Never connected to a WPA network!

Hi guys,
I have both a Linux/8GB and Windows XP/120GB Aspire One. Neither have been modified from the out-of-the-box operating systems and settings. Both Aspires connect without issue to unsecured wireless networks, and both are fine with LAN connections. I can not get either notebook to connect to a WPA network; they both get to "acquiring network address" and go no further. Am I missing a crucial update? I read though some of the other posts about wireless issues but I couldn't decide if they pertained to my situation or not. Thanks!

 

Are you trying to connect to a WPA Personal (shared key) or enterprise (usually with a username and password) network? Not sure about the XP model, but the Linpus shipped NetworkManager package does not support WPA enterprise, but can be upgraded to one that does.

 

Hi IMSancho,
I am trying to connect with WPA enterprise, with a username and password. I saw a post in this forum for manually (vs. running an updater) updating the package- is that what I should be trying to do?

 

Check out my post in *this* thread for an archive and instructions on how to unpack it and run the install script, after rebooting you should have the newer version of network manager with WPA/WPA2 Enterprise support.

 

Hi there! So I ran the script and rebooted, and now my A1 does not "see" Network Manager at all. I got this message "Network Manager is missing a vital system resource and can not continue" and now I'm not sure how to get the old Network Manager back (reinstall from scratch, correct?)...ah well, I tried!

 

Strange, not really sure what went wrong but it sounds like one of the packages didn't install properly for some reason. Before doing a restore could you try running the script again and post the output? It should tell you that all the packages are already installed, but if it says one is failing dependencies that could be it. Otherwise yes a restore and running the script should work.

 

Hey there. I will post the output in the morning, but here is what we figured out: the download does work to fix the wireless issue, but it does not allow you to use Network Center to establish/manage new networks etc (like there is a disconnect somewhere between Network Manager & Network Center after the update). You have to use the wireless management in the toolbar to find new networks, connect, change your settings. I am not having issues with the Linux A1 connecting to WPA now, but I can't use the Network Center to manage things. This is a big improvement over no WPA connections at all ...now to see what can be done about the problem on the Windows XP machine!

 

Ahhh I see, I hadn't used network center before, and the newer version of NetworkManager provides full management of wired, wireless, 3G and VPN connections so I'm not sure if it's really needed, but as you say it no longer launches. Was there any functionality in there that isn't provided by NetworkManager?

As for the XP machine, I don't have XP on my One so can't test, but usually the first things to check are to go into the properties for your wireless adapter, go to the wireless networks tab and see if windows is controlling the adapter (not sure if acer runs some sort of proprietary tool) If it is managed by windows, select your network and go to it's properties and under authentication set it to PEAP, click properties, uncheck validate server certificate, and configure MSCHAP to NOT use your windows logon and domain. After all that when you connect you should be prompted for your username and password. Here's the guide page for my university's WPA setup to show you what some of the options look like, obviously change the SSID and encryption type to match your network.