Bug 416508

Summary: NetworkManager doesn't find many wireless networks
Product: [openSUSE] openSUSE 11.0 Reporter: Peter Nixon <nix>
Component: NetworkAssignee: Jiri Benc <jbenc>
Status: RESOLVED DUPLICATE QA Contact: E-mail List <qa-bugs>
Severity: Normal    
Priority: P5 - None CC: davejplater, munguanaweza
Version: Final   
Target Milestone: ---   
Hardware: x86-64   
OS: openSUSE 11.0   
Whiteboard:
Found By: --- Services Priority:
Business Priority: Blocker: ---
Marketing QA Status: --- IT Deployment: ---
Attachments: Blind Network Manager
Deaf NetworkManager

Description Peter Nixon 2008-08-12 07:51:13 UTC
NetworkManager in openSUSE 11.0 is very unreliable at displaying available wifi networks. Particularly if you have been (or are) connected to an SSID, and then want to connect to another, it rarely displays all the available networks in the vicinity. (I work for a wifi AP vendor so connecting and disconnecting from various wifi networks is something I do continually all day) I did not have this unreliability with openSUSE 10.3. This problem even occurs if you have been disconnected from wifi for a while (running on ethernet) and then want to connect back to wifi. Below is the output of "iwlist wlan0 scan" displaying 15 wifi networks. Attached is a screenshot of NetworkManager at the same moment displaying 4 wifi networks!!!

wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:12:BF:2B:F7:01
                    ESSID:"sadiko_testingg"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:1
                    Frequency:2.412 GHz (Channel 1)
                    Quality=72/100  Signal level=-62 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
                              6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
                              36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=0000001248981606
          Cell 02 - Address: 00:12:BF:1C:7A:42
                    ESSID:"TTGV_IST"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:6
                    Frequency:2.437 GHz (Channel 6)
                    Quality=54/100  Signal level=-76 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=00000383cb2ebf8b
          Cell 03 - Address: 00:1C:A8:6A:2B:0E
                    ESSID:"AirTies_204yv4"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=89/100  Signal level=-43 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=00000049ab5411d6
          Cell 04 - Address: 00:12:BF:30:AF:CF
                    ESSID:"AIRTIES_WAR-141"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=72/100  Signal level=-62 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
                              6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
                              36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=0000182f833ed783
          Cell 05 - Address: 00:12:BF:2E:1B:85
                    ESSID:"AIRTIES_RT-205"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=72/100  Signal level=-62 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
                              6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
                              36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=000005e0a8748f4c
          Cell 06 - Address: 00:00:00:66:66:67
                    ESSID:"serkan"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=93/100  Signal level=-37 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=0000004b4a7bb5b9
          Cell 07 - Address: 00:1C:A8:05:1D:2C
                    ESSID:"AIRTIES_WAV-140"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=72/100  Signal level=-62 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
                              6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
                              36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=0000000e9d4ae302
          Cell 08 - Address: 02:13:02:00:01:03
                    ESSID:"Free Public WiFi"
                    Mode:Ad-Hoc
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=84/100  Signal level=-50 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s
                              9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=000000008376b721
          Cell 09 - Address: 00:12:BF:FD:5D:A2
                    ESSID:"AIRTIES_AP-400"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=63/100  Signal level=-69 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              11 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
                              48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=000000004c77f695
          Cell 10 - Address: 00:18:02:8E:BD:62
                    ESSID:"AIRTIES_visitor"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=98/100  Signal level=-27 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (1) : TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
                              6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
                              36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=000000148ede6cfb
          Cell 11 - Address: 00:1C:A8:6A:2B:9B
                    ESSID:"AirTies"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=54/100  Signal level=-76 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=0000001050d73527
          Cell 12 - Address: 00:12:BF:2D:F5:69
                    ESSID:"AIRTIES_RT-205yv"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=83/100  Signal level=-51 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
                              6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
                              36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=0000007583ad2599
          Cell 13 - Address: 00:1C:A8:6A:2A:DB
                    ESSID:"AIRTIES_RT-204_GM"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=91/100  Signal level=-40 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:on
                    IE: WPA Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    IE: IEEE 802.11i/WPA2 Version 1
                        Group Cipher : TKIP
                        Pairwise Ciphers (2) : CCMP TKIP
                        Authentication Suites (1) : PSK
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s; 6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s
                              12 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=00000000075caf3d
          Cell 14 - Address: 08:00:AA:BB:CC:DE
                    ESSID:"haldun"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=100/100  Signal level=-16 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=0000000015614cb9
          Cell 15 - Address: 00:1C:A8:6A:2A:FF
                    ESSID:"AIRTIES_RT-204"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=85/100  Signal level=-48 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s
                              24 Mb/s; 36 Mb/s
Comment 1 Peter Nixon 2008-08-12 07:52:12 UTC
Created attachment 232878 [details]
Blind Network Manager
Comment 2 Helmut Schaa 2008-08-18 07:56:21 UTC
Please attach the output of nm-tool if you feel like KNetworkManager does not show all available networks. Does it show more networks then KNetworkManager?
Comment 3 Helmut Schaa 2008-08-18 07:56:29 UTC
Please attach the output of nm-tool if you feel like KNetworkManager does not show all available networks. Does it show more networks then KNetworkManager?
Comment 4 Helmut Schaa 2008-08-18 08:21:41 UTC
*** Bug 417335 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Comment 5 Peter Nixon 2008-08-18 09:40:06 UTC
Here is a log of "iwlist wlan0 scan ; nm-tool ; iwlist wlan0 scan" as you can see, at this point "iwlist wlan0 scan" is not showing networks (well initially only one" but NetworkManager is. I am really suspicious that the iwl4965 may also be causing problems here:

