connman/wifi problem

[Member simonob]

Hi all

I have searched through existing connman/ceni/wifi threads in the forum and cannot find a solution to my problem.

Context: I started with Antix 19.2.1 Base a couple of days ago, I initially had issues with WIFI (couldn’t get connman to even open) so I proceeded down the CENI route as instructed in different threads (connect via ceni, modify /etc/resolv.conf to add dns server, etc). This worked to get me connected but I find that my connection doesn’t persist between reboots.

After some tinkering and exploration I decided that I would go for a fresh install now that I am more comfortable with ‘the lay of the Antix land’ and also hoping that it might help me get connman working.

The problem: I cannot get connman to work, I cannot even get it to open, Start => Control Center => Network => WiFi Connect (Connman) does nothing. Also, if I left click on the network icon in the taskbar then nothing happens.

I have checked via sudo rfkill that wlan is unblocked and have tried removing the /etc/network/interfaces file as suggested in another thread.

Any thoughts/suggestions appreciated.

Simon

[Member Xecure]

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Try just loading antiX FULL (base and full have different GUIs for connman) from a live DVD/USB (only load, no installation).

From the live system, try connman again. This time you are launching a different GUI version of Connman (cmst). Power ON the Wifi, go to the Wireless tab, hit Rescan and see if it can find your network.

[If you cannot use Full because of CD restrictions, try the base as live CD again, and install in the live system cmst, kill the other connman gui (if active) and launch cmst (from terminal, from App Select or from menu)]

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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You should not have removed /etc/network/interfaces (which thread said to remove it?)

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member simonob]

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anticapitalista wrote:

You should not have removed /etc/network/interfaces (which thread said to remove it?)

apologies, I miss read a forum post so this was not correct. Regardless I ensured that the file was re-enabled after and have since done a full re-install.

With regards to the trying antiX FULL, the Connman GUI opens for me, I can see wifi is ON in the Status page but when I click on the Wireless tab I do not see any networks, pressing the Rescan button does nothing 🙁

Again, CENI works however does not save the password between reboots.

Any suggestions?

Thanks for your inputs so far!

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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Make sure you turn off wired before connecting to wireless.

Ceni should save the password between reboots (it does here).

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Member Xecure]

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If you don’t get ceni to work properly, you could also try other network managers.

I have tested netowrk-manager-gnome (nm-applet) on antiX 19 and it works (I needed to also install gnome-keyring for saving the password).

Others have also set up their network with wpagui.

Test things out first with ceni and see if you can get it to autoconnect on boot.

antiX Live system enthusiast.
General Live Boot Parameters for antiX.

[Member AA BB]

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Very interesting comments for those of us who have struggled getting wifi to work in the past.
Getting antiX wifi to work can sometimes be a real challenge, especially for newbies.

[Forum Admin anticapitalista]

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Just for info – make of it whatever you want.

I booted latestlive MX Linux ahs version (it uses Network Manager) on a usb and as a frugal install, and connecting to the net was worse than connman!
Connection failed several times. Once it finally connected, it was slow and often dropped. Reboot – no connection.

Same usb/frugal but with antiX-base (19.2.1) much better via connman.
Connected quickly and after reboot, connection was ready within 5 secs (tested via apt-get update in a terminal).

Philosophers have interpreted the world in many ways; the point is to change it.

antiX with runit - leaner and meaner.

[Forum Admin dolphin_oracle]

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it may be worth restarting the connmand dameon and see if it can scan networks after that. I’ve often resolved issues with connmand this way. even with previously configured wifi networks not showing up or not connecting.

sudo service connman restart

[Member ModdIt]

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Hi simonob perhaps you could post result of sudo lspci -k
just the detail about wifi adapter is enough.

This thread reminds me of my frustrating experience with certain hardware. I tried everything I
could think of and more to get wifi working correctly with broadcom cards on Linux.
Replacing with Intel has solved all issues immediately on several devices, I guess other cards will work too
but have no experience on which.
B for Broadcom and B for Bin because life is too short to waste. I have found replacement cards really cheap on E Bay.

As part of faultfinding and if available plug in a USB wifi adapter and see if that works properly,
that will indicate if your system is working correctly software wise.

[Member simonob]

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Hi all.

Thanks for your suggestions, update … I got it working.

At my last post I had tried to use connman via the live USB, it opened but my wifi interface was not showing up and I couldn’t scan for networks. I decided on the advice of anticapitalista to try again with ceni so I figured I would do a clean install of Antix Full (previously had base installed) as my laptop has plenty of disk space and I had it loaded onto the USB.

After installing + full apt update I figured I would try connman again (before ceni) and it worked! Didn’t have to change anything, it just worked 😀 Happy days.

Thanks again. I really appreciate the friendly community ‘support’!

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