[SOLVED] Problem with wifi setup on slackware64-current

bogzab · 06-07-2015, 05:07 AM

Newbie as regards slackware64 and -current.

My new Thinkpad laptop had initial problems connecting to network using a wired connection but I was able to solve this by restarting dhcpcd (dhcpcd -x followed by dhcpcd -d - which successfully leases an IP address on interface eth0 from my router.

However with no wired connection and wlan0 configured using iwconfig trying the same procedure does not help. Trying to ping other PCs on my network gives me "Network unreachable".

I tried using network manager to connect (router clearly seen and identified by NM and by iwlist) but after entering wireless password an attempt to get an IP address results in NM reporting "not connected" and "connection deactivated".

I have a feeling that these problems may be connected with IPV6 versus IPV4 addresses but I don't have much idea how to work around the problem. I thought that the various dhcp programs, even if they try to get a IPV6 address in the first instance, move on to look for an IPV4 address on failure of IPV6.

I have had no such problems with Slackware 32 bit version 14.1 on an older Thinkpad so I am assuming that there is something I do not understand about the 64bit current networking software.

Anybody able to point me in the right direction? Thanks.

arsivci0 · 06-07-2015, 05:41 AM

There is no difference in 32 and 64 bit Slackware as far as network stack is concerned. Is it a WAP or a WEP connection? Can you connect to other networks? Or if that's not possible to test, can you connect to your router with your phone, if you have one?

bogzab · 06-07-2015, 05:51 AM

Other networks not really testable but my phone (Android) and my wife's phone (Windows) both connect wirelessly to the router. Also other laptops around the house. So the router itself does not appear to be a problem.

arsivci0 · 06-07-2015, 06:22 AM

Noticing that you registered here in 2006, I assume you can take care of your PC at probably better than me. If I were you, I would reinstall the complete n series.

bogzab · 06-07-2015, 06:54 AM

It's a fresh and complete install of slackware64-current.

genss · 06-07-2015, 08:47 AM

dmesg for driver errors
maybe you are missing firmware
while at it you might as well post what wireless card you have (lspci)

bogzab · 06-07-2015, 09:18 AM

lspci reports three intel devices as follows:

00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Device 9cba (rev 03)
00:19.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation Device 15a3 (rev 03)
04:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Device 095b (rev 59)

The second of these is presumably the wired interface controller. Not sure which of the other two is the wireless card. I did not have to download any drivers to get network manager to recognise the wireless interface (on a previous thinkpad I had to download drivers and firmware from Realtek).

I will have a look at dmesg after my next attempt to connect to wireless (right now I am using the wired interface to send this).

arsivci0 · 06-07-2015, 10:36 AM

Should be the 3rd. From a Debian site:
03:00.0 Network controller [0280]: Intel Corporation Wireless 7265 [8086:095b] (rev 59)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 7265 [8086:5210]
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 61
Memory at e1000000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
Capabilities: [c8] Power Management version 3
Capabilities: [d0] MSI: Enable+ Count=1/1 Maskable- 64bit+
Capabilities: [40] Express Endpoint, MSI 00
Capabilities: [100] Advanced Error Reporting
Capabilities: [140] Device Serial Number xx-xx-xx
Capabilities: [14c] Latency Tolerance Reporting
Capabilities: [154] L1 PM Substates
Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi

Check Intel's site for drivers and/or firmware, it might help.

It is reported to be working with a non-free (Debian's term) driver:
https://wiki.debian.org/InstallingDe...d/T450s/jessie

bogzab · 06-07-2015, 10:56 AM

Thanks. I forgot about the lspci -v option. The link to the debian site is helpful for other setup issues too. I will look for the "non-free" intel driver.

arsivci0 · 06-07-2015, 10:57 AM

They are very strict, you know. Nevertheless, it should work, one way or another.

allend · 06-07-2015, 12:01 PM

You say your are using a fresh install of Slackware64-current. The required firmware should be supplied by the kernel-firmware-20150212git-noarch-1 package as part of the install. You could check by running, as root,

Code:

dmesg | grep iwlwifi

There are some bug reports for that device in kernels 3.19 and above, but should not apply to the 3.18.11 kernel in -current.
https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=95901
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+s...x/+bug/1437913

