Bug 817298

+++ This bug was initially created as a clone of Bug #815331 +++

Created attachment 579506 [details]
NM applet

Description of problem:
In Fallback Mode all the encrypted wifi networks are greyed out and you can't click on them, therefore you can't connect. See screenshot. In gnome-shell mode it works.

Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):
NetworkManager-0.9.4.0-6.git20120403.fc17.i686
NetworkManager-glib-0.9.4.0-6.git20120403.fc17.i686
NetworkManager-gnome-0.9.4.0-6.git20120403.fc17.i686
NetworkManager-gtk-0.9.4.0-6.git20120403.fc17.i686
NetworkManager-openconnect-0.9.3.997-1.fc17.i686
NetworkManager-openvpn-0.9.3.997-1.fc17.i686
NetworkManager-pptp-0.9.3.997-1.fc17.i686
NetworkManager-vpnc-0.9.3.997-1.fc17.i686


How reproducible:
I logged out and in, I pushed wifi switch on and off, still broken

--- Additional comment from kparal on 2012-04-23 07:53:08 EDT ---

Proposing as F17 Blocker, it fails criteria requiring network access.

--- Additional comment from mihkel on 2012-04-24 05:00:04 EDT ---

Similar behavior of NM in LXDE spin - all WPA networks are grayed out.
WEP networks seem selectable.

Manually adding WPA2 wireless network works (automatic reconnection afterwards and everything ok). 

NetworkManager-0.9.4.0-6.git20120403.fc17.i686
(ipw2200)

--- Additional comment from kparal on 2012-04-24 06:48:07 EDT ---

I have to note I also use ipw2200 driver (using fixed kernel provided in bug 802106 comment 20). Maybe it can be related.

--- Additional comment from mihkel on 2012-04-24 09:31:44 EDT ---

yes indeed! I've connected an old external wireless adapter to the same machine (pcmcia rt2500pci) and NM works as expected - i.e. WPA networks are visible and clickable and configured correctly by NM.

(except network is not connected on boot - I have to right-click NM to disable/enable wireless to have NM connect to saved network...)

1 more thing I noticed now - NM shows no Signal Strength bars nor connection speed with ipw2200 driver (iwconfig shows all these).
(and signal bars missing with aforementioned "test-ipw2200.fc16" and F17 kernel both).

--- Additional comment from kparal on 2012-04-24 09:45:16 EDT ---

I can confirm that a colleague of mine who has a different wifi card model has no problem connecting to WPA networks in the fallback mode, menu items are not greyed out. This bug seems to be affected by just ipw2200 (and maybe some more) models.

--- Additional comment from danw on 2012-04-24 12:30:07 EDT ---

Appears to be a kernel driver bug, and an update has already been submitted.

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 802106 ***

--- Additional comment from kparal on 2012-04-25 05:03:37 EDT ---

No, reopening. I was using the fixed kernel from bug 802106 comment 20. This is not a duplicate. Maybe it's another bug in ipw2200 driver. But it doesn't appear in gnome shell, just in fallback mode, that's suspicious.

--- Additional comment from danw on 2012-04-27 11:38:28 EDT ---

(In reply to comment #7)
> it doesn't
> appear in gnome shell, just in fallback mode, that's suspicious.

Hm... it appears that nm-applet does some sanity-checking that gnome-shell doesn't do; nm-applet will gray out the network if your wireless card claims that it doesn't support the given encryption type.

what does

  nmcli dev list | grep WIFI-PROPERTIES

output? (If you have multiple wifi cards, do "nmcli dev list iface WHATEVER" to only list the properties of the ipw2200 card.)

--- Additional comment from dcbw on 2012-04-28 12:29:11 EDT ---

*** Bug 817147 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

--- Additional comment from dcbw on 2012-04-28 14:34:51 EDT ---

FYI I cannot reproduce the issue in Fallback mode with latest git NM on F15 using kernel 2.6.42.12.  The only machine I have that's capable of using an ipw2200 is only running F15.

The only thing that I can see causing this is improper device capabilities that the kernel provides.  That ipw2200 bug got fixed in the upstream kernel by the following patch:

http://www.spinics.net/lists/linux-wireless/msg88069.html

which needs to be backported to the affected kernels.  The suggested "nmcli dev list | grep WIFI-PROPERTIES" info would tell us whether that's the case or not.