Wireless dissapeared after update

[lated22]

Just performed a fresh install of Sabayon 6 w/ LXDE on my Toshiba netbook (nb205) earlier this evening. Wireless worked fine while using the live CD and immediately after install. After first boot an update notification popped up so I installed all available updates. After update was complete (via the then working wireless) the applet for the network manager changed to disconnected but wireless networks (including mine) still show as available. However, wireless is not working and if I select my network (or any other for that matter) nothing happens. No connecting to network, no prompt for wpa code, nothing. Wired connection still works fine as does wireless if I boot into WinXP. I've had limited experience with Fedora and Ubuntu but this is my first go round with Sabayon/Gentoo. Please HELP!!!

[Fitzcarraldo]

Which network manager are you using? NetworkManager? With the nm-applet front-end? Which versions of those are you using? You can check the versions installed by entering the following commands in a Terminal window:

Code: Select all

equo search networkmanager
equo search nm-applet

[newerusebtfrs]

rc-update

[lated22]

KDE frontend for NetworkManager? with the Gnome applet?

equo search networkmanager
>> @@ Searching...
>> @@ Package: kde-misc/knetworkmanager-9999 branch: 5, [sabayon-weekly]
>> Available: version: 9999 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 1
>> Installed: version: Not installed ~ tag: N/A ~ revision: N/A
>> Slot: 4
>> Homepage: http://kde.org/
>> Description: KDE frontend for NetworkManager
>> License: GPL-2 LGPL-2
>> @@ Package: net-misc/cnetworkmanager-0.21.1 branch: 5, [sabayon-weekly]
>> Available: version: 0.21.1 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 1
>> Installed: version: Not installed ~ tag: N/A ~ revision: N/A
>> Slot: 0
>> Homepage: http://vidner.net/martin/software/cnetworkmanager/
>> Description: Command line interface for NetworkManager.
>> License: GPL-2
>> @@ Package: net-misc/networkmanager-0.9.1.90 branch: 5, [sabayon-weekly]
>> Available: version: 0.9.1.90 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 0
>> Installed: version: 0.9.1.90 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 0
>> Slot: 0
>> Homepage: http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/
>> Description: Network configuration and management
>> in an easy way. Desktop environment
>> independent.
>> License: GPL-2
>> @@ Package: net-misc/networkmanager-openvpn-0.9.0 branch: 5, [sabayon-weekly]
>> Available: version: 0.9.0 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 0
>> Installed: version: Not installed ~ tag: N/A ~ revision: N/A
>> Slot: 0
>> Homepage: http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/
>> Description: NetworkManager OpenVPN plugin
>> License: GPL-2
>> @@ Package: net-misc/networkmanager-pptp-0.9.0 branch: 5, [sabayon-weekly]
>> Available: version: 0.9.0 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 0
>> Installed: version: Not installed ~ tag: N/A ~ revision: N/A
>> Slot: 0
>> Homepage: http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/
>> Description: NetworkManager PPTP plugin
>> License: GPL-2
>> @@ Package: net-misc/networkmanager-vpnc-0.9.0 branch: 5, [sabayon-weekly]
>> Available: version: 0.9.0 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 0
>> Installed: version: Not installed ~ tag: N/A ~ revision: N/A
>> Slot: 0
>> Homepage: http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/
>> Description: NetworkManager VPNC plugin
>> License: GPL-2
>> Keywords: networkmanager
>> Found: 6 entries



equo search nm-applet
>> @@ Searching...
>> @@ Package: gnome-extra/nm-applet-0.9.1.90 branch: 5, [sabayon-weekly]
>> Available: version: 0.9.1.90 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 0
>> Installed: version: 0.9.1.90 ~ tag: NoTag ~ revision: 0
>> Slot: 0
>> Homepage: http://projects.gnome.org/NetworkManager/
>> Description: GNOME applet for NetworkManager
>> License: GPL-2
>> Keywords: nm-applet
>> Found: 1 entries



rc-update
NetworkManager | default
alsasound | default
avahi-daemon | default
bootmisc | boot
consolefont | boot
consolekit | boot
cpufrequtils | default
cupsd | default
dbus | boot
devfs | sysinit
device-mapper | boot
dmesg | sysinit
fbcondecor | boot
fsck | boot
hostname | boot
hotplug | boot
hwclock | boot
keymaps | boot
killprocs | shutdown
local | default nonetwork
localmount | boot
lvm | boot
mdadm | default
modules | boot
mount-ro | shutdown
mtab | boot
net.lo | boot
nfsmount | default
procfs | boot
root | boot
savecache | shutdown
swap | default
sysctl | boot
syslog-ng | default
termencoding | boot
udev | sysinit
udev-postmount | default
ufw | default
urandom | default
vixie-cron | default
x-setup | boot
xdm | boot

[Fitzcarraldo]

By the way, did you use the following command after you upgraded?:

Code: Select all

equo conf update

If you didn't, do that, accept the changes, re-apply any edits you made to any config files, and then reboot to see if that makes a difference. When you upgrade, you must always use that command, to make sure the configuration files are also upgraded.

KDE frontend for NetworkManager? with the Gnome applet?

