Monday, July 15, 2013

Network problems of Linux Mint

I have installed and used Linux Mint (Maya) on my Toshiba Satellite for several months. The network setting has always troubled and annoyed me, especially the wireless one.

I had encountered three problems:
  1. If the cable doesn't connect to the laptop or the network is not working, the system always wait for a long time with the messages read:
    ``Waiting for network configuration...''
    ``Waiting up to 60 more seconds for network configuration...''
  2. When the network is interrupted, it won't recover automatically.So every time I close the laptop lid to sleep the system and open it to resume it, I have to open the terminal and type ``sudo pon dsl-provider'' to get the network connection back.
  3. I couldn't connect to my wireless network at home, and found nowhere to get the settings done. My wireless network has been set as hidden, and I have added it in the Network Connections. But when I tried to connect it, the icon always showed the processing state and the connection was never done.
Today I got all these problems solved and I am happy now.

Here are the solutions I found and tested successfully:
  1. Edit the file: /etc/init/failsafe.conf
    Find the lines with ``sleep'' and comment out the two which related to the system messages just mentioned above.
  2. Reinstall network-manager by
    sudo apt-get --reinstall install network-manager
    and use the following command to start the manager:
    sudo /etc/init.d/network-manager restart
  3. Edit the file: /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf
    change ``managed=false'' to ``managed=true''
    restart the network manager by
    sudo /etc/init.d/network-manager restart
    After doing these, the available wireless network will show up. My hidden wireless network still couldn't be connected so I tried to click its icon and a window popped out for me to enter the password. I inputed the password and everything went as expected as shown in the figure:
---
ref:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?f=150&t=110218
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1528695&p=9575190#post9575190

6 comments:

  1. Hey there - thanks for this. This helped with the problem of restarting network manager.

    I'm still having one more issue that I can't identify. Maybe you can help?

    I had exactly the situation that you described. I followed these steps and got wireless to connect. But it will only allow traffic for a brief period to some routers and no traffic at all for others (the routers don't show up). Any help at all would be appreciated.

    Michael

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Michael,

      Sorry for abandoning my blog for such a long time and didn't reply you till now.

      I also encountered ``a brief period connection'' problem several months ago, but I didn't have time to find out where the problem was. Also, I've not used the wireless connection for a long time and didn't recall the details of connection problem...

      Sorry I have no further information for you now and hope you've solved your problem.

      Delete
  2. Hello.. Thanks a lot for maintaining these notes.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous5:01 AM

    Thanks blogger peeps

    ReplyDelete
  4. netalex4:53 PM

    that hack seems to do not work anymore in mint 14. new version of network manager does'nt have start|stop| restart script.

    ReplyDelete
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    wireless network

    ReplyDelete