knetworkmanager unable to connect to manual wireless network

[Kevin Hunter]

Binary package hint: kdebase-workspace

Affected component: KNetworkManager

Setup:
Dell Vostro 1500, Core 2 Duo, nVidia GeForce 8400M (not currently used)
Installed Hardy alpha 6, KDE4

To save someone 5 minutes of head scratching, I'll repeat: that's KDE4, not KDE3. However, looking through the /etc/init.d/kdm script, I see references to kde3, so not sure ...

Symptom: Unable to connect to wireless network. Pop up notification message does not move beyond "Activation stage: Configuring device."

Background:
* If I do this from the command line, I am able to connect to this same wireless network and get upgrades from the internet, etc.
* This wireless network is unencrypted and open. (Security is MAC address-based.)
* This wireless network does not broadcast its SSID. (For giggles, this wireless network's SSID is 'YosemiteW'.)
* Wireless interface is apparently nickname wlan0 on this machine
* $ lspci | grep Wireless
0c:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 3945ABG Network Connection (rev 02)
* $ apt-cache policy knetworkmanager
knetworkmanager:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 1:0.2ubuntu1-0ubuntu12
  Version table:
     1:0.2ubuntu1-0ubuntu12 0
        500 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com hardy/main Packages

Steps to reproduce:
1. Right-click on KNetworkManager icon in System Tray
2. Select "Connect to Other Wireless Network..."
3. Manually type in YosemiteW in "Name (ESSID)" field
4. Click Connect.
 ... Popup notification bubble named "Activating Wireless Network Connection" stops at 28% ...
 ... Extra text: "Activation stage: Configuring device."

$ iwconfig wlan0
... ESSID:"YosemiteW" ...
... Access Point: Not-Associated ...

5. After some timeout time, popup notification bubble changes to "Connection Failure"

Workaround:
1. $ sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid YosemiteW
   # happens almost instantaneously
2. $ sudo dhclient3 wlan0
   # a couple of warnings: "wmaster0: unknown hardware address type 801",
   # then it connects. Whole step takes about 3 seconds.

[Kevin Hunter (hunteke)]

Hmm, please explain /why/ this is invalid.

[Terence Simpson (tsimpson)]

It's invalid in kdebase-workspace as it's a bug in knetworkmanager

[Kevin Hunter (hunteke)]

Fair enough. But I will point out that it /is/ an issue, and a serious issue for many (of which I count myself). Please don't dismiss it, but reassign it appropriately.

[Terence Simpson (tsimpson)]

I already did, when I marked it as invalid for kdebase-workspace I assigned it to knetworkmanager at the same time

[Kevin Hunter (hunteke)]

So you did. Gee, if I'd noticed that, this whole convo could have been avoided. :-P Sorry for the noise. I'm waaaay tired.

[Kevin Hunter (hunteke)]

This may be related to https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/39707 .

[Daniel T Chen (crimsun)]

Is this symptom still reproducible in 8.10 or 9.04?

[Jonathan Thomas (echidnaman)]

We are closing this bug report because it lacks the information we need to investigate the problem, as described in the previous comments. Please reopen it if you can give us the missing information, and don't hesitate to submit bug reports in the future. To reopen the bug report you can click on the current status, under the Status column, and change the Status back to "New". Thanks again!