[PLASMA 5] Wifi no longer authenticating

[SteveM]

I was hoping that the community could help me with a problem that has developed overnight on my Dell Precision 5630 laptop which is running Kubuntu 18.04 LTS. Everything had been running fine since Jan 2016 including when I shut down at around 11pm last night but when I booted up this morning at 8am I can no longer connect to any WiFi network. The network connections finds all of the networks and tries to connect but it just sits on the waiting for authentication. I've tried a couple of different networks as well as tethering to my phone but that is not working either. My phone connects to the wifi and I have removed the connection and entered in the password again to no avail.

Ethernet is working on the same network.

When I run a

grep wlp

I receive the output

[    6.125238] iwlwifi 0000:3b:00.0 wlp59s0: renamed from wlan0
[    7.026821] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[    7.259063] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[    7.356476] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[   60.002940] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[   92.001471] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[  429.376066] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[  567.043107] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 1537.405908] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 1537.631627] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 1537.769158] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 1591.677157] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 1802.318383] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 2238.851066] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 2357.053529] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 2357.294464] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 2357.493334] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 2445.899175] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 2567.617637] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 3415.079756] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
[ 3543.051774] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready

Tailing /var/log/syslog whilst trying to connect shows

Dec  6 08:49:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622152.6293] device (wlp59s0): Activation: starting connection 'HomeWifi' (7e56af65-63c3-4539-b088-aaa1eb2abbff)
Dec  6 08:49:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622152.6295] audit: op="connection-activate" uuid="7e56af65-63c3-4539-b088-aaa1eb2abbff" name="HomeWifi" pid=2374 uid=1000 result="success"
Dec  6 08:49:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622152.6298] device (wlp59s0): state change: disconnected -> prepare (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Dec  6 08:49:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622152.6300] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTING
Dec  6 08:49:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622152.6309] device (wlp59s0): state change: prepare -> config (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Dec  6 08:49:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622152.6317] device (wlp59s0): Activation: (wifi) access point 'HomeWifi' has security, but secrets are required.
Dec  6 08:49:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622152.6317] device (wlp59s0): state change: config -> need-auth (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Dec  6 08:49:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622152.6320] sup-iface[0x5604c8835240,wlp59s0]: wps: type pbc start...
Dec  6 08:51:12 steve-Precision-5530 wpa_supplicant[1022]: wlp59s0: WPS-TIMEOUT Requested operation timed out
Dec  6 08:51:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <warn>  [1575622272.6390] device (wlp59s0): No agents were available for this request.
Dec  6 08:51:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622272.6391] device (wlp59s0): state change: need-auth -> failed (reason 'no-secrets', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Dec  6 08:51:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622272.6393] manager: NetworkManager state is now CONNECTED_LOCAL
Dec  6 08:51:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <warn>  [1575622272.6396] device (wlp59s0): Activation: failed for connection 'HomeWifi'
Dec  6 08:51:12 steve-Precision-5530 NetworkManager[1005]: <info>  [1575622272.6400] device (wlp59s0): state change: failed -> disconnected (reason 'none', sys-iface-state: 'managed')
Dec  6 08:51:12 steve-Precision-5530 kernel: [  567.043107] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_UP): wlp59s0: link is not ready
Dec  6 08:51:12 steve-Precision-5530 wpa_supplicant[1022]: wlp59s0: Reject scan trigger since one is already pending

Here are the last two entries from the /var/log/apt/history.log file from when I last ran updates, though the wireless adapter was working fine for another 4-5 hours aferwards

Start-Date: 2019-12-05  08:01:35
Commandline: apt-get upgrade -y
Requested-By: steve (1000)
Upgrade: unattended-upgrades:amd64 (1.1ubuntu1.18.04.12, 1.1ubuntu1.18.04.13)
End-Date: 2019-12-05  08:01:37

Start-Date: 2019-12-05  17:44:55
Commandline: apt-get upgrade -y
Requested-By: steve (1000)
Upgrade: grub-common:amd64 (2.02-2ubuntu8.13, 2.02-2ubuntu8.14), grub2-common:amd64 (2.02-2ubuntu8.13, 2.02-2ubuntu8.14), grub-pc:amd64 (2.02-2ubuntu8.13, 2.02-2ubuntu8.14), grub-pc-bin:amd64 (2.02-2ubuntu8.13, 2.02-2ubuntu8.14), grub-efi-amd64-bin:amd64 (2.02-2ubuntu8.13, 2.02-2ubuntu8.14), grub-efi-amd64-signed:amd64 (1.93.14+2.02-2ubuntu8.13, 1.93.15+2.02-2ubuntu8.14)

