When using Ubuntu 8.10 and connecting to a Wireless-n (802.11n) network, the system freezes with kernel panic (as indicated by blinking scroll and numlock). The system gets unusable and you would have to reboot. I have had this issue with my Dell XPS M1530, when connecting to Apple Extreme router.
The issue with the intel wireless module driver, and will get fixed by installing the compat-wireless driver.
Try compiling this iwlagn module, http://www.orbit-lab.org/kernel/compat-wireless-2.6/2008/10/compat-wireless-2008-10-01.tar.bz2 .
Extract the archive and then follow these steps:
sudo apt-get install build-essential cd compat* make sudo make install
Reboot the system, and you will not longer face kernel panic or system freeze.
UPDATE:
When installing 9.04, I figured out that 802.11N drivers for Ubuntu are totally broken. Since I did not want to fiddle around much, I added the following lines to /etc/modprobe.d/options(and restart the system):
options iwlagn 11n_disable=1
This would prevent Wireless-N mode, but it will get your Dell M1530 (and M1330) working on Wireless with Ubuntu
After applying that, I can no longer connect to any network
Any ideas how to fix it now?
Did you start the wpa_supplicant service ? whats the encryption scheme your WiFI is using ?
How can I do it? I have no idea about it.
My wifi is based on Apple Airport = 802.11n and WPA/WPA2 Personal. Access based on Mac address.
Before applying above steps everything worked fine but was freezing from time to time. Now I cannot connect at all.
I would be just happy about coming back to previous config and live with random freeze.
Any help will be appreciated.
After 2 weeks of testing I can say: “IT’S WORKING OK !!!”. No more freezes !
Apparently I made a mistake during the installation.
Now he freezes by booting. So I can’t use Ubuntu any more..
Is there a way to repair this?
I hope there is, or else I lost a lot of importent documents.
Maybe with the Live CD or something?
[...] also found this site: http://www.megalinux.net/solution-dell-xps-m1530-ubuntu-810-system-freeze-issue/, but I tried and it did not help. I see that several others are plagued with the same problem that [...]
Hi. I tried this fix, though with the release of 22 Feb. 2009. Now, as far as I’ve experienced since then, no more random kernel panics happen. The problem is that now I’m getting kernel panics that get triggered by other things, for example, when I change the pidgin display image from the status bar button. I wanted to know if this is just me, or if its a general problem. Thanks!
Thanks for you tip. I applied but after that I couldn’y connect to my wireless networks at all! in one of the comments above it is mentioned to restart the wpa_supplicant service, how can I do that? I am using ubuntu 8.10 with Netowrk Manager applet which do all the things for me. I am on DELL XPS M1330.
did you try adding:
options iwlagn 11n_disable=1
to /etc/modprobe.d/options
and then restarting ubuntu. I think it should get wireless working (but N mode disable .. AFAIK .. this is the only way to get it working as of now, as the N drivers for intel wifi are broken … or .. Fedora 10 is good)
it was big headache for me, now I just reinstall ubuntu 8.10 and I installed linux-backports-modules-intrepid package, to see whether or not this will fix my problem. if not I ll try patching iwlang with new option you mentioned. Thanks. Let u know the result soon …
Pi3cH
if you can live with only BG networking, then why not try the the mentod I mentioned in the update ?
- Ram
I tried installing linux-backports-modules-intrepid and everything now is working for me for two days of testing. Thanks Ram for your help
I am using Ubuntu 10.10 and STILL this problem persist!
Neither disabling 11n in modprobe.d nor installing linux-backports-modules-WHATEVER-maverick solved the matter.
I believe this hardware is CONDEMNED for now in Ubuntu/Linux, until Intel gives us a fresh new driver for it.