Network manager disappeared! Cannot connect wireless internet

BruceMorrison · 10-27-2009, 07:38 AM

Hi. I am the newest of converts to Linux. For me its Ubuntu 9.04. on a Dell Inspiron 6000 laptop. Working good for word processing. Feeling good to be going round Microsoft. However, there are a couple of things which I have puzzled over and tried again and again but cannot make work. I cannot connect to the broadband modem wirelessly, which I must as I work at a distance. Connect by ethernet wire to the modem and no problems, but not via the Dells Broadcom modem which connected fine under XP. There are several specific parts to the problems. Tearing my hair out!
I cannot see any network manager icon in the notification area. It used to be there. Where has it gone?

When it was there, I tried to implement advice from your forums but got nowhere. Here is the info supplied by the terminal to various commands I have found in other answers to similar connection problems. I would be most grateful for a dummies guide, as I couldnt understand anything the terminal told me.

bruce@dell:~$ ifconfig
eth1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:12:f0:80:6f:6f
inet6 addr: fe80::212:f0ff:fe80:6f6f/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:14 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:289 errors:0 dropped:5 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:84 (84.0 B)
Interrupt:17 Memory:dfdfd000-dfdfdfff

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:16436 Metric:1
RX packets:172 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:172 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:13232 (13.2 KB) TX bytes:13232 (13.2 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:12:3f:d0:1d:bc
inet6 addr: fe80::212:3fff:fed0:1dbc/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:18 Memory:dfdfe000-dfe00000

bruce@dell:~$ iw config
nl80211 not found.
bruce@dell:~$ iwconfig
lo no wireless extensions.

wlan0 no wireless extensions.

eth1 unassociated ESSID

ff/any
Mode:Managed Channel=0 Access Point: Not-Associated
Bit Rate:0 kb/s Tx-Power=20 dBm Sensitivity=8/0
Retry limit:7 RTS thr

ff Fragment thr

ff
Power Management

ff
Link Quality:0 Signal level:0 Noise level:0
Rx invalid nwid:0 Rx invalid crypt:0 Rx invalid frag:0
Tx excessive retries:0 Invalid misc:0 Missed beacon:0

pan0 no wireless extensions.

bruce@dell:~$

bruce@dell:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)

bricedebrignaisplage · 10-27-2009, 08:38 PM

Here is what you should get:

Code:

$ sudo ifconfig          
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:26:18:74:8a:f0  
          inet addr:172.20.73.88  Bcast:172.20.73.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::226:18ff:fe74:8af0/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:6182 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:1276 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:1007861 (984.2 KiB)  TX bytes:442386 (432.0 KiB)
          Interrupt:28 Base address:0xc000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:0 (0.0 B)  TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

This means that I have to network interfaces. eth0 is my wired ethernet device (Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller), and lo is the loopback interface (so that your computer can network with itself...), kind of a virtual device. Note that in my case, compared to yours, the wireless (wlan0) interface is not listed by ifconfig.

ifconfig gives information on IP address and configuration of the interface... Besides the IP address you can ignore the rest.

Code:

$ sudo iwconfig
lo        no wireless extensions.

eth0      no wireless extensions.

wmaster0  no wireless extensions.

wlan0     IEEE 802.11abgn  Mode:Managed  Frequency:2.437 GHz
          Access Point: Not-Associated   Tx-Power=15 dBm
          Retry min limit:7   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off
          Encryption key:off
          Power Management:off
          Link Quality:0  Signal level:0  Noise level:0
          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:0  Rx invalid frag:0
          Tx excessive retries:0  Invalid misc:0   Missed beacon:0

pan0      no wireless extensions.

iwconfig scans all interfaces and reports info on wireless devices. In this case, there is only one (wlan0). Here it is turned off, but if on it lists configuration (network name (ESSID), IP, access point id, etc.)

The weird thing with your case, is that wlan0 is not recognized as a wireless interface, but eth1 is. This is very puzzling.

