Comment 80 for bug 548992

I am running Kubuntu 10.4 on a Sony VAIO VGN-FW140E notebook which has an Intel Wifi Link 5100 chip. I have been using Kubuntu 10.4 since beta and I run wicd as the network manager.

About a month ago I began noticing that about every five minutes my browsing would pause. I would open a Konsole and ping google.com and get after a couple seconds each ping began returning. The browser began working again. A couple days ago the kernel was updated to 2.6.32-25-generic #45-Ubuntu SMP Sat Oct 16 19:52:42 UTC 2010 x86_64 GNU/Linux. Now the disconnects happen within a couple minutes after beginning browsing, regardless of the browser. I rebooted using the previous kernel but the disconnects continue, usually reason 2 or 3. After I reconnect using wicd I begin pinging google.com It always fails around the 46th ping, plus or minus a couple. After ping fails on google.com it won't even ping my localhost or 127.0.0.1.

Here is the work around I developed. I boot up my modem and wireless router. When they are stable I boot my notebook. After a couple minutes of browsing FireFox hangs. I close firefox. I open wicd and disconnect my access point BUT I DO NOT reboot my notebook. The I power cycle the modem and wireless. When they are stable I refresh wicd and click on my access point. It connects and stays connected.