WPA Problems with 10.4 and a Sony Vaio laptop

[dafreak]

Well this one is driving me nuts. I've been searching through the forums for a while and it seems that a number of folks have similar issues but the solutions used don't look like they apply to me. so without further ado here are the outputs typically requested:

lspci

00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/PM/GMS/910GML Express Processor to DRAM Controller (rev 03)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:02.1 Display controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) High Definition Audio Controller (rev 03)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #1 (rev 03)
00:1d.1 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #2 (rev 03)
00:1d.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #3 (rev 03)
00:1d.3 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB UHCI #4 (rev 03)
00:1d.7 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) USB2 EHCI Controller (rev 03)
00:1e.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 82801 Mobile PCI Bridge (rev d3)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82801FBM (ICH6M) LPC Interface Bridge (rev 03)
00:1f.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) IDE Controller (rev 03)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation 82801FB/FBM/FR/FW/FRW (ICH6 Family) SMBus Controller (rev 03)
06:03.0 CardBus bridge: Texas Instruments PCI7420 CardBus Controller
06:03.2 FireWire (IEEE 1394): Texas Instruments PCI7x20 1394a-2000 OHCI Two-Port PHY/Link-Layer Controller
06:03.3 Mass storage controller: Texas Instruments PCI7420/7620 Combo CardBus, 1394a-2000 OHCI and SD/MS-Pro Controller
06:04.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection (rev 05)
06:08.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82562ET/EZ/GT/GZ - PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller Mobile (rev 03)

lsmod

Module                  Size  Used by
nls_iso8859_1           3249  1 
nls_cp437               4919  1 
vfat                    8901  1 
fat                    47767  1 vfat
usb_storage            39425  1 
binfmt_misc             6587  1 
ppdev                   5259  0 
snd_hda_codec_realtek   203168  1 
fbcon                  35102  71 
tileblit                2031  1 fbcon
font                    7557  1 fbcon
bitblit                 4707  1 fbcon
softcursor              1189  1 bitblit
vga16fb                11385  0 
vgastate                8961  1 vga16fb
snd_hda_intel          21877  2 
snd_hda_codec          74201  2 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel
snd_hwdep               5412  1 snd_hda_codec
snd_pcm_oss            35308  0 
snd_mixer_oss          13746  1 snd_pcm_oss
snd_pcm                70662  3 snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_pcm_oss
snd_seq_dummy           1338  0 
snd_seq_oss            26726  0 
snd_seq_midi            4557  0 
snd_rawmidi            19056  1 snd_seq_midi
pcmcia                 33024  0 
snd_seq_midi_event      6003  2 snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi
snd_seq                47263  6 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_seq_midi_event
snd_timer              19098  2 snd_pcm,snd_seq
joydev                  8708  0 
snd_seq_device          5700  5 snd_seq_dummy,snd_seq_oss,snd_seq_midi,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq
i915                  282354  3 
tifm_sd                 7863  0 
drm_kms_helper         29297  1 i915
snd                    54148  16 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
yenta_socket           20408  1 
ipw2200               135216  0 
drm                   162471  4 i915,drm_kms_helper
i2c_algo_bit            5028  1 i915
tifm_7xx1               3690  0 
rsrc_nonstatic         10015  1 yenta_socket
libipw                 39896  1 ipw2200
intel_agp              24177  2 i915
soundcore               6620  1 snd
tifm_core               6045  2 tifm_sd,tifm_7xx1
sony_laptop            28248  0 
pcmcia_core            32964  3 pcmcia,yenta_socket,rsrc_nonstatic
lib80211                5046  2 ipw2200,libipw
psmouse                63245  0 
serio_raw               3978  0 
video                  17375  1 i915
output                  1871  1 video
snd_page_alloc          7076  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
agpgart                31724  2 drm,intel_agp
lp                      7028  0 
parport                32635  2 ppdev,lp
ohci1394               26950  0 
e100                   28211  0 
mii                     4381  1 e100
ieee1394               81181  1 ohci1394

wicd.log

2010/05/12 19:01:36 :: Connecting to wireless network EchoWireless
2010/05/12 19:01:36 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2010/05/12 19:01:36 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2010/05/12 19:01:36 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2010/05/12 19:01:36 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2010/05/12 19:01:37 :: Putting interface down
2010/05/12 19:01:37 :: Releasing DHCP leases...
2010/05/12 19:01:37 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2010/05/12 19:01:37 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2010/05/12 19:01:37 :: Setting false IP...
2010/05/12 19:01:37 :: Stopping wpa_supplicant
2010/05/12 19:01:37 :: Flushing the routing table...
2010/05/12 19:01:37 :: Putting interface up...
2010/05/12 19:01:39 :: Generating psk...
2010/05/12 19:01:39 :: Attempting to authenticate...
2010/05/12 19:01:54 :: wpa_supplicant rescan forced...
2010/05/12 19:02:19 :: wpa_supplicant authentication may have failed.
2010/05/12 19:02:19 :: connect result is Failed
2010/05/12 19:02:19 :: exiting connection thread
2010/05/12 19:02:19 :: Sending connection attempt result bad_pass
2010/05/12 19:02:19 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2010/05/12 19:02:19 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2010/05/12 19:02:19 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2010/05/12 19:02:19 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2010/05/12 19:03:14 :: Connecting to wireless network EchoWireless
2010/05/12 19:03:14 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2010/05/12 19:03:14 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2010/05/12 19:03:14 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2010/05/12 19:03:14 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2010/05/12 19:03:15 :: Putting interface down
2010/05/12 19:03:15 :: Releasing DHCP leases...
2010/05/12 19:03:15 :: attempting to set hostname with dhclient
2010/05/12 19:03:15 :: using dhcpcd or another supported client may work better
2010/05/12 19:03:15 :: Setting false IP...
2010/05/12 19:03:15 :: Stopping wpa_supplicant
2010/05/12 19:03:15 :: Flushing the routing table...
2010/05/12 19:03:15 :: Putting interface up...
2010/05/12 19:03:17 :: Generating psk...
2010/05/12 19:03:17 :: Attempting to authenticate...
2010/05/12 19:03:52 :: wpa_supplicant authentication may have failed.
2010/05/12 19:03:52 :: connect result is Failed
2010/05/12 19:03:52 :: exiting connection thread
2010/05/12 19:03:52 :: Sending connection attempt result bad_pass