NetworkManager is the default network manager back-end used in the SL spins; nm-applet is the front-end to NetworkManager for non-KDE editons, and KNetworkManager is the front-end to NetworkManager for the KDE edition. I see from your output that KNetworkManager is not installed, and NetworkManager and nm-applet are installed, so that is no cause for concern. You also have NetworkManager in the default runlevel, so again that is correct.

However, I'm not sure how well SL's NetworkManager 0.9.1.90 package works, as I don't use it on any of my machines. It's built by an ebuild from the Sabayon Portage overlay that is masked in Portage (the 0.9.0 ebuilds in the Portage main tree and the Sabayon overlay are also masked). I had a lot of trouble with wireless (but not wired) networking on one of my Entropy-based machines (Atheros AR2413 wireless chip, and hence the ath5k driver module) after upgrading to NetworkManager 0.9.0 recently (see NetworkManager 0.9.0 very flaky with wireless network for details), so it might be that the latest version of the Entropy package is the cause of your problem. I'm using version 0.8.4.0-r2 of NetworkManager, which works perfectly on my Portage machine, and on my Entropy machine which I downgraded from 0.9.0 by using Portage.

What's your wireless hardware? You can tell the manufacturer and model by using the lspci command as root user in a Terminal window, and you can tell whether you have a wireless module driver loaded by using the lsmod command.

Version 0.8.4.0-r2 of NetworkManager and nm-applet are not in the Entropy repository, so you can't downgrade using Entropy, to check if the version bump of NetworkManager is the cause of your problem. You'd have to do it using Portage. However, if you don't know how to use Portage then you could file a bug report in the SL Bugzilla (see link 'Bugs' at the top of this page). You'll need to post the output of the commands lspci, lsmod, dmesg, uname -a, as well as any error messages in the file /var/log/messages, and give details of which spin (LXDE) you are using and how you got to the stage where wireless broke. I could be wrong of course, but I suspect NetworkManager (assuming you updated you config files when you upgraded).

If you cannot hang on and just use your wired network, you could try Wicd (see the article in the SL Wiki about how to switch from NetworkManager/nm-applet to Wicd), but I've had no success with Wicd on most of my machines, and only partial success on another, so you may or may not have success with it. Some people swear by Wicd, so you might get lucky.

[lated22]

I upgraded the config files and rebooted but still having the same issue. Looks like my wireless card is an Atheros AR9285.

03:00.0 Network controller: Atheros Communications Inc. AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCI-Express) (rev 01)

lsmod returns the following (I'm not really sure what I'm looking at here. Are ath9k and ath9k_common the wireless driver modules?):

xt_state 700 6
ip6table_filter 776 1
ip6_tables 8328 1 ip6table_filter
ipv6 201570 28
nf_nat_irc 820 0
nf_conntrack_irc 2300 1 nf_nat_irc
nf_nat_ftp 996 0
nf_nat 9721 2 nf_nat_irc,nf_nat_ftp
nf_conntrack_ipv4 6742 8 nf_nat
nf_defrag_ipv4 822 1 nf_conntrack_ipv4
nf_conntrack_ftp 3804 1 nf_nat_ftp
iptable_filter 816 1
xt_addrtype 1788 4
xt_DSCP 1264 0
xt_dscp 960 0
xt_string 740 0
xt_set 2184 0
ip_set 14969 1 xt_set
nfnetlink 1911 1 ip_set
xt_owner 696 0
xt_NFQUEUE 1328 0
xt_multiport 1060 0
xt_mark 668 0
xt_iprange 952 0
xt_hashlimit 4608 0
xt_conntrack 2016 0
snd_seq_dummy 812 0
snd_seq_oss 18927 0
snd_seq_midi_event 3275 1 snd_seq_oss
snd_seq 30771 5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_seq_device 3437 3 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq
snd_pcm_oss 25493 0
snd_mixer_oss 8957 1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_hda_codec_realtek 193188 1
ath9k 56238 0
i915 238120 2
snd_hda_intel 15104 3
snd_hda_codec 47685 2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
mac80211 145845 1 ath9k
snd_hwdep 3286 1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm 44258 3 snd_pcm_oss,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec
ath9k_common 1393 1 ath9k
drm_kms_helper 18877 1 i915
ath9k_hw 248706 2 ath9k,ath9k_common
snd_timer 11478 2 snd_seq,snd_pcm
drm 119699 3 i915,drm_kms_helper
uvcvideo 44408 0
snd 31655 17 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq,snd_seq_device,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm,snd_timer
ath 10016 2 ath9k,ath9k_hw
i2c_algo_bit 3358 1 i915
cfg80211 99405 3 ath9k,mac80211,ath
intel_agp 7096 1 i915
snd_page_alloc 4789 2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
videodev 56061 1 uvcvideo
battery 7228 0
video 8638 1 i915
iTCO_wdt 9168 0
intel_gtt 8269 3 i915,intel_agp
r8169 24960 0
pcspkr 1048 0
i2c_i801 5712 0
iTCO_vendor_support 1253 1 iTCO_wdt
ac 2096 0
media 6338 1 videodev
joydev 6260 0
xts 1717 0
gf128mul 5170 1 xts
sha512_generic 6357 0
sha256_generic 11109 0
sha1_generic 1435 0
aes_i586 6832 0
iscsi_tcp 6247 0
tg3 98374 0
e1000 76506 0
fuse 49205 1
xfs 397427 0
nfs 211039 0
nfs_acl 1615 1 nfs
auth_rpcgss 26621 1 nfs
lockd 52536 1 nfs
sunrpc 133064 4 nfs,nfs_acl,auth_rpcgss,lockd
jfs 134069 0
reiserfs 182776 0
ext4 199821 3
jbd2 37352 1 ext4
ext3 92572 0
jbd 31827 1 ext3
ext2 46864 0
mbcache 3630 3 ext4,ext3,ext2
scsi_wait_scan 471 0
sl811_hcd 7235 0
ohci_hcd 15765 0
uhci_hcd 15696 0
ehci_hcd 28020 0
sx8 9719 0
imm 7152 0
parport 20891 1 imm
pata_pcmcia 6653 0
pcmcia 25245 1 pata_pcmcia

