Auto Only-----------------------------*

Power Window Motor

Power window problems on cars and trucks could be considered one of the most annoying problems you could have on an automobile. When you think about it how often do you actually operate the power windows on your car.
When you roll up to the drive-through window at your favorite fast food restaurant or you are going to pay a toll I’m sure you would like your window to operate properly. Many times electric window operation can become intermittent. This is even more frustrating than if it stopped working altogether.
When you have intermittent operation the tendency is to put off repair of the system until either the problem gets worse or the Windows stops working all the time. From a safety point of view you really shouldn’t put off repairs because you never know when rolling up or down that window will be important for safety reasons.

Power window systems

Power Window Parts

The power window system happens to be one accessory that really doesn’t vary that much between vehicle manufacturers or car models. The major components of an average system would be the master switch, the window lift motor, circuit breakers and relays, and the wiring that ties those items together. Oh I forgot the glass itself.
Often when the window stops working people ask me where the fuse is. Most modern power window systems do not actually have a fuse. It is more common to find a circuit breaker protecting the wiring and electrical components. A circuit breaker will automatically reset if the system overheats or pulls too much amperage.
In addition to the main circuit breaker usually there is an internal circuit breaker to protect each individual window lift motor. If one of the window switches is held too long or the window is obstructed the circuit breaker will automatically open to prevent damage to the motor.

Common problems with power windows

Master Switch

I diagnose a lot of these power window systems. The two most common problems that I find is either a defective window lift motor or a problem with the master switch. To break it down even further it is the driver side window motor that I see fail most often.
The simple fact is that the drivers side front door window is operated much more than any of the other Windows on most vehicles. This is also true with the master switch that is usually mounted on the drivers side door panel. The master switch gets more use than the other switches in the vehicle.
On my own personal vehicle the master switch is mounted flat on the driver side armrest on the door panel. I have had problems with the master switch because of its location. Water from the roof drips right onto the switch when the window is down or even partially opens. This poor design led to heavy corrosion built-up inside the switch.
I was able to save myself from replacing the switch by removing and disassembling it. I got myself some electrical contact cleaner and was able to remove all of the corrosion. I have to perform this procedure about once every two years because of this master switches poor location.

Diagnosing electric windows

Just because the driver side master switch and the driver side window lift motor are the most common failures this doesn’t mean that you will have those exact problems. Many other parts of the system are capable of failing.
When you’re starting your diagnosis of a power window system it is best to determine if the whole system is not working or maybe it’s just one window from one switch. If nothing works in the system the place to start would be with the master control switch or the main system circuit breaker.
If only some of the Windows don’t work and others do you would want to check parts that are common to the windows that are not working. From an electrical point of view you may need a wiring diagram for your specific automobile to determine what electrical parts are in common.
As an example let’s say that the right rear window is the only window not working. It does not work from the master switch or the switch on the right rear door panel. In this case it would be time to remove the door panel and inspect the power window motor that runs that window. Again an online auto repair manual will provide step-by-step diagnostic instructions to determine what the failure is

*Auto eth0 isn't very user friendly. Many people wont know what it is*

In case you didn't already figure it out, the title refers to a quite popular idea on Ubuntu Brainstorm. It also refers to a bug report against NetworkManager in Launchpad: bug #386900.

This is one issue I'd particularly like to solve soon. Although it most likely won't change for Natty (given that we're in Feature Freeze, and UI Freeze incessantly), I believe the question truly can be brought to a concensus and fixed early in the Oneiric cycle (and actually be made available upstream for everyone's benefit).

I think much of the issues coming from this bug report stem from diverging expectations of people who just care about their wired connection working and likely don't need to change it all that often, and people who actively use NetworkManager's connection profiles to achieve various things.

First, some background:

Why "Auto eth0" ?

The name "Auto eth0" comes from... well, the fact that it's a connection that was created automatically by NetworkManager with the simplest default settings (that is, just use DHCP to set an IP address), and the fact that it was created for the interface eth0. As such, people with multiple wired network cards would then get one "Auto XXXX" profile for each wired card. This profile should take care of 90% of all use cases, since most people will just want their system to be plugged in, their home router to hand over an IP address and be able to get online.

What's this with profiles ?

I just mentioned that the connection names shown are profiles. This is actually very important to me and quite a lot of people, because there are often cases where one would want to use specific network settings when at work and while at home. In other words, one could use "Auto eth0" at home with a simple setup, and benefit from a "At work" profile which sets a static IP address, or different DNS search strings (what would let your computer access "planet", instead of "planet.ubuntu.com" in Firefox, for instance).

Why so many issues ?

I guess this all falls apart when you consider that most people probably won't use alternate profiles for wired connections. DHCP tends to get most things right from the start, which make profiles not very useful unless you want to do very specific things with your connection.

Add to this the fact that not everyone knows that eth0 is what Linux calls your first wired network card (instead of say "Local Area Connection" as I believe it is on Windows), and you have a nice little mess to untangle.

Fixing all of this

I can't say I have all the answers. It's still unclear to me how much information is absolutely required, and I'm well aware that we can't really please everyone.

However, I've added a proposal to the brainstorm idea (Solution #7). It goes like this:

I'm suggesting the name of the profile to be something like "Default". It should not be tied to any particular adapter.
This way, any new connection use that profile which will have default settings to use DHCP and the usual (as Auto eth0 is set). All adapters could share it, so adding a new interface to a computer would still just "work".

For notifications, I suggest the following changes:

- The title should mention "Wired network", and probably the same of the interface (eth0 in most cases).
- The text of the notification should say:

Connection established, using profile "Default"

or whatever profile in use.

Furthermore, perhaps items in the network menu shouldn't list the full details of the network card (it's full name from udev as it does now). Instead, the interface name would be sufficient. I expect people who use multiple cards to know what eth0 and eth1 mean and refer to.

Lastly, drop the "Auto" from user-created wireless network profiles too. Since they are created by the user and carry the name of the wireless network, "Auto" is both unnecessary, and possibly incorrect (since people can change the settings after creating it).

I'd very much like anyone with an opinion on this to vote on Ubuntu Brainstorm for the idea they prefer, and comment with why my suggestion breaks things for them if it does. I certainly could have forgotten things. Comments on this blog are welcome too ;)