[SOLVED] Something happened to my wifi after a hard reset & FSCK
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Anyways, in trying to do some heavy Qemu-using, it turns out, you cannot dedicate 3/4ths of your RAM to a virtual machine and just casually browse the internet on your host at the same time.
web & browser standards these days, I tell you what...
So my Slackware-based host froze, and I hard-reset it which resulted in FSCK running it's shenanigans on sda3 (my /home partition) at startup.
Well, turns out, something is wrong with either the dongle driver I had installed a month earlier, or something else in the system that is causing me to not be able to connect to my wifi router. I am back onto tethering again for the time being. I can connect via wifi on other devices and systems, just not my Slackware machine.
iwconfig doesn't do anything but show my dongle exists, when I try to connect, nothing changes. At this point, I don't know what to do. How can I diagnose and fix this problem?
Can you provide the output of iwconfig and method you use to connect to the internet (rc.inet1.conf, networkmanager, wicd, etc)? And then can you provide any relevant output or error messages from trying to connect?
Basically, for your connection you need a driver (that you already got compiled & installed in the thread you mentioned) that iwconfig is reporting as working - wireless interface is up (that's according to your last lines). Note that iwconfig is just a configuration utility that won't do the actual connection.
Then you need a utility to make the connection, standard is wpa_supplicant, that uses /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf for configuration. If this standard method is used, check if /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf is OK. Here (end of the post) you have some manual instructions for bringing up the connection: https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...4/#post6061801
If you used some other connection managers, like wicd/NetworkManager, then check their configuration files. AFAIK NM stores its own stuff and doesn't make use of /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
I'm not familiar with these graphic connection managers, but since you mentioned a potential filesystem corruption, I'd just wipe them out (uninstall), clean all their configuration crap and reinstall them again.
P.S. bassmadrigal was faster
Last edited by abga; 05-04-2020 at 09:52 PM.
Reason: P.S.
Can you provide the output of iwconfig and method you use to connect to the internet (rc.inet1.conf, networkmanager, wicd, etc)? And then can you provide any relevant output or error messages from trying to connect?
I use Network Manager to connect to wifi. Sorry, I should've included that in the OP, my bad.
I select my router in the NM dropdown, it hangs for about seventy seconds, then goes back to a disconnected state, no error message, no further responses.
Code:
# iwconfig
eth0 no wireless extensions.
eth2 no wireless extensions.
wlan0 unassociated Nickname:"<WIFI@REALTEK>"
Mode:Managed Frequency=2.462 GHz Access Point: Not-Associated
Sensitivity:0/0
Retry:off 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
lo no wireless extensions.
I don't know how else to find logs, errors or information about what's going on in Network Manager
Quote:
Originally Posted by abga
Basically, for your connection you need a driver (that you already got compiled & installed in the thread you mentioned) that iwconfig is reporting as working - wireless interface is up (that's according to your last lines). Note that iwconfig is just a configuration utility that won't do the actual connection.
Then you need a utility to make the connection, standard is wpa_supplicant, that uses /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf for configuration. If this standard method is used, check if /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf is OK. Here (end of the post) you have some manual instructions for bringing up the connection: https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...4/#post6061801
If you used some other connection managers, like wicd/NetworkManager, then check their configuration files. AFAIK NM stores its own stuff and doesn't make use of /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
I'm not familiar with these graphic connection managers, but since you mentioned a potential filesystem corruption, I'd just wipe them out (uninstall), clean all their configuration crap and reinstall them again.
P.S. bassmadrigal was faster
Thank you for that, but I don't think network manager even touches rc.inet1.conf. I set it up using the driver specified, and nothing seems to have changed.
Anyways, in trying to do some heavy Qemu-using, it turns out, you cannot dedicate 3/4ths of your RAM to a virtual machine and just casually browse the internet on your host at the same time.
web & browser standards these days, I tell you what...
So my Slackware-based host froze, and I hard-reset it which resulted in FSCK running it's shenanigans on sda3 (my /home partition) at startup.
So you have a slackware host onto which you run multiple virtual machines, each accessing heavily the same unique host's network resources, the usb dongle ?
After the crash you had, maybe it is worth inspecting
Code:
/etc/udev/rules.d/
and looking at your router's configuration panel that you are not being denied an ip address for that dongle.