It has also been reported that power saving setup can cause problems.
http://forums.debian.net/viewtopic.php?p=572680#p572680

bogzab · 06-07-2015, 01:45 PM

@genss/arsivci0: dmesg provided the following output when I checked immediately after trying to connect to my router via the network manager (I have partially obscured the MAC address with the "xx:yy":

Code:

[  256.449717] wlan0: authenticate with c4:04:xx:yy:dc:e8
[  256.456952] wlan0: send auth to c4:04:xx:yy:dc:e8 (try 1/3)
[  256.460598] wlan0: authenticated
[  256.461108] wlan0: associate with c4:04:xx:yy:dc:e8 (try 1/3)
[  256.464616] wlan0: RX AssocResp from c4:04:xx:yy:dc:e8 (capab=0x411 status=0 aid=6)
[  256.466095] wlan0: associated
[  261.287190] wlan0: deauthenticating from c4:04:xx:yy:dc:e8 by local choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)
[  261.300425] cfg80211: Calling CRDA to update world regulatory domain
[  261.302900] cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
[  261.302904] cfg80211:  DFS Master region: unset
[  261.302905] cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp), (dfs_cac_time)
[  261.302908] cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[  261.302910] cfg80211:   (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[  261.302912] cfg80211:   (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[  261.302915] cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 80000 KHz, 160000 KHz AUTO), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[  261.302917] cfg80211:   (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 80000 KHz, 160000 KHz AUTO), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (0 s)
[  261.302919] cfg80211:   (5490000 KHz - 5730000 KHz @ 160000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (0 s)
[  261.302921] cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
[  261.302923] cfg80211:   (57240000 KHz - 63720000 KHz @ 2160000 KHz), (N/A, 0 mBm), (N/A)

Looks like the authentication works and then there is a "deauthentication". Not at all sure why this should happen.

@allend:
The search through dmesg which you suggested yields the following:

Code:

[    6.176460] iwlwifi 0000:04:00.0: irq 45 for MSI/MSI-X
[    6.870716] iwlwifi 0000:04:00.0: loaded firmware version 23.11.10.0 op_mode iwlmvm
[    7.430957] iwlwifi 0000:04:00.0: Detected Intel(R) Dual Band Wireless AC 7265, REV=0x210
[    7.432221] iwlwifi 0000:04:00.0: L1 Enabled - LTR Enabled
[    7.433177] iwlwifi 0000:04:00.0: L1 Enabled - LTR Enabled
[   29.062148] iwlwifi 0000:04:00.0: L1 Enabled - LTR Enabled
[   29.062901] iwlwifi 0000:04:00.0: L1 Enabled - LTR Enabled

So that looks as if the firmware is found and loaded - also this is the latest version that intel have made available which I downloaded thinking that it may be necessary.

@all helpful Slackers:
When I have tried to get the wlan0 interface up and running using rc.inet1 I get the following:

Code:

/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1:  wlan0 information: 'Any ESSID'
Error for wireless request "Set Nickname" (8B1C) :
    SET failed on device wlan0 ; Operation not supported.
Polling for DHCP server on interface wlan0:
sending commands to master dhcpcd process

This looks a bit strange since iwconfig shows that the ESSID is set to the name of my router and I am not aware of attempting to "set nickname".

genss · 06-07-2015, 06:27 PM

quick google turns this up
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=53&t=189342
that says to turn off 11n mode

as root

echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8" >> /lib/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf

and then reboot or
rmmod iwlwifi
modprobe iwlwifi

dmesg didn't say anything useful
only thing wrong was
deauthenticating from c4:04:xx:yy:dc:e8 by local choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)
that just says it disconnected (after connecting)
i guess it could be WPA supplicant, if you use it, or dhcpcd or idk

hope this helps

PS the first few bytes of the MAC address are unique to you

allend · 06-07-2015, 08:08 PM

Quote:

[ 261.287190] wlan0: deauthenticating from c4:04:xx:yy:dc:e8 by local choice (Reason: 3=DEAUTH_LEAVING)

That looks to be the issue discussed in the kernel bug post that I linked earlier. Have you tried the suggested fix (adjusting for your stated location of Wales)?

Code:

iw reg set GB

arsivci0 · 06-08-2015, 04:29 AM

I still think you should reinstall kernel-firmware, dhcpcd and wpsupplicant before moving forward; could not hurt.