Ubuntu 15.04: Cannot connect to wifi hotspot (4G device)

[osmoma]

Hello,
My Ubuntu 15.04 stopped connecting to wifi hotspot after upgrade. I re-installed the entire system, but it simply cannot connect to my 4G internet device.

Ubuntu 14.10 and the first versions of Ubuntu 15.04 all connect well without problems.

My 4G hotspot is similar to this device (WöW by NOS in Portugal).
http://www.custojusto.pt/viana-do-ca...et-4g-14027440

I also tried the latest (daily ISO) and run it live from an USB-pen. Neither it cannot connect. It asks for the wifi-password, but then nothing; no error messages or warning.
I also press the WPS-button in the 4G-device. Vivid can see the wifi-name but fails to connect.

The wifi-name (SSID) is repeated three times in the wireless menu (the names are listed like a menu-tree). Like this
-- Internet 4G
--------Internet 4G 1
--------Internet 4G 2

None of these work. Maybe I pressed the WPS-button too many times.

$ uname -a
Linux ubuntu 3.18.0-9-generic #10-Ubuntu SMP Mon Jan 12 21:41:54 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ lshw
*-network
description: Wireless interface
product: Wireless 3160
vendor: Intel Corporation
physical id: 0
bus info: pci@0000:04:00.0
logical name: wlan0
version: 83
serial: a0:88:69:31:27:77
width: 64 bits
clock: 33MHz
capabilities: bus_master cap_list ethernet physical wireless
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=3.18.0-9-generic firmware=23.10.10.0 latency=0 link=no multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn

[mc4man]

See the same, worked fine with a portable hotspot, then did some updates & can no longer authenticate the device.
(- As I don't pay much attention to 15.04 there were quite a number of updates available. Didn't do them all but still a fair number.
Maybe I can pick thru the list later, libpam* & systemd stand out in a cursory glance.

[osmoma]

Ok, it might help to wait a week or two until they deliver new updates.

One thing I noticed that Ubuntu 15.04 has an older firmware version (for the Intel`s 3160 wifi card) than Ubuntu 14.10.

$ lshw
...
...
configuration: broadcast=yes driver=iwlwifi driverversion=3.16.0-29-generic firmware=25.228.9.0 ip=xxxx.xx.x.xxx latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11abgn


Ubuntu 15.04 firmware=23.10.10.0
Ubuntu 14.10 firmware=25.228.9.0.

I do not know if this matters. Maybe the numbers refer to filenames, and not to version numbers.

$ lsmod | grep wifi
iwlwifi 183038 1 iwlmvm
cfg80211 510218 3 iwlwifi,mac80211,iwlmvm


$ ls -l /lib/firmware/iwlwifi-3160-*
....

I tried to copy the firmware files from 14.10 to Vivid. Then

$ sudo rmmod iwlmvm
$ sudo rmmod iwlwifi

$ sudo modprobe iwlmvm iwlwifi

$ sudo killall NetworkManager

No success.
Obrigado. Boa Noite.

[mc4man]

Fine here now, I believe in my case it was user error rather than some change, ect.

[osmoma]

Ok, I will monitor this issue for some time ahead.
I need Vivid to port audio-recorder to Ubuntu+1.

Até Já.

os-moma
Portugal

[jeremy31]

With the intel wifi cards you might need to run this and reboot before you can connect to a hotspot

echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf

If it happens to not work correctly

gksudo gedit

and delete the line

options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8

save, exit, reboot

[osmoma]

Re-hi,
Sorry for my delayed reply.
I made a new installation with the latest Ubuntu Daily ISO-image.
This time the WIFI (over 4G) connects perfectly fine.

But for curiosity: I made the re-installation in a cafe of our village because they have a good, rapid internet connection.
And I saw the error after first reboot. It could not connect to the cafe`s wireless net, and the network-applet listed the SSID name several times. So something sucked!


But everything worked well when I rebooted the machine at home. I had a plan to insert your 11n_disable=8 option but this was not necessary.
But your option doesn`t seem to make any harm either.

BTW: I have a feeling that my Android table downloads web pages more rapidly. I will try to fine-tune the wifi card on my laptop to see if it helps.
Video drivers may also make a difference.

$ lsb_release -a
No LSB modules are available.
Distributor ID: Ubuntu
Description: Ubuntu Vivid Vervet 64bit (development branch)
Release: 15.04
Codename: vivid

$ uname -a
Linux vivid64 3.18.0-11-generic #12-Ubuntu SMP Fri Jan 23 22:53:58 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ ifconfig -a
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 00:80:E3:f7:51:01
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)

lo Link encap:Local Loopback
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:4919 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:4919 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:667928 (667.9 KB) TX bytes:667928 (667.9 KB)

wlan0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr b0:51:77:12:92:5b
inet addr:192.168.1.150 Bcast:192.168.1.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: fe80::a177:69ff:ee31:981c/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:138353 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:110792 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:161119123 (161.1 MB) TX bytes:21047514 (21.0 MB)

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
# /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf
# iwlwifi will dyamically load either iwldvm or iwlmvm depending on the
# microcode file installed on the system. When removing iwlwifi, first
# remove the iwl?vm module and then iwlwifi.
remove iwlwifi \
(/sbin/lsmod | grep -o -e ^iwlmvm -e ^iwldvm -e ^iwlwifi | xargs /sbin/rmmod) && /sbin/modprobe -r mac80211
options iwlwifi 11n_disable=8

