How to determine reason for wifi signal bars becoming question mark ?

nurber · 2025-05-29 15:40:37

Hi Forum. I've recently started trying 6.15 on modern AMD hardware to see how it performs compared to 6.14. I've noticed that 6.15 experiences much more of the wifi signal bars turning to question mark phenomom which I believe indicates Internet connectivity issue although it seems like my wifi still works. I wonder how people determine the actual reason for this ? I do not have /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/20-connectivity.conf on my system.

seth · 2025-05-29 20:41:48

You might want to detail what those "bars" and "question marks" are, ie. what do you use to configure your network and what kind of applet/indicator is this?

Edit: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=57855 - keep in mind that everybody else knows absolutely nothing about your private setup.

Last edited by seth (2025-05-29 20:42:30)

nurber · 2025-05-30 02:58:22

Sorry, I too often assume that others know more resulting in inadeqate detail. I'm using Network Manager with Gnome 48 on Arch and I believe the wifi signal strength indicator in top bar of Gnome is part of or a front-end for Network Manager. On 6.15 kernel the wifi signal strength will more often become a question mark which I believe means there are issues with wifi connectivity to the Internet. It seems that wifi still works when signal strength is replaced with question mark symbol, but I'm curious if anybody knows why and if there is a way, for example, with nmcli to query parameters for the wifi connection to determine why this there is a question mark?

seth · 2025-05-30 06:32:32

means there are issues with wifi connectivity to the Internet

In particular that the connectivity server doesn't respond.

do not have /etc/NetworkManager/conf.d/20-connectivity.conf on my system

[cat]cat /usr/lib/NetworkManager/conf.d/20-connectivity.conf[/cat]
Can you still ping that server when this happens?

Common causes for connection losses include
1. roaming, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … ts_(Wi-Fi)
2. concurrent network managers

find /etc/systemd -type l -exec test -f {} \; -print | awk -F'/' '{ printf ("%-40s | %s\n", $(NF-0), $(NF-1)) }' | sort -f

3. power saving

In doubt please post your complete system journal for the boot after such incident:

sudo journalctl -b | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

nurber · 2025-06-02 01:33:38

[cat]cat /usr/lib/NetworkManager/conf.d/20-connectivity.conf[/cat]
Can you still ping that server when this happens?

Yes. I didn't see mention of this default config file when looking at NetworkManager which is excellent document. I now see that document does mention it, thanks for pasting here.

Common causes for connection losses include
1. roaming, https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Networ … ts_(Wi-Fi)

was too fixated on "connectivity" to see this section as relevant, but makes sense now.

journalctl -g "roamed"

returns nothing.

2. concurrent network managers
find /etc/systemd -type l -exec test -f {} \; -print | awk -F'/' '{ printf ("%-40s | %s\n", $(NF-0), $(NF-1)) }' | sort -f
bat-multi-user.service | multi-user.target.wants
bluetooth.service | bluetooth.target.wants
cpupower.service | multi-user.target.wants
cups.path | multi-user.target.wants
cups.service | multi-user.target.wants
cups.service | printer.target.wants
cups.socket | sockets.target.wants
dbus-org.bluez.service | system
dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service | system
dbus-org.freedesktop.timesync1.service | system
display-manager.service | system
getty@tty1.service | getty.target.wants
gnome-keyring-daemon.socket | sockets.target.wants
mullvad-daemon.service | multi-user.target.wants
mullvad-early-boot-blocking.service | mullvad-daemon.service.wants
NetworkManager.service | multi-user.target.wants
NetworkManager-wait-online.service | network-online.target.wants
p11-kit-server.socket | sockets.target.wants
pipewire-pulse.socket | sockets.target.wants
pipewire-session-manager.service | user
pipewire.socket | sockets.target.wants
power-profiles-daemon.service | graphical.target.wants
remote-fs.target | multi-user.target.wants
systemd-timesyncd.service | sysinit.target.wants
systemd-userdbd.socket | sockets.target.wants
wireplumber.service | pipewire.service.wants
xdg-user-dirs-update.service | default.target.wants

I don't see any other network manager

3. power saving
In doubt please post your complete system journal for the boot after such incident:
sudo journalctl -b | curl -F 'file=@-' 0x0.st

any security implications for such an upload ? I'm not an expert, but BSSID MAC of router, laptop MAC address, my username, that I run certain things like mullvad, laptop model...Is there a way to scrub such things before posting ?

Thanks for very helpful reply

seth · 2025-06-02 06:47:39

Please use [code][/code] tags, not "quote" tags. Edit your post in this regard.

journalctl -g "roamed"

you'll not necessarily see that pattern for the same scenario.
Basically it's whenever NM cannot decide which wifi AP to stick to.

but BSSID MAC of router, laptop MAC address, my username, that I run certain things like mullvad, laptop model...Is there a way to scrub such things before posting

sed, but
1. none of that is overly sensitive (it fingerprints you if you post it in multiple locations, but your router also yells its BSSID into the air and out of range there's little use for it. I can tell the router vendor and spoof it, so whenever "nurber" shows up here, he'll be totally confused why the automatic wifi login doesn't work and also this isn't really how you remembered your home…)
2. you already revealed the mullvad part and I'd be less than surprised if that's what's causing the question mark?

So if it's not mullvad and you post the journal, you can pseudonymize stuff (aaa => xxx, bbb => yyy), but please don's anonymize (aaa => xxx, bbb => xxx) or delete "irrelevant" lines

Arch Linux

#1 2025-05-29 15:40:37

How to determine reason for wifi signal bars becoming question mark ?

#2 2025-05-29 20:41:48

Re: How to determine reason for wifi signal bars becoming question mark ?

#3 2025-05-30 02:58:22

Re: How to determine reason for wifi signal bars becoming question mark ?

#4 2025-05-30 06:32:32

Re: How to determine reason for wifi signal bars becoming question mark ?

#5 2025-06-02 01:33:38

Re: How to determine reason for wifi signal bars becoming question mark ?

#6 2025-06-02 06:47:39

Re: How to determine reason for wifi signal bars becoming question mark ?

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