[Solved] Connection issues with NetworkManager

masterl1nk · 2013-06-20 14:50:14

Hi all!

I recently installed Archlinux in my work laptop (Lenovo Thinkpad E430) with KDE 4. I've noticed I can't connect to my wired or wireless networks using networkmanager, but Wicd and wpa_supplicant (cli).

I ran Networkmanager in my terminal as root and this was the output:

[root@thinkpad ~]# NetworkManager --no-daemon --log-level=INFO
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> NetworkManager (version 0.9.8.2) is starting...
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> Read config file /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> WEXT support is enabled
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> VPN: loaded org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.pptp
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> VPN: loaded org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.openvpn
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> VPN: loaded org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.vpnc
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> Loaded plugin keyfile: (c) 2007 - 2010 Red Hat, Inc.  To report bugs please use the NetworkManager mailing list.
NetworkManager[2355]:    keyfile: parsing BumeranWifi ... 
NetworkManager[2355]:    keyfile:     read connection 'BumeranWifi'
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> monitoring kernel firmware directory '/lib/firmware'.
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> rfkill6: found WiFi radio killswitch (at /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-3/3-3:1.0/ieee80211/phy4/rfkill6) (driver ath9k_htc)
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> WiFi hardware radio set enabled
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> WiFi enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> WWAN enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> WiMAX enabled by radio killswitch; enabled by state file
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> Networking is enabled by state file
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (wlp0s20u3): using nl80211 for WiFi device control
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (wlp0s20u3): driver supports Access Point (AP) mode
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (wlp0s20u3): new 802.11 WiFi device (driver: 'ath9k_htc' ifindex: 7)
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (wlp0s20u3): exported as /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/0
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (wlp0s20u3): device state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed') [10 20 2]
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (wlp0s20u3): bringing up device.
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (wlp0s20u3): preparing device.
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (wlp0s20u3): deactivating device (reason 'managed') [2]
NetworkManager[2355]: <warn> failed to allocate link cache: (-10) Operation not supported
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (enp12s0): carrier is OFF
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (enp12s0): new Ethernet device (driver: 'r8168' ifindex: 2)
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (enp12s0): exported as /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/1
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (enp12s0): device state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed') [10 20 2]
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (enp12s0): bringing up device.
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (enp12s0): preparing device.
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> (enp12s0): deactivating device (reason 'managed') [2]
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> Added default wired connection 'Wired connection 1' for /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.3/0000:0c:00.0/net/enp12s0
NetworkManager[2355]: <warn> /sys/devices/virtual/net/lo: couldn't determine device driver; ignoring...
NetworkManager[2355]: <warn> /sys/devices/virtual/net/lo: couldn't determine device driver; ignoring...
NetworkManager[2355]: <info> ModemManager available in the bus

I tried with several wireless cards without luck.

Wicd works fine but I need networkmanager to handle my VPN accounts.

Extra data:

Linux thinkpad 3.9.6-1-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Fri Jun 14 08:12:55 CEST 2013 x86_64 GNU/Linux

Last edited by masterl1nk (2013-06-21 20:05:30)

WonderWoofy · 2013-06-20 15:15:47

I see you're pretty new around here (5 posts in), so I'll just tell you that this is a good attempt to debug. But there are a couple issues here I would like to point out. First is that you really don't need to start NetworkManager in the terminal to get this kind of info. It is started as a service and so all information can be found in the journal (/var/log/journal), which can be accessed with journalctl. Beware though that you will not see the full journal unless you are a) the root user, or b) running the journalctl command from a user that is part of the "systemd-journal" group. The second issue I see here is that you set the log level of the process explicitly when you ran NetworkManger in the terminal. That is good, but why did you choose info? Why not debug? When trying to solve a problem I would have to think that more info is better, no?

I tried with several wireless cards without luck.

By this, do you mean that you are swapping the actual half-pcie cards out? Or are you using a bunch of USB wireless cards? What does the machine have in it? Did you order it with the standard Thinkpad b/g/n card (which is a realtek), or did you upgrade to the Intel 2x2 (which is a Centrino Wireless-N 2230), or did you go for the dual-band 2x2 w/b BT 4.0 (which is a Broadcom BCM43228)?