Thank you for that, but I don't think network manager even touches rc.inet1.conf. I set it up using the driver specified, and nothing seems to have changed.
Indeed, it doesn't, nor does the manual connection method I presented in the post: https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...4/#post6061801
again: end of the post
It just needs a properly populated /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf and to not have any wpa_supplicant session running (NetworkManager (which uses by itself wpa_supplicant) / wicd).
A successful manual test will exclude any networking issues and you can then focus on NetworkManager.
You could even use two consoles and disable the "move to background" -B switch from wpa_supplicant and look after errors:
Before going for the manual test!
Some of the causes for the WiFi connection problems reported in this recent thread might be also relevant for your actual situation, in which you had to hard reset you Slackware. wpa_supplicant & dhcpcd have not exited clean and you might have some pid/lock files leftovers that you'll need to manually clean/delete. These are both executed (used) by NetworkManager.
@abga I just realized, I've been getting mad at people for not looking at my posts when I did the exact same thing to you...
Sorry about that, I will be looking at posts closer from here-on-out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by abga
Before going for the manual test!
Some of the causes for the WiFi connection problems reported in this recent thread might be also relevant for your actual situation, in which you had to hard reset you Slackware. wpa_supplicant & dhcpcd have not exited clean and you might have some pid/lock files leftovers that you'll need to manually clean/delete. These are both executed (used) by NetworkManager.
I checked, apparantly my system doesn't even have those folders.
Code:
bash-5.0# ls /var/run/wpa_supplicant/
ls: cannot access '/var/run/wpa_supplicant/': No such file or directory
bash-5.0# ls /run/dhcpcd/
ls: cannot access '/run/dhcpcd/': No such file or directory
bash-5.0# ls /var/run
ConsoleKit atd.pid dbus lock rpc.statd.pid sm-notify.pid udev
NetworkManager cgmanager dhcpcd-eth2-4.pid lvm rpcbind smartd.pid udisks2
acpid.pid cgmanager.pid gpm.pid mount rpcbind.lock snmpd user
acpid.socket cron haveged.pid ntpd.pid rpcbind.sock sshd.pid utmp
agetty.reload cups klogd.pid pm-utils runlevel syslogd.pid
bash-5.0# ls /run
ConsoleKit atd.pid dbus lock rpc.statd.pid sm-notify.pid udev
NetworkManager cgmanager dhcpcd-eth2-4.pid lvm rpcbind smartd.pid udisks2
acpid.pid cgmanager.pid gpm.pid mount rpcbind.lock snmpd user
acpid.socket cron haveged.pid ntpd.pid rpcbind.sock sshd.pid utmp
agetty.reload cups klogd.pid pm-utils runlevel syslogd.pid
bash-5.0#
I managed to get my network information & populated my /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf via bassmadrigal's post, these were the results:
Code:
## Exact manual command
bash-5.0# /usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -D nl80211 -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
nl80211: Driver does not support authentication/association or connect commands
nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0
wlan0: Failed to initialize driver interface
## Manual command using the compiled driver
bash-5.0# /usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -D 8812au -i wlan0 -B -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
wlan0: Unsupported driver '8812au'
## Log output of var/log/wpa_supplicant-debug.log after using the second debug command
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
Failed to open config file '/home/doc/-dd', error: No such file or directory
Failed to read or parse configuration '/home/doc/-dd'.
Weird, I don't even know how a configuration named -dd would exist... I think my hard-reset may have corrupted some files...
@_peter
It wasn't even multiple qemu machines, just one. I've dialed that back to 50% ram instead of 75%
Anyways I checked that folder, all I see is 70-persistent-net.rules, the flash.rules I set up for qemu and I don't see anything out of the ordinary there.
## Log output of var/log/wpa_supplicant-debug.log after using the second debug command
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
Failed to open config file '/home/doc/-dd', error: No such file or directory
Failed to read or parse configuration '/home/doc/-dd'.
Weird, I don't even know how a configuration named -dd would exist... I think my hard-reset may have corrupted some files...
- this is my fault, sorry - wrong syntax, added the -dd switch after -c
- the correct ones should be:
Code:
/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -D nl80211 -i wlan0 -dd -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
#or move it in the background and inspect/tail the log
/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -D nl80211 -i wlan0 -B -dd -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -f /var/log/wpa_supplicant-debug.log
(also corrected in the original post)
OK, so no pids/locks related to WiFi appear to be available and nl80211 is not supported by the WiFi driver.