$ lspci -v | grep -A6 Network
04:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless 3160 (rev 83)
Subsystem: Intel Corporation Dual Band Wireless-AC 3160
Flags: bus master, fast devsel, latency 0, IRQ 33
Memory at f7d00000 (64-bit, non-prefetchable) [size=8K]
Capabilities: <access denied>
Kernel driver in use: iwlwifi

$ modinfo iwlwifi

filename:       /lib/modules/3.18.0-11-generic/kernel/drivers/net/wireless/iwlwifi/iwlwifi.ko
license:        GPL
author:         Copyright(c) 2003- 2014 Intel Corporation <ilw@linux.intel.com>
version:        in-tree:
description:    Intel(R) Wireless WiFi driver for Linux
firmware:       iwlwifi-100-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-1000-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-135-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-105-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-2030-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-2000-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-5150-2.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-5000-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6000g2b-6.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6000g2a-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6050-5.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-6000-4.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-7265-9.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-3165-9.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-3160-9.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-7260-9.ucode
firmware:       iwlwifi-8000-8.ucode
srcversion:     9730790705D25DB36AE15EE
alias:          pci:v00008086d000024F4sv*sd00000030bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00008086d000024F3sv*sd00000004bc*sc*i*
...
...
alias:          pci:v00008086d00004232sv*sd00001306bc*sc*i*
...
...
alias:          pci:v00008086d00004232sv*sd00001301bc*sc*i*
alias:          pci:v00008086d00004232sv*sd00001201bc*sc*i*
depends:        cfg80211
intree:         Y
vermagic:       3.18.0-11-generic SMP mod_unload modversions 
signer:         Magrathea: Glacier signing key
sig_key:        7B:23:D4:70:AC:74:B1:F9:D1:1F:FB:23:A4:E4:A7:B4:80:FE:56:F1
sig_hashalgo:   sha512
parm:           swcrypto:using crypto in software (default 0 [hardware]) (int)
parm:           11n_disable:disable 11n functionality, bitmap: 1: full, 2: disable agg TX, 4: disable agg RX, 8 enable agg TX (uint)
parm:           amsdu_size_8K:enable 8K amsdu size (default 0) (int)
parm:           fw_restart:restart firmware in case of error (default true) (bool)
parm:           antenna_coupling:specify antenna coupling in dB (default: 0 dB) (int)
parm:           wd_disable:Disable stuck queue watchdog timer 0=system default, 1=disable (default: 1) (int)
parm:           nvm_file:NVM file name (charp)
parm:           uapsd_disable:disable U-APSD functionality (default: N) (bool)
parm:           bt_coex_active:enable wifi/bt co-exist (default: enable) (bool)
parm:           led_mode:0=system default, 1=On(RF On)/Off(RF Off), 2=blinking, 3=Off (default: 0) (int)
parm:           power_save:enable WiFi power management (default: disable) (bool)
parm:           power_level:default power save level (range from 1 - 5, default: 1) (int)
parm:           fw_monitor:firmware monitor - to debug FW (default: false - needs lots of memory) (bool)

EDIT: I verified the connection after several reboots. It connects well with or without the 11n_disable=8 option (at home / 4G).
I will monitor this issue further.

[osmoma]

Hello,
This bug seems to be more persistent than first thought. It recurred to my Ubuntu 15.04 system.
The WIFI simply stopped to connect after some random reboot. I do not remember if I did `apt-get upgrade` before the error re-appeared.

But I found a solution. This solution may be equally random as the error itself. I do not have any proof that this will help next time.
I got the WIFI back by feeding 11n_disable=1 to /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf file, and restarting the network services.

$ sudo service network-manager stop

$ echo "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi.conf

$ sudo rmmod iwlmvm iwlwifi
$ sudo modprobe iwlmvm iwlwifi

$ sudo service network-manager restart

Info about the 11n_disable parameter:
Disable 11n functionality: 1: full, 2: disable agg TX, 4: disable agg RX, 8 enable agg TX (uint)

[osmoma]

EDIT: Latest updates seems to have fixed this bug. WIFI now connects well as it did in Ubuntu 14.10.
I also installed the latest kernel 3.18.0-12 from the Ubuntu`s pre-proposed repository.

$ uname -a
Linux vivid64 3.18.0-12-generic #13-Ubuntu SMP Thu Jan 29 04:35:32 UTC 2015 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

$ dpkg -l | grep network-manager

ii  network-manager               0.9.10.0-4ubuntu2   amd64     network management framework (daemon and userspace tools)
ii  network-manager-gnome         0.9.10.1-0ubuntu1   amd64     network management framework (GNOME frontend)
ii  network-manager-pptp          0.9.10.0-1ubuntu1   amd64     network management framework (PPTP plugin core)
ii  network-manager-pptp-gnome    0.9.10.0-1ubuntu1   amd64     network management framework (PPTP plugin GNOME GUI)

EDIT: Sometime the network-manager (network applet) crashes. I have to restart it with:
$ sudo service network-manager restart
Then it re-connects well.

[mydoveks]

how do i do this with a wifi netgearWNDA3100 usb wifi stick .