Re: [gentoo-user] strange problem with Wifi

[Michael <confabulate@kintzios.com>]

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Hi Philip,

On Monday 23 December 2024 23:35:21 GMT Philip Webb wrote:
> I've encountered a strange problem logging into my local Wifi.
> There are  2  services I can use : (1) the household service,
> part of my landlord's home-office system ; (2) my cell-phone's hotspot.
> (2) is ok, but trying to use (1) has been offering challenges.
> 
> First, there's no problem with my hardware or that of my landlord
> nor with 'wpa_supplicant' installed on my Gentoo system AFAIK.
> The problem aros when I tried to log into (1)
> after a power outage caused my landlord to restart his box,
> at which time he renamed the service with a slightly different password ;
> he's intelligent + friendly, but not upto fine-tuning it.
> I have updated the config file below to match the new strings.

Did he *only* change the SSID and password, or did he also change the 
encryption and key management method?


> Earlier in the year, it was straightforward.  I have a config file :
> 
>   #wpa_supplicant-gr.conf : 241207
> 
>   ctrl_interface=/var/run/wpa_supplicant
>   ctrl_interface_group=wheel
> 
>   network={
>     ssid="<name of landlord's service>"
>     key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
>     pairwise=CCMP TKIP
>     group=CCMP TKIP
>     psk="<password>"
>     priority=5
>   }
> 
> This hasn't changed : it used to log me in when I rebooted.
> Now it doesn't : for some reason, it scans, but finds nothing.
> The config file for my cell-phone hotspot is the same & also unchanged.

Check there are no empty spaces left at the end of the strings in any entries 
you edited in your wpa_supplicant.conf.

Check you have not altered the access rights of the file:

chmod -v 600 /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf


> However, I can use 'wpa_gui' with a bit of fussing & editing.
> Currently, it shows the correct adapter + service name & below it lists :
> 
>   Status : completed (station)
>   Last message : <blank>
>   Authentication : WPA2-PSK
>   Encryption : CCMP + TKIP
>   SSID : <service name>
>   BSSID : < 12 hex digits >
>   IP address : < 11 digits >
> 
> I can't see any difference between the  2  lists of config items.
> I do have to reset it via an 'edit' menu after rebooting,
> esp to restate the password, which is a nuisance,
> but it succeeds in getting thro' to the service.
> 
> Can anyone suggest what mb wrong with the 1st method ?

The first method looks good to me, beyond the points I mentioned above.

You can check what the landlord's AP wants to use by running wpa_cli in a 
terminal:

> scan

will start scanning for APs.  A few seconds ago you will have some results to 
peruse:

> scan_results

The landlord's BSSID will list what encryption his AP has been configured to 
use; e.g.:

01:23:45:67:89:01  2427 0  [WPA-PSK-CCMP+TKIP][WPA2-PSK-CCMP+TKIP]  LL's-SSID

Enter 'quit' to exit the wpa_cli once you made a note of the above.  You'll 
need to reflect what the wpa_cli results revealed in your wpa_supplicant.conf.

If you want to be able to edit the AP configuration and save the results using 
your wpa_gui directly, you have to add in your wpa_supplicant.conf:
====================================================

# Whether to allow wpa_supplicant to update (overwrite) configuration
#
# This option can be used to allow wpa_supplicant to overwrite configuration
# file whenever configuration is changed (e.g., new network block is added
# with wpa_cli or wpa_gui, or a password is changed). This is required for
# wpa_cli/wpa_gui to be able to store the configuration changes permanently.
# Please note that overwriting configuration file will remove the comments
# from it.

update_config=1

===============

Please heed the above warning regarding commented sections in your 
wpa_supplicant.conf being removed.

HTH.

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