Wireless network doesn't auto-connect [Solved]

[kashiura]

Hello.

I'm experiencing a hard time trying to make Sabayon auto-connect to wireless network. It always ask for password and do not remember wifi networks already used.

I'm on Sabayon 7, Gnome 3.2, Kernel 3.0, NetworkManager 0.9.1.90. Auto-connect and all-user options are marked on configuration tab, but don't work.

All wifi networks are named "System (network name)". Older versions of Sabayon and NetworkManager used to name it "Auto (network name)" -- and all wifi networks once used auto-connected when available. I also used the lastest version (16 beta) of Fedora for a while, and it still name them "Auto (network name)" and still auto-connect.

Someone can please help?

[figueroa]

Me too, though my wireless is wlan0, and my brand new Sabayon 7 is x86 XFCE.

NetworkManager seems to work OK. It identifies my wireless network, and connects just fine. It just does not autoconnect.

Here is my /etc/conf.d/net

Code: Select all

#Generated by NetworkManager
###### Global Configuration ######

###### Connection Configuration ######
#----------------------------------
mac_NarniaHome="00:18:DE:D6:B4:2E"
config_NarniaHome=(
   "dhcp"
   "dhcp6"
)
auto_NarniaHome="true"
enable_NarniaHome="true"
enable_ipv6_NarniaHome="true"
#----------------------------------
nis_domain_wlan0="localdomain"
dns_domain_wlan0="localdomain"
dhcp_wlan0="nosendhost"
#----------------------------------
nis_domain_eth0="localdomain"
dns_domain_eth0="localdomain"
dhcp_eth0="nosendhost"


even though IPV4 required is indicated in the NM gui.

Sabayon is slick, but why wouldn't I be happier with wpa_supplicant, which is what I use on my Gentoo boxes.

Andy Figueroa

[figueroa]

Not having too much patience and answering my own question, I installed wpa_supplicant and wicd using equo, removed networkmanager and nm-applet, followed most of the instructions on the screen (from equo), though the equo note about editing /etc/conf.d/rc does not apply to this base 2 layout system, so I just ignored the /etc/conf.d/rc instruction.

Checked the settings for the still live wireless connection using the gui, saved, rebooted, and the wireless network takes care of itself upon log in. I think I like this better than the wpa_gui on my Gentoo laptops.

Andy Figueroa

[kashiura]

Well, I would really prefer staying with NetworkManager. My little experience with Wicd was not good.

My "etc/conf.d/net" is exactly the same as Figueroa's, except for my own network data.

I've also been searching around and read somewhere there should be a file for each wifi network already known in "/etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/". But there's nothing there, only a ".keep_net-misc_networkmanager-0", wich seems to be an empty file.

Any clue?

[kashiura]

After trying almost everything I could imagine, I finally found a solution. A very awkward one, but still a solution.

I realized the problem lies within the "ifnet" plugin listed in "/etc/NetworkManager/nm-system-settings.conf". It does not give user control of wireless connections -- and I don't know how to configure it to do otherwise.

So I killed the NM process and then called it back with sudo:

killall NetworkManager
sudo NetworkManager

Then, as root, I gained control over NM connections. So I connected again and marked auto-connect and all-users for my wifi network, rebooted and it reconnected by itself. Not elegant, not sophisticated, but done.

[den_car]

I tried the above by logging in as root and NetworkManager still shows (system)WLAN, not (auto)WLAN. None of the suggestions here work, although I haven't tried wpa_supplicant. My /etc/conf.d/net says I should be connected automatically:

Code: Select all

#Generated by NetworkManager
###### Global Configuration ######

###### Connection Configuration ######
#----------------------------------
mac_WLAN="AC:72:89:D0:87:xx"
auto_WLAN="true"
config_WLAN=(
   "dhcp"
   "dhcp6"
)
enable_ipv6_WLAN="true"
#----------------------------------
nis_domain_wlan0="localdomain"
dns_domain_wlan0="localdomain"
dhcp_wlan0="nosendhost"
#----------------------------------
nis_domain_eth0="localdomain"
dns_domain_eth0="localdomain"
dhcp_eth0="nosendhost"

I wonder is NetworkManager trying to do its thing before the wireless has started. Anyone suggest how I can check the start order, please?

[den_car]

My attempts to fix this issue have totally broken my system and I cannot now login. I tried to reinstall NetworkManager and that broke the system I can't face rebuilding my printer driver following a re-install, so it's sayonara sabayon. Thanks for the help with the printer issue.

[Kwuje]

i have the same problem too. I tried with login as root, i try kill process and recall it with sudo but nothing.
i tried with new keyring and with kick on the pc.
i give at my user all privileges but nothing.
Please help us!

[Fitzcarraldo]

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 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 and nm-applet 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 packages NetworkManager and nm-applet are the cause of your problem. I'm using version 0.8.4.0-r2 of NetworkManager and version 0.8.4 of nm-applet, which work perfectly on a) my Portage machine running KDE with NetworkManager and KNetworkManager, and b) on my Entropy machine using NetworkManager and nm-applet which I downgraded from 0.9.0 by using Portage.

Version 0.8.4.0-r2 of NetworkManager and 0.8.4 of 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 you are using and how you got to the stage where you could not get automatic connection to work. I could be wrong of course, but I suspect NetworkManager and/or nm-applet (assuming you updated you config files if and when you upgraded).

If you want to try the Portage route to downgrading, then, at your risk, the procedure would be:

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-0.8.4 # 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, to check the packages were installed correctly:
# # Use eix utility to check status of what you installed:
# equo install eix
# eix-update
# eix -I networkmanager
# eix -I nm-applet

Alternatively, you could try Wicd (see the article in the SL Wiki on 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.

If you can't boot to a desktop any more to perform the downgrade or to switch to Wicd then you'll need to boot a LiveCD/DVD and chroot using the procedure given in the SL Wiki article HOWTO: chroot from a LiveCD.

[aquarius]

I have exactly the same issue on my new SL7 XFCE.
Did somebody posted the bug already as Fitzcarraldo suggested?
If not, I'll do this

P.S. I think some guy in German forum has the same problem: viewtopic.php?f=81&t=25552&p=141898&hilit=xfce+wlan#p141898 If you know German, you can point him to this thread