Arch Linux

teckk

Member

Registered: 2013-02-21

Posts: 584

[Solved]Netctl problem.

I've got a used dell laptop that I installed arch on. It's kernel 7.0.10

The ethernet is intel wired/wireless. Kernel modules e1000e, iwlwifi.

I cant get netctl to work at all on this notebook. I have netctl, wpa_supplicant, openresolv installed. Been using netctl for years. Same software I have installed on the other machines, but, they are 2 months out of date. I haven't updated them yet.

I know how to make netctl config files in /etc/netctl. I've looked a the wiki for any kind of changes.

I can bring the wired interface up manually.

ip link set enp0s31f6 up

ip address add 172.16.0.6/27 broadcast + dev enp0s31f6

ip route add default via 172.16.0.1 dev enp0s31f6

I had to put a DNS manually in /etc/resolv.conf

And of course I can't do that for a wireless interface.

All I am getting from netctl is the stupid little message error exit1. (Not helpfull)

So. I installed iwd. It works fine with iwctl.

What am I missing that I am not seeing? Anyone had a problem with netctl on 7.0?

Edit:
I didn't post the journal because the error message is completly unhelpfull. Just says that netctl had a probelm and exited.

Last edited by teckk (Today 14:05:06)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,627

Re: [Solved]Netctl problem.

Anyone had a problem with netctl on 7.0?

Does the LTS kernel work??

netctl will error out if the NIC is already up.
Does "netctl status <profile>" tell you more?

For the wifi you might be running into wpa3 issues w/ the AP, can you manually connect to the AP w/ wpa_supplicant?
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Wpa_su … th_wpa_cli

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

teckk

Member

Registered: 2013-02-21

Posts: 584

Re: [Solved]Netctl problem.

Thanks for that.

I followed the wpa_supplicant wiki, and the interface associates with the AP, but I have no resolv. I was looking to see what wpa_supplicant uses. I've got openresolv installed.

Netctl won't bring up the wired interface either. So, this is broken. And it's Intel, not broadcom.

Iwd works fine. I'll use it for now. I'm probably going to get hit with this on my 6 other machines when I update, that I have netctl on. So, I'll figure out what to do with this little dell.

It's broke for me anyway. I'll update my other machines in a day or so, and see if they are broken. I can always bring up a wired interface manually.

Might be easier than messing with these network managers.

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,627

Re: [Solved]Netctl problem.

Do you have dhcpcd or dhclient installed? (Don't enable their services, though)
netctl uses them to obtain a lease and configure the network, wpa_supplicant will only provide a carrier, iwd can optionally do both.

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

teckk

Member

Registered: 2013-02-21

Posts: 584

Re: [Solved]Netctl problem.

Yes I have dhcpcd installed.

I got this working by accident. I have to issue the start command twice, then the interface will come up with a static address and will resolv.

sudo netctl start wifi
sudo netctl start wifi

The first time will bring the interface up, but the state is down, with no ip or route. The second time brings the state up, with an IP and route. Weird. Also with su, not a sudo-pam problem.

sudo netctl stop wifi

Brings the interface down, state down, no IP assigned, no link local.

In journalctl -xe there are lines:

<time> <hostname> kernel wlan0 AP has invalid WMM params (AIFSN=1 for ACI 2), will use 2

I'll call this solved. Something weird. I'll keep looking at it. But it works.

teckk

Member

Registered: 2013-02-21

Posts: 584

Re: [Solved]Netctl problem.

I looked at this:
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=242001

It's not because the AP has that port or IP associated with a MAC. First thing I looked at.

If I ever find what causes this on this machine, I'll post back for someone else to see. Lower priority now that it works.

Edit:
It is this age Dell notebook that I got for free.

cat /proc/cpuinfo
...
model name: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-7300U CPU @ 2.60GHz

Everything on it is intel.

Last edited by teckk (Today 14:18:13)

seth

Member

From: Won't reply 2 private help req

Registered: 2012-09-03

Posts: 75,627

Re: [Solved]Netctl problem.

I'd look for messages from the device driver "I have to issue the start command twice" sounds like it has issues to wake/power up?

---

How to upload text · How to boot w/o GUI · Disable Windows Fast-Start! · Fix your xinitrc

teckk

Member

Registered: 2013-02-21

Posts: 584

Re: [Solved]Netctl problem.

Thanks, I looked at that.

I updated my 6 other arch machines that use netctl today. All of them work fine. Different hardware, some intel, some broadcom, even an old old one that uses tg3 kernel module. Nothing wrong with netctl or wpa_supplicant.

The hardware on this dell lattitude 5480 has powersave mode.

With networkmanager you can use wifi.powersave = 2 to turn it off.

iwconfig shows Power Management:on

You can turn it off with:

#iwconfig wlp2s0 power off