only problem was Stage 6 ‘unable to locate Skype’
Now the bad news
- ‘Wireless networks’ and ‘wireless is disabled by hardware switch’ are grayed out
No amount of fiddling round with the VPN connection settings will pick up my wireless - so was that the problem all along - my wifi card has blown?
Are there any diagnostic tests?
Try this …
Power OFF the AA1
unplug both the battery and the power lead (so there is NO power to the AA1).
press the power button on the AA1 and hold it for a few seconds (to discharge any remaining power).
replace the battery and power lead.
Turn ON your AA1
Now open a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and post the output from these commands:
sudo lshw -C network
and
iwconfig
and
iwlist scanning
and
rfkill list
We’ll get around to Skype in a bit … that just needs the “partner” repos enabling.
Mark
Sorry I missed your earlier Linux post - I forgot to click ‘Notify’
Now this is really strange. I tried all that battery stuff before I ditched Linux and it didn’t work, but you will be delighted to hear that with Peppermint it worked a treat and I am now online! And it logs in automatically now too.
Thank you so much, although the cynic in me wonders how long it will last 
I really like Peppermint - sorry I took so long to take the jump - knocks spots off Linux!!! (as you always said)
I got all the way through to Stage 11 (except for Skype as I said)
and I looked at my email via Webmail with Chromium
Then I loaded Thunderbird and that works fine although it takes a bit of getting used to finding where all the tools are
But why isn’t Firefox there? - I thought your instructions loaded it, but Software Manager says it is not installed.
Thanks again for all your help.
The Peppermint instructions are really cool, although there have been some changes…
- ‘Try Peppermint’ is no longer there, it is now ‘Start Peppermint’
and a ‘Removable media is inserted’ screen comes up - but I ignored it
OK, first let’s make sure the partner repo is enabled … can you run:
gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
and paste the contents back here.
BTW, you were confusing the terms “Linpus” and “Linux” … both Linpus Lite and Peppermint are Linux distributions, but only one of them is old and crap
although the cynic in me wonders how long it will last ;)
If anything goes wrong with Peppermint, it’s usually easy to fix … but I’ve never had any problems with it and I have it installed on 3 PC’s
Oh, if you’re happy with webmail, you don’t have to use Thunderbird … I only included it in the tutorial because Linpus has an earlier version of Thunderbird
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Something has gone wrong with ‘Notify’ on this tread - even though I clicked it and it now says ‘unnotify’ I am not getting emails when you reply
OK, sorry. So long since I asked a question I forgot about Linpus
- but that doesn’t seem a bad thing now I am on Peppermint
Webmail is a good fallback, but I do prefer Thunderbird and can keep PCs and netbooks in step with it although some wifi hotspots won’t let it send or receive.
Not sure what you want from this log
- afraid I installed Firefox from Software Manager
Anyway, here goes…
deb cdrom:[Peppermint 3 Three - Release i386 (20120423)]/ precise main multiverse restricted universe
See UpgradeNotes - Community Help Wiki for how to upgrade to
newer versions of the distribution.
deb Index of /ubuntu precise main restricted
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise main restricted
Major bug fix updates produced after the final release of the
distribution.
deb Index of /ubuntu precise-updates main restricted
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise-updates main restricted
N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
team. Also, please note that software in universe WILL NOT receive any
review or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb Index of /ubuntu precise universe
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise universe
deb Index of /ubuntu precise-updates universe
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise-updates universe
N.B. software from this repository is ENTIRELY UNSUPPORTED by the Ubuntu
team, and may not be under a free licence. Please satisfy yourself as to
your rights to use the software. Also, please note that software in
multiverse WILL NOT receive any review or updates from the Ubuntu
security team.
deb Index of /ubuntu precise multiverse
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise multiverse
deb Index of /ubuntu precise-updates multiverse
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise-updates multiverse
N.B. software from this repository may not have been tested as
extensively as that contained in the main release, although it includes
newer versions of some applications which may provide useful features.
Also, please note that software in backports WILL NOT receive any review
or updates from the Ubuntu security team.
deb Index of /ubuntu precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise-backports main restricted universe multiverse
deb Index of /ubuntu precise-security main restricted
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise-security main restricted
deb Index of /ubuntu precise-security universe
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise-security universe
deb Index of /ubuntu precise-security multiverse
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise-security multiverse
Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Canonical’s
‘partner’ repository.
This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by Canonical and the
respective vendors as a service to Ubuntu users.
deb Index of /ubuntu precise partner
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise partner
Uncomment the following two lines to add software from Ubuntu’s
‘extras’ repository.
This software is not part of Ubuntu, but is offered by third-party
developers who want to ship their latest software.
deb Index of /ubuntu precise main
deb-src Index of /ubuntu precise main
OK, first let’s backup your sources.list file … run:
sudo cp -v /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.bak
OK, now open sources.list for editing:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
Find the line that reads:-
# deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner
and remove the # and the space from the beginning, so it reads:-
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu precise partner
SAVE the file, and exit gedit.
Back in the terminal, run:
sudo apt-get update
then
sudo apt-get install skype
You should now find Skype in the menu’s at menu>Internet>Skype … I’ve not included Firefox as you said you’ve already installed it.
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I’ve changed your notification settings … Are you getting notifications now ?
Be sure to read my last reply too
Hi Mark
Notifications still not coming through. I toggled my setting last night just to be sure.
Sorry, I am ahead of you again. I went ahead and installed Skype from the Library
(or was it a thread on here? - it was late and I can’t recall)
Afraid we’re away for a few days, so no need to hurry to reply
Thanks for all your help (as usual)
- don’t you ever sleep?
Are you all good now then ?
Haven’t actually tried Skype yet - it is all a new world for me
Been having the same old problems of cursor skipping and massive deletions of email text that I used to get with Linpus (or my high speed typing), but seem to have solved that by:
Menu | Preferences | Keyboard and mouse | Touchpad and disabling ‘Tap to click’
- just hope that stays disabled - on Linpus it had a habit of coming back!
Notifications still not coming through - any ideas?
- anyone else reported problems?
But thanks (yet again) for your help and patience Mark
- brilliant!
So glad I finally made the jump to Peppermint after so many nudges from you
- it is FAST and so much better than Linpus, although I wonder if I need a higher spec machine to get the most out of it?
There’s a command on here somewhere that disables the touchad when you start typing, and re-enables it 2 seconds after you stop typing.
Here it is:
syndaemon -i 2 -d
(you can adjust the delay from 2 seconds by changing the 2)
If you want that to automatically be applied at each bootup … see here:
http://linuxforums.org.uk/index.php?topic=9782.msg74649#msg74649
Notifications still not coming through - any ideas?There was a small hiccup with a mailserver .. hopefully they should now work .. but let me know if they don't.
I wonder if I need a higher spec machine to get the most out of it?Sure, as with any OS the better the hardware spec the better the performance .. but Peppermint doesn't DEMAND a high spec.
But thanks (yet again) for your help and patience MarkYou're more than welcome :)
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