The Intel worked very well for me, but I have friends who have had nothing but trouble with the card. I got the macine with the Realtek, which uses the rtl8192ce module. It might have been the worst "supported" card I have ever used. The Broadcom card is very new (actually all those cards are pretty new), and so is not yet supported by the in-tree brcmsmac module, nor the b43 module. Instead you have to use the broadcom-wl package, which is broadcom's proprietary driver. It is not totally free software and includes a binary blob, but it works pretty well.

Oh in case you haven't figured it out by now, I have this machine too. I have no problems with wireless (since I ridded myself of the realtek card). But your choices of wireless cards are basically limited to what i have described here. There is an additional 1x1 card that is compatible, but I am not even sure I saw that as an option when purchasing my machine. It too is a braodcom card. But Lenovo whitelists cards by FRU (Field Replaceable Unit) number. So only the cards that come from them will actualy work, and amongst those it is only a few per model that are whitelisted in the bios for you machine. So options are very limited.

So you need to specify what kind of hardware you have, what the journal tells you when the maximum log level is enabled, and whether or not you are sure that NetworkManager is the only thing trying to handle your networking. I have seen numerous threads lately of people who took some random advice in the wiki about making their own service for a static IP, but then realized they don't use a static IP and started trying to use dhcpcd.service... but then they wanted to try netctl, then wicd, then networkmanager. So they end up with a whole crap load of things being enabled and running, and then can't seem to understand why this one service might not be working properly when it is fighting with 5 others.

masterl1nk · 2013-06-21 15:58:39

Hi, thanks for your fast and explicit answer.

I'm a Linux user since 2004 and an Arch Linux user since 2009, I have two other computers in my home running Arch.

I've tested some USB Wifi dongles in my laptop, but nevermind. The problem I think, is DBUS+Networkmanager.

My E430 have a Broadcom BCM4313 (03:00.0) and now I'm testing a TP-LINK WN722N USB dongle with an Atheros AR9271 (0cf3:9271). I know this USB dongle works fine with Archlinux since this works almost out of the box in my other computers.

At this moment I have wireless connection through Wicd. Wicd just work fine but I want NetworkManager to handle my connections.

masterl1nk · 2013-06-21 18:12:28

I solved my problem!

My workaround:
I tried to connect to my wireless network using NetworkManager: No luck. Wicd works fine and wpa_supplicant works fine too.

Reading and reading and greping files I finally got this:

cat /usr/lib/systemd/system/wpa_supplicant.service
[Unit]
Description=WPA supplicant

[Service]
Type=dbus
BusName=fi.epitest.hostap.WPASupplicant
ExecStart=/sbin/wpa_supplicant -u

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
Alias=dbus-fi.epitest.hostap.WPASupplicant.service

Due to the filesystem upgrade of Archlinux, /sbin does not exist anymore, so Networkmanager tried to locate wpa_supplicant in a non existing place, what I did was edit that file and replace the /sbin path by /usr/bin, then a systemctl --system daemon-reload and systemctl enable wpa_supplicant.service and now my NetworkManager is working like a boss

Thanks WonderWoofy for your time and information

goviedo · 2013-10-02 23:55:03

For the record, i had a lot of problems with Network Manager, some almost impossible to figure out why. I hate Network Manager because disconnect my Ahteron Lan Card of My Notebook and any other card while transferring a large of amount of data.
So, VERY SIMPLE, I delete the service on my both notebook and WUALA!!!. All problems GONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

So, i suggest you, do it the connection manually, Network Manager SUCKS!

jasonwryan · 2013-10-03 01:07:29

So you register just to troll/advertise your incompetence?

Don't do that: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Fo … o_Trolling

Arch Linux

#1 2013-06-20 14:50:14

[Solved] Connection issues with NetworkManager

#2 2013-06-20 15:15:47

Re: [Solved] Connection issues with NetworkManager

#3 2013-06-21 15:58:39

Re: [Solved] Connection issues with NetworkManager

#4 2013-06-21 18:12:28

Re: [Solved] Connection issues with NetworkManager

#5 2013-10-02 23:55:03

Re: [Solved] Connection issues with NetworkManager

#6 2013-10-03 01:07:29

Re: [Solved] Connection issues with NetworkManager

Board footer