Problems With Stable Wifi On Certain Networks

ChillKid · Yesterday 18:45

Hello. So I have had Q4OS Andromeda for about a month now and I have had persistent issues with connecting to Wifi in different places, specifically at school. Whenever I try to connect to the school wifi, I get the error "Connection attempt failed! SSID not found" from the TDE Network Manager. The school has a guest wifi that does not need a password, which is what I'm trying to connect to. I sometimes find it connected already when I turn it on, but then for some reason after a while it disconnects

I also tried reconnecting using different methods like nmtui and the Network Manager from software center, but to no avail. I have tried it on other devices like my phone and had no issues. My issue is similar to this user's post: https://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4072, except that I dont need a password for the wifi. If anybody has an idea of what is causing it and if theres a solution, it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

inxi -F:

System:
  Host: DellLatitudeE6420 Kernel: 6.12.101+deb13-amd64 arch: x86_64 bits: 64
  Desktop: TDE (Trinity) v: R14.1.5 Distro: Q4OS 6.8-deb13u1
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: Dell product: Latitude E6420 v: 01
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: Dell model: 0P6K8J v: A00 serial: <superuser required> BIOS: Dell
    v: A25 date: 03/06/2018
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 43.3 Wh (97.3%) condition: 44.5/48.8 Wh (91.1%)
CPU:
  Info: dual core model: Intel Core i5-2520M bits: 64 type: MT MCP cache:
    L2: 512 KiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 797 min/max: 800/3200 cores: 1: 797 2: 797 3: 797 4: 797
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel 2nd Generation Core Processor Family Integrated Graphics
    driver: i915 v: kernel
  Device-2: Sunplus Innovation Laptop_Integrated_Webcam_FHD driver: uvcvideo
    type: USB
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.16 driver: X: loaded: modesetting
    unloaded: fbdev,vesa dri: crocus gpu: i915 resolution: 1366x768~60Hz
  API: EGL v: 1.5 drivers: crocus,swrast
    platforms: gbm,x11,surfaceless,device
  API: OpenGL v: 4.5 compat-v: 3.3 vendor: intel mesa v: 25.0.7-2+deb13u1
    renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 3000 (SNB GT2)
  API: Vulkan v: 1.4.309 drivers: llvmpipe surfaces: xcb,xlib
  Info: Tools: api: clinfo, eglinfo, glxinfo, vulkaninfo x11: xdriinfo,
    xdpyinfo, xprop, xrandr
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel 6 Series/C200 Series Family High Definition Audio
    driver: snd_hda_intel
  API: ALSA v: k6.12.101+deb13-amd64 status: kernel-api
  Server-1: aRts v: 1.5.10 status: active
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.4.2 status: active
Network:
  Device-1: Intel 82579LM Gigabit Network driver: e1000e
  IF: eno1 state: down mac: d4:be:d9:30:bb:0c
  Device-2: Broadcom BCM43228 802.11a/b/g/n driver: bcma-pci-bridge
  IF-ID-1: wlp2s0b1 state: down mac: e0:06:e6:02:25:98
RAID:
  Hardware-1: Intel 82801 Mobile SATA Controller [RAID mode] driver: ahci
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 119.24 GiB used: 17.82 GiB (14.9%)
  ID-1: /dev/sda vendor: Samsung model: MZ7TY128HDHP-000H1 size: 119.24 GiB
Partition:
  ID-1: / size: 108.15 GiB used: 17.82 GiB (16.5%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1
Swap:
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 8.8 GiB used: 0 KiB (0.0%) dev: /dev/sda2
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 47.0 C mobo: 27.0 C sodimm: 31.0 C
  Fan Speeds (rpm): cpu: 0
Info:
  Memory: total: 8 GiB available: 7.65 GiB used: 1.3 GiB (17.0%)
  Processes: 211 Uptime: 5m Shell: Bash inxi: 3.3.38

Taige · Today 06:47

Do you have the option to connect with a different laptop but with the same operating system?

hchiper · Today 07:53

ChillKid wrote:

Whenever I try to connect to the school wifi, I get the error "Connection attempt failed! SSID not found" from the TDE Network Manager. The school has a guest wifi that does not need a password, which is what I'm trying to connect to.

In the past, did you try to connect to more than 1 network in your school ?
In this case your system remembers them and probably tries to connect to the one with the more powerful signal, rather than the "public" one. Ask your school the SSID of the "public" network and in the network manager delete the other networks that were detected in your school.

q4osteam · Today 10:39

@ChillKid

Your inxi output shows the likely cause: the WiFi card is a Broadcom BCM43228, and the interface name wlp2s0b1 means it is running on the open-source b43 driver. b43 supports this chip only partially - it has no 802.11n support at all and is known to be unreliable on it. Managed networks like a school's (802.11n / 5 GHz settings, band steering between access points) are exactly where that shows up as "SSID not found" and random disconnects, while your phone connects fine. The topic you linked had a different cause - a wrong security setting in the saved connection.

Broadcom's own driver supports this card fully. Install it at home, where your WiFi works (or over the Ethernet port):

sudo apt update
sudo apt full-upgrade
sudo apt install linux-headers-amd64 broadcom-sta-dkms
sudo reboot

The package disables b43 by itself. After the reboot, check that the new driver is in use:

lsmod | grep -E '^(wl|b43)'

It should show "wl" and no "b43" (the interface name also changes from wlp2s0b1 to wlp2s0). Then, as hchiper suggested, delete the saved school connection(s) in the network manager and connect to the guest network again.

To go back to the old driver:

sudo apt purge broadcom-sta-dkms && sudo reboot

If it still fails at school, please post the output of these two commands, run there:

nmcli -f SSID,CHAN,SECURITY,SIGNAL device wifi list
sudo journalctl -b -u NetworkManager --no-pager | tail -n 40

Q4OS Forum

#1 Yesterday 18:45

Problems With Stable Wifi On Certain Networks

#2 Today 06:47

Re: Problems With Stable Wifi On Certain Networks

#3 Today 07:53

Re: Problems With Stable Wifi On Certain Networks

#4 Today 10:39

Re: Problems With Stable Wifi On Certain Networks

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