[karmic] Wireless disconnects and doesn't reconnect

[Frej]

I have an Asus 1005HA netbook running Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 beta. The wlan sometimes disconnects from a connected network. It doesn't auto-reconnect and if I try to connect to the same network after it disconnected it doesn't connect. I have tried several different wireless networks and I have the same problem at all of them.

Description: Ubuntu karmic (development branch)
Release: 9.10

Package: network-manager
Version: 0.8~a~git.20091005t192303.1d28ad1-0ubuntu2

ProblemType: Bug
Architecture: i386
CRDA:
 country 98:
  (2402 - 2482 @ 40), (N/A, 20)
Date: Thu Oct 22 17:58:35 2009
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
ExecutablePath: /usr/bin/nm-applet
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
IpRoute:
 130.237.6.0/23 dev wlan0 proto kernel scope link src 130.237.7.43 metric 2
 169.254.0.0/16 dev wlan0 scope link metric 1000
 default via 130.237.6.1 dev wlan0 proto static
Package: network-manager-gnome 0.8~a~git.20091002t194214.8515a07-0ubuntu1
ProcEnviron:
 LANG=sv_SE.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-13.44-generic
SourcePackage: network-manager-applet
Tags: ubuntu-unr
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-13-generic i686
WpaSupplicantLog:

[Frej (frecon)]

For example it disconnected today October 22 at 17:35 if you want somewhere to look. Thanks!

[Tony Espy (awe)]

I just tested this on a 9.04 system ( Atheros / ath9k driver ), and a 9.10 system ( latest updates, BCM4312 / wl driver ).

On both systems, I connected to our office WPA-Personal AP, opened a terminal and started a ping command to a known server, and then walked out of the office until I started seeing "Network unreachable" messages from ping. Shortly thereafter, the applet would start to spin... If I walked back into range, NM would re-connect to the AP, and the pings would resume.

If I waited more than minute after the applet started spinning, then NM would timeout, and the applet would display the KeyRequired dialog. Walking back into range and entering the key again would connect as expected.

The only difference I saw between 9.04 and 9.10 was that the Key / Passphrase was pre-filled for 9.04, whereas it was blank in the 9.10 case.

[Tony Espy (awe)]

Also, the version of network-manager reported in your bug is old.

Please make sure you've downloaded the latest updates and re-test.

You should be running the following versions of network-manager and the applet:

network-manager 0.8~a~git.20091013t193206.679d548-0ubuntu1
network-manager-gnome 0.8~a~git.20091014t134532.4033e62-0ubuntu1

[CS Sharada Prasad (sharadaprasad)]

@Tony Epsy.

I have been using the latest version - the one mentioned by you. But I still face this issue - both at my office desktop as well as at my home. I use Ubuntu 9.10

[Tony Espy (awe)]

@CS Sharada,

If you're facing the same issue, you need to be more verbose in your description of the issue. Please refer to my comment #8 for an example. My comment describes the kind of access point & security being used, what actions I took, and the indications I see from the applet.

Also, if you could please run the following command from a terminal or using Alt+F2, it would be helpful.

apport-collect 458290

[xteejx (xteejx)]

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. You reported this bug a while ago and there hasn't been any activity in it recently. We were wondering if this is still an issue for you. Can you provide the apport-collect data please? Thanks in advance.

[Arto Huotari (roskapostiaminulle)]

Proloque: I started writing this 4.3.2010 while expecting similar but not same behaviour as described in this bug. Therefore this post is in "real time" format and I have added some comments (edit:) at the time of posting.

Comment:
Gnome / Ubuntu / 9.10 Karmic has similar behaviour and I experienced this also in 8.10

To replicate the behavior follow these steps

1. Make sure your wireless connection is set to autoconnect (i.e. attempt to connect automatically)
2. Turn off wireless router
3. Wait for network manager to search for missing autoconnect network
4. After a period of time the network manager will prompt for authentication for the autoconnect network
5. If user supplies password for network the password is stored
6. If the password was wrong, the correct password is over written and connection settings are wrong after this.

