(SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

philipW · 2018-10-16 07:59:15

Some time ago i started noticing NetworkManager act up. it doesnt see all the networks in my area and when i try to connect to some it says in nmtui:"NetworkManager: Could not activate connection: Activation failed The Wi-Fi network could not be found" While im in the room next to the access point. it seems like nmtui also keeps "forgetting" the passwords for some networks. It connects automatically to a random network when i login but when i try to connect to a wifi network with a better signal i have type in the password. i have probably connected to that network a 100 times before. These problems are not an issue when i am home because it connects to my home network right away and its OK. But at my college we have a wifi access points in every classroom and i try connecting to the closest one. So its quite annoying when having to connect to a new one every 1,5 hours or so.

I have a Intel Corporation Wireless 8260 (rev 3a) network card.
This is my network manager config file at /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

# Configuration file for NetworkManager.
# See "man 5 NetworkManager.conf" for details.

[device-mac-randomization]
# "yes" is already the default for scanning
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=yes

[connection-mac-randomization]
# Randomize MAC for every ethernet connection
ethernet.cloned-mac-address=random
# Generate a random MAC for each WiFi and associate the two permanently.
wifi.cloned-mac-address=random

This is the output of ifconfig

enp4s0: flags=4099<UP,BROADCAST,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        ether 2c:4d:54:c0:e3:a1  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

lo: flags=73<UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING>  mtu 65536
        inet 127.0.0.1  netmask 255.0.0.0
        inet6 ::1  prefixlen 128  scopeid 0x10<host>
        loop  txqueuelen 1000  (Local Loopback)
        RX packets 440801  bytes 38340244 (36.5 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 440801  bytes 38340244 (36.5 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

vmnet1: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 172.16.96.1  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 172.16.96.255
        inet6 fe80::250:56ff:fec0:1  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 00:50:56:c0:00:01  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 5  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

vmnet2: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 10.0.2.1  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 10.0.2.255
        inet6 fe80::250:56ff:fec0:2  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 00:50:56:c0:00:02  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 5  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

vmnet8: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 172.16.80.1  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 172.16.80.255
        inet6 fe80::250:56ff:fec0:8  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 00:50:56:c0:00:08  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 0  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 5  bytes 0 (0.0 B)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

wlp3s0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST>  mtu 1500
        inet 172.20.5.51  netmask 255.255.255.0  broadcast 172.20.5.255
        inet6 fe80::d535:73c8:cbf7:2043  prefixlen 64  scopeid 0x20<link>
        ether 26:17:18:8d:ba:79  txqueuelen 1000  (Ethernet)
        RX packets 49981  bytes 53479442 (51.0 MiB)
        RX errors 0  dropped 0  overruns 0  frame 0
        TX packets 26285  bytes 5081997 (4.8 MiB)
        TX errors 0  dropped 0 overruns 0  carrier 0  collisions 0

Last edited by philipW (2018-11-07 11:06:50)

V1del · 2018-10-16 09:01:13

To rule out some common causes: use a different DHCP client, explicitly disable mac randomization, disable tcp_ecn

philipW · 2018-10-16 10:19:59

Hi V1del, Thanks for your reply. I disabled mac randomization and disabled tcp_enc with

sudo sysctl -w net.ipv4.tcp_ecn=0

And i switched to dhclient by adding this to my config

[main]
dhcp=dhclient


#[device-mac-randomization]
#wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=yes

#[connection-mac-randomization]
#ethernet.cloned-mac-address=random
#wifi.cloned-mac-address=random

I both had dhclient and dhcpcd so i tried with both But the issue still persists

seth · 2018-10-16 15:48:19

Since I don't run vmware: is arch the host or the client?

What services are running?

systemctl list-unit-files --state=enabled

If you stop networkmanager, can you "see" and connect to the troublesome APs using wifi-menu?

philipW · 2018-10-17 07:50:07

seth wrote:

Since I don't run vmware: is arch the host or the client?
What services are running?
systemctl list-unit-files --state=enabled
If you stop networkmanager, can you "see" and connect to the troublesome APs using wifi-menu?

