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MGE
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2005 3:53 am
Posts: 94
Location: Manchester
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 Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:14 pm Post subject: Mepis 8 slow WiFi Connection |
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Howdy all,
Not sure if this has been solved at all, but I have recently installed Mepis 8 on a computer of mine.
Everything is running ok, apart from the wireless network.
The card, as identified in kInfo:
RaLink RT2500 802.11g Cardbus/Mini-PCI (Rev 01)
CNET Technology inc CWP-854 Wireless-G PCI Adapter
Driver: RT2500PCI
It has connected to the wireless network, however its only connecting at 1Mbps.
I have checked the file:
/etc/mepis-network/wireless/default
And made sure the option that IF_WIRELESS_RATE="54M" was set, which it is.
However, still connecting at 1Mbps.
Does anyone know how to get this connecting at faster rates?
Can only download at about 30(ish)Kb/sec at the minute 
_________________
Pentium 4 3.2Ghz Prescott 1MB Cache
Abit IC7 (875P Chipset)
3GB Corsair Dual Channel DDR
Nvidia GeForce 6600GT
500GB (SATA2-ReiserFS) Main drive
500GB (PATA-ReiserFS) Media drive
120GB (PATA-NTFS) Legacy data
OS: SimplyMEPIS 8 |
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ajgreeny
LXF regular
Joined: Wed May 10, 2006 9:18 pm
Posts: 168
Location: Oxfordshire.
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 9:08 pm Post subject: |
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Are you sure that the connection is really only at 1Mbps? I say this as I have been toying with the idea of getting an new pcmcia card for a laptop I have and The Linuxemporium tell me:-
| Quote: | The MSI card uses the rt2500pci driver on Ubuntu 9.04 and will work with
a WPA access point and can be configured with Network Manager.
In tests here in our environment the throughput when making large files
isn't as good as the Edimax cards, but then it's considerably cheaper!!
Be warned, the connection information in Network Manager reports a
connection speed of 1 Mb/s, but that is incorrect - it's much faster
than that! |
Note that the chipset is the same as yours, and therefore the same comment about network speed may apply. Try moving a large file or downloading something large to see what speed you can actually achieve. |
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MGE
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2005 3:53 am
Posts: 94
Location: Manchester
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| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks for the headsup ajgreeny.
I am downloading the latest install image for Mepis 8 at the minute, so when thats done i'll do a few tests on transfer and compare that to the tests I will run in Mepis.
_________________
Pentium 4 3.2Ghz Prescott 1MB Cache
Abit IC7 (875P Chipset)
3GB Corsair Dual Channel DDR
Nvidia GeForce 6600GT
500GB (SATA2-ReiserFS) Main drive
500GB (PATA-ReiserFS) Media drive
120GB (PATA-NTFS) Legacy data
OS: SimplyMEPIS 8 |
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MGE
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2005 3:53 am
Posts: 94
Location: Manchester
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:36 am Post subject: |
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| ajgreeny wrote: | Are you sure that the connection is really only at 1Mbps? I say this as I have been toying with the idea of getting an new pcmcia card for a laptop I have and The Linuxemporium tell me:-
| Quote: | The MSI card uses the rt2500pci driver on Ubuntu 9.04 and will work with
a WPA access point and can be configured with Network Manager.
In tests here in our environment the throughput when making large files
isn't as good as the Edimax cards, but then it's considerably cheaper!!
Be warned, the connection information in Network Manager reports a
connection speed of 1 Mb/s, but that is incorrect - it's much faster
than that! |
Note that the chipset is the same as yours, and therefore the same comment about network speed may apply. Try moving a large file or downloading something large to see what speed you can actually achieve. |
Ok, Just installed using the latest install image of Mepis 8.
Before I rebooted, I ran a few speed tests at speedtest.net.
Average speed in Winblows is 2.45Mbps download amd 0.49Mbps upload, average latency was 80ms.
The same test in Mepis 8 with Network Manager saying it is connected at 1Mbps is:
0.5Mbps Download
0.06Mbps Upload
300ms+ Latency.
Anyone have any other idea's as to how to get a faster connection?
