Network Manager was unable to connect to a WLAN with a hidden SSID

[lxfozzibaer]

Binary package hint: network-manager

I know there are a couple of bugs filed regarding this issue, but none for Ubuntu 9.04.

My home WLAN does not propagate its SSID.
With Jaunty 64bit, I was not able to connect to it using the Networkmanager Applet in Gnome.

I had to modify my WLAN router, so that it now sends the SSID. This way, Network Manager was able
to connect to the WLAN.

About my network device:
lspci -v reports:
02:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 4965 AG or AGN [Kedron] Network Connection (rev 61)
 Subsystem: Intel Corporation Device 1101

The version of Network manager is 0.7.1~rc4.1.cf199a964-0ubuntu2.

If this bug is a duplicate, please close it.

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.04
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
MediaBuild: Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope" - Beta amd64 (20090324)
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: network-manager 0.7.1~rc4.1.cf199a964-0ubuntu2
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=de_DE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: network-manager
Uname: Linux 2.6.28-11-generic x86_64

[Lex Ross (lross)]

Same here. My wireless was working in 8.10 with router set up to hidden SSID, WPA2 Personal, TKIP & AES. Now I can only connect to WLAN if the router is set up to broadcast SSID.

When SSID is broadcasted, I get the following in my wpa_supplicant.log

CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS
Trying to associate with 00:21:91:d4:14:bd (SSID='martian' freq=2412 MHz)
CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS
Associated with 00:21:91:d4:14:bd
WPA: Key negotiation completed with 00:21:91:d4:14:bd [PTK=CCMP GTK=TKIP]
CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:21:91:d4:14:bd completed (auth) [id=0 id_str=]

If I tell the router to stop broadcasting SSID then I get the following line
CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys

and the connection is dropped. After that there is no way to connect to wireless, and after first unsuccessful attempt the Network Manager simply stops trying and does nothing in response to try to connect to hidden network.

wpa_supplicant.log file is being filled will the "CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS" lines.

Same events reflected in syslog:

1. While SSID is being broadcasted
May 11 13:20:08 mars kernel: [ 271.356066] wlan0: authenticate with AP 00:16:ca:f5:31:41
May 11 13:20:08 mars kernel: [ 271.507094] wlan0: authenticated
May 11 13:20:08 mars kernel: [ 271.507108] wlan0: associate with AP 00:16:ca:f5:31:41
May 11 13:20:08 mars kernel: [ 271.525979] wlan0: RX AssocResp from 00:16:ca:f5:31:41 (capab=0x421 status=0 aid=2)
May 11 13:20:08 mars kernel: [ 271.525989] wlan0: associated

2. The router is told to stop broadcasting SSID
May 11 13:20:08 mars kernel: [ 271.526756] wlan0: disassociating by local choice (reason=3)
May 11 13:25:56 mars kernel: [ 619.714296] wlan0: deauthenticated

The connection is then dropped. Attepts to connect to now hidden network with Network Manager produce the following syslog entries:
May 11 18:36:50 mars NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0/wireless): connection 'martian' has security, and secrets exist. No new secrets needed.
May 11 18:36:50 mars NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) Stage 2 of 5 (Device Configure) complete.
May 11 18:36:50 mars NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): supplicant connection state: disconnected -> scanning
May 11 18:37:50 mars NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0/wireless): association took too long.
May 11 18:37:50 mars NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 5 -> 9
May 11 18:37:50 mars NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) failed for access point (martian)
May 11 18:37:50 mars NetworkManager: <info> Activation (wlan0) failed.
May 11 18:37:50 mars NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): device state change: 9 -> 3
May 11 18:37:50 mars NetworkManager: <info> (wlan0): deactivating device (reason: 0).

To date, I cannot establish connection to hidden wireless network. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance to fix this nasty bug. Cannot beleive it that Ubuntu is being released with a MAJOR bug like this!

[Flecko (ben-foote)]

I get the same results with a hidden SSID on all 3 of my 9.04 machines, all 3 with different wireless chipsets. The most frustrating is my DVR. It doesn't have a keyboard and mouse attached, so I'm forced to go get one whenever I am forced to restart it. I'm running 32-bit 9.04 on all 3 machines.

The wireless card on my desktop is a Belkin F5D7050. If any other information, or logs, or anything is needed about this bug, please let me know. I would love to get this working.

Thanks!

[Christoph (christoph-thomas)]

Hi,
I had the same problem and was looking for a solution. Recently I got one, perhaps it's useful for anybody.

If you want to connect to a wlan with hidden ssid, you must:
- first provide a proper connection (in a terminal use nm-connection-editor). It's necessary to enable the checkbox "available for all users".
- Then you can get the uuid of the connection with "nmcli con list system" (again in a terminal)
- Then you can edit the file /etc/rc.local (as superuser) and insert
nmcli con up uuid "give here the uuid you got before" --timeout 60

Christoph

[Lex Ross (lross)]

Once I enabled "lucid-proposed" repository and updated from there, the problem has gone as of kernel version 2.6.35-24-generic
Can anyone else confirm this?

[Lex Ross (lross)]

I mean, "maverick-proposed"
Sorry for the typo.

[Lex Ross (lross)]

The problem returned with the kernel 2.6.35-25-generic. And if the router is set up to support both TKIP and AES encryption (WPA and WPA2) then connection is lost every half an hour or so. Not an issue with 2.6.35-24-generic kernel.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Lex,

Since this sounds like a purely driver/kernel issue, I'm reassigning this bug to the linux package.

Please make sure you're also really using the iwlagn driver ('sudo lspci -vnvn' then search for "Network" should tell you, towards the end of the paragraph that describes your wireless card). If not, then it would be best to open a new bug against the 'linux' package ('ubuntu-bug linux') so that we get all the relevant information about your card to process the issue... then report the bug number here ;)

[Lex Ross (lross)]

Thank you, Mathieu. I thought of re-assigning this bug to linux package too, just could not figure out how to do it right. Having said that, it was Network Manager that originally failed to connect to hidden SSID at all, and I believe that this issue has been corrected in Network Manager, so it is now should be pure driver/kernel issue.

'sudo lspci -vnvn' command gives me this when I search for "Network":
5:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Atheros Communications Inc. AR5001 Wireless Network Adapter [168c:001c] (rev 01)

It does not say iwlang anywhere in its output. I am a bit confused here as to which driver my system is using.

Thanks again for your time and co-operation.

[Mathieu Trudel-Lapierre (cyphermox)]

Lex,
Right, that's not a card using the iwlagn driver, this one uses some form of an "ath" driver. it would be listed somewhere under the line you pasted. Please, open a separate bug about this and report back with the bug number.

[Jeremy Foshee (jeremyfoshee)]

Hi lxfozzibaer,

If you could also please test the latest upstream kernel available that would be great. It will allow additional upstream developers to examine the issue. Refer to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelMainlineBuilds . Once you've tested the upstream kernel, please remove the 'needs-upstream-testing' tag. This can be done by clicking on the yellow pencil icon next to the tag located at the bottom of the bug description and deleting the 'needs-upstream-testing' text. Please let us know your results.

Thanks in advance.

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[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

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