I'm afraid I can't let you do that Dave

April 11, 2009 1:22 PM

I have been a Ubuntu 8.10 user for about 2 months and I'm having some internet trouble (explained inside).

1) How can I get my Network manager to login to unprotected wireless networks? (it doesn't seem to think I can)
2) Can I get my network manager to stay logged in to a protected network?
3) Why do some DSL cable plugins work the first time but not the second time? (I almost lost it watching the network manager count the packets but say it couldn't get the adress)

posted by Pseudology to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

Best answer: From a terminal, run dmesg... look in the log for error messages related to wireless.

Learn the iwconfig and ifconfig commands, they will give you a lot more information than the network manager

To manually try to re-acquire an IP address from DHCP, try this-

sudo dhclient wlan0

(or whatever your wifi interface is named)
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 1:33 PM on April 11, 2009

If you are using the original Network Manager, I strongly suggest a switch to WICD . I had nothing but headaches until I made the change.
posted by mannequito at 2:52 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Seconding wicd.
posted by orthogonality at 4:58 PM on April 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

Hmmm... I haven't had this problem with Ubuntu in years. Most of my problems related to WPA encryption (WPA2 Enterprise, iirc) and networks that didn't broadcast the SSID. What encryption is used & what other restrictions are used?

Have you searched Ubuntu Forums? That is where I'd start. There is an incredible amount of information there and it is definitely newbie friendly.
posted by thekiltedwonder at 7:31 PM on April 11, 2009

I can't vouch for wicd, but Network Manager is a piece of crap and likely the cause of all your trouble.
posted by valadil at 8:16 PM on April 11, 2009

Best answer: Nthing the "Network Manager is crap" sentiment. I usually assign my laptops static IP addresses by manually editing /etc/network/interfaces and /etc/resolv.conf; I feel it gives me a bit more control and one less failure point than using DHCP:

#interfaces - modifications for home network
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.26
netmask 255.255.255.0
gateway 192.168.0.1

#auto eth0
auto ath0

iface ath0 inet static
address 192.168.0.27
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.0.0
broadcast 192.168.0.255
gateway 192.168.0.1

wireless-mode managed
wireless-essid WLAN - Home
wireless-key1 s:metafilter
wireless-key 6d65746166696c746572
#end interfaces


#resolv.conf
nameserver 192.168.0.1
#end resolv.conf

They're all behind a router (old PIII-450) running IPCop which manages the DSL connection and is used as nameserver, so I don't know much about the trouble with DSL plugins...
posted by PontifexPrimus at 7:23 AM on April 12, 2009