_________________
Pentium 4 3.2Ghz Prescott 1MB Cache
Abit IC7 (875P Chipset)
3GB Corsair Dual Channel DDR
Nvidia GeForce 6600GT
500GB (SATA2-ReiserFS) Main drive
500GB (PATA-ReiserFS) Media drive
120GB (PATA-NTFS) Legacy data
OS: SimplyMEPIS 8 |
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RedWillow
LXF regular
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 2:05 pm
Posts: 541
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:02 am Post subject: |
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I'm surprised the Linux Emporium make this claim...
| Quote: | Be warned, the connection information in Network Manager reports a
connection speed of 1 Mb/s, but that is incorrect - it's much faster
than that! |
... because my understanding is that there was a regression in the kernel driver nearly 2 years ago which has still not been fixed. Certainly my experience is that my two rt2500 devices (a PCI card and USB dongle) worked just fine 2 or 3 years ago but that now they are near-unusable because of the pathetic speeds they achieve.
There has been a lot of talk on Ubuntuforums about this problem but, since this is a kernel issue, this is going to affect everyone. Some random links that came up from a quick search of Ubuntuforums just to show you you are not alone:
From about 18 months ago.
A recent alleged fix. Post #18 links to this kernel bug. I seem to remember coming across a few other bug reports about this.
And another alleged fix using wicd. I can't give you the link just now, but I'm sure I came across a report saying that this last fix doesn't work in Ubuntu Karmic - which means kernel 2.6.31.
The rt2500 used to have the reputation of being the most reliable wireless chipset in Linux - not any more. There are either insuperable kernel coding issues or this is a symptom of massive developer neglect. It's a great shame.
Maybe you'll find a solution in one of those threads, but I'm not holding my breath. Have you checked out the Mepis forum? There might just be something useful there. Although, again, since this is a kernel problem I'm not holding my breath.
The only other thing I can suggest is to get one of the Edimax devices from Linux Emporium. They use a later Ralink chipset which does work OK, so I understand. Or at least I've got the same Edimax USB device (sourced elsewhere) which works just fine in Ubuntu Jaunty/Karmic. |
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ajgreeny
LXF regular
Joined: Wed May 10, 2006 9:18 pm
Posts: 168
Location: Oxfordshire.
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| Posted: Mon Oct 26, 2009 1:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Thanks for that RedWillow, I'll bear that in mind in any dealings I have with The Linuxemporium, and perhaps just bite the bullet and go for the edimax card instead. Perhaps even use the USB version which I can always use on my desktop as well if I want to when, or if, the laptop dies. |
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MGE
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2005 3:53 am
Posts: 94
Location: Manchester
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| Posted: Tue Oct 27, 2009 2:42 pm Post subject: |
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Ok, update:
Managed to get the speed issue sorted.
Still using the RT2500 drivers that Mepis uses from a fresh install.
At first, still stuck on 1Mbps connection....
However, then I tried:
iwconfig wlan0 rate 11M
then i just disconnected from the WiFi network and allowed network manager to reconnect automatically.
This time it connected at 11Mbps, went to speedtest.net and ran a test, this time I got 6.04Mbps downrate.
Faster than it is in Windoze. 
At the minute however, I have to manually type that into a console and reconnect to the wireless network manually at every boot.
I tried changing /etc/mepis-network/wireless/default to reflect the 11M rate, but no joy.
Is there a way to make network manager connect at 11M?
_________________
Pentium 4 3.2Ghz Prescott 1MB Cache
Abit IC7 (875P Chipset)
3GB Corsair Dual Channel DDR
Nvidia GeForce 6600GT
500GB (SATA2-ReiserFS) Main drive
500GB (PATA-ReiserFS) Media drive
120GB (PATA-NTFS) Legacy data
OS: SimplyMEPIS 8 |
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RedWillow
LXF regular
Joined: Thu May 29, 2008 2:05 pm
Posts: 541
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| Posted: Wed Oct 28, 2009 2:21 pm Post subject: |
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If you look at the first post in my second link (sorry - I linked to the second page of that thread by mistake) you'll see that the OP has used the same command as you (but with a faster speed) and has put it in a bootup script.
Whether /etc/init.d/anacron is the best place I don't know, but putting the command in a boot script somewhere seems the way to go. Note also that this doesn't work in Ubuntu Karmic. Perhaps that's because of the later kernel - 2.6.31 in Karmic - I don't know. That may mean that when you get Mepis 8.5 or whatever the next version is going to be, with a newer kernel, the hack might not work. No doubt we'll see.
Good luck. |
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