Wireless problem on F8 -- can't access secured networks

Tom Stewart fedora at tastewar.com
Fri Nov 30 16:43:38 UTC 2007


I've installed F8 on an IBM ThinkPad R40 with an IBM High Rate  
wireless card. The wireless card is recognized as an Atheros AR5212.  
NetworkManager starts up fine, and I can connect to unencrypted AP's  
OK (like my neighbor's), but I can't connect to protected networks  
(like mine).

I've previously had Windows XP then Ubuntu on this box, and neither  
had a problem connecting, so I am pretty confident that it's not a  
hardware/compatibility issue. I've configured wpa_supplicant to run  
via Service Configuration, which tells me that it is running. WPA  
passphrases seem to get stored in the keyring OK.

In attempting to troubleshoot this, here's what I've discovered. When  
booting, there is a fairly long delay, which causes the Details window  
to pop up automatically. The delay is in starting wpa_supplicant, and  
in fact, an error is noted:

Starting wpa_supplicant: /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf, ,  
dbus_bus_get[ctrl_iface_dbus]: No such file or directory

Now, there is a file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf, owned by  
root and with rw permissions for owner. I haven't touched this, and I  
assume it is correct. So I wonder if the dbus_bus_get[ctrl_iface_dbus]  
is the thing that's complaining. Searching on that string yields [1]  
some source code:

	/* Get a reference to the system bus */
	dbus_error_init(&error);
	iface->con = dbus_bus_get(DBUS_BUS_SYSTEM, &error);
	dbus_error_free(&error);
	if (!iface->con) {
		perror("dbus_bus_get[ctrl_iface_dbus]");
		wpa_printf(MSG_ERROR, "Could not acquire the system bus.");
		goto fail;
	}

which looks like it might print that string followed by an error, but  
then it should also be displaying (somewhere?) the "Could not acquire  
the system bus." which I haven't found.

The other data point I have is that in the system log, when attempting  
to connect, I see the following error msg:

Nov 18 20:56:29 think NetworkManager: <info>  Device 'wlan0' DHCP  
transaction took too long (>45s), stopping it.

Can anyone help me get my wireless up and running on this guy? Where  
do I go next?

[1]  
http://www.koders.com/c/fid085500CFE02FD84CFEB332AE71A50A1E37F81D1A.aspx?s=base64

--Tom





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