NetworkManager finds wireless network, does not connect

[Jonathan Michaels]

Starting from a cold boot, Network Manager finds available wireless networks but does not automatically connect.

Manually choosing a wireless network via NetworkManager results in an unsuccessful attempt to connect.

In order to connect, the wireless card must be turned off then on again via the hardware button on the laptop. Once reset, NetworkManager will connect.

Additional information: Broadcom bcm4318 chipset using ndiswrapper.

Before wireless card is reset:
Network Manager can find the wireless networks and report signal strength, but fails to connect.
iwconfig reports the correct information for both card and network
dhclient reports that it has an ip address before wireless card reset
/etc/network/interfaces has only an entry for lo

ProblemType: Bug
Date: Thu Feb 15 16:40:13 2007
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 7.04
Uname: Linux laptop 2.6.20-8-generic #2 SMP Tue Feb 13 05:18:42 UTC 2007 i686 GNU/Linux

[Jonathan Michaels (jhmichaels)]

Should have mentioned: This is on Feisty.

[Scott Robinson (scott-ubuntu)]

Instead of reseting the wireless card, can you please try (in a terminal):

  sudo iwconfig ethX essid x mode managed

Replacing "ethX" with the proper interface. Leave the "essid x" as written. Afterward, then select the network.

There is a bug in ndiswrapper / wpa_supplicant I am investigating where it cannot reassociate with a network it has already automatically associated with. (but NM / wpa_supplicant won't detect)

[Jonathan Michaels (jhmichaels)]

After running the supplied command line, Network Manager attached to the
wireless network without resorting to hardware buttons.

Is there anything I can do or test to aid in your ndiswrapper /
wpa_supplicant investigation?

- Jonathan

On 3/8/07, Scott Robinson <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> Instead of reseting the wireless card, can you please try (in a
> terminal):
>
> sudo iwconfig ethX essid x mode managed
>
> Replacing "ethX" with the proper interface. Leave the "essid x" as
> written. Afterward, then select the network.
>
> There is a bug in ndiswrapper / wpa_supplicant I am investigating where
> it cannot reassociate with a network it has already automatically
> associated with. (but NM / wpa_supplicant won't detect)
>
> --
> NetworkManager finds wireless network, does not connect
> https://launchpad.net/bugs/85468
>

[Scott Robinson (scott-ubuntu)]

I tracked it down. Basically, disassociation doesn't occur properly.

NM has incorrect disassociation logic, but because of how wpa_supplicant interacts it doesn't matter.

wpa_supplicant does an proper disassociation, but the ndiswrapper driver doesn't handle it properly.

So, in short, it's a bug in ndiswrapper. It cannot use the NDIS disassociate, because it'll take down cards permanently in some cases. Therefore, they instead associate to an invalid AP and it doesn't take from paranoia logic in the driver.

http://ndiswrapper.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/ndiswrapper/trunk/ndiswrapper/driver/iw_ndis.c?revision=2223&view=markup

[Chris Wagner (chris-wagner)]

I am seeing similar issues when using Network Manager and the Linux-native bcm43xx driver, described in bug #73759. I am wondering if my issue might be due to Network Manager's flawed disassociation logic that you (Scott) speak of.

I'm trying to understand how the NM bug mentioned is relevant... If the NM bug were solved, would the ndiswrapper bug not be an issue? Or *is* the NM bug irrelevant, in this case?

(This isn't the place to ask, but, is there anywhere that I could read about the way Network Manager and wpa_supplicant work together?)

[Efrain Valles (effie-jayx)]

I am also having the same issue on a bcm4318 which is the card that comes in my compaq m2000

I can't log in to the network. I can see the essid and even if I type a wrong password it will detect it as wrong password and prompt for a new one. I am on feisty beta.

[Matthias Mailänder (mailaender)]

I can confirm it with a D-Link DWL-G122 USB device. The LED flicker on startup showing various connects and disconnects until KNetworkmanager gives up. Simply plugging out, reinserting the stick and network-manager connects after a few seconds to a WPA secured network.

[Brett Clippingdale (brett-clippingdale)]

I have same problem on an IBM Thinkpad T30 with Prism2 running hostap driver.

I see that NM disconnects from my WPA network with "sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid x mode managed", but then fails to connect to an unencrypted network -- in fact, it pretty much freezes the desktop, as seen here:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux-source-2.6.20/+bug/89464

[Erunno (erunno)]

I'm not sure if my problem is related to this bug but here goes: I'm the owner of an old Toshiba Satellite Laptop. Since it has no internal WLAN card I resort to an external USB stick, namely the Fritz! WLAN USB Stick (see: http://www.avm.de/en/press/announcements/2006/2006_07_11.php3?linkident=mehr). It used to work flawlessly with Ndiswrapper and Networkmanager on Edgy but starting with Feisty I can't connect to my WPA2 home network anymore. Networkmanager shows it in the ESSID list and tries to connect to it, but it doesn't accept the encryption key. It tries to connect to the network for some time and then asks for the key again.

