F15 NetworkManager and hidden wireless fail

[Dan]

Ok. I'll admit it. I'm an adrenalin/fedora junkie. I have succumbed again. I've blown away a good and functional Debian partition ... and installed F15 Beta TC1 ... again.

That in itself was an adventure. First I tried the install DVD.

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?p=1458186#post1458186

Then I tried the Net-install version:

http://forums.fedoraforum.org/showthread.php?p=1458286#post1458286

And that was after blowing away a previous hopelessly busted net install ("No kernel packages installed Grub will not be installed.") I mean ... whussup widdat?!

Finally, I DLed and installed from the Beta TC-1 LiveCD. (After three re-boots it finally came to a mostly crashless GUI, so I installed.)

The install was unstable as the devil, but I managed to get it updated, and so far, so good ...


Except for the inability to connect to my open, but hidden wireless network ... still ... again.

So ... either I'm just not holding my mouth right, or NetworkManager is still duck-fupped. That still being a distinct possibility, the thought occurs it might just be on certain hardware. Or maybe it's just on hidden networks.

So, what I'm asking is: Can anyone else connect via F15 Gnome3 updated to a hidden but otherwise open network, and the same question specifically for anyone running the IPW2200 drivers for an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG wireless chipset. Even better, does anyone else have one of these (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00491571&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&site=null&key=null&product=1130594), and are you having the same issues?

[smr54]

Trying on a newly updated F15, with text boot and command line works. (wpa_supplicant, hidden network.)

So, my guess is NetworkManager.
Not sure if this info is at all useful. Ah, due to the booting problems, it's being booted with enforcing=0, not sure if that is a factor or not.

[Dan]

Doesn't seem to be. I was kind of waiting for that bork, but it went right past it into GUI. I guess a recent update squished that bug.

Now I've got a new problem. I can't remember the IP of the flippin' wireless router. Much less the password. Looks like it's gonna be a hard reset on that thing, too.

[diamond_ramsey]

...Except for the inability to connect to my open, but hidden wireless network ... still ... again....

Was at https://fedoraproject.org/w/index.php?title=Test_Results:Fedora_15_Beta_TC1_De sktop&action=history "01:13, 5 April 2011 Adamwill (Talk | contribs) (6,673 bytes) (add a desktop 'warn' for browser due to a silly NM applet issue)" - https://fedoraproject.org/w/index.php?title=Test_Results:Fedora_15_Beta_TC1_De sktop&diff=230595&oldid=230591

Saw a reference that sounded mighty interesting -

https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=693588

[Finalzone]

Except for the inability to connect to my open, but hidden wireless network ... still ... again.

So ... either I'm just not holding my mouth right, or NetworkManager is still duck-fupped. That still being a distinct possibility, the thought occurs it might just be on certain hardware. Or maybe it's just on hidden networks.

So, what I'm asking is: Can anyone else connect via F15 Gnome3 updated to a hidden but otherwise open network, and the same question specifically for anyone running the IPW2200 drivers for an Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG wireless chipset. Even better, does anyone else have one of these (http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00491571&tmp_task=prodinfoCategory&lc=en&dlc=en&cc=us&site=null&key=null&product=1130594), and are you having the same issues?

I had same issue with Realtek rtl8192ce on my new laptop running on AMD Vision E350. Turned to be a conflict with selinux policy because I received alert. I filed a bug report (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=691663) for that reason.

Workaround suggested by AdamW is also posted on that report.

[Finalzone]

Trying on a newly updated F15, with text boot and command line works. (wpa_supplicant, hidden network.)

So, my guess is NetworkManager.
Not sure if this info is at all useful. Ah, due to the booting problems, it's being booted with enforcing=0, not sure if that is a factor or not.

It is useful because the cause comes from selinux policy. (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=693581)

[Dan]

By way of the hidden black button on the router, I'm back into it, and have reset all back to previous settings EXCEPT the SSID announce is now set to on.

And that works. Once the router starts blabbing all over the neighborhood that it's there ... NM hooks up in a businesslike fashion.

Ok. That may be all hunky-dorey, but I'm NOT going to let my wireless AP advertise! I live right next to the most popular city park in town. <..:rolleyes:..>

Any ideas for a fast and dirty work-around until Adam gets this one fixed?


EDIT: Aha! Gotcha, Luya! Reading the bug now!

[smr54]

Thanks finalzone. They usually get those ironed out relatively quickly. I remember (earlier F15--F14 while in testing?) where there was an selinux issue with dbus, IIRC, which was keeping wpa_supplicant from starting--I think it was fixed in 2 days.

[Dan]

OK. Good old SELinux is the culprit? I'm not sure that reads. Before I blew away the old install I was booting with enforcing-0 and the problem persisted. Did that fix it for you?

[Finalzone]

Unfortunately no even with enforcing=0 at boot. I installed the latest selinux-policy from koji repository with same result: inability to use both wired and wireless network with NM.

[Dan]

Hmmm. Then this may be a slightly different creature. I'm still enforcing, but have now turned off AP SSID announce. Rebooting ...

Well ... I'll be dipped. Even with SSID annouce off now, it hooks up instantly?! WTD?! Howz-come?

[Finalzone]

Weird on my side. On every AP and wired network II use, I received sealert after relabel. DCHP kept timed out on both IPv4 and IPv6. I am baffled about the issue.

[Dan]

Methinks perhaps, the new NetworkManager is not ready for prime time. I just successfully crashed dconf-editor into a thousand tiny pieces. That was almost two hours ago, and ABRT is still hunting debug packages. I'm thinking neither one of those are exactly top shelf yet, either.

[pankajp]

Also ,is there any way to create ad-hoc wifi network in the new networkmanager in gnome-shell F15. I couldn't find any way.

[Dan]

More info:

Looks like I was mistaken above. This router has a "guest" access which wasn't hidden, and that's what NM was hooking up to. Once I got that shut down, NM fails again.

So, what I've done is to completely open the AP, make sure NM would hook up clean, and then re-institute security on the AP one layer at a time.

Testing F15 GNome 3

MAC filtering: NM works

WEP: NM fails:

WPA/WPA2: NM fails

Hidden access: NM fails

Any combination of the above: NM fails

Retest using F10, F11, F13, F14

Any combination of the above: NM functions.



Hmmmm. I'm starting to see a pattern here. <..http://www.zyloo-enterprises.com/graphics/smileys/smirk.png..>

[AdamW]

dan: WPA/WEP is just fine for most testers (works fine on every system I've tried it on). There's a known bug with hidden networks - that's https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=691139 .

ad-hoc networks not appearing is upstream bug https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=646141 .

the selinux alerts appear to be red herrings, but to get them to go away, update to selinux-policy-3.9.16-12.fc15.

[Dan]

OK on the updates for selinux. Thanks for taking the time on this one, Adam, and your timing is almost impeccable. I was walking by the desk a while ago, and NM had finally asked for the passphrase for my network instead of the neighbor's. I landed on it like a duck on a Junebug, and it's connected now.

My next question is, why did it take several hours for that to happen? <..:confused:..>

[AdamW]

I dunno. blame the pixies.

[Dan]

If'n it was MINT, I'd blame it on the "little people."