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Distribution: Ubuntu 16.04, System: Acer Aspire E 15, Experience Level: Newbie

A few days ago I installed (dual boot) the 16.04 distribution on a laptop that was currently running Windows 10. I have a roadmap of things I wish to accomplish with this evaluation and have been fairly successful until it came to getting the wireless network configured. I believe the problem is limited to WPA authentication since I can disable WPA on both the network and the laptop and this allows me to connect (and stay connected) with no problems. If I enable WPA on both ends the laptop indicates that it connects but roughly 10 seconds later it disconnects and then immediately tries to reconnect. This repeats continuously.

There is a lot of information available regarding problems like this but one of the things that is confusing me is that there is some documentation that applies to Linux in general and other documentation that is distribution specific and it is not always obvious to me which is which. This is further complicated by the fact that the way something is done evolves over time as distributions mature yet web pages offering helpful tips tend to remain long after their information no longer applies. Thus, I've tried to narrow my searches to information posted within the past year. The primary document I'm using is help.ubuntu.com/16.04/ubuntu-help/net-wireless-connect.html. Unfortunately, the troubleshooting sections don't cover authentication issues. This document mentions nothing about "wpa_supplicant" which I've seen mentioned a lot on the web. I've tried to configure and use this (unsuccessfully) and don't know if I've made things worse in the attempt.

Any ideas on what to check next would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Dave

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  • I think the next thing to do would be to post some technical info. This will guide you. Also, pastbin.com is a good place to post log text blocks. May 14, 2016 at 18:34
  • Thanks - I ran the script and have the output file. However, I checked pastbin.com and it doesn't appear to exist (domain name is for sale). Was there a typo in the name? Edit - Never mind - just found it in the guide as pastebin.com. May 14, 2016 at 19:17
  • Okay, the wireless-info.txt file has been uploaded and is available at pastebin.com/hMtxn3Z3. May 14, 2016 at 19:32
  • Thanks for the output, and sorry about the typo. Here is a very similar question with the answer updated for 16.04. May 14, 2016 at 20:33
  • I think I had already seen that post when I was originally searching for help, but it seems to be about getting the right drivers installed to get wireless up and going. I've already got it working - as long as I disable WPA on both the network and the laptop - something I'm obviously reluctant to do as a long term solution. Unfortunately I don't know what or where (if any) log information about a failed WPA authentication attempt is generated/stored. Any tips on this would give me something to look at and might point me at what I need to fix. May 14, 2016 at 20:59

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The wireless is now up and working. I dug through syslog and saw that wpa_supplicant was giving up at the end with a reason code of 14. I tracked down what this meant and found it was a MIC Error. That made me wonder about the Wireless Access Point I was using. I tried a new one and everything came right up. The WAP had been working fine with a number of other devices which is why I didn't suspect it earlier.

Dave

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