lenny:~ # iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0     Scan completed :
          Cell 01 - Address: 00:18:02:8E:C5:6A
                    ESSID:"WIRELESS_TEST_AIRTIES"
                    Mode:Master
                    Channel:11
                    Frequency:2.462 GHz (Channel 11)
                    Quality=62/100  Signal level=-70 dBm  Noise level=-127 dBm
                    Encryption key:off
                    Bit Rates:1 Mb/s; 2 Mb/s; 5.5 Mb/s; 11 Mb/s; 22 Mb/s
                              6 Mb/s; 9 Mb/s; 12 Mb/s; 18 Mb/s; 24 Mb/s
                              36 Mb/s; 48 Mb/s; 54 Mb/s
                    Extra:tsf=00001cd76bcf85d1

lenny:~ # nm-tool

NetworkManager Tool

State: disconnected

- Device: eth0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              Wired
  Driver:            tg3
  State:             unavailable
  HW Address:        00:16:D3:BF:5F:AB

  Capabilities:
    Supported:       yes
    Carrier Detect:  yes
    Speed:           100 Mb/s

  Wired Settings


- Device: wlan0 ----------------------------------------------------------------
  Type:              802.11 Wireless
  Driver:            iwl4965
  State:             disconnected
  HW Address:        00:1D:E0:0A:E3:29

  Capabilities:
    Supported:       yes

  Wireless Settings
    WEP Encryption:  yes
    WPA Encryption:  yes
    WPA2 Encryption: yes

  Wireless Access Points
    WIRELESS_TEST_AIRTIES: Infra, 00:18:02:8E:C5:6A, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 54
    AIRTIES_WAV-140: Infra, AA:AA:AA:AA:AA:AC, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 37
    ofis_airties_war141: Infra, 00:12:BF:D9:FB:26, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 85 WPA
    mustafa2_airties_war141: Infra, 00:03:7F:0C:A1:ED, Freq 2412 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 61 WPA
    yasam0707:       Infra, 00:00:00:68:66:13, Freq 2447 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 90 WEP
    linksys:         Infra, 00:18:39:24:A5:A3, Freq 2427 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 83 WEP
    AIRTIES_WAV-140: Infra, 00:C0:02:AB:AB:CC, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 93
    AIRTIES_AIR-6613:Infra, 00:1D:19:5C:CF:F4, Freq 2437 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 81
    AIRTIES_RT-204:  Infra, 08:00:AA:BB:CC:DE, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 87
    AIRTIES_WAV-275: Infra, 00:1C:A8:49:FF:DD, Freq 2417 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 86
    serkan:          Infra, 00:00:00:66:66:67, Freq 2462 MHz, Rate 54 Mb/s, Strength 85


lenny:~ # iwlist wlan0 scan
wlan0     No scan results
Comment 7 Jiri Benc 2008-10-09 15:49:57 UTC
Could you please try to disable hw scanning:

rmmod iwl4965
modprobe iwl4965 disable_hw_scan=1

(you may need to restart both NetworkManager and knetworkmanager afterwards) and report whether it changes anything?
Comment 8 Peter Nixon 2008-11-03 14:39:15 UTC
It seems to work much more reliably with "disable_hw_scan=1". How can I make this the default setting?
Comment 9 Jiri Benc 2008-11-03 14:49:06 UTC
Could you elaborate on that, please? Did the problem occur after setting disable_hw_scan?

You can set it permanently by adding the following line to /etc/modprobe.conf.local:
options iwl4965 disable_hw_scan=1
Comment 10 Peter Nixon 2008-11-03 15:01:31 UTC
Sorry, that was stupid question. It has been so long since I had to manaually configure a driver's options that I had forgotten how!

With "disable_hw_scan=1" the number of visible access points displayed by nm-tool, iwlist wlan0 scan, and knetworkmanager match. That was rarely the case previously.

Comment 11 Peter Nixon 2008-11-03 15:04:38 UTC
On a related note, while "iwlist wlan0 scan" shows the number of visible access points, nm-tool and knetworkmanager both force your to manually count the number in the list. It would be nice if there was a count somewhere..
Comment 12 Jiri Benc 2008-11-04 15:56:02 UTC
(In reply to comment #10 from Peter Nixon)
> With "disable_hw_scan=1" the number of visible access points displayed by
> nm-tool, iwlist wlan0 scan, and knetworkmanager match. That was rarely the case
> previously.

Sorry, this is not possible. I think it's just a coincidence. Could you please test that for a longer time?
Comment 13 Peter Nixon 2008-11-04 22:07:34 UTC
Unfortunately I think you are correct. At present nm-tool, iwlist wlan0 scan, and knetworkmanager all report different wireless networks visable.
Comment 14 Peter Nixon 2008-11-04 22:23:33 UTC
Created attachment 249802 [details]
Deaf NetworkManager
Comment 15 Jiri Benc 2008-11-05 09:14:57 UTC
Thanks for confirming. So this is the same issue as bug 406635.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 406635 ***