[RESPONDED] Unable to connecto to a hidden WiFi network (amd ryzen; ubuntu 22.04)

Arseniy_Zaostrovnykh · March 13, 2024, 3:18pm

Hi there!
I received my laptop yesterday, assembled, installed ubuntu according to the guide and now rooting out problems.

After the generic system upgrade, I cannot connect to a hidden 5G wifi access point.

Ubuntu 22.04.4
Kernel: 6.5.0-25-generic
WiFi card MEDIATEK

configuration: broadcast=yes driver=mt7921e driverversion=6.5.0-25-generic firmware=____000000-20231120183441 ip=192.168.205.175 latency=0 link=yes multicast=yes wireless=IEEE 802.11

CPU AMD Ryzen 7 7840U
Was able to connect with the initial driver version (build 2022…), but had severe dropouts (over 60% packet loss)

Following the official guide did not work for me:

E: Release ‘jammy-proposed’ for ‘linux-firmware’ was not found

However, the generic sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade upgraded quite a few things.
After the reboot I see a newer version of the wifi driver:

sudo dmesg | grep mt7921e
[    4.381802] mt7921e 0000:01:00.0: enabling device (0000 -> 0002)
[    4.386036] mt7921e 0000:01:00.0: ASIC revision: 79220010
[    4.472581] mt7921e 0000:01:00.0: HW/SW Version: 0x8a108a10, Build Time: 20231120183400a
[    4.845031] mt7921e 0000:01:00.0: WM Firmware Version: ____000000, Build Time: 20231120183441
[    5.968447] mt7921e 0000:01:00.0 wlp1s0: renamed from wlan0

The build time is later than the values referenced in the guide, but the dropouts stopped. When I connect to my phone 2.4 Ghz hot-spot, the connection is smooth.
However, it cannot connect to the hidden wifi access point served by my home router.
Before the upgrade, I was able to connect to it, even though the connection was not great.
Any tips on how to investigate this?

Edit:
Here are the NetworkManager logs, starting with “WiFi disabled”. Here I enable it (at 16:22:53):

Mär 13 16:22:53 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343373.7745] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi hardware radio set enabled
Mär 13 16:22:53 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343373.8525] audit: op="radio-control" arg="wireless-enabled:on" pid=2307 uid=1000 result="success"
Mär 13 16:22:53 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343373.8532] manager: rfkill: Wi-Fi now enabled by radio killswitch
Mär 13 16:22:53 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343373.8959] device (wlp1s0): supplicant interface state: internal-starting -> disconnected
Mär 13 16:22:53 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343373.8960] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): state change: unavailable -> unmanaged (reason 'removed', sys-iface-state: 'removed')
Mär 13 16:22:53 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343373.8962] Wi-Fi P2P device controlled by interface wlp1s0 created
Mär 13 16:22:53 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343373.8963] manager: (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): new 802.11 Wi-Fi P2P device (/org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/Devices/4)
Mär 13 16:22:53 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343373.8964] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): state change: unmanaged -> unavailable (reason 'managed', sys-iface-state: 'external')
Mär 13 16:22:53 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343373.8966] device (wlp1s0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'supplicant-available', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Mär 13 16:22:53 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343373.8969] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): state change: unavailable -> disconnected (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')

Here I select “Connect to hidden network” and my home_5GHz network that I configured earlier (16:25:36):

Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0868] device (wlp1s0): Activation: starting connection 'home_5GHz' (7a138433-834e-41e0-a803-93d130da3fcc)
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0869] audit: op="connection-activate" uuid="7a138433-834e-41e0-a803-93d130da3fcc" name="home_5GHz" pid=2307 uid=1000 result="success"
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0870] device (wlp1s0): state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0872] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTING
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0878] device (wlp1s0): state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0880] device (wlp1s0): Activation: (wifi) access point 'home_5GHz' has security, but secrets are required.
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0880] device (wlp1s0): state change: config -> need-auth (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0884] device (wlp1s0): state change: need-auth -> prepare (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0885] device (wlp1s0): state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0887] device (wlp1s0): Activation: (wifi) connection 'home_5GHz' has security, and secrets exist.  No new secrets needed.
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0887] Config: added 'ssid' value 'home_5GHz'
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0887] Config: added 'scan_ssid' value '1'
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0887] Config: added 'freq_list' value '5035 5040 5045 5055 5060 5080 5170 5180 5190 5200 5210 5220 5230 5240 5250 5260 5280 5290 5300 5320 5500 5520 5540 5560 5580 5600 5620 5640 5660 5680 5700 5745 5760 5765 5785 5800 5805 5825 4915 4920 4925 4935 4945 4960 4980'
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0887] Config: added 'bgscan' value 'simple:30:-70:86400'
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0888] Config: added 'key_mgmt' value 'WPA-PSK WPA-PSK-SHA256 FT-PSK SAE FT-SAE'
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.0888] Config: added 'psk' value '<hidden>'
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.1021] device (wlp1s0): supplicant interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Mär 13 16:25:36 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343536.1021] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): supplicant management interface state: disconnected -> scanning
Mär 13 16:26:01 frame NetworkManager[591]: <warn>  [1710343561.1551] device (wlp1s0): Activation: (wifi) association took too long, failing activation
Mär 13 16:26:01 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343561.1551] device (wlp1s0): state change: config -> failed (reason 'ssid-not-found', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Mär 13 16:26:01 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343561.1554] manager: NetworkManager state is now DISCONNECTED
Mär 13 16:26:01 frame NetworkManager[591]: <warn>  [1710343561.1556] device (wlp1s0): Activation: failed for connection 'home_5GHz'
Mär 13 16:26:01 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343561.1558] device (wlp1s0): state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Mär 13 16:26:01 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343561.1575] device (wlp1s0): supplicant interface state: scanning -> disconnected
Mär 13 16:26:01 frame NetworkManager[591]: <info>  [1710343561.1575] device (p2p-dev-wlp1s0): supplicant management interface state: scanning -> disconnected

EDIT2:
The laptop connects also to a 5GHz hot-spot network shared by my phone, so the problem is probably related to the the access point visibility rather than frequency band

Loell_Framework · March 13, 2024, 4:34pm

Hi @Arseniy_Zaostrovnykh ,

can we check these, when trying to connect?

grep -i wpa_supplicant journal.log
grep -i CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED journal.log

and this as well

sudo dmesg | grep mt7921e
or
sudo lshw | grep mt7921e

Arseniy_Zaostrovnykh · March 13, 2024, 5:17pm

What journal.log are you referring to in the first two grep invocations?

I posted sudo dmesg | grep mt7921e above. Here is the output of sudo lshw | grep mt7921e:

                configuration: broadcast=yes depth=32 driver=mt7921e driverversion=6.5.0-25-generic firmware=____000000-20231120183441 ip=192.168.205.175 latency=0 link=yes mode=2256x1504 multicast=yes visual=truecolor wireless=IEEE 802.11 xres=2256 yres=1504

Arseniy_Zaostrovnykh · March 13, 2024, 5:26pm

Assuming you meant journalctl, here is journalctl | grep -i wpa_supplicant (18:21:19 is when I tried to connect to the hidden network. there was no more entries for a few minutes, and then I connected to the hotspot to write this reply):

Mär 13 18:21:19 frame wpa_supplicant[641]: wlp1s0: CTRL-EVENT-DSCP-POLICY clear_all
Mär 13 18:21:23 frame wpa_supplicant[641]: wlp1s0: Reject scan trigger since one is already pending
Mär 13 18:21:38 frame wpa_supplicant[641]: wlp1s0: Reject scan trigger since one is already pending

Last entry for journalctl | grep -i CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED (18:18:42 is when I disconnected from my hotspot network):

Mär 13 18:18:42 frame wpa_supplicant[641]: wlp1s0: CTRL-EVENT-DISCONNECTED bssid=5a:df:1f:44:13:39 reason=1