Re: NetworkManager on/off again finding/connecting to my home wireless network

[Dan Williams <dcbw redhat com>]

On Tue, 2009-01-20 at 18:14 -0500, Brendan Conboy wrote:
> I just installed fedora 10 on a Compaq C751NR laptop with an
> Atheros 5k card in it. The hardware seems fine and the first time I
> booted the NetworkManager found several wireless networks in the
> neighborhood and I selected mine, entered the WPA2 key and all was
> well. Then it stopped working, then I ran yum update and it worked
> again, then stopped working, worked one more time before finally
> nothing I do can get it back. I have been searching the mailing list
> archive fruitlessly for a while, I am guessing I am just searching for
> the wrong things every time. Could someone just point me in the right
> direction, I don't mind doing the leg work, I am just stumped.

One thing to test is whether wpa_supplicant will work correctly.  It
might be that something in the supplicant or the driver is failing to
complete the WPA periodic rekeying.  Create a wpa_supplicant config file
somewhere (/tmp will do), and change what you need to for your network:

ap_scan=1
network={
	ssid="my wifi network"
	key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
	scan_ssid=1
	psk="my wpa passphrase"
	proto=RSN WPA
	pairwise=TKIP CCMP
	group=TKIP CCMP
}

Then, run stop NetworkManager, "sudo killall -TERM wpa_supplicant", and
run the supplicant again like so:

wpa_supplicant -dddt -i wlan0 -D wext -c /path/to/your/wpa_supplicant.conf

When that says "CONNECTED" somewhere, you can run dhclient like so:

/sbin/dhclient -1 -d -v wlan0

and you'll get an IP address.  Let that sit for a while, do some
browsing, whatever.  Periodically the supplicant will do the WPA rekey,
usually an hour or so for most consumer APs.  If the connection survives
for longer than when you were using NetworkManager, then we can start to
investigate whether the driver hates periodic scans, which
NetworkManager sometimes does to keep its network list up-to-date.

Dan