No NetworkManager GUI

[neeravbm]

Hi all,

I just installed Fedora 12 on my Dell Inspiron 700m. The wired ethernet works fine but wireless does not. I am also not able to see NetworkManager under System -> Preferences or System -> Administration. I am not able to see even System -> Administration -> Services.

Any idea how do I load the above applets in the panel, and more importantly enable wireless. The laptop has a broadcom wireless chip.

Thank you.

Regards,
Neerav.

[bbfuller]

Hello neeravbm

Welcome to the forum.

You don't say which desktop environment you are using here and that may have a bearing on the matter.

NetworkManager does not appear in the Fedora menu system anywhere. It lives in the notification area of the panel in both KDE and Gnome just to the left of the clock. By default now it controls all network interfaces.

I came across someone else yesterday who didn't have the "Services" applet. Though it appears to be in the default install of KDE and Gnome.

Try running:

system-config-services

from the command line.

If it is not installed:

yum install system-config-services

should get it for you.

Do be aware though that within services you should see 'network' and NetworkManager'. they are two completely different things and only one should be used to control any one interface.

[neeravbm]

Hi bbfuller,

Thanks a lot for your reply. With your help, I was able to install the Services applet. Services applet does show both NetworkManager and network. NetworkManager is enabled and is running. network is disabled and is running (don't know how that is possible).

I still don't see NetworkManager in the notification area. In notification area, I see only 3 items: battery, sound and bug reporting tool. Is there a way I can add NetworkManager there? I am just using the Fedora 12 CD that I downloaded from the website. I haven't installed KDE on my own. So I believe I should be running Gnome.

Also I did install a couple of packages yesterday and those gave me GUIs for "Network" and "Network Device Control" under System -> Administration. Network GUI shows only eth0. Network Device Control shows both eth0 and wlan0 but wlan0 is inactive and I have no idea how to activate it. I did put in necessary wireless name, password and so on but it still does not work.

Thank you.

Regards,
Neerav.

[bbfuller]

Hello neeravbm

Neither of the GUIs for "Network" and "Network Device Control" under System -> Administration will be able to control your card while NetworkManager is active. It becomes the default.

I'm a bit mystified by the lack of the NeworkManager GUI.

I presume you have the Gnome LiveCD that runs up to a desktop without disturbing what is on your hard disk.

If that is so, could you try running it up again and seeing if NetworkManager appears during that sesson.

[neeravbm]

Hi bbfuller,

I did install using the LiveCD (actually it was Live USB) but then installed everything on hard drive. I don't boot using the USB any more.

From what I remember when I started Fedora through the USB, it had the same configuration that I have right now, i.e. no NetworkManager GUI in the notification area. May be I'll try inserting Live USB again and see if NetworkManager appears. I hope it won't delete all the packages that I have installed already.

Thank you.

Regards,
Neerav.

[bbfuller]

Hello neeravbm

One of the joys of the live CD or USB is that you can boot it up without any fear of altering what you have on your hard drive.

Perfect for checking something like this.

[neeravbm]

Hi bbfuller,

I re-installed Fedora 12 using Live USB and I do see NetworkManager in the notification area this time. I don't know why it didn't show up last time. But as long as it works..

I have another problem in wireless networking now. On reboot, wirless works fine. But once I put the computer in suspend mode and then come out of it, wireless seems to stop working. Is this a known bug? Is there a workaround?

Thanks a lot for your help!!

Regards,
Neerav.

[bbfuller]

Hello neeravbm

Glad the wireless is up and running.

I've not come across the problem of wireless and suspend before.

I don't think we've ever determined just what your wireless card is.

lspci

will tell us for a pci card:

lsusb

for one of those.

[neeravbm]

Here is the response to lspci:

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:00.1 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:00.3 System peripheral: Intel Corporation 82852/82855 GM/GME/PM/GMV Processor to I/O Controller (rev 02)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation 82852/855GM Integrated Graphics Device (rev 02)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) USB UHCI Controller #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-M) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev 83)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801DBM (ICH4-M) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.5 Multimedia audio controller: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.6 Modem: Intel Corporation 82801DB/DBL/DBM (ICH4/ICH4-L/ICH4-M) AC'97 Modem Controller (rev 03)
02:01.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4309 802.11a/b/g (rev 03)
02:04.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI7420 CardBus Controller
02:04.1 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI7420 CardBus Controller
02:04.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI7x20 1394a-2000 OHCI Two-Port PHY/Link-Layer Controller
02:04.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCI7420/7620 Combo CardBus, 1394a-2000 OHCI and SD/MS-Pro Controller
02:05.0 Ethernet controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4401-B0 100Base-TX (rev 02)

[bbfuller]

Hello neeravbm

This is your wireless card:

02:01.0 Network controller: Broadcom Corporation BCM4309 802.11a/b/g (rev 03)

and I don't know the answer, I haven't got one of those. I've just tried it on a desktop machine with a broadcom 4318 and that came back perfectly.

Are you using the b43 driver, or have you installed the broadcom-wl?

[neeravbm]

This time I haven't installed any additional driver. It just works as is. Do i need to install anything?

[stoat]

Originally Posted by neeravbm

This time I haven't installed any additional driver. It just works as is. Do i need to install anything?

Hello neeravbm,

If it's working, I think you should leave it alone. My guess is the driver is b43. Starting with Fedora 12, OpenFWWF firmware for some Broadcom cards is included with Fedora. IMO, that's the only explanation for a Broadcom card "just working" in Fedora 12. But until now, the OpenFWWF firmware is known to support only BCM4306, BCM4311, BCM4318, and BCM4320. Maybe you have discovered something new with your BCM4309 card. After all, that one isn't discussed around here very often. You can check the driver being used by it with this...

lspci -k

Anyway, about the resume from sleep thing. It's been talked about for a long time. Many people have found that unloading and reloading the wireless module will make the wireless startup after resuming from sleep or hibernation. You can try that right now. If you confirmed that the driver is b43, then...

su
modprobe -r b43
modprobe b43

After a few seconds, the NetworkManager panel applet will take off and connect. If that experiment worked, then it's possible to sort of automate those commands by placing them in a script in /etc/pm/sleep.d. I don't sleep or hibernate anything, so I'm stopping here to avoid wading into deep water for me. But if I can find it, so can you. For example, try this in Google and you'll see what I mean...

/etc/pm/sleep.d+wireless

[bbfuller]

Hello neeravbm

Just to satisfy my curiosity, this time do you have the Services application installed as well?

[neeravbm]

Hi,

The following commands after coming out of suspend do restart wireless.

modprobe -b 43
modprobe b43

To automate it, I wrote the following in the file /etc/pm/sleep.d/02modprobe:

#!/bin/bash
case $1 in
   hibernate)
       ;;
   suspend)
       modprobe -r b43
       ;;
   thaw)
       ;;
   resume)
       modprobe b43
       ;;
   *)
       ;;
esac

I do not have Service Applet installed yet. I don't need it this time since wireless is working and I don't need to check whether NetworkManager is running.

Thanks a lot for your help. I couldn't have solved this without your help!

Regards,
Neerav.

[stoat]

Very nice. And thanks for returning to post that stuff. To me, this just became a HOWTO.