Please correct and retry the test(s).
If the manual test(s) gets you connected, then focus on NetworkManager. Again, I'd just uninstall it together with its conf files and reinstall & reconfigure it back clean.
Last edited by abga; 05-07-2020 at 05:53 PM.
Reason: totally f.. up formatting
few times on nasty hard reset, the file you identified 70-persistent-net.rules has been corrupted for me, hdds were most likely faulty, but i never understood the root cause.
no network connection while driver and interface looked ok, it puzzled me for days.
agree, it doesn't appear to be the scenario you are facing.
as others said, eventually you will make it work by focusing on network-manager once the manual tests passes, good luck.
another case of "it was working fine until it doesn't"
guessing, you have zero issue connecting to your router with the ethernet interface on that particular computer?
usb tethering works fine you said.
few times on nasty hard reset, the file you identified 70-persistent-net.rules has been corrupted for me, hdds were most likely faulty, but i never understood the root cause.
no network connection while driver and interface looked ok, it puzzled me for days.
agree, it doesn't appear to be the scenario you are facing.
as others said, eventually you will make it work by focusing on network-manager once the manual tests passes, good luck.
another case of "it was working fine until it doesn't"
guessing, you have zero issue connecting to your router with the ethernet interface on that particular computer?
usb tethering works fine you said.
Zero issue with the ethernet interface, which is what network manager treats tethering to my router as.
I guess standards change? Or is it obsessiveness over semantics the reason they depreciated the driver?
Well, back on topic, wext seems to initialize, but nothing further came of anything other than what seemed to be an idle process.
Output:
Code:
bash-5.0# /usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -D wext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
rfkill: Cannot get wiphy information
ioctl[SIOCSIWAP]: Operation not permitted
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
wlan0: Trying to associate with 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e (SSID='Verizon-MiFi6620L-AB4E' freq=2462 MHz)
Failed to add supported operating classes IE
wlan0: Association request to the driver failed
wlan0: Associated with 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e
wlan0: WPA: Key negotiation completed with 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e [PTK=CCMP GTK=CCMP]
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e completed [id=0 id_str=]
Upon running the updated commands, I got the following output:
Code:
bash-5.0# /usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -D nl80211 -i wlan0 -dd -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
wpa_supplicant v2.9
random: Trying to read entropy from /dev/random
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
Initializing interface 'wlan0' conf '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' driver 'nl80211' ctrl_interface 'N/A' bridge 'N/A'
Configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf' -> '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
Reading configuration file '/etc/wpa_supplicant.conf'
ctrl_interface='/var/run/wpa_supplicant'
ctrl_interface_group='root'
Line: 3 - start of a new network block
ssid - hexdump_ascii(len=22):
56 65 72 69 7a 6f 6e 2d 4d 69 46 69 36 36 32 30 Verizon-MiFi6620
4c 2d 41 42 34 45 L-AB4E
PSK - hexdump(len=32): [REMOVED]
Priority group 0
id=0 ssid='My-Router'
nl80211: Driver does not support authentication/association or connect commands
nl80211: deinit ifname=wlan0 disabled_11b_rates=0
nl80211: Remove monitor interface: refcount=0
netlink: Operstate: ifindex=3 linkmode=0 (kernel-control), operstate=6 (IF_OPER_UP)
nl80211: Set mode ifindex 3 iftype 2 (STATION)
nl80211: Failed to set interface 3 to mode 2: -19 (No such device)
wlan0: Failed to initialize driver interface
Failed to add interface wlan0
wlan0: Cancelling scan request
wlan0: Cancelling authentication timeout
Off-channel: Clear pending Action frame TX (pending_action_tx=(nil)
bash-5.0#
Also, the command that pipes to the debug log has a second, loose -dd. Removing it causes the command to output the same text as the non-debug command, so I presume that was user error. Well, happens to all of us. :P
Quote:
Originally Posted by abga
If the manual test(s) gets you connected, then focus on NetworkManager. Again, I'd just uninstall it together with its conf files and reinstall & reconfigure it back clean.
Alright, how would I go and delete any conf files for the driver? I did make (uninstall / clean / install) in that order, but nothing seems to have changed. I couldn't find anything of interest in my user account's .conf folder so right now i'm out of options.
