[sf-lug] question re: ipw2100 and ubuntu 7.10

[Mark K. Zanfardino]

Hi, I'm new to the mailing list and hope this finds everyone doing
well.  I have a question concerning an issue I'm running into with my
new (to me) Lenovo T40 laptop.  It has an integrated Intel WiFi
(802.11b).  I've installed Kubuntu Gutsy (7.10) and find that the native
ipw2100 driver loads just fine.  However, I have a problem with
intermittent connectivity.  Specifically the signal seems to drop then
reacquire on a frequency directly related to the current bandwidth
consumption: the more data I consume the more frequently it drops. 
Eventually it drops completely and I need to reboot to resolve it.

I've looked at /var/log/message, /var/log/kern.log, /var/log/system and
dmesg to try and ID the source of the problem.  It appears that the
following message occurs timed with when the signal drops (I'm observing
the signal strength with wavemon): "Fatal interrupt. Scheduling firmware
restart."

When I disabled the native driver and loaded a windows driver with
ndiswrapper I find I get the same error.  Has anyone any experience with
this particular issue?

As a temporary alternative I've bought a Belkin ME-1001 USB WiFi which
works with native linux drivers but sadly it's about 3" long and sticks
out the side of my laptop, making me concerned that I damage it or my
laptop one of these days while I'm working with it in my living room. 
I'd much prefer to use the integrated wifi (even if it is limited to
11Mbps).

Cheers!