Bugzilla – Bug 128516
NetworkManager and hidden ESSID
Last modified: 2005-11-21 19:09:40 UTC
My wireless network at home is not broadcasting its ESSID and is also using encryption. I can connect to the network using the 'Connect to other wireless network' option from the applet, but the network goes down and up again every few minutes. If I set the wireless router to broadcast the ESSID, it works fine.
What do you mean "down and up" -- what happens during the down? Just dropped packets, or NM actually changes to a different network? Also, can you please try an updated version of NM? http://primates.ximian.com/~rml/networkmanager/RPMS/i386/ Thanks much.
During 'down' the interface has no IP address. The other networks available are encrypted. All I see is that NM shows those animated images trying to connect and eventually, it stops trying. I'll let you know what happens with the new version you posted.
Let me know about the latest version.
If it still fails, can I get the output of the ESSID field in "/usr/sbin/iwconfig" during the association phase (maybe try several times to see what sort of values are returned)?
Okay, now i saw it happening. First I introduce the network name (FOA) and the key. The connection is properly established. Then i was running 'iwconfig eth1' and seeing the ESSID set to FOA. Fine. About a 60 to 90 seconds after that the ESSID was blank and then it was set to one of the open networks available around, then to another one and finally to FOA. At this point the applet started that cycling thing and after a few seconds connected again.
Okay. I think I know what is wrong. Would you mind re-doing this and letting me know what the AP's MAC address is in iwconfig? I have a hunch it is always zero's, when it should show the MAC that it found. It probably shows up, but not right away, and NM thinks it failed to associate.
The AP MAC address is still the same even when the ESSID is blank. It only switches when the ESSID is one of the available open networks.
I have a proposed fix. Can you please try these NM packages and see how your unbroadcasting ESSID works? http://primates.ximian.com/~rml/networkmanager/RPMS/i386/ Make sure to restart the NetworkManager daemon. Thanks!
I get this error when trying to install those packages: ---- error: Failed dependencies: libnl is needed by NetworkManager-0.5.1cvs20051109-1 libnl.so.1 is needed by NetworkManager-0.5.1cvs20051109-1 gnome-keyring >= 0.4.5 is needed by NetworkManager-gnome-0.5.1cvs20051109-1
Do the libnl packages in the same place [1] fix the libnl dependency? As for gnome-keyring, apologies, you can ignore that (just --nodeps). [1] http://primates.ximian.com/~rml/networkmanager/RPMS/i386/
After installing the packages, this time with libnl and --nodeps, it does not work either. This time I saw that the ESSID remains blank for a few seconds, then the AP changes to FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF and then a reconnect takes place.
Gonzalo - I appreciate the help. If you do not mind, one last try: http://primates.ximian.com/~rml/networkmanager/RPMS/i386/ (make sure you reboot or at least restart the NM daemon) I changed it so we ignore the ESSID in determining whether we snagged a link. If possible, let me know!
I'll try those new packages in about 6-7 hours.
Any luck?
With the latest packages in your site (2005-11-14) this is what happens: -it connects to the network. -after a while (~1 min), the ESSID is blank, but the AP is still the same and everything works (?). -after some more time (~1 min), it picks the ESSID of other network and then NM looks for my network and connects again.
Don't we have a wireless router for testing at the office? If so I can show it to you live.
Alright, I got a wireless AP so I could reproduce -- and I fixed it. The latest NM and an updated kernel (with madwifi-ng) is needed. Madwifi-ng is in kotd and should be in STABLE soon. Closing as fixed.