[ndiswrapper] Hardy: cannot connect to wireless with network-manager

[Nathan MacInnes]

Binary package hint: hal

When logging in, the my Broadcom BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI wireless card (drivers installed with ndiswrapper) doesn't connect. It keeps trying to connect, but doesn't succeed. If I try to disable networking by right-clicking the tray icon, the checkbox clears, but it still keeps trying to connect. Networking isn't actually disabled until I restart nm-applet.

I have been informed in the forums (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=731897) that the problem is with hal, libhal1 and/or libhal-storage1, and those packages were updated twice the last time my wireless connection was working:

21 March, 2008, 20:06
hal (0.5.10+git20080301-1ubuntu2) to 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu1
hal-info (20080215-1ubuntu2) to 20080317+git20080318-1ubuntu1
libhal-storage1 (0.5.10+git20080301-1ubuntu2) to 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu1
libhal1 (0.5.10+git20080301-1ubuntu2) to 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu1

21 March, 2008, 23:41
hal (0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu1) to 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu2
libhal-storage1 (0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu1) to 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu2
libhal1 (0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu1) to 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu2

[Paul Sladen (sladen)]

This related to bug #204709 (though that is specifically iwl3945).

[Nathan MacInnes (njmacinnes)]

I don't think they are related. The workaround suggested their doesn't work for me.

There are two entries in the 70-persistent-net.rules file:

# PCI device 0x14e4:0x170c (b44)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:15:c5:78:38:9d", ATTR{type}=="1", NAME="eth0"

# PCI device 0x14e4:0x4311 (b43-pci-bridge)
SUBSYSTEM=="net", ACTION=="add", DRIVERS=="?*", ATTR{address}=="00:19:7d:d9:70:67", ATTR{type}=="1", NAME="wlan0"

Removing either of these two lines doesn't fix the problem. The lines are just regenerated (but NAME="eth1" instead of eth0, or wlan1 instead of wlan0), and the problem still persists.

What's more, the wireless card still works, in that it detects available wireless networks. It just can't connect to them. This doesn't match the description of #204709.

[Stephen Cradock (s-cradock)]

I tried the suggestion to down-grade to the earlier version of network-manager (0.6.6-0ubuntu1). That works fine for me with the b43 driver. I've made NO changes to the versions of hal, etc that were delivered last night (March 21). Network Manager was last updated on about March 17, but the glitch didn't manifest until today, presumably because of the changes in hal, etc.

[Christian Mangold (neversfelde)]

I can confirm these problems with "Broadcom Corporation BCM94311MCG wlan mini-PCI" on latest hardy. Drivers are installed with b43-fwcutter and network-manager keeps trying to connect without success here too.

[Alexey Kharlamov (aharlamov)]

I can confirm the same problem presents with my Intel 3945. I have installed Hardy beta and the wireless worked fine.
I have installed updates through auto-update manager last night. And I have this problem now.

hal 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu2
libhal1 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu2
libhal-storage1 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu2
network-manager-gnome 0.6.6-0ubuntu1

[Juksu (jluostar)]

Same BCM4311 on b43-fwcutter.

The problem: WLAN does not work with network-manager 0.6.6-0ubuntu2

Hardware: Broadcom 4311 WLAN on a HP nc8430

The problem appears when enabling wireless after disconnecting LAN or when connecting to another WLAN or when choosing a wireless network from nm-applet (it finds existing WLANs). Network-manager accepts the passwords & WLAN security settings. Problem begins when pressing "connect":

The animated "balls" (nm-applet) keep animating (trying to connect) but stay grey (no green).
Alternatively, the signal strength bars appear immediately without the animated balls appearing first. The bars remain grey.

Network-manager ceases at this point to respond to any controls: manual wlan switch, trying to switch to another network (wlan or lan), ticking off the boxes (network, wireless) on nm-applet, trying to kill nm through system administration program.

The connection does not work, the adapter doen not get an IP address, it seems to keep keep negotiating/waiting (for the network key?) indefinitely. The processor is also getting hot at this point, until rebooting. Some process gets into a loop presumably.

With network-manager 0.6.6-0ubuntu1 everything worked as expected.
Solution to problem so far: everything started working as expected immediately when downgrading back to 0.6.6-0ubuntu1

The files for working and non-working cases are attached.
In the non-working case the listings have been taken with nm/wlan trying to make a connection.
In the working scenario the listings havve been taken with wlan connected.

[Juksu (jluostar)]

Data for working configuration:

[Alexey Kharlamov (aharlamov)]

Update:

My current config:
network-manager 0.6.6-0ubuntu2

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Could everyone who's followed up to this bug please indicate which version of hal they have installed? This is important in order to determine whether the issue you're experiencing is bug #204868/#204768, or if it's a separate bug.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

Nathan,

In your case, since you state that you have the current hal installed, this is not the hal regression that had been reported. Reassigning to network-manager instead; Alexander will know best what additional information to ask for to help debug this.

[Steve Langasek (vorlon)]

it's been confirmed that #204868 is a separate bug from #204768, and that 204868 is a regression in network-manager - the same regression described in this bug report. The fix for 204868 has been uploaded, now marking 205355 as a duplicate of that bug.