Huge bummer, as I have to use a cable at home for the time being and a cable has a VERY low WAF (Women Acceptance Factor) ! ;-)

[Jean-Pierre Rupp (xenog)]

I got everything to work properly installing the newest ndiswrapper module from http://ndiswrapper.sourceforge.net/, then deleting and reinstalling the Windows drivers.

I have a Broadcom BCM4318 on a Compaq Presario 2515. It works with the drivers available from Compaq. The driver I got comes from this location:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/softwareDownloadIndex?softwareitem=ob-41607-1&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&tool=softwareCategory&product=1841991&query=Compaq%20Presario%202615LA&os=228

[bedfojo (bedfojo)]

I can also confirm this bug as a regression in Feisty from Dapper.

I am running an Acer 3613WLMi laptop with the Broadcom 4318 chipset.

Under Dapper, using ndiswrapper and the Acer bcmwl5 driver, I could connect first time and quickly to my home WPA network.

Under Feisty, on a cold boot, network-manager tries to connect but fails and times out. If i keep selecting the network in network-manager, eventually (after 2-3 times) I can connect. Connection is fine thereafter.

The same problem occurs if I use the bcm43xx driver with the Acer bcmwl5 file and fwcutter.

Rather frustrating and almost enough to get me to reinstall Dapper!

[bedfojo (bedfojo)]

I found a workaround: compile and install the latest version of ndiswrapper (1.42) from its website. Use wicd instead of network-manager. All works perfectly now.

[Jonathan Michaels (jhmichaels)]

I'll second using Wicd as a temporary fix.

On 4/23/07, bedfojo <email address hidden> wrote:
>
> I found a workaround: compile and install the latest version of
> ndiswrapper (1.42) from its website. Use wicd instead of network-
> manager. All works perfectly now.
>
> --
> NetworkManager finds wireless network, does not connect
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/85468
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
>

[Ram Yalamanchili (ramyinc)]

i can confirm this on a Dell D410 with ndiswrapper and the following chipset:

02:03.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4311 [AirForce 54g] 802.11a/b/g PCI Express Transceiver (rev 02)

wifi-radar is also working ok'ish. Not perfect as soemtimes it wont get the IP, etc... but works 80% of the time.

[Chris Wagner (chris-wagner)]

Ram (and others), can you confirm whether you are actually seeing symptoms more or less like those that I describe in bug 73759?

[thesooz (snw-email)]

Yep same problem here with Dell Inspiron 2200 using Broadcom 4318 -- does anyone know when a fix will be out for this? Turning on and off the wireless card from the notebook does not help for me. Attempting to use the wicd/ndiswrapper 1.4.2 suggestion - will report back if it fixes the problem.

[mlaverdiere (mlaverdiere)]

Here are my findings related to this bug on Feisty, with a bcm4318 card and network-manager:

1. Upgrading from Edgy to Feisty lead me to a regression with respect to this bug, i.e. things were working right with Edgy, but not with Feisty as far as ndiswrapper (or bcm43xx) + network-manager are concerned;

2. Using the bcm43xx-mac80211 module (not the bcm43xx regular one) works, i.e. there's no connection problem; however, the signal level monitoring is not working (i.e. itreports always 100%);

3. The solution provided above works for me, i.e. issuing the "sudo iwconfig ethX essid x mode managed" command. To automate it at startup and resume times, I put a script in the /etc/init.d and /etc/acpi/resume.d

[Yondaime (simulator)]

I have the problem with network manager gnome Ubuntu Feisty i follow this https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WifiDocs/Device/Broadcom_BCM4311_rev_01_(ndiswrapper)?highlight=(WifiDocs%2FDevice#head-f744e28e6c78eb83d22be77819b130016a8e51f3 to install driver Broadcom_BCM4311 and network manager won't work