Hi Seth, Arch is the host. this is the output of "systemctl list-unit-files --state=enabled"

UNIT FILE                                   STATE  
asus-kbd-backlight.service                  enabled
autovt@.service                             enabled
backup.service                              enabled
cronie.service                              enabled
dbus-org.freedesktop.NetworkManager.service enabled
dbus-org.freedesktop.nm-dispatcher.service  enabled
getty@.service                              enabled
lm_sensors.service                          enabled
mpd.service                                 enabled
NetworkManager-dispatcher.service           enabled
NetworkManager.service                      enabled
numLockOnTty.service                        enabled
smbmount.service                            enabled
ufw.service                                 enabled
vmware-hostd.service                        enabled
vmware-networks.service                     enabled
vmware-usbarbitrator.service                enabled
mpd.socket                                  enabled
remote-fs.target                            enabled
fstrim.timer                                enabled

20 unit files listed.

I will see how wifi-menu works. ill post the results.

philipW · 2018-10-17 08:17:13

i keep connected to the "EICT-622" accesspoint if i stop NetworkManager. If i start wifi-menu my wireless interface goes down. and if i connect another accesspoint for example "EICT-614" using wifi-menu i get this error and i connects back to "EICT-622"

Job for netctl@wlp3s0\x2dEICT\x2d614.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status "netctl@wlp3s0\\x2dEICT\\x2d614.service"" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

systemctl status "netctl@wlp3s0\\x2dEICT\\x2d614.service"
● netctl@wlp3s0\x2dEICT\x2d614.service - Networking for netctl profile wlp3s0-EICT-614
   Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/netctl@.service; static; vendor preset: disabled)
   Active: failed (Result: exit-code) since Wed 2018-10-17 10:07:35 UTC; 4min 33s ago
     Docs: man:netctl.profile(5)
  Process: 2472 ExecStart=/usr/lib/netctl/network start wlp3s0-EICT-614 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)
 Main PID: 2472 (code=exited, status=1/FAILURE)

Oct 17 10:07:35 FlipArch systemd[1]: Starting Networking for netctl profile wlp3s0-EICT-614...
Oct 17 10:07:35 FlipArch network[2472]: Starting network profile 'wlp3s0-EICT-614'...
Oct 17 10:07:35 FlipArch network[2472]: The interface of network profile 'wlp3s0-EICT-614' is already up
Oct 17 10:07:35 FlipArch systemd[1]: netctl@wlp3s0\x2dEICT\x2d614.service: Main process exited, code=exited, status=1/FAILURE
Oct 17 10:07:35 FlipArch systemd[1]: netctl@wlp3s0\x2dEICT\x2d614.service: Failed with result 'exit-code'.
Oct 17 10:07:35 FlipArch systemd[1]: Failed to start Networking for netctl profile wlp3s0-EICT-614.

seth · 2018-10-17 12:11:13

i keep connected to the "EICT-622" accesspoint if i stop NetworkManager

What should totally not happen. Try to explicitly disconnect before.
Could it be that the vmware client (running windows) is controlling the interface as well?

(Since the interface is still up, wifi-menu cannot control it)

philipW · 2018-10-19 07:23:15

seth wrote:

i keep connected to the "EICT-622" accesspoint if i stop NetworkManager
What should totally not happen. Try to explicitly disconnect before.
Could it be that the vmware client (running windows) is controlling the interface as well?
(Since the interface is still up, wifi-menu cannot control it)

I dont think vmware is interfering with my interface because i have no vm's in "bridge mode" they are all connected to a vmnet which gets its internet from the host. I have also tried to see if my internet acts up when i stop "vmware-networks.service".
If i disconnect from the network before i stop NetworkManager netctl doesnt let me connect to any network.

ob for netctl@wlp3s0\x2dEICT\x2d614.service failed because the control process exited with error code.
See "systemctl status "netctl@wlp3s0\\x2dEICT\\x2d614.service"" and "journalctl -xe" for details.

I still get this error if i try to "remember" the network. if i don't enable the profile nothing happens at all.

seth · 2018-10-19 13:37:35

Don't guess - test.
Something else™ is evidently messing with that interface. Vmware is certainly a good contender. If you can think of others, by all means, check them as well.

philipW · 2018-11-07 11:06:12

So i talked to the network administrator of my college. the problem seems te be caused by the network and not my laptop.

Arch Linux

#1 2018-10-16 07:59:15

(SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

#2 2018-10-16 09:01:13

Re: (SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

#3 2018-10-16 10:19:59

Re: (SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

#4 2018-10-16 15:48:19

Re: (SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

#5 2018-10-17 07:50:07

Re: (SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

#6 2018-10-17 08:17:13

Re: (SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

#7 2018-10-17 12:11:13

Re: (SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

#8 2018-10-19 07:23:15

Re: (SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

#9 2018-10-19 13:37:35

Re: (SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

#10 2018-11-07 11:06:12

Re: (SOLVED)NetworkManager: Could not activate connection

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