I have not used Portage at all but would like to give it a shot to downgrade networkmanager when I get off work tonight. I appreciate the help.

[Fitzcarraldo]

At your risk, as root user in a Terminal window:

Code: Select all

# equo install git # Sabayon overlay uses Git, so need to install it.
# emerge --sync # Update the Portage ebuilds on your machine.
# layman -a sabayon # Don't worry if the Sabayon overlay is already added.
# layman -S # Update ebuilds in all added overlays.
# emerge -1v =networkmanager-0.8.4.0-r2 # Install highest non-masked NetworkManager from source code.
# emerge -1v =nm-applet-0.8.0.8.4 # Install highest non-masked nm-applet from source code.
# etc-update # Update the config files. Answer -3 and accept each one.
# equo rescue spmsync # Tell Entropy what you did via Portage.
# # The rest below is optional:
# # Use eix utility to check status of what you installed:
# equo install eix
# eix-update
# eix -I networkmanager
# eix -I nm-applet

[lated22]

Followed your instructions to downgrade but eix is still showing 0.9.1.90 as the installed version of NetworkManager.

# eix -I networkmanager
[D] net-misc/networkmanager
Available versions: [m]0.8-r1 (~)0.8.4.0-r2 [M](~)0.9.0 [M](~)0.9.0[1] [M](~)0.9.1.90[1] {avahi bluetooth connection-sharing dhclient (+)dhcpcd doc gnutls +introspection kernel_linux (+)nss +ppp resolvconf wimax}
Installed versions: 0.9.1.90[1](04:02:32 PM 10/01/2011)(avahi connection-sharing dhcpcd introspection kernel_linux nss ppp resolvconf wimax -bluetooth -dhclient -doc -gnutls)
Homepage: http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/
Description: Network configuration and management in an easy way. Desktop environment independent.


# eix -I nm-applet
[D] gnome-extra/nm-applet
Available versions: 0.8 [m](~)0.8.4 [M](~)0.9.0 {bluetooth debug}
Installed versions: 0.9.1.90[?](04:03:59 PM 10/01/2011)(bluetooth)
Homepage: http://projects.gnome.org/NetworkManager/
Description: GNOME applet for NetworkManager


As this is was a fresh install I'm beginning to wonder if it might be easier/more expedient to just reinstall SL and mask NetworkManager before the initial update although I hate to throw in the towel so easily.

[lated22]

I assume the packages net-misc/networkmanager-0.9.1.90 and net-misc/networkmanager-openvpn-0.9.0 are the ones I would need to mask.

[Pemberlie]

Followed your instructions to downgrade but eix is still showing 0.9.1.90 as the installed version of NetworkManager.

# eix -I networkmanager
[D] net-misc/networkmanager
Available versions: [m]0.8-r1 (~)0.8.4.0-r2 [M](~)0.9.0 [M](~)0.9.0[1] [M](~)0.9.1.90[1] {avahi bluetooth connection-sharing dhclient (+)dhcpcd doc gnutls +introspection kernel_linux (+)nss +ppp resolvconf wimax}
Installed versions: 0.9.1.90[1](04:02:32 PM 10/01/2011)(avahi connection-sharing dhcpcd introspection kernel_linux nss ppp resolvconf wimax -bluetooth -dhclient -doc -gnutls)
Homepage: http://www.gnome.org/projects/NetworkManager/
Description: Network configuration and management in an easy way. Desktop environment independent.


# eix -I nm-applet
[D] gnome-extra/nm-applet
Available versions: 0.8 [m](~)0.8.4 [M](~)0.9.0 {bluetooth debug}
Installed versions: 0.9.1.90[?](04:03:59 PM 10/01/2011)(bluetooth)
Homepage: http://projects.gnome.org/NetworkManager/
Description: GNOME applet for NetworkManager


As this is was a fresh install I'm beginning to wonder if it might be easier/more expedient to just reinstall SL and mask NetworkManager before the initial update although I hate to throw in the towel so easily.

I have the same problem here and looking for solutions. I'm also thinking if I should reinstall my SL too. Is this advisable?