In my opinion the problem is not that the password field is not populated, but that the networkmanager asks for password even though the network is missing. In order to avoid problems with this the user must be avare of the incorrect behaviour and press cancel when the network manager asks for the password. Otherwise the network manager will keep on asking the password. (Edit: And as you later on the post find I am probably horribly wrong)

(Edit: At this point behaviour differed from what I was expecting and to what I was used)
Now that I am writing this while following the steps above I also notice that after restoring the power to the router the computer does not connect to the wireless network but keeps on detecting the network. In order to connect I must select the network icon from the bar, select the network (which shows good connection). After this the network manager asks for password with black field. I select cancel, and the network manager stops detecting the network (i.e. the rotating symbol disappears and and the symbol switches to zero signal strength.) Now I need to select network again and wait for reconnect.

(Edit: following chapter is complete nonsense)
Now something behaves differently than usually, the manager does not connect, but asks for authentication. It seems that I can not connect to my network even though I see the router lights flashing. This behaviour may now be caused by the fact that I clicked show key box before pressing cancel or that I cheked the autoconnect setting while the network was reconnecting.

Reboot

I reconfigured the network passworf (key) and network connected. I have trouble remembering weather I need to supply key or passphrase. Correct option is key, but I allways mix up those.

retry

1. Turn off wireless from ap
2. Disconnected message appears
3. Authentication dialog appears
4. Press cancel, network is now disconnected
5. Turn on ap
6. Wait until wireless is certain to be online
7. Select network from menu (note, did not autoconnect)
8. Network asks for authentication even though the keyring is unlocked.
9. Network does not reconnect, even though correct key is supplied

log out log in
10 Wireless does not connect

Reboot
11. System asks for keyring password -> wireless connects

Now this was interesting exercise since I clearly remember that prev...

[Arto Huotari (roskapostiaminulle)]

Architecture: i386
CRDA: Error: [Errno 2] No such file or directory
CheckboxSubmission: 7a5caa3af429688d6caece8f6ce89a94
CheckboxSystem: b845c366ea09c60efa3a45c1b5b21525
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
IfupdownConfig:
 auto lo
 iface lo inet loopback
IpRoute:
 192.168.0.0/24 dev eth1 proto kernel scope link src 192.168.0.101 metric 2
 169.254.0.0/16 dev eth1 scope link metric 1000
 default via 192.168.0.1 dev eth1 proto static
NonfreeKernelModules: wl
Package: network-manager-applet (not installed)
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_GB.UTF-8
 LANGUAGE=en_GB.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-20.57-generic
RfKill:

Uname: Linux 2.6.31-20-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
WifiSyslog:

WpaSupplicantLog:

[xteejx (xteejx)]

Thanks for providing the debugging information. Upgrading status to Triaged.

[Thomas George (tgeorge572)]

I installed Ubuntu Karmic a few days back, and used Network Manager to connect to a hidden WPA-TKIP wireless network. There were two problems.

1. Network Manager did not connect to the hidden wireless network (no SSID broadcast) by default. When doing this manually, the dialog had "Connect" button disabled. Installing a PPA version of the network manager solved this issue.

2. Connection to the wireless network dropped and reconnected frequently. After some cases of disconnect, subsequent reconnection attempts failed and required a reboot to establish network connectivity. The same issue persisted with wicd and network manager.

Solution:
Removed both network-manager and wicd
Configured wireless network in /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/wpa-supplicant.conf
Installed gnome-netstatus to show network status of wlan0 on the panel (to replace network manager)

Wireless connection has not dropped since. This is better than the network-manager solution because network is available before logging in, and even without starting X.

[Complete file contents for /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf are given below]

/etc/network/interfaces
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

auto wlan0
iface wlan0 inet dhcp
        pre-up wpa_supplicant -Dwext -iwlan0 -c/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -B
        post-down killall -q wpa_supplicant
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

/etc/wpa-supplicant.conf
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
network={
        ssid="my_ssid"
        psk=generated_psk
}
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[pramod1561 (pramod1561)]

I tried what thomas has told in #25. It is still not able to connect. I removed network manager using

sudo apt-get purge network-manager

Then I edited the interfaces and wpa_supplicant.conf file.

Regards
Pramod

[Victor Van Hee (vvanhee)]

I'm having the same problem. Wireless does not automatically connect despite being asked to. Lucid seems to attempt connection when I log in, fails, says "disconnected" eventually. If I click on the dropdown menu and click the SSID of my wireless router, the connection then works. Other computers (Mac and Windows) maintain connection to my WPA router with no difficulty.