wi-fi problem :( [knoppix 6.2 on USB]

[amandawillow]

I have made a new Knoppix on a USB drive (with virtual storage space /KNOPPIX-DATA on the same drive) and for a week or so it worked great. Then all of sudden wi-fi is not working. The nm-applet (network-manager) shows available wi-fi nodes and it appears to connect, but when I open up a browser and try to go anywhere it would not. I tried something like "ping www.google.com" and I get "no such host" or something like that. I thought first if network-manager is buggy especially since it is really designed for GNOME and not really for LXDE, thinking it might help if it were wicd.

I tried to manually connect to wi-fi, then the problem is that I get stuck at DHCPDISCOVER. I do not get the "lease" at all. So this may not even be a problem with network-manager.

The odd thing is, I have LinuxMint 9 LXDE edition on the same machine (EeePC 900) and it comes shipped with network-manager as well. I have no problem whatsoever with the network-manager on LinuxMint. And certainly this is not my hardware that is having problems, or the outcome would have been the same with LinuxMint or Knoppix.

So now I'm clueless as for why I cannot seem to get online with Knoppix. And this is kind of no good, since I am having intermittent problem with the faulty SSD on my EeePC and using Knoppix in case I am not able to boot from the SSD (this is just a temporary fix for another month or so before I get a new EeePC, probably 1005HAB.... but I still need a contingency plan in the meantime....).

[krishna.murphy]

I have made a new Knoppix on a USB drive (with virtual storage space /KNOPPIX-DATA on the same drive) and for a week or so it worked great. Then all of sudden wi-fi is not working. The nm-applet (network-manager) shows available wi-fi nodes and it appears to connect, but when I open up a browser and try to go anywhere it would not. I tried something like "ping www.google.com" and I get "no such host" or something like that. I thought first if network-manager is buggy especially since it is really designed for GNOME and not really for LXDE, thinking it might help if it were wicd.

I tried to manually connect to wi-fi, then the problem is that I get stuck at DHCPDISCOVER. I do not get the "lease" at all. So this may not even be a problem with network-manager.

The odd thing is, I have LinuxMint 9 LXDE edition on the same machine (EeePC 900) and it comes shipped with network-manager as well. I have no problem whatsoever with the network-manager on LinuxMint. And certainly this is not my hardware that is having problems, or the outcome would have been the same with LinuxMint or Knoppix.

So now I'm clueless as for why I cannot seem to get online with Knoppix. And this is kind of no good, since I am having intermittent problem with the faulty SSD on my EeePC and using Knoppix in case I am not able to boot from the SSD (this is just a temporary fix for another month or so before I get a new EeePC, probably 1005HAB.... but I still need a contingency plan in the meantime....).

Dear Amanda:

You have multiple options here, but I'd suggest that you start by booting without your persistent store using the cheatcode noimage, e.g.

knoppix noimage

If the problem goes away (as it most likely will), then either rename or back up and erase the KNOPPIX-DATA file and recreate it without whatever went wrong. You'll spend a bit of time re-doing the customizations you'd made, but you'll save a LOT of time compared to finding and fixing whatever teensy little thing got glitched.

Hope that helps!
Krishna

[amandawillow]

OK, when do I type the cheatcode noimage? When I boot it? How do I get the prompt to show up, since it seems like the first thing I can type in is the password for persistent storage.

Also I'm kind of confused with how UnionFS works (I know the original ASUS Xandros used UnionFS to allow for a factory reset, I did not quite like the way it ate up diskspace). Where does the KNOPPIX-DATA reside really, when I try to cp the directory I cannot seem to actually find the directory called as such.

Thanks

[utu]

@amandawillow

If all else fails, you might try re-cycling your router.
That is, turn it off, wait 10 or 15 seconds and turn it back on.
This should renew the leases the router has to offer,
if that was your problem.

[krishna.murphy]

OK, when do I type the cheatcode noimage? When I boot it? How do I get the prompt to show up, since it seems like the first thing I can type in is the password for persistent storage.

It's before this, when the BIG penguin is onscreen (right after the POST, when you can enter the BIOS.) The prompt is a little bit small, on the lower left. Also, as I said previously, the full command is "knoppix noimage"

Also I'm kind of confused with how UnionFS works (I know the original ASUS Xandros used UnionFS to allow for a factory reset, I did not quite like the way it ate up diskspace). Where does the KNOPPIX-DATA reside really, when I try to cp the directory I cannot seem to actually find the directory called as such.

It's somewhat confusing, I suppose - before it's mounted (i.e. under Windows), it's a file called KNOPPIX-DATA.aes, in the folder called KNOPPIX.

Thanks

Cheers!
Krishna