NM does not connect reliably to Wi-Fi networks -- Ralink RT61 rt61pci

[meyuash]

System: Ubuntu 8.10(Gnome)

I have been trying to connect to my home wireless network(encrypted with WPA2) without success.
The same thing in my university.
I am able to type in the password, which is surely correct, and I get conected for a few minutes or seconds and then disconnected, or not able to connect at all.
I am able to connect to un-encrypted networks.

My WiFi card is Ralink rt61 based PCMCIA, but other people with different configuration seem to be influenced by this problem.

N.B.: This problem seem to repeat itself with Mandriva 2009 distribution, so perhaps it is kernel dependent.

This huge farce has been reported in Ubuntu's forums:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=970236

[SK (stephantom)]

This report had no package assigned. I've assigned it as best as I could guess.
Please try to find the correct packages for any future bugs you report (see also https://wiki.edubuntu.org/Bugs/FindRightPackage).
Thank you for your time!

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

most likely a kernel issue. please reboot, reproduce and then attach your complete syslog.

also do a tail -n0 -f /var/log/wpa_supplicant.log > /tmp/wpa.txt directly before you try to connect and attach the wpa.txt after it fails.

Also attach output of lspci -vv

[meyuash (rhb-user)]

I sometimes manage to connect for a few moments, and get disconnected. But the success rate is very very low. But yet, even this log is attached.

[mikkoko (mikko-koivunen)]

I have the same problem and am reporting here in the hope it will be of some help. I am on a Lenovo Thinkpad X61 with the Intel 4965 wireless chip.

What I did:
- Created a profile in Network manager for the only WLAN I have available: hidden ESSID, manual IP configuration, WPA-PSK/TKIP encryption

What happens when I connect:
- Network manager asks for passphrase, tries to connect, asks for passphrase again, tries to connect ... repeat n times.
- The only entries appearing in wpa_supplicant.log are as follows:
          CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys
          No network configuration found for the current AP
          CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED - Disconnect event - remove keys
          CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS
          CTRL-EVENT-SCAN-RESULTS

Attached: output of lspci.txt

[meyuash (rhb-user)]

I am very very sceptic about this, it seems they are not going to solve it, for Ubuntu's forums are full of people having troubles connecting to encrypted wireless netowrks, most usually if not always WPA/WPA2.

I think it took the kernel to support usb about 6 years from the time it had been introduced, so I hope we are not looking for a similar waiting period for the kernel to support WiFi encryptions....

:(

[Chris Hawkins (cgkh-webservices)]

I have been having the same problem. However, it appears in my case to be restricted to the internal wifi adapter.

Here is a copy of my recent post on Ubuntu Forums:

"I have the same problem here but the following may help those trying to diagnose it.

Machine - Acer Aspire 4310
OS - Ubuntu 8.10 Intrepid upgraded from hardy.
On-Board Wifi - AMBIT Microsystem (Broadcomm) BCM 4311 802.11b/g.

With this onboard wifi card I have exactly the same problem as reported above even after installation of the restricted STA Broadcom Driver. IT asks for a password, while displaying what appears to be a hex value. Even when I introduce the password it just hangs. No problem with unsecured networks though.

However, I also have a Conceptronic C54RJ USB wireless adapter showing up as an Atheros C54RU in network manager. This has no problem connecting to WPA2 enabled networks.

So the problem appears to be a Broadcomm based problem on my part.

Any ideas as to how to proceed with further diagnostics would be appreciated. "

I am running my Buffalo Router on Channel 6.

It seems to me that this a bug related to specific wifi chips rather than a blanket problem.

[Craig Boline (boline)]

I'm also having this issue with a Intel 4965 AGN.

[Alexander Sack (asac)]

Craig Boline wrote:
> I'm also having this issue with a Intel 4965 AGN.
>
>
see the title ... this is not your bug for sure (its about ralink) :)...
thanks!

[Craig Boline (boline)]

Hey Alexander,

If you read through the threads above some others are reporting this issue with alternate cards (mikkoko). I posted my quick note because I don't think this issue is necessarily specific to ralink. Possibly it is an issue with WPA Supplicant... I've found that the title of a bug is typically useless in determining what the bug's ultimate cause is. When people first fill out a bug report they have no clue what the actual problem is.

My 2 cents...
Craig.

[dens (dejan-svarc)]

There are problems with some drivers and recent kernel updates.

I am running Kubuntu Hardy on Dell Latitude D610. The last kernel that is working well with wifi is 2.6.24-19.
Using this kernel version i am able to connect to whatever AP with all kind of encryption type (WPA, WPA2, CCMP AES EAP LEAP, just name it...).

If i switch to newer kernel, ... i just cannot connect to any wireless network (did not try unencrypted).

[Mortaj Frondoj (mortajfrondoj)]

The same problem here with 2.6.27-9 kernel and Intel Link 5100 card. Worked fine with 2.6.27-7 kernel though. I have to use wireless without encryption now. >.<

[Julien Sorel (paradirc)]

I have similar problems.

With the 'wl' driver, I am able to connect to a WPA but the connection breaks immediately.

Because I am also concerned by the bug https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/296578 (no luck at all with wireless connections, you see :/), I recently blacklisted the 'wl' driver and replaced it with ndiswrapper to avoid system crashes. But now, it is impossible to connect to a WPA... network-manager tries to connect, asks me for the password, tries to connect, asks me for the password again... Of course, I am sure the password is correct.

No problem at all with unsecure wireless networks however (both with wl and ndiswrapper), except, of course, the crash bug mentioned above (https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/296578).

[Thomas Hood (jdthood)]

Does this bug still exist in Ubuntu 12.04?

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for network-manager (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]