Category Archives: wireless

Kogan Agora tablet wireless not working

Posted on by
1

An excerpt of a report coming in from Paul with some wireless network woes with his Kogan Agora tablet:

Let’s surf the net a bit.

Oh…The web page (google) is anavailable.Check your wifi settings.

Okay…checking. Connecting….disconnected….connecting….disconnected…connecting….disconnected. OVER and OVER. RESET the whole thing and start again. Change channel in router. try different channels. OH! Connected!…disconnected…connected….

This is bringing back terrible memories I had with my Kogan Agora netbook and wireless!

 

Improving wifi on the Kogan Agora netbook with an Intel 3945ABG network card

Posted on by
11
Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG

Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG

Update: Please note this article is only applicable to 1st generation (10″) Kogan Agora netbook. If you have a 2nd generation (12″) Kogan Agora laptop you will need to purchase a “half” sized mini PCI-E card.

After several months of fighting my Kogan Agora netbook to connect to wifi networks, which included the netbook only connecting to my access point if I saved the AP’s configuration, I have finally found a fix to better the wifi performance.

Back cover removed, showing the network card (bottom left)

My frustration reached its peak when the netbook refused to connect to my new Netcomm NB9WMAXXN wireless router, so after a quick transaction on ebay I purchased an Intel® PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Mini PCI-E card to replace the Ralink wireless card that replaced the VIA card.

It came at a cost of $7.95 including postage, so it was a small gamble to take in the hope it would rid me of my connection woes.

Close up of the original VIA network card

And after a quick change over, I was quite happy to see the latest version of Ubuntu (11.04, which had up until now refused to connect to my wireless network) connect instantly when I logged in!

Hopefully this will see some better mileage obtained from my Kogan Agora netbook – at least until I can replace it with a 10″ tablet.

ubuntu 9.10 (karmic koala) beta on the kogan agora

Posted on by
7

In a bid to resurrect my kogan agora pro netbook to a usable state, I decided to upgrade to the lastest version of ubuntu, karmic koala, which has just gone beta.

sudo update-manager -d

This will kick off the update manager, and provide you with a single button to upgrade to version 9.10. After 30 minutes or so, you should be rebooting into a new kernel, and the new ubuntu.

The usual suspects that needed attention in the past (read: the touchpad and wireless networking) were both still working, and had obviously remained configured from the previous version.

Whilst I say “working”, the wireless adapter is connecting to my home wireless access point however the signal is still low and not picking up neighbouring APs.

 

Continue reading →