Code:

$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Memory Controller Hub (rev 07)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 4 Series Chipset Integrated Graphics Controller (rev 07)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #4 (rev 03)
00:1a.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #5 (rev 03)
00:1a.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #6 (rev 03)
00:1a.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) HD Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 1 (rev 03)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 2 (rev 03)
00:1c.3 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 4 (rev 03)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) PCI Express Port 6 (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801I (ICH9 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 93)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation ICH9M LPC Interface Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation ICH9M/M-E SATA AHCI Controller (rev 03)
02:00.0 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd Device e822 (rev 01)
02:00.1 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd Device e230 (rev 01)
02:00.2 System peripheral: Ricoh Co Ltd Device e852 (rev 01)
03:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless WiFi Link 5100
07:00.0 Ethernet controller: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168B PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet controller (rev 03)

lspci lists your hardware connected to the PCI bus. In my case, the last 2 entries are respectively the wireless device and the wired device.

In your case, it only shows the modem. Are you sure you pasted everything lspci gave you?

I just got my laptop, and I spent some time getting the wireless to work. I am using debian unstable. Here is what I had to do:

First I had to setup the device's driver. Intel 5100 is not directly recognized by debian. Not all kernel support it ( > 2.6.28 if I'm not wrong), and it requires a firmware. Once the right kernel and the firmware were installed, the device was supported by the OS. Debian provides a package to install the firmware...

Then you need the wireless-tool package. I guess it should be installed by default under Ubuntu but check.

Finally, to get network manager to work properly:
- edit /etc/network/interfaces so that only the loopback interface is listed.
- add user to the netdev group: sudo adduser XXX netdev

These are the steps I took. That should give you some hints. First, is your device supported (google it)? A good thing to check is whether the appropriate kernel modules are loaded (lsmod to see the modules, and google to find out what should be loaded).

If you're think that you might have messed some configuration parameter, try with the live CD and see what ifconfig and iwconfig and lspci give you, what modules are loaded by the kernel, and compare with your installation.

Good luck...

BruceMorrison · 10-29-2009, 03:29 AM

bricedebrignaisplage, Thanks for your reply. I have to confess that I understood nothing of what you told me. Mostly its the fact that it's a new language and I don't know any of the terms, so have no idea of the meaning or where to start.

BruceMorrison · 10-29-2009, 08:32 PM

bricedebrignaisplage you were right about lspci missing something. It should have read:-

bruce@dell:~$ lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1e.2 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.3 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.2 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) SATA Controller (rev 03)
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)
03:01.0 CardBus bridge: Ricoh Co Ltd RL5c476 II (rev b3)
03:01.1 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Ricoh Co Ltd R5C552 IEEE 1394 Controller (rev 08)
03:01.2 SD Host controller: Ricoh Co Ltd R5C822 SD/SDIO/MMC/MS/MSPro Host Adapter (rev 17)
03:03.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)
bruce@dell:~$

Must have been the cut and paste. Does this shed any light?
Re the strange (to me) language, can you tell me what "edit /etc/network/interfaces so that only the loopback interface is listed." means. How do you do this?

bricedebrignaisplage · 11-01-2009, 08:16 PM

OK, back to basics.
First, let's check whether your wireless interface is installed properly. It should be, but just in case. In your terminal, enter 'lsmod' and check that ipw2200 is listed.
Second, edit your interface file: 'sudo gedit /etc/network/interfaces' (instead of gedit you can use any other text editor: kate, nano, vi...). Besides comments lines (starting with a #) there should be only 2 lines left:

Code:

auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

Finally add yourself to the netdev group:

Code:

sudo adduser bruce netdev

Also, I had problem with network manager (knetworkmanager) and encrypted network. At home, I had to change the encryption scheme to make it work (WPA2 --> WPA). Maybe it's the problem as well.

Alternatively, upgrade to newly released Ubuntu 9.10...

Good luck