Last edited by lawnm0wer; 05-08-2020 at 08:30 PM.
Reason: typo
bash-5.0# /usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -D wext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
rfkill: Cannot get wiphy information
ioctl[SIOCSIWAP]: Operation not permitted
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
wlan0: Trying to associate with 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e (SSID='Verizon-MiFi6620L-AB4E' freq=2462 MHz)
Failed to add supported operating classes IE
wlan0: Association request to the driver failed
wlan0: Associated with 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e
wlan0: WPA: Key negotiation completed with 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e [PTK=CCMP GTK=CCMP]
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e completed [id=0 id_str=]
The line in bold - "Association request to the driver failed" bothers me a little. EDIT:
________________________________
Looking after an explanation about this error I learned that it could be caused by an already running wpa_supplicant instance. Which in turn could have been launched by you, in your attempts, or by NetworkManager if it's still running.
First, check if NetworkManager is running and kill it:
Code:
# check status
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager status
# if running, end it
/etc/rc.d/rc.networkmanager stop
Then check and kill any running wpa_supplicant instances - this is important every time you start a test!
Code:
#repeat:
/usr/bin/killall wpa_supplicant
# until you get the result:
wpa_supplicant: no process found
________________________________
Next step you should have tried:
Code:
#obtain IP configuration from your AP
/sbin/dhclient wlan0
#if the command above doesn't timeout, try to see if you can reach the internet
/usr/bin/traceroute -4 www.slackware.com
The updated commands were just corrected with respect to the -dd switch but still used nl80211, which we already knew it didn't work. You should have switched to wext for them too, here are again updated with wext
Code:
/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -D wext -i wlan0 -dd -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
#or move it in the background and inspect/tail the log
/usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -D wext -i wlan0 -B -dd -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf -f /var/log/wpa_supplicant-debug.log
Let's still focus on the driver & manual test.
NetworkManager is just a package that you can uninstall with:
Code:
/sbin/removepkg /var/log/packages/NetworkManager*
# clean the conf crap
rm -rf /etc/NetworkManager/
And then reinstall with:
Code:
/usr/sbin/slackpkg install NetworkManager
Last edited by abga; 05-08-2020 at 09:04 PM.
Reason: Edit in bold
Well, back on topic, wext seems to initialize, but nothing further came of anything other than what seemed to be an idle process.
Output:
Code:
bash-5.0# /usr/sbin/wpa_supplicant -D wext -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf
Successfully initialized wpa_supplicant
rfkill: Cannot get wiphy information
ioctl[SIOCSIWAP]: Operation not permitted
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
ioctl[SIOCSIWENCODEEXT]: Invalid argument
wlan0: Trying to associate with 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e (SSID='Verizon-MiFi6620L-AB4E' freq=2462 MHz)
Failed to add supported operating classes IE
wlan0: Association request to the driver failed
wlan0: Associated with 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e
wlan0: WPA: Key negotiation completed with 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e [PTK=CCMP GTK=CCMP]
wlan0: CTRL-EVENT-CONNECTED - Connection to 00:15:ff:41:ab:4e completed [id=0 id_str=]
The last line here states that you were connected. This is good. The next step is you would need to then request an address from the dhcp server. You would need to keep wpa_supplicant running and then run one of the following in a separate console (both basically do the same thing, just different programs):
Code:
dhcpcd wlan0
dhclient wlan0
If that works and you get an IP address, we can then try the automated version. Ctrl+C the wpa_supplicant window, make sure dhcpcd or dhclient is no longer running (it might require killing the process... I don't remember). Before we do that, we'll want to make sure /etc/rc.d/rc.inet1.conf is updated to use the correct wpa_supplicant driver, so make sure you uncomment the line WLAN_WPADRIVER[4] and change the "ndiswrapper" to "wext" like the following:
Code:
WLAN_WPADRIVER[4]="wext"
Then at that point, you can try running:
Code:
/etc/rc.d/rc.inet1 restart_wlan0
If that gets you internet access, you're done unless you need to set up NetworkManager or wicd.
Did you redo the steps in post 4 of the other thread? Whenever you have a kernel update you will have to rerun the commands in post 4 of your other thread.
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Something happened to my wifi after a hard reset & FSCK