rfkill list returns nothing

sudo lshw -C network

  *-network:0 DISABLED
       description: Wireless interface
       product: PRO/Wireless 2200BG [Calexico2] Network Connection
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 4
       bus info: pci@0000:06:04.0
       logical name: eth1
       version: 05
       serial: 00:13:ce:3c:0b:84
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
       configuration: broadcast=yes driver=ipw2200 driverversion=1.2.2kmprq firmware=ABG:9.0.5.27 (Dec 12 2007) latency=32 link=no maxlatency=24 mingnt=3 multicast=yes wireless=unassociated
       resources: irq:22 memory:b0106000-b0106fff
  *-network:1
       description: Ethernet interface
       product: 82562ET/EZ/GT/GZ - PRO/100 VE (LOM) Ethernet Controller Mobile
       vendor: Intel Corporation
       physical id: 8
       bus info: pci@0000:06:08.0
       logical name: eth0
       version: 03
       serial: 00:01:4a:c1:77:0a
       size: 10MB/s
       capacity: 100MB/s
       width: 32 bits
       clock: 33MHz
       capabilities: pm bus_master cap_list ethernet physical tp mii 10bt 10bt-fd 100bt 100bt-fd autonegotiation
       configuration: autonegotiation=on broadcast=yes driver=e100 driverversion=3.5.24-k2-NAPI duplex=half firmware=N/A latency=66 link=no maxlatency=56 mingnt=8 multicast=yes port=MII speed=10MB/s
       resources: irq:20 memory:b0107000-b0107fff ioport:2000(size=64)

I'm sure that I have the wireless password correct so that should be out of the equation. I know that the wireless works on unsecured networks just fine. At this point I'm not sure what else to try. I've tried using both the default NetworkManager and WICD. If I use the network manager it can see networks just fine, it's just when I type in my WPA2 password it will not authenticate with my Linksys WRT-54GL router, it keeps prompting for the password. Wicd simply fails to authenticate and doesn't go further. I know the wireless itself works as I can connect to unsecured networks just fine. But I sure as heck am not going to open up my secured network.

[dafreak]

Just ran the update manager to make sure everything was up to date. It did have to update a number of packages but none of them have affected the issue at all. Still quite baffled as to why this wireless card will not authenticate on a WPA secured network.

[HedgeBoar]

Exactly the same issue here, using an edimax 7711UAN usb adapter with rt2870sta driver. Works fine on unprotected network but WPA doesn't work... was fine with 9.10.

[dafreak]

So does anybody have any suggestions? I'm really not sure what else to try at this point. I even tried installing the latest experimental kernel. That didn't help and actually caused some other issues causing me to re-install 10.04 again.

[HedgeBoar]

I actually got mine to work last night -- I changed the router from using TKIP/AES to just TKIP and it connects fine now!

[HedgeBoar]

I also disabled WCN on the router (something windows specific I think) at the same time... I think it's more likely the AES that was causing the issue though..

[cheway]

I actually got mine to work last night -- I changed the router from using TKIP/AES to just TKIP and it connects fine now!

If you change it to just AES, it will also work fine. That way you don't need to use a weaker encryption method. It's just when you have TKIP/AES at the same time.

Thanks for your post though, I wouldn't have been able to sort out my network problems without it.

[dafreak]

Just thought I'd give a quick update to this thread. Still not able to connect to a WPA encrypted network. At the suggestion of the #ubuntu chatroom I tried installing the wpa_gui tool. It installs and runs but does not display any network cards on its dropdown. What that's indicative of (if anything) I'm not sure though.

[warfacegod]

Probably nothing. Its likely that the GUI just isn't seeing your card and/or driver.

[dafreak]

Curiousity rears its ugly head. Is there any possibility that for some reason WPA is disabled on the driver/kernel level? When I check to see what my wireless is capable of it shows wpa & wpa2 but it's just a niggling question that's bothering me. Sorry for asking silly questions. I really want to use Ubuntu on this laptop, especially as quickly as it has been performing with the exception of wireless. It's just that the Windows XP license that came with this laptop is tempting me to go digging for my Windows XP CD again . Any other suggestions are welcome of course.