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NTP via wireless [solved]


edwardp
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I've installed Mandriva 2007 on a laptop which also has a wireless LAN connection.

 

When I use the wireless connection, at startup once ntp loads in, it will display something like "temporary failure in name resolution". But when using the wired connection, ntp will work perfectly.

 

In syslog, I have noticed many entries of "link beat lost" and "link beat detected". Do these have to do with NTP not being able to find the server on a wireless connection? Although "Waiting for network to be up" appears before NTP tries to connect, I'm at a loss. If the network is up, then NTP should have been able to reach one of the host, regardless of the connection.

 

This is the first time I've used a wireless connection on a computer and I'm still learning. The interface is an Intel PRO/Wireless 2915ABG,

 

Thanks for any suggestions.

 

moved from software by mystified

Edited by edwardp
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I think I might have seen this on my machines with ntp over wireless connections, but as far as I remember it was working correctly.

 

Did you check using the:

 

ntpq -p

 

command to see if it was working? What were the results you saw on screen after doing this? You have to su first to get root privileges before running the command.

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ntpq -p
 remote		   refid	  st t when poll reach   delay   offset  jitter
==============================================================================
LOCAL(0)		LOCAL(0)		10 l   40   64	7	0.000	0.000   0.001

 

The above is what the ntpq -p command displays. On this bootup (before logging in here and posting this), it again reported "temporary failure in name resolution".

 

Could it be a timing issue of some kind and is there something that can be added to a file that will cause ntp to continually poll until it connects with a server?

 

Also, when I installed Mandriva, I selected the XFS file system. When it partitioned /home, it used EXT3 for that. Could the difference in the file systems cause this? If so, could I select a different file system when partioning if I have to reinstall Mandriva, assuming this might fix it?

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Shouldn't be the filesystems. I'd be tempted to allocate the machine with a static ip address if you are using a DHCP assigned one. Maybe the connection isn't fully active and having problems resolving DNS immediately.

 

All mine have static IP's, so I've never had the ntpq command fail to display a connection to the ntp server.

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Assigning a static IP had no effect on it, in fact, the wireless connection indicator on the laptop constantly blinks, which did not occur when the wireless adapter was set to use DHCP.

 

In addition, the software hangs when the system is shutting down or reseting. It stops at a different point each time. Perhaps the laptop is too powerful for the software and maybe I should try a different distro, I'm simply having too many problems with Mandriva on this.

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This was in syslog after the last bootup:

 

Apr 12 08:57:23 mandriva ifplugd(eth1)[2980]: Using detection mode: SIOCETHTOOL
Apr 12 08:57:23 mandriva ifplugd(eth1)[2980]: Initialization complete, link beat not detected.
Apr 12 08:57:23 mandriva avahi-daemon[3255]: Found user 'avahi' (UID 72) and group 'avahi' (GID 72).
Apr 12 08:57:23 mandriva avahi-daemon[3255]: Successfully dropped root privileges.
Apr 12 08:57:23 mandriva avahi-daemon[3255]: avahi-daemon 0.6.13 starting up.
Apr 12 08:57:23 mandriva ntpdate[3154]: can't find host 0.us.pool.ntp.org
Apr 12 08:57:23 mandriva ntpdate[3154]: can't find host 1.us.pool.ntp.org
Apr 12 08:57:23 mandriva ntpdate[3154]: can't find host 2.us.pool.ntp.org
Apr 12 08:57:23 mandriva ntpdate[3154]: no servers can be used, exiting

 

It is initializing the wireless LAN, but it seems that ntp is running too soon afterwards. Is there something that can be added that will allow ntp to start/run later in the process?

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I also ran a Google search on this problem and people using other distros were having the same problem, it's apparently common to 802.11G wireless, which this interface is (802.11A, B and G), although my Linksys router is 802.11B. The solutions that worked for others were specific to other distros though.

 

It almost seems like ntp (ntpdate) is running too soon in the process and needs to be either brought down later in the bootup process or as a network-up process instead of at boot, if this is possible.

 

(The laptop is an IBM ThinkPad.)

Edited by edwardp
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You could do this:

 

chkconfig ntpd off

 

this will stop ntpd booting before the network card is active. Then, edit /etc/rc.local and then add:

 

service ntpd start

 

what this will do is mean that all services will start normally, and then it will run the stuff from rc.local meaning you have time to get your network active before ntpd starts.

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I've decided to try another distro on the laptop. I've wasted so much time trying to get ntp to work on a wireless connection, not to mention the hangups during bootup and shutdown, that it's become a waste of time. I don't think Mandriva 2007 can handle being on such a fast laptop.

 

Thanks for trying to help with ntp though, I appreciate it.

 

Ed

Edited by edwardp
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A laptop being too fast for Mandriva (I presume it is Mandriva)???. Wow, never heard that one before. :D :D :D :lol2:

 

If it's too fast for Mandriva then it must be too fast for Linux. Not.

 

Of course the problem couldn't be that the manufacturers have supplied no Linux drivers or not supplied data that Linux programmers can use to enable them to write drivers. Nah, couldn't be.

 

Sorry edwardp, just couldn't resist it.

 

Do you have ALL the latest updates for Mandriva 2007 ??. Unless you are using the lastest and updated versions then of course you are likely to have problems. However this is an area where gigantic strides have been made in recent months. Frankly running to another Linux OS is likely to give you similar problems again unless you use their latest versions.

Drivers are not developed for Mandriva, they are developed for Linux so that all Linux OSs can use them. Mandriva is well known for keeping abreast of latest drivers and making them available quickly. From what I understand, 2007-1 has a lot of newer advanced drivers for whatever. Could be worth your while to wait for a few days till it is released. It is very likely to have just what you need.

 

Have you obtained a Live cd such as Mandriva Live or PCLinuxOS to see if they work with your Wi Fi. If one or the other works then do the install from it.

Cheers. John.

Edited by AussieJohn
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Hello John,

 

I installed both the One and Free versions of Mandriva 2007 separately, with all updates installed for both and had the same issue with both versions. I know it sounds crazy having problems with it on such a fast laptop, but I don't know what else to do. I am in agreement with Ian that rc.local should have run last, however that did not occur. As far as the system hanging at both startup and shutdown, I'm at a loss as to why that is happening...

 

This may be some sort of timing issue though. I tried another distro last night and have the same ntp issues. However, unlike Mandriva, when the KDE desktop appears with this other distro, one of the icons next to the clock indicates that it is still trying to establish the wireless connection with the router, so on the surface, it appears that ntp is actually running quite a bit before the wireless connection is actually live. Either ntp must run later in the process or the wireless connection must become live sooner, to resolve this problem. And now that it is occurring with more than one Linux distribution, perhaps this should be looked into.

 

Ed

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I'd have to agree and say it certainly sounds like something with your wireless card which is causing the problems. In particular if it says it's still looking for a link after you've logged into KDE.

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