Wireless Issues on Dell XPS 1330m

[Dave Cross]

I've got a new Dell XPS 1330m laptop and I've installed Fedora 9 on
it. I have a couple of problems with the wireless connectivity. Any
advice would be appreciated.

According to hwbrowser, the card is "Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless
4965 AG or AGN Network Connection". This is detected and configured
correctly by NetworkManager.

It's probably worth pointing out that my machine uses the PAE version
of the kernel.

When I first installed Fedora, it installed
kernel-PAE-2.6.25-14.fc9.i686. When this kernel first boots,
NetworkManager sees many wireless networks around me, but not mine.
However if I select Connect to Other Wireless Network and type in my
network name it connects successfully and I have no problems. Under
previous versions of Fedora (on my old laptop) NetworkManager would
find and connect to my network automatically. It would be nice to get
this behaviour back.

So under 2.6.25 things work, just sub-optimally. Under more recent
kernels, the situation is worse. I've updated the system a couple of
times and I now also have kernel-PAE-2.6.26.3-29.fc9.i686 and
kernel-PAE-2.6.26.5-45.fc9.i686. Under either of these kernels, my
network is still not detected and even when I try to force a
connection, it still doesn't work.

Here's a dump of /var/log/messages for a failed connection attempt.

Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0)
starting connection 'Auto MAGNUM'
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): device state
change: 3 -> 4
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
1 of 5 (Device Prepare) scheduled...
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
1 of 5 (Device Prepare) started...
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
2 of 5 (Device Configure) scheduled...
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
1 of 5 (Device Prepare) complete.
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
2 of 5 (Device Configure) starting...
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): device state
change: 4 -> 5
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation
(wlan0/wireless): connection 'Auto MAGNUM' requires no security.  No
secrets needed.
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Config: added 'ssid'
value 'MAGNUM'
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Config: added
'scan_ssid' value '1'
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Config: added 'key_mgmt'
value 'NONE'
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Config: set interface ap_scan to 1
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): supplicant
connection state change: 1 -> 2
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): supplicant
connection state change: 2 -> 3
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel kernel: wlan0 (WE) : Wireless Event too big (344)
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): supplicant
connection state change: 3 -> 4
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): supplicant
connection state change: 4 -> 7
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation
(wlan0/wireless) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) successful.
Connected to wireless network 'MAGNUM'.
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) scheduled.
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) started...
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): device state
change: 5 -> 7
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0)
Beginning DHCP transaction.
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  dhclient started with pid 2992
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
3 of 5 (IP Configure Start) complete.
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel dhclient: Internet Systems Consortium DHCP Client 4.0.0
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel dhclient: Copyright 2004-2007 Internet Systems Consortium.
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel dhclient: All rights reserved.
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel dhclient: For info, please visit
http://www.isc.org/sw/dhcp/
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel dhclient:
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel NetworkManager: <info>  DHCP: device wlan0 state
changed (null) -> preinit
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel dhclient: Listening on LPF/wlan0/00:21:5c:64:ab:e5
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel dhclient: Sending on   LPF/wlan0/00:21:5c:64:ab:e5
Oct 12 18:45:26 angel dhclient: Sending on   Socket/fallback
Oct 12 18:45:29 angel dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to
255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 6
Oct 12 18:45:35 angel dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to
255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 8
Oct 12 18:45:43 angel dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to
255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 11
Oct 12 18:45:54 angel dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to
255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 16
Oct 12 18:46:10 angel dhclient: DHCPDISCOVER on wlan0 to
255.255.255.255 port 67 interval 14
Oct 12 18:46:11 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Device 'wlan0' DHCP
transaction took too long (>45s), stopping it.
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel NetworkManager: <info>  wlan0: canceled DHCP
transaction, dhcp client pid 2992
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) scheduled...
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) started...
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): device state
change: 7 -> 9
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0)
failed for access point (MAGNUM)
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Marking connection 'Auto
MAGNUM' invalid.
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) failed.
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel NetworkManager: <info>  Activation (wlan0) Stage
4 of 5 (IP Configure Timeout) complete.
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): device state
change: 9 -> 3
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel NetworkManager: <info>  (wlan0): deactivating device.
Oct 12 18:46:12 angel kernel: wlan0 (WE) : Wireless Event too big (344)

Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can help to get this fixed?

Thanks,

Dave...