nm-applet just show enable and error http://paste.ubuntu-nl.org/18363/

Apr 30 18:58:53 linux NetworkManager: <information>^Istarting...
Apr 30 18:58:53 linux NetworkManager: <information>^Ieth0: Device is fully-supported using driver 'forcedeth'.
Apr 30 18:58:53 linux NetworkManager: <information>^Inm_device_init(): waiting for device's worker thread to start
Apr 30 18:58:53 linux NetworkManager: <information>^Inm_device_init(): device's worker thread started, continuing.
Apr 30 18:58:53 linux NetworkManager: <information>^INow managing wired Ethernet (802.3) device 'eth0'.
Apr 30 18:58:53 linux NetworkManager: <information>^IDeactivating device eth0.
Apr 30 18:59:35 linux NetworkManager: <information>^IUpdating allowed wireless network lists.
Apr 30 18:59:35 linux NetworkManager: <WARNING>^I nm_dbus_get_networks_cb (): error received: org.freedesktop.NetworkManagerInfo.NoNetworks - There are no wireless networks stored..
Apr 30 19:00:49 linux NetworkManager: <information>^IUpdating allowed wireless network lists.
Apr 30 19:00:49 linux NetworkManager: <WARNING>^I nm_dbus_get_networks_cb (): error received: org.freedesktop.NetworkManagerInfo.NoNetworks - There are no wireless networks stored..
Apr 30 19:02:41 linux dhclient: DHCPREQUEST on wlan0 to 11.0.0.1 port 67

[mlaverdiere (mlaverdiere)]

I just want to clarify the item 3 of my previous comment above (#17), in case it might be useful for someone.

In order to automate the workaround to make ndiswrapper + network-manager works with my bcm43xx card, I have created and **made executable** the following files:

File #1: /etc/init.d/bcm43xxactivation

#!/bin/bash
iwconfig eth1 essid x mode managed
exit 0

File #2: /etc/acpi/resume.d/99-bcm43xxactivation

#!/bin/bash
iwconfig eth1 essid x mode managed
/etc/dbus/event.d/25NetworkManager restart
exit 0

Again, don't forget to make these files executable.

Hope this help.

[Paul Juhasz (paul-aj-54)]

Does anyone have any experience trying mlaverdiere's fix on the the BCM4309 Vers. 2 chipset? I have an older Copmpaq 2100 laptop (2108US) with a similar problem (on Feisty). I have limited experience with networking hardware, so any suggestions and instructions you might have would be appreciated.
Pavel

[Gary Sandine (gars)]

Hi,

I am experiencing this in an X60s running i386 Gutsy with an Intel ipw3945 card. Network manager does not associate. If I disable Network Manager wireless, do:

sudo iwconfig eth1 essid x mode managed

then re-enable Network Manager wireless, it associates properly.

[mikmak (mikmak)]

confirmed on latitude d800, bcm4306, ndiswrapper

just a few tips to complete mlaverdiere tricks :

instead of creating a new init.d script, just add the commands in /etc/rc.local
much easier than adding new init.d and rc links there ;)

regarding /etc/acpi/ stuff, the file '99-bcm43xxactivation' needs to be named something.sh (the .sh part is important, else it won't be used at all), so use /etc/acpi/resume.d/99-bcm43xxactivation.sh for example.

and /etc/dbus/event.d/25NetworkManager is actually /etc/dbus-1/event.d/25NetworkManager on my laptop

this bug makes wireless unusable by default for many laptops, was reported in february and still no fix released, would be nice that someone takes care of it.

Mik

[Paul Whiteley (p0whiteley)]

I was installing Xubuntu Gutsy on an HP Compaq v5000 with a bcm4318 wireless chipset; I encountered the same problem and was successful with mlaverdiere 's fix. (The problem appeared to be the same on other versions of Gutsy as well.) So the bug is still alive . . .

[mlaverdiere (mlaverdiere)]

Now with Kubuntu Gusty and I don't experience this bug anymore, i.e my bcm4318 connects automaticaly with knetworkmanager, without having to rely on the "iwconfig eth1 essid x mode managed" command.

[Gary Sandine (gars)]

Same here, it works fine for me now with with Ubuntu Gutsy and ipw3945, iwl4965 and ath_pci cards without having to do "iwconfig eth1 essid x mode managed".

[Martin Wilson (martinmwilson)]

I am getting this behaviour with Gutsy and an IPW3945, is there a more appropriate (not ndiswrapper) bug to report this behaviour too? Also what information should I include. Thanks.

[Przemek K. (azrael)]

There have been many changes in Ubuntu since that time you reported the bug and your problem may have been fixed with some of the updates. If you could test the current Ubuntu development version (10.04), this would help us a lot. If you can test it, and it is still an issue, we would appreciate if you could upload updated logs by running apport-collect 85468, and any other logs that are relevant for this particular issue.

Those of you who have Broadcom cards should test the b43 driver first before resorting to the ndiswrapper driver.

[Gary Sandine (gars)]

I don't have this problem in 10.04 using the same hardware referenced in comment #21 above.

[Efrain Valles (effie-jayx)]

I believe we can mark this as Invalid as this is not an issue. I was one of the commenters at the time and I can vouch the hardwre works well.

[Przemek K. (azrael)]

I'm closing this bug basing on your last comments.