# nmcli device status
DEVICE           TYPE      STATE         CONNECTION         
enxc8f75098f85a  ethernet  connected     Wired connection 2 
docker_gwbridge  bridge    connected     docker_gwbridge    
docker0          bridge    connected     docker0            
wlp59s0          wifi      disconnected  --                 
enx9cebe868d445  ethernet  unavailable   --                 
vethb2ae4b9      ethernet  unmanaged     --                 
lo               loopback  unmanaged     --

I then try to connect and can see that the state is changing

# nmcli device status
DEVICE           TYPE      STATE                             CONNECTION         
enxc8f75098f85a  ethernet  connected                         Wired connection 2 
docker_gwbridge  bridge    connected                         docker_gwbridge    
docker0          bridge    connected                         docker0            
wlp59s0          wifi      connecting (need authentication)  HomeWifi  
enx9cebe868d445  ethernet  unavailable                       --                 
vethb2ae4b9      ethernet  unmanaged                         --                 
lo               loopback  unmanaged                         --

But then it just times out.

The network adapter is a Intel Corporation Wireless-AC 9260

# lspci | grep -i network
3b:00.0 Network controller: Intel Corporation Wireless-AC 9260 (rev 29)

I'm a bit lost as to what could be the cause and what to try next.

If I look at the network services they are currently in this state

systemctl --all | grep -i network
 
networkd-dispatcher.service                                                                                                  loaded    active   running   Dispatcher daemon for systemd-networkd                                          
NetworkManager-wait-online.service                                                                                           loaded    failed   failed    Network Manager Wait Online                                                     
 NetworkManager.service                                                                                                       loaded    active   running   Network Manager                                                                 
 systemd-networkd.service                                                                                                     loaded    inactive dead      Network Service                                                                 
 systemd-resolved.service                                                                                                     loaded    active   running   Network Name Resolution                                                         
 systemd-timesyncd.service                                                                                                    loaded    active   running   Network Time Synchronization                                                    
 network-online.target                                                                                                        loaded    active   active    Network is Online                                                               
 network-pre.target                                                                                                           loaded    inactive dead      Network (Pre)                                                                   
 network.target                                                                                                               loaded    active   active    Network                                                                         
 nss-lookup.target                                                                                                            loaded    active   active    Host and Network Name Lookups

Version Information

* Plasma Version: 5.12.9
* KDW Framework Version 5.44.0
* Qt Version: 5.9.5
* Kernel Version: 4.15.0-72-generic

[SteveM]

I have figured it out

[COLOR=#242729][FONT=Consolas]sudo nmcli dev wifi connect <ssid> -a [/FONT][/COLOR]

I'm not sure why I had to run it as root but it worked

[GreyGeek]

I have figured it out

[COLOR=#242729][FONT=Consolas]sudo nmcli dev wifi connect <ssid> -a [/FONT][/COLOR]

I'm not sure why I had to run it as root but it worked

I suspect that your wifi driver probably got updated the day before, and the new driver didn't have access to the password.

Now you know why the greybeards eschew the GUI!

IF it doesn't come back up after the next reboot you might try deleting your wifi link in the NM and redoing it.

Anyway, here is a whole sequence of commands, from GitHub, using the nmcli and saved in:
network-mamanger-wifi-nmcli.txt

# from here https://forums.kali.org/showthread.php?36275-Help-with-nmcli-and-connecting-to-specific-bssid-(error-53)&p=71337#post71337
sudo nmcli dev status
sudo nmcli dev wifi list
sudo nmcli con add con-name <My_profile_name> ifname <My_interface> type wifi ssid <My_eSSID>
sudo nmcli con modify <My_profile_name> wifi-sec.key-mgmt wpa-psk
sudo nmcli con modify <My_profile_name>  wifi-sec.psk <My_WiFi_WPA_key>
sudo nmcli connection up <My_profile_name>